People usually think of the English Civil War as one long, continuous slog. It wasn't. There was a pause, a moment where everyone caught their breath, and then everything went sideways again in 1648. If you want to understand why King Charles I eventually lost his head, you have to look at the English Second Civil War. This wasn't just a repeat of the first one; it was a desperate, messy, and incredibly violent sequel that proved the country couldn't just "go back to normal."
Honestly, by 1647, most people in England were exhausted. The first war had been brutal. But the peace was arguably worse. You had a King who refused to negotiate in good faith, a Parliament that was splitting into angry factions, and an army—the New Model Army—that realized they hadn't been paid and weren't about to be pushed around.
The spark? A secret deal. While sitting in custody at Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight, Charles I managed to strike a "Engagement" with the Scots. He basically promised to establish Presbyterianism in England for three years if they’d help him get his throne back. It was a massive gamble. It backfired.
How the English Second Civil War actually started
It didn't start with a grand declaration. It started with riots and mutinies. In South Wales, a former Parliamentarian commander named John Poyer refused to hand over Pembroke Castle. He hadn't been paid. He was annoyed. Suddenly, he was declaring for the King.
This happens a lot in history. Small grievances turn into national catastrophes because the timing is just right—or wrong.
By the spring of 1648, the fires were everywhere. Kent, Essex, and Cornwall saw uprisings. These weren't necessarily people who loved the King. A lot of them just hated the high taxes and the religious restrictions imposed by the "winners" of the first war. They wanted their old lives back. But when you fight against a standing army led by guys like Oliver Cromwell and Thomas Fairfax, "wanting your life back" usually ends in a siege.
The Siege of Colchester: A Grim Reality
If you want to see how dark this war got, look at Colchester. This wasn't some chivalrous knightly battle. It was a nightmare. Royalist forces retreated into the town, and Fairfax surrounded them. For eleven weeks, the people inside ate horses. Then they ate dogs. Then they ate cats.
📖 Related: Fire in Idyllwild California: What Most People Get Wrong
When the town finally surrendered in August, the New Model Army wasn't in a forgiving mood. They executed the Royalist leaders, Sir Charles Lucas and Sir George Lisle, by firing squad. This was a massive shift in tone. In the first war, officers were usually ransomed or released. In the English Second Civil War, the gloves were off. The Army felt betrayed. They felt that the Royalists were restarting a war that God had already decided.
The Scottish Invasion and the Battle of Preston
While the south was burning, the Scots finally crossed the border. This was the "Engagement" force led by the Duke of Hamilton. On paper, it was a huge army. In reality, it was poorly coordinated and lacked the zeal of the old Covenanter forces.
Cromwell met them at Preston in August 1648.
It was a total rout. Despite being outnumbered, Cromwell’s professional "Ironsides" tore through the Scottish lines. The weather was miserable—heavy rain turned the ground into a bog. The Scots were spread out over miles, making it easy for Cromwell to pick them apart. Preston effectively ended the military threat to Parliament, but it started a much bigger political problem.
How do you deal with a King who keeps starting wars?
Why this war led to the execution of Charles I
Before 1648, most people in Parliament still wanted to work something out with Charles. They wanted a "constitutional" monarchy before that term was even popular. But the English Second Civil War changed the psychology of the New Model Army.
👉 See also: Who Is More Likely to Win the Election 2024: What Most People Get Wrong
They began to refer to Charles I as "that man of blood."
They believed that by restarting the war, Charles was personally responsible for every death that occurred in 1648. They saw it as a crime against God. This led directly to Pride’s Purge, where Colonel Thomas Pride stood at the door of Parliament and physically stopped any member who wanted to keep negotiating with the King from entering. What was left was the "Rump Parliament."
- The Rump Parliament created a High Court of Justice.
- They put the King on trial for treason.
- They argued he had subverted the liberties of the people.
- They chopped off his head in January 1649.
Without the 1648 uprising, it’s highly unlikely the English would have ever executed their King. It was the "second" war that made the radical solution feel like the only solution.
Misconceptions about the 1648 Uprisings
One big mistake people make is thinking this was a "Royalist vs. Parliamentarian" rematch. It wasn't that simple. Many of the people who rose up in 1648 had fought for Parliament in 1642.
They were "disillusioned revolutionaries."
You also had the Levellers, a radical political group within the army, who were pushing for nearly universal male suffrage and religious tolerance. They were causing chaos from the inside. The English Second Civil War was as much a mutiny and a series of bread riots as it was a dynastic struggle.
✨ Don't miss: Air Pollution Index Delhi: What Most People Get Wrong
The Navy’s Role
Even the sea wasn't safe. Part of the English fleet mutinied and sailed to Holland to join the Prince of Wales (the future Charles II). This was a huge blow. England is an island; losing control of the channel meant the Royalists could potentially bring in foreign mercenaries. It forced Parliament to spend massive amounts of money rebuilding the navy, which eventually led to the rise of British naval supremacy later in the century.
Real-world impact and evidence
Historians like S.R. Gardiner and more recently, Micheál Ó Siochrú, have highlighted how the violence of 1648 shifted the "British" problem into an "Irish" and "Scottish" one. Once Cromwell finished the war in England, he took that same hardened, "God-is-on-our-side" army to Ireland in 1649. The brutality seen at the Siege of Colchester was just a preview of what was coming for Drogheda and Wexford.
The local records from 1648 are full of petitions from widows and injured soldiers. The state was broke. The social fabric was tearing.
If you visit Maidstone or Pembroke today, you can still find the scars of the 1648 conflict. The bullet holes in the church walls aren't from the "Great" Civil War; they're often from these smaller, desperate skirmishes of the second one.
How to explore the history of the English Second Civil War further
To really grasp the weight of this period, you need to look at primary sources. The "Thomason Tracts" are a collection of thousands of pamphlets printed during this time. They show the raw, unedited anger of the people.
- Visit the Battlefields: Preston is now largely built over, but the Ribble Valley still gives you a sense of the terrain Cromwell navigated.
- Read the Memoirs: Look for the writings of Edmund Ludlow or the letters of Oliver Cromwell from 1648. They reveal a man who went from a frustrated politician to a convinced regicide.
- Check Local Archives: Many towns in Kent and Essex have digitized records of the 1648 "commotions" that provide a granular look at how neighbors turned on each other.
The English Second Civil War wasn't just a footnote. It was the moment the English decided that some bridges were burned too badly to ever be rebuilt. It turned a political disagreement into a republican revolution.
Understand the specific events in South Wales and the Siege of Colchester to see how local grievances can escalate into national regime change. Study the Battle of Preston to see how a professionalized military can overcome superior numbers through superior logistics and morale. Analyze the shift in language from 1647 to 1649 to see how "The King" became "Charles Stuart, that man of blood." This transition is the key to understanding the birth of the only republic England has ever known.