Commission of array: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 11:30, 21 February 2024

Revision as of 11:32, 21 February 2024

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===Civil War revival===

Although long obsolete by the 17th century, the system was revived by King [[Charles I of England|Charles I]] in 1642 at the start of the [[English Civil War|Civil War]], in an unconstitutional manner, that is to say without [[Parliament of England|Parliament]] having been consulted, in order to counteract the equally unconstitutional [[Militia Ordinance]] enacted by Parliament in 1642 without the usual [[Royal Assent]]. Both decrees tried to gain control of existing [[militia]] and to raise further troops. The Commission of Array issued by the king thus sought to muster a [[Cavalier|Royalist]] army.<ref name="auto">Andriette, Eugene A., Devon and Exeter in the Civil War, Newton Abbot, 1971, p.56</ref> Commissioners were appointed for each county, generally from leading members of the local aristocracy and gentry who might be assumed to wield great influence over their feudal tenants and the population in general. The commissioners read out the text of their commission in public gatherings in the main towns. Often the local people suspected such innovative royal decrees, uncertain in precedent and purposeaspurpose, to be designed for the general suppression of the people, and they were openly hostile. Opponents of the king, whilst playing down the role of the [[Militia Ordinance]] in augmenting civil strife, portrayed the Commission of Array as a sign that it was the king and not Parliament who was the real aggressor in the developing conflict.<ref>Andriette, p.57</ref>

====Devon====