 Plaque commemorating the signing of the treaty | |
| Context | Bishops' Wars |
|---|---|
| Drafted | 16 October 1640 |
| Signed | 28 October 1640 |
| Location | Ripon |
| Negotiators | |
| Original signatories | Charles I |
| Parties | |
The Treaty of Ripon was a truce between Charles I, King of England, and the Covenanters, a Scottish political movement, which brought a cessation of hostilities to the Second Bishops' War.
The Covenanter movement had arisen in opposition to attempts by Charles, who was also King of Scotland, to reform the Church of Scotland to bring it into closer alignment with the Church of England. In 1638, the Covenanters gained political supremacy in Scotland and the next year Charles mobilised to restore his authority over Scotland by force. A confrontation between Scots and English armies was avoided when a truce was negotiated in June 1639, ending what would later be known as the First Bishops' War. However, this did not resolve fundamental issues and the political struggle continued into the next year. To gain the funds for a second military action against the Scots, Charles called a new English parliament—the first in 11 years. When this assembled in April 1640, the parliament would not agree to supply funds for his renewed war effort unless he first addressed various long-standing grievances. Unwilling to do so, Charles dissolved what became known as the Short Parliament after only three weeks and again prepared for war using his own resources.
In August 1640, a Scots Covenanter army invaded England, won a decisive victory at the Battle of Newburn and proceeded to occupy Northumberland, County Durham, and Newcastle upon Tyne. Charles assembled the Great Council of Peers to negotiate with the Scots. The two sides met in Ripon near York where the Scots agreed to a cessation of hostilities provided they were paid daily expenses indefinitely until a final settlement could be negotiated and ratified by a new English parliament.
Over the next year, further negotiations in London led eventually to a formal peace treaty ending the Bishops' Wars. Meanwhile, the Long Parliament, as it became known, was strongly opposed to the King and his government and passed a series of acts which meant Charles could no longer dissolve it at will. Antagonism between the King and the Parliament escalated to armed conflict in 1642: the start of the English Civil War.