Prisoner of Parliament
Passed - and even sold - from faction to faction, Charles was King but also a prisoner of Parliament
In 1646, King Charles I was in a hopeless position. Following his comprehensive defeat by the Roundheads at the Battle of Naseby, Charles had handed himself over to the Scottish Covenanting forces occupying the North of England.
There, he tried to reach a settlement with the Covenanters which would reinstate his authority. At the same time, he hoped to split the Covenanters, who were Presbyterian, from their increasingly Puritan allies in Parliament. Despite employing all his cunning, neither scheme succeeded.
Instead, Charles was ignominiously handed back to the Parliamentarians by the Covenanters for £400,000. When Charles heard the figure, he joked that the Scots had sold their King too cheap.
Unfortunately, the Roundheads were in no mood for joking. In early 1647, Charles was led out from Newcastle and taken under armed guard to Holmby House in Northamptonshire. There he was secured as a 'guest' of Parliament.
For the Presbyterian Party at Westminster, led by Denzil Holles, the incarceration of Charles at Holmby was the summit of their power. Within Parliament, two separate factions had developed - the Presbyterians and the Independents. The Presbyterians were religiously and socially conservative, wanting to do a deal with Charles which would put him back on the throne and establish a Presbyterian Church of England. The Independents were more radical, demanding greater religious toleration and a reform of the existing political structures. But whoever controlled the King, controlled the political agenda.
Shunted from faction to faction, from country house to secure mansion, Charles had become the key in the great Civil War game of finding a peace. No one could think of a solution which did not involve the King. Coping with the idea of civil war was bad enough; no one yet seriously considered doing away with the King and establishing a Republic. The monarchy remained fundamental to Scotland, England and Ireland's future. The Roundheads had yet to think outside the box, and were determined to secure possession of the most vital piece in this game of political chess.
Content last updated: 07/01/2001
