The Outbreak of Conflict

Armageddon- the Seventeenth Century. The signs of conflict had been there for all to see in the final years of the reign of King James VI . However James had been wise enough to back down thus avoiding conflict with his opponents in Scotland. His successor, Charles I had no such restraint and his reign from 1625 onwards was a countdown to the catastrophe of the years following 1640. This was the period marked by prolonged bouts of conflict and devastation.

                                                  King Charles I

Not intended for the throne. Charles I was propelled there by the death of his elder brother, Henry, despite his being ill prepared and unsuitable for the role. Scotland was heavily involved in these conflicts suffering in consequence massive losses in terms of population and resources.

                                              The First Bishop’s War

The first outbreak of fighting was provoked by Charles I’s insistence that the Scottish Presbyterian Church adopt bishop’s. This together with the forced adoption of the English Book of Common Prayer caused the outbreak of the conflict which was marked by a resistance that coalized round the signing of a document known as the National Covenant. This famous  document, one of the most important in Scottish history gave Charles’s opponents in Scotland  the name of Covenanters . In what became known as the First and Second Bishop’s Wars from 1638 – 1641 the Covenanting army  crushed the Royalist forces. Winning effective control of Scotland from Charles I, this ended the first phase of Scottish participation in the wars.

                                       The Solemn League and Covenant

Meanwhile King Charles occupied himself by starting a conflict from 1642 with the English Parliament in what became known as the English Civil War (1642-46). At first the Covenanters kept out of this conflict. However by late 1643  the Scottish Parliament and the Covenanting movement had been made significant offers by an increasingly desperate English Parliament. These offers were designed to produce a Scottish intervention in England against Charles I. The result was an agreement between the two Parliaments known as the Solemn League and Covenant.

                                             The Battle of Marston Moor

This produced the second phase of the conflict when  a Scottish Army of 20000 entered the North of England in January 1644. After joining with the English Parliamentary forces, the combined allied armies decisively defeated a Royalist Army at the Battle of Marston Moor in June 1644. This second phase ended with Charles I’s surrender in May 1646 and the withdrawal of the Covenanting forces back to Scotland.

                                                    The Engagement

The Third and last phase involved the Covenanters switching support to the Royalist camp in what became known as the Engagement . This resulted in the defeat of the Royalist forces at the Battle of Preston in 1648.

                                                The Battle of Dunbar

Following the defeat and death of of James Graham, Marquess of Montrose in early 1650. King Charles II agreed to sign the national Covenant and was subsequently crowned at Scone. There followed the full-scale invasion and conquest of Scotland by the New Modal Army under Oliver Cromwell in 1650-51. After being outmanoeuvred by David Leslie, the commander of the Covenanting forces Cromwell managed to win a decisive victory at Dunbar in September 1650. Charles II then launched an invasion of England which was defeated at the battle of Worcester in September 1651, ending the Second Civil war.

                                         The Continuation of the Conflicts

The ferocious conflicts of the Covenanting period settled nothing . And on Charles II’s restoration in 1660 they continued unabated though on a much reduced scale and intensity. The newly restored Royalist regime immediately began to wage a campaign against the surviving elements of the Covenanting  movement. The Covenanters fought back by all means possible. Including full-scale risings in 1666, 1679, and as part of the general civil war in Scotland from 1689-90.

                                                    Perspective

From the hindsight of more than three hundred years it is clear that this period was an interval between the upheavals of the 1640’s and that of the Glorious Revolution of 1688 -89. This final round of conflict brought about the consequent final defeat and expulsion of the Stuart dynasty. Effectively ending Armageddon – the Seventeenth Century.