Towards the second Civil War (May 1646 – January 1649)
General Thomas Fairfax, commander of the New Model Army, was due to chair the Putney Debates in 1647 but ill-health prevented him from doing so. Instead, Lieutenant-General Oliver Cromwell took his place.
Radicals in the Parliamentary army attempted to purge the navy of the less-radical Presbyterians with the result that in 1648 part of the fleet mutinied. For several days they blockaded the Thames after which they sailed to Holland and formed a small royalist navy under the command of Prince Rupert.
At the end of November the army declared that Parliament must be dissolved. Their commander, Sir Thomas Fairfax, set up a headquarters at Whitehall Palace, then marched his men into London again, ordering the immediate payment of £50,000 and beds for his troops. When they were not forthcoming he arrested several City officials until money was paid. London held its election and Abraham Reynardson was elected, a Royalist.
Reynardson proved to be a problem for Parliament. Contrary to their ordinance he insisted that only those who took the oath of loyalty to the King would be admitted as common councillors. Furthermore, he did not support the proposed trial of the King. Reynardson continued to exasperate Parliament through his actions and refusal to conform and they called him to the bar of the House of Commons. He was ordered to pay a fine of £2,000, spend two months in the Tower and be deprived of the mayoralty. When he refused to pay, his possessions were seized and sold. Parliament issued an ordinance that anyone who wished for a treaty with the King was barred from being elected to the Common Council or mayoralty of London.
In December 1648 those MPs and nobles who sided with the King were removed from the Houses of Commons and Lords in what was called ‘Pride’s Purge’ and those who remained were known as the ‘Rump Parliament’. With moderate voices removed, the way was open for Parliament to cease negotiations with Charles and instead put hm on trial.
Sources include: Robin Rowles ‘The Civil War in London’; Robert Brenner ‘Merchants and Revolution’; Barry Coward ‘The Stuart Age’; Sir Walter Besant ‘London in the Time of the Stuarts’ (1903); Various –‘St. Paul’s – The Cathedral Church of London’; Lisa Jardine ‘On A Grander Scale’; John Field ‘Kingdom Power & Glory’; John Richardson ‘Annals of London’; David Flintham ‘The ECW defences of London’ https://www.vauban.co.uk/the-ecw-defences-of-london
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