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The Sealed Knot - English Civil War Re-Enactment

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If your visiting the UK and are somewhat interested in history, then you may want to check out The Sealed Knot website.

Check out their battle dates and plan ahead of your trip. This is especially interesting for children who may need to work on a project for educational purposes. A great day out for all ages!

The Sealed Knot, a registered charity, stages numerous events throughout the country, offering you the unique chance to experience at first hand the trials of a nation at war with itself. Sealed Knot battle re-enactments are colourful, exciting and above all realistic - the roar of the cannon, cavalry dashing across the field, thousands of soldiers clashing in battle, the colourful standards, the smoke and the noise of the drums - this is the Sealed Knot - vividly bringing to life the battles that helped shape our nation.

What better way to teach children about the period than with a little "hands-on" experience.
The Sealed Knot has been heavily involved in education for many years, giving school talks and displays about life in the Civil War throughout the UK. If your school or college is running a project on the Civil War period, the Sealed Knot can provide you with experts on everything from cookery to clothes, education and politics, through to weapons and battle strategies.

History Lesson
Today we take for granted the right to send our elected representatives to Parliament. But in the time of King Charles I, Parliament was called and dissolved according to the King's will.

Between 1629 and 1640 Parliament was not called and in the period between 1649 and 1660 England had no King, thus leading to "eleven years without a Parliament, eleven years without a King".
When Charles required extra revenue, he looked for ways to raise it without the authority of Parliament. The methods he used were very unpopular: ship money, the creation of monopolies in coal, soap, alum etc. There was even a proposal to bring back the entire clothing industry under Royal control.

On the argument about Religion the Puritans differed from the Royalists because they wished to expel from the church all they considered corrupt and unsrciptural. The fact that the King was married to a Roman Catholic was a further difficulty between the two sides.

Late in 1641 many of King Charles' closest advisers believed that "extremists" in the Commons were about to impeach the Queen. Early in 1642 Charles tried to arrest five of the leading members of the Commons, shortly after this the King and his family left Whitehall for Hampton Court - little did he know at the time that he would not return to London until his trial.

Parliament quickly took control of the armed forces. Charles responded by issuing a proclamation that the forces were not to obey their new 'masters'. Both sides started recruiting and Charles was soon aided by the arrival of his nephew, Prince Rupert.

In August 1642 King Charles set up his standard at Nottingham and two months later met the Parliamentary army at Edgehill. Throughout the hostilities attempts were made to reach a settlement. The attempts failed and Charles was tried for being the chief cause of the trouble.
The result of the trial was a foregone conclusion. Cromwell said "I tell you we cut off his head with the crown on it."

Charles was beheaded on January 30th 1649, outside the Banqueting House, which still stands, in Whitehall. Cromwell died in his bed in 1658 and his son, Richard, ruled for a short time. In 1660 the son of Charles I returned to his kingdom and rightful place, ruling as Charles II.