Pride's Purge

After defeat in the First English Civil War, Charles I retained significant political power with the help of Scots Covenanters and Parliamentarian moderates to restore him as a king of England. The war was fought over the right of the King to rule and to raise taxes without asking for Parliament’s advice or consent.

In September and October 1648, after the Second Civil War, Parliament tried to make a treaty with Charles.

On 6 November 1648 army commanders led by Colonel Thomas Pride decided that Charles must be put on trial instead. The army effectively took over Parliament, arrested 45 MP and excluded a further 186 whom the Army thought were unlikely to support its goal of punishing the King. Charles I then was taken as a prisoner by the army.

This event was known as Pride’s Purge and it took place in December 1648, during the Second English Civil War. A purge means a clean out or removal. Colonel Pride ‘cleaned out’ Parliament by excluding from Parliament or arresting the MPs who were the harshest critics of the army.

Among these, a determined clique unilaterally forced through an 'Act' on 6 January 1649, establishing a court to try Charles I for high treason. The remainder became known as ‘the Rump Parliament’. The Rump put Charles I on trial and found him guilty of treason against his own people. He was executed on 30 January 1649 outside the Banqueting House in Whitehall.
Pride's Purge