In June the Parliament sent the king a final list of stipulations, demanding that he hand over complete control of the church, the army, the ministries, and the judicial system to the parliament. The king, predictably refused to comply. Both parties moved to assembled armies signalling the imminent outbreak of civil war. 

The English Civil War lasted from 1642 to 1647 and the lines of division were drawn between the Puritans and the king. The parliament as a whole was determined to bring the king to his knees by military means. They also wanted to overhaul the government structure and usher in a social reformation. 

The Puritan faction of Parliament garnered the support of the urban elite, the middle class, and the gentry while the nobility backed the king. It was a perilous time for England. The last time a king had been deposed by war was when Henry VII met Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485. But unlike that conflict, the parliament had no viable candidate to rule the kingdom in place of the current king. 

English men and women were taking a massive gamble by backing the Puritans who weren’t simply opposed to Charles I but to monarchy as a whole. It was an unprecedented time in English history when citizens were willing to forego thousands of years of tradition, stability, and loyalty to the king to attempt radical social change. England had never been without a king. How would she fare now? 

After a year of fighting the parliamentary army who had joined forces with the Scots were winning. Cromwell as head of the army, demanded radical religious change. The Puritans called for a complete eradication of the Church of England and its current system, proposing that it be replaced with a Presbyterian model of governance. Above all, they demanded absolute religious liberty, independent of the king or the state church. Each of these demands was unprecedented.