Re: Re: THE BISHOPS’ WAR

Battle of Newburn 1640To pay for a continuation of the war against the Covenanters King Charles was compelled to recall Parliament. to raise the funds required for a new army. The King however had made many enemies amongst the Members of Parliament because of his uncompromising conviction that it was his divine right to rule, and the members were in no mood to grant the King?s requests without significant changes to the constitution.Charles secretly appealed for a loan from Spain, while the Queen appealed to her brother, the King of France and even to the Pope, but all these appeals were in vain. Charles was forced into making a number of promises to the House (none of which he meant to keep) in order to obtain the desired funding.The King?s adviser Strafford advised disbanding the unimpressive northern militia who had been shown to be so unsuccessful in the First Bishops' War and raising a new levy in the south. But these new southern levies were untrained and poorly disciplined and many deserted on the march to the north whilst others were prone to mutiny. Two Catholic officers were lynched by their own men, who then dispersed.By August 1640, around 12,000 troops were assembled in Yorkshire, most of them unpaid and underfed. Another 12,000 foot and 2,000 horse were stationed on the River Tyne under the command of Lord Conway and Sir Jacob Astley. The Scots in the meantime had responded to the treat from England by raising a new Covenanter army 25,000 strong on the border under the capable command of General Alexander Leslie, the Earl of Leven With the Covenanter nobles Argyll and Montrose engaged in a bitter personal feud, Leslie decided to advance southwards. He crossed the Tweed with 25,000 men in three divisions with Sir Thomas Hope?s College of Justice? troop of horse, consisting of one hundred and sixty gentlemen, riding on the right wing. and entered England on 20 August 1640, the same day that King Charles left London for York. The Scottish officers were much concerned during the march that their army did not offend the English nation, with which they had no quarrel. Marching unopposed through Northumberland they arrived at the River Tyne on the 27th. where Lord Conway encountered them with a small force of 2,000 horse, 1,500 foot and 4 cannon that attempted to block the Scots from crossing of the Tyne at Newburn ford. Sir Jacob Astley brought up 2,000 reinforcements the next day, but the English were hopelessly outnumbered and unable to prevent the Scots from crossing the Tyne. The English being utterly defeated and with Conway and Astley retreating south in the aftermath of the battle, the Covenanters pressed on towards Newcastle, which surrendered on the 30th of August without a shot being fired.With Leslie now in control of Newcastle, Tynemouth, Shields, Durham, and several large magazines of provisions the King assembled a Great Council of Peers at York on the 24th September, who almost unanimously advised their monarch to negotiate a truce with the Scots, and to summon another Parliament. At the Treaty of Ripon, signed on the 14th of October, the Scots exacted an indemnity of ?850 a day from the English government for their quarters in Northumberland and Durham, and demanded that the Scottish provisional government negotiate for a permanent settlement with the new Parliament in London, who would be required to reimbursed the Scots for their expenses in prosecuting the war against England. The second bishops' war was to expose the divisions in English political and religious life, which would two years later, result in the catastrophe of the First Civil War