Pastime | Episode
Pastime

2. Royal Arrest Attempt Triggers English War - JONATHAN HEALEY

The John Batchelor Show | Sep 21 2026 | 00:37:22

1642 HOUSES DURING CHARLES I

Royal Arrest Attempt Triggers English War
Jonathan Healey, Part Two: On January 4, 1642, King Charles I attempted to arrest five MPs and Lord Mandeville for treason. Pushed by Queen Henrietta Maria, Charles personally entered the House of Commons with armed cavaliers. However, Lady Carlisle had leaked the plot, enabling the members to escape by boat down the Thames into London. Hostile crowds surrounded Charles's coach, throwing pamphlets with the biblical call "To your tents, O Israel." Fearing for their safety, Charles and Henrietta Maria fled Whitehall for Hampton Court. The Queen departed for continental Europe to raise funds and troops, while Charles established a royalist court in York. Parliament passed the radical Militia Ordinance without royal assent, claiming sovereign control over the military. When the governor of Hull barred Charles from accessing his armory, both sides began mobilizing armed forces, plunging England into civil war. (2)