thestuartkings: positivelyindecent: ...

17th January 2012

Photoset reblogged from The Stuarts with 53 notes

positivelyindecent:

thestuartkings:

Postage stamps commemorating the English Civil War

Issued in June 1992, these stamps marked the 350th anniversary of the first major armed conflict of the civil wars: the Battle of Edgehill, Warwickshire, October 23, 1642, which posterity has reckoned a victory for the Royalists. These stamps honor the common soldier, represented in terms of what he carried into battle: pike, musket, standard, or drum

How was it in any way a victory for the Royalists? The New Model Army defeated them, Charles I was beheaded and Oliver Cromwell established a republic that lasted until his death.
Even when the monarchy was restored Charles II never had the same powers as his father. The relationship between Parliament and the Crown was forever changed.

Presumably it means because although the Roundheads won the civil war, the commonwealth only ruled for 10 years before they brought the monarchy back, which from a historical perspective it a very short amount of time. I suppose in a wider sense, the Parliamentarians won the battle, but the Royalists won the war. Charles was much more adaptable that his father, which was a good thing. But he still dissolved parliament and ruled alone when he saw fit. After that the monarchy got less and less power, but we do still have them. We are not a republic.

But I disagree that they won the war. Yes, there was the Restoration, but the political landscape was forever changed afterwards in a way that made the Glorious Revolution inevitable.
Now it is Parliament who makes the laws, not the Monarchy. We are a Parliamentary Democracy and it’s a system that works.
I was just curious as to how Royalists could be classed as winning the war when they had to flee the country for ten years and never achieved the same level of power that they had beforehand.
Charles II dissolved Parliament? That’s interesting and something I didn’t know. I knew he had his battles with Parliament but did not know he took that drastic action, considering what happened to his father.

Source: mistrisparliament.wordpress.com

Positively Indecent