Below are a few of what I consider to be the better thesis statements regarding the origins of the English Civil War. Please vote for and rank your top THREE by writing a comment to this post.

1. The English Civil War was rooted in financial disputes and wide displeasure with King Charles I’s absolutist tendencies. A maturing Parliament was no longer willing to part with precious funding or sacrifice its growing autonomy to satisfy an irresponsible monarch.
2. The political turmoil between Parliament and the king over the authority the king ha[d] to raise taxes, control armies, control the English judicial system, and when to dissolve Parliament led to the English Civil War because the nature of the king’s relationship with Parliament had no precedents.
3. There were numerous causes of the [English Civil] war, all of which involved Parliament’s questioning of the king’s political and religious decisions. Parliament [argued that] that king had no right to tax and was against his expensive wars. Parliament was also worried about a growing Catholic population and the strong Catholic presence in the Church of England.
4. The repercussions of Charles’ ‘Eleven Years’ Tyranny’, Parliament’s resulting assertion of its authority, religious tensions, and military engagements were the major factors leading to Charles’ ultimate accusations of treason on several members of Parliament and the subsequent start of the English Civil War.
5. Parliament and it’s supporters claimed many grievances against the king, accusing him of violating their civil liberties with taxation beyond his authority, imprisonment and punitive action subverting their rights, and disregard for the supreme authority of the Parliament and its consent. Moreover, they feared he was unable to stop or willing to allow Catholicism to gain strength in his kingdom, all while resenting the overbearing power of the king, his dukes and cronies, and the bishops.
6. The fraying relationship between Ireland, Scotland, and England exacerbated the political instability of England, while the religious differences between the more conservative Anglicans, Arminians, and Puritans further split England and further forced England into war. England dissolved into civil war, however, only after a series of highly destabilizing and specific events, [such as the Scottish war and Irish rebellion].