King Charles I of England, who also ruled Scotland, had attempted to impose a new Anglican-oriented Prayer Book[?] on the Scots. A riot at Edinburgh in 1637 quickly led to national resistance, and when in November 1638 the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland at Glasgow defied Charles’s orders and abolished the office of bishop, the King had to choose between tame submission and immediate war. In 1639 he gathered an English force, and marched towards the border.
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The so-called Short Parliament demanded redress of grievances, the abandonment of the royal claim to levy ship-money[?], and a complete change in the ecclesiastical system. Charles thought that it would not be worth while even to conquer Scotland on such terms, and dissolved parliament. A fresh war with Scotland followed.
The Scots crossed the river Tweed, and Charles’s army was well pleased to fly before them. In a short time the invaders overran the whole of Northumberland and County Durham. (See Battle of Newburn.) Charles had to leave the two counties in Scots hands as a pledge for the payment of Scots expenses when he agreed to peace at Ripon in October 1640; and he also had to summon another parliament to grant him the supplies which he needed to make that payment. An impoverished King and a resurgent Long Parliament now drifted towards civil war.
Original text based on http://1911encyclopedia.org (http://1911encyclopedia.org)
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