We received the following press release. --RL You Decide… Should you have lived 360 years ago this month, you would have seen that a full-scale war with your King and Parliament was inevitable. You would be pondering which side to choose once you reluctantly were forced to decide. 360 years after the start of the English Civil War, you can make the choice that most of the English population had to make, no easy choice, but one which would affect your whole life and perhaps cause its untimely end. Back then, the issue was still not as clear-cut as many films and books make out. Apart from the possibility of fighting your family, friends or losing your whole way of life, other important considerations weighed heavy, as shown by the following contemporary men: “I have eaten his bread and served him near 30 years and will not do so base a thing as to forsake him…” --Sir Edmund Verney in deciding for the King “Those for the Commonwealth in so doing, stand for the King and consequently both for King and Commonwealth.” --Sir John Oxindon, in deciding for the Parliament “When I take up arms with the King against Parliament or the Parliament against the King, let a cannon bullet divide me between them.” --The Earl of Kingston in trying desperately to continue sitting on his fence Some of the issues which constituted a decision, were that the King stood for the established lawful Church of England, for traditionalism, for Monarchy which had given peace and prosperity for a decade, for continuity and for order. Charles had invested heavily in the Royal Navy to protect his peoples trade from merchants too. Those looking at Parliament saw that they were committed to wiping out the King’s power and gaining powers which had not been held by a Parliament ever, modernising England, while many minor religious sects wanted freedom of worship and to drive England into the European wars over religion. Parliament also aimed to realign the political power from the top elite and stop illegal taxation. These basic views are very brief, it must be understood and are just some of the many, many reasons which made people move to one side or the other. Have your say today and go to King or Parliament Magazine, vote on which side you would support and whether you would have agreed with the King’s quasi-judicial execution. Q - Who would you support 360 years ago? King? - email king@kingorparliament.com Parliament - email parliament@kingorparliament.com Q - Was Parliament right to “murder” the King, despite the nation and many of their own not wanting to do it? Yes - email yesmurder@kingorparliament.com No - email nomurder@kingorparliament.com Q - Who would you like to see an article about? Email idea@kingorparliament.com with the Civil War personality of your choice and I will write an article about the most popular, in the next issue. Back to 3rd Quarter 2002 List of News Items Back to Master List of News Items Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 2002 by Coalition Web, Inc. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com