In the second of two posts, Lorna Ormiston, a history undergraduate from Sheffield University, looks at Derbyshire’s role in a tumultuous era of British history.
The English Civil War (or rather civil wars) began in 1642 with the king raising his standard in Nottingham after failing to reach a settlement with parliament. This was because one of the fundamental causes of the war was the king’s and parliament’s inability to agree on how the state should be run. Charles I believed, as his father James I did, in divine rule which was the idea that the King was appointed by God and thus can only be accountable to God. Whereas, parliament believed that they were there to limit the king’s power and to legislate new laws. As a result, the king’s controversial personal rule (which meant the king ruled without convening parliament) included Charles I reinstating archaic laws to gain…
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