| Civil
War
Timeline
Introduction
Danish
Invasion of 870
Danish
Invasion of 1006
St
Mary's Butts
Civil
War
Civil
War defences
Siege
of Reading
Battle
of Caversham Bridge
After
the Siege
Battle
of Reading
Napoleon
World
War 1
World
War 2
| The
English Civil War
The English Civil War was between the King and Parliament. was due to
many factors. The King had made people pay an unpopular tax, called
Ship Money. He had tried to rule without Parliament for a number of
years, and he was thought to be sympathetic to Catholic people, as the
Queen was a Catholic.
In 1641 the argument between Parliament and the King became worse until
early in 1642 the King decided to go into Parliament himself and arrest
the MP’s who were causing trouble for him. The five MPs had a
warning and escaped before the King arrived. The King and Parliament
tried to sort out their differences, but by August the King had rallied
his army at Nottingham.
In Berkshire, the King asked the sheriff to gather together men for
his army. The Earl of Berkshire started quite well, but then with the
support of the Vachel family, who were related to Oliver Cromwell, the
county started supporting Parliament.
Henry Marten, the MP for Abingdon, started a regiment to garrison the
town for Parliament. The town was strongly on the side of Parliament,
although many of the wealthier clothiers were on the King’s side.
In November news was brought that supporters of the King were coming
from Abingdon to Reading, and Henry Martens regiment withdrew as the
town could not be defended. On 3rd November 1642 the bells rang out
as the King entered the town. In the next few years, they would ring
again several times more, as the opposite side gained the town. He then
left marching towards London. As the King approached the capital, he
realised that he could not be sure of winning a battle, and retreated
to Reading. Here the army stayed.
Reading now spent several months as a Royalist town. Each family was
forced to have troops staying in their rooms. Money was taken from the
town to pay for the army. By December, Arthur Aston had been appointed
as governor of Reading and the King left for his new headquarters at
Oxford. Over the next few months, the Kings supporters in Reading became
more and more desperate, as they gave the King all their money and goods,
while at the same time not being able to earn any more as the wool trade
had stopped as no cloth could go downstream to London.
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