The English Bourgeois Revolution broke out in the 17th century. The Wars of the Roses had greatly weakened the feudal noble class. The Enclosures had dispossessed many peasants of their lands and driven them to cities. The Reformation had criticized those religious doctrines which served feudal relations and deprived the church of its lands and wealth, weakening one of the mainstays of the feudal order. The geographical discovery of the New World was followed by foreign expansion and slave trade, speeding up “primitive accumulation of capital”. Meanwhile, ideology and morality had also witnessed big changes. A new class was rising in England. The bourgeois revolution was just around the corner.

       During the last years of Elizabeth’s reign, relations between the Monarchy and the bourgeoisie were strained.

       Elizabeth died in 1603 without a successor and James VI of Scotland was welcomed to the English throne as James I. This was the beginning of the unification of the two countries and it gave birth to the name Great Britain.

       James I was not as popular compared with Elizabeth and he was an uncompromising defender of the Church of England. He hated Dissenters非国教派的热 and was less tolerant towards free believers than Elizabeth had been and persecuted the Catholics. He strongly believed in the “Divine Right of Kings” and therefore caused conflict with Parliament, especially over tax matters.

       Upon James’ death, his son succeeded him as Charles I who was less competent than his father. He behaved like a dictator and showed no respect to Parliament. In order to increase his power and prestige, he decided to start a war against Spain and France. But Parliament refused to give him the money he needed to support the war and even pass the bill “Petition of Rights” to forbid the king to get money in any form without consent of Parliament. Therefore the relation between Charles I and Parliament became even more tense. Charles I was in favor of Catholicism and showed his readiness to restore the old ceremonies of the Roman Catholic Church. He persecuted the Protestants, especially the Puritans. This caused great uneasiness among the people who had benefited from the Reformation.

      During those years, economic conditions were deteriorating. Crop failures, rising food prices and widespread unemployment added to the discontent of the broad masses.

      The king was sitting on a volcano.

2.  Events leading to the outbreak of the Revolution

    Charles I tried to force the Scots into accepting the English common Prayer book and this caused great anger among the Scots and they revolted. The king was ill-prepared for the sudden outbreak of the war, so he called a meeting of Parliament to raise money. But instead of giving him the money, the Parliament started a fierce criticism of the king’s policy. Charles was so angery that he dissolved the Parliament (known as the Short Parliament) which had been in existence for only two weeks.

     After he dismissed the Short Parliament in April, 1640, the king collected an army of all sorts and marched against the Scots. Without any chance of winning the war, he made a truce with them. He promised to respect all Scottish political and religious liberties and agreed to pay a large sum of indemnity赔偿. But he had no money to pay it, so he called another meeting of Parliament (Known as the Long Parliament) to ask the Members of Parliament to support his policies and give him the money he needed. He was again turned down. The king planned to get rid of his strong opponents in the House of Commons. On January 4th, 1641, he led several hundreds of his armed followers to arrest five important members of the Commons, but he failed because they had already received warning. The Parliament sounded alarm, and armed men were called out to protect Parliament. The king was frightened and fled to York where he established his headquarters in opposition to Parliament. The war broke out.

3.  the course of the Revolution a. The Civil War broke out in 1462.

 b. At the beginning, the parliamentary party was controlled by the moderates(the Right Wing) and their hesitant and self-contradictory policy produced disastrous military setbacks.

 c.After Oliver Cromwell took the command of the revolutionary troops (the New Model Army), the tide began to turn against the Cavaliers (the king’s supporters).

 d.The king was defeated and he gave himself up to the Scottish army. The Scotch then sold Charles I to Parliament and for the next two years, Charles was held in custody保管.

 e. The Right Wing still wished to negotiate a compromise agreement with the king. They were ready to restore him to the throne if he could satisfy their demands. This angered the Left Wing. Colonel Pride led a body of soldiers to the House of Parliament and they excluded all the Right Wing members. The event was known as “Pride Purge”.

 f. After “Pride Purge”, the House of Commons was all brought under the complete control of the revolutionary Left Wing.

 g.Charles I was tried and beheaded.

 h.England was proclaimed to be a commonwealth, a republic, and the Monarchy, the House of Lords, and the Church of England were abolished.

 i. Cromwell conquered Ireland and Scotland and the 3 countries were united under him.

 j. He dissolved the Long Parliament in April, 1653 and began to rule England as Lord Protector.

4. The Restoration (1660)

 a.  Cause—Cromwell’s son was incompetent in governing the country, and he abdicated. A new Parliament, composed of both Houses, was again assembled. The new Parliament began to negotiate with Charles I’s son who later became Charles II.

 b.  Result—Charles II was welcomed back to the restored English throne and the Republic came to an end.

 c. The king cooperated with the Parliament and religiously he favored toleration to a certain extent. Things went on quite smoothly during his reign.

4.  The Glorious Revolution (1688) 

a.  Cause—Upon Charles II’s death, his successor, James II(his brother), attempted to be an absolute monarch, to ignore Parliament, and to revive Catholicism in England.

 b.  Results—A Bill of  Rights was drawn up, which clearly spelled out the powers of the people through Parliament and prohibited absolutism on the part of future monarchs, declared that in the future all kings and queens of England would be members of the Church of England.

     James II was dethroned, and the Dutch-born William III and his wife, Mary(James II’s daughter), were invited by Parliament to become king and queen of England. It was called Glorious Revolution of 1688 or White Revolution, because it caused no bloodshed. The English king, instead of controlling Parliament, had to receive his crown from Parliament. This marked the real beginning of the constitutional monarchy in England.

     The coronation加冕礼 of William marked the beginning of a new stage in English history. The main concern in the kingdom was shifted from internal political struggle to economic problems and foreign expansion. The nation would soon experience a period of speedy economic development which led to and promoted the Industrial Revolution.