Just Beyond Tomorrow. Bertrice Small

      Prologue

      GREAT BRITAIN, 1642–1650

      In the summer of 1642 the king and the parliament began preparing for war, each raising an army of its own. The crisis had been coming for some time now. The parliament wanted Charles Stuart to consult with them in his choice of government ministers and other official appointments. They wanted complete control of the army put into their hands. They wanted to reform the English church, abolish all bishops, and allow the final authority in church affairs to rest with them. They wanted a say in the raising of the king’s children. They quoted from the Bible extensively in order to justify their demands, but like most politicians they forgot one of Christ’s strongest directives to “render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s; and unto God that which is God’s.” A very clear warning to the human race to keep church and state separate, but parliament, believing they alone spoke for God, wasn’t listening.

      The king, however, firmly believed that his authority came directly from the celestial actuary. He held fast to the Divine Right of his Stuart and Tudor ancestors. Unfortunately the parliament also believed God was on their side. But, had the king given in to parliament’s wishes, they would have become the sole governing power of England. With all civil, military, and religious authority firmly in their hands, and backed by the landed wealth of certain of the nobility in the House of Lords, they sought to rule England. Had Charles Stuart yielded to the parliament, he would have found himself rendered little more than a figurehead. It was an intolerable position for the king to accept, but neither side was willing to compromise.

      The first English civil war was fought. When it was over in 1647, the queen and her children had fled England for France. The king found himself a prisoner, first of parliament, and then of the Roundheads of Oliver Cromwell. He managed to escape, fleeing to the Isle of Wight, where he attempted to bargain with the parliament and, at the same time, with his possible allies in Scotland. The king, who loved intrigue, also loved to barter. From the relative security of Carisbrooke Castle, he sat like a spider in the center of his web attempting to wheel and deal while his royal agents brought him the encouraging news of the people’s discontent with parliament’s army, which had grown overpowerful and abusive.

      Pleased with what appeared to be a growing discord among his enemies, the king played his usual game of delay, behaving as if all of England were still firmly in his royal grasp and under his personal control. Winter came. The Scots sent envoys to Carisbrooke. Their army would rise in support of Charles Stuart if he would but guarantee the safety of their Presbyterian church and take some of the Scots nobility into his government. Parliament, suddenly realizing that the king was not bargaining fairly with them, feared a Scots alliance would renew the civil war. So the moderates in parliament appealed to the Scots Presbyterians to form an alliance with them. The king thereupon signed an ill-advised treaty with the Scots.

      Parliament angrily voted to disenfranchise the king, refusing to offer him any more terms for compromise. Throughout England, however, the anger grew, and directed itself not toward the king, but toward parliament