The Setting for the war

 

King Charles inherited from his father a hunger for absolute power, and he rode rough-shod over an ever more restless House of Commons. Whilst he was an ardent Episcopalian, the House was Puritan, and whilst he flaunted the divine right of Kings, the House pressed for the sovereignty of Parliament.

 

The result of this clash of ideologies was that the king ruled for eleven years without Parliament. This meant that he did not receive the usual financial aids and had therefore to raise money as best he could.

 

He pawned some of the Crown Jewels, sold honours, reintroduced the payment of certain archaic feudal dues, and levied taxes. This period of personal government, during which the king was aided by the High Church Archbishop Laud, and by his great friend, the Earl of Strafford, came to an end when he became involved in a war with Scotland for which he could not pay. The king was forced to convene a meeting of the great council and later to call a Parliament, and he had to concede to this Parliament all that it asked, so badly was he in need of money.

 

The king's attempt to revoke his concessions and his refusal to hand over to Parliament control of the army, brought about the Civil War which his policy, and that of his father, had made inevitable.

 

The control of Sussex had great importance during the Civil War because of the cannon foundries and also of the fact that the shortest route to France lay through Sussex. Although the ports were in decline, the Sussex coast offered the best and easiest landings. Bullion and arms were smuggled across the Channel to the shores of Sussex and on to the King. For these reasons it was necessary for Parliament to prevent the Royalists gaining control of the county.

 

Part of Arundel`s Ancient Keep

 

In 1642 the Gentry seized control of Chichester and Parliament immediately sent a force of 6,000 men to retake the city. At the same time a subsidiary force made a detour to Arundel which was held by only a 100 Royalists. Arundel castle fell almost immediately, but Chichester held out for six days. Arundel was recaptured by General Hopton on 9th December to which he installed a garrison of one thousand men. However, the castle was besieged by Colonel Morley and Waller which lasted for twenty one days, after which the garrison surrendered.

 

On the whole, Sussex suffered little as compared to other English counties, and life carried on much as before. There grew a resentment amongst farmers and villagers over the levies of food and billeting of troops, not against either side, but against the war itself. In spite of Parliament's control of Sussex, it was from the Sussex port of Shoreham that Prince Charles, escaping after the Battle of Worcester in 1651, secured a passage to France. He was disguised as the servant of Colonel Gunter of Racton, whose horse he led. He managed to elude the Parliamentary controls at the two unavoidable river crossings at Houghton Bridge and at Bramber.

 

Charles 1. 1600-1649 King of England

 

Arundel

Both the town and castle suffered heavily during the Civil War, and that is one of the reasons why so much of Arundel dates from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. While the castle itself was almost entirely reconstructed in the nineteenth century - all but the Norman Keep and the fourteenth century Barbican gate being rebuilt in nineteenth century Gothic with little relationship to the earlier building.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Top of Page       main page:  www.yeoldesussexpages.com