The Army Council was a body established in 1647 to represent the views of all levels of the

New Model Army The New Model Army or New Modelled Army was a standing army formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians during the First English Civil War, then disbanded after the Stuart Restoration in 1660. It differed from other armies employed in the 1639 t ...

. It originally consisted of senior commanders, like Sir

Thomas Fairfax Sir Thomas Fairfax (17 January 1612 – 12 November 1671) was an English army officer and politician who commanded the New Model Army from 1645 to 1650 during the English Civil War. Because of his dark hair, he was known as "Black Tom" to his l ...

, and representatives elected by their regiments, known as

Agitators The Agitators were a political movement as well as elected representatives of soldiers, including members of the New Model Army under General the Lord Fairfax, during the English Civil War. They were also known as ''adjutators''. Many of the id ...

. Following the

Putney Debates The Putney Debates, which took place from 28 October to 8 November 1647, were a series of discussions over the political settlement that should follow Parliament's victory over Charles I in the First English Civil War. The main participants wer ...

of October to November 1647, Fairfax,

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially ...

and

Henry Ireton Henry Ireton (baptised 3 November 1611; died 26 November 1651) was an English general in the Parliamentarian army during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, and a son-in-law of Oliver Cromwell. He died of disease outside Limerick in November 165 ...

grew concerned by their radicalism, and in 1648, Agitators were removed from the Council. Now dominated by the so-called Grandees, it became the Council of Officers.

Background

When the

First English Civil War The First English Civil War took place in England and Wales from 1642 to 1646, and forms part of the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. An estimated 15% to 20% of adult males in England and Wales served in the military at some point b ...

began in 1642, the vast majority on both sides believed a 'well-ordered' monarchy was divinely mandated. They disagreed on what 'well-ordered' meant, and who held ultimate authority in clerical affairs. Royalists generally supported a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

governed by

bishops A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

, appointed by, and answerable to, the king;

Puritans The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should b ...

believed he was answerable to the leaders of the church, appointed by their congregations. However, 'Puritan' was a term for anyone who wanted to reform, or 'purify', the Church of England, and contained many different perspectives.

Presbyterians Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

were the most prominent in the

Long Parliament The Long Parliament was an Parliament of England, English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660, making it the longest-lasting Parliament in English and British history. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened f ...

; in general, they wanted to convert the Church of England into a Presbyterian body, similar to the

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland (CoS; ; ) is a Presbyterian denomination of Christianity that holds the status of the national church in Scotland. It is one of the country's largest, having 245,000 members in 2024 and 259,200 members in 2023. While mem ...

. Independents opposed any state church, and although smaller in number, included Cromwell, as well as much of the

. Having established control of Scotland in the 1639 to 1640 Bishops Wars, the

Covenanters Covenanters were members of a 17th-century Scottish religious and political movement, who supported a Presbyterian Church of Scotland and the primacy of its leaders in religious affairs. It originated in disputes with James VI and his son ...

viewed the 1643

Solemn League and Covenant The Solemn League and Covenant was an agreement between the Scottish Covenanters and the leaders of the English Parliamentarians in 1643 during the First English Civil War, a theatre of conflict in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. On 17 August ...

with Parliament as a way to preserve it, by preventing Royalist victory in England. As the war progressed, they and their English co-religionists came to see the Independents, and their political allies like the

Levellers The Levellers were a political movement active during the English Civil War who were committed to popular sovereignty, extended suffrage, equality before the law and religious tolerance. The hallmark of Leveller thought was its populism, as sh ...

, as a greater threat to the established order than the Royalists. In 1646, many Parliamentarians assumed military defeat would force Charles I to agree terms, but this was a fundamental misunderstanding of his character. Charles refused to agree any substantial concessions, frustrating allies and opponents alike. At this stage, the idea of establishing a republic was largely confined to a radicals like the Levellers; Parliament presented its conditions to Charles, known as the Newcastle conditions. They included establishing the Church of England as a Presbyterian body, handing control of the army to Parliament and accepting punishment of leading Royalists. Although Charles continued negotiations, he had no intention of agreeing to these conditions.

Establishment of the General Council

Despite victory in the

, Parliament was struggling with the economic cost of the war, a poor 1646 harvest, and a recurrence of the plague. The Presbyterian faction which formed a majority of MPs had the support of the London Trained Bands, the Army of the Western Association, leaders like Rowland Laugharne in Wales, and elements of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

. By March 1647, the New Model was owed more than £3 million in unpaid wages; Parliament ordered it to Ireland, stating only those who agreed would be paid. Henry Ireton

In response, each regiment elected two representatives, or

; along with senior officers like Sir

, known as the '

Grandee Grandee (; , ) is an official royal and noble ranks, aristocratic title conferred on some Spanish nobility. Holders of this dignity enjoyed similar privileges to those of the peerage of France during the , though in neither country did they ha ...

s', these representatives formed the Army Council. After a meeting near

Newmarket, Suffolk Newmarket is a market town and civil parish in the West Suffolk (district), West Suffolk district of Suffolk, England, 14 miles west of Bury St Edmunds and 14 miles northeast of Cambridge. In 2021, it had a population of 16,772. It is a global ...

on Friday 4 June 1647, they issued "''A Solemne Engagement of the Army, under the Command of his Excellency Sir Thomas Fairfax''". Presented to Parliament on 8 June, it set out their grievances and explained the constitution of the Council, to make it clear these demands had wide-ranging support. Parliament responded by ordering the New Model to disband. Concerned Parliament intended to restore Charles without preconditions, on 4 June the Council had him removed from his Parliamentary guards, and taken to

Thriplow Thriplow () is a village in Cambridgeshire, England, south of Cambridge. The village also gives its name to a former Hundreds of Cambridgeshire, Cambridgeshire hundred. History The parish of Thriplow covers , roughly spanning the land between ...

. He was now presented with The Heads of the Proposals, a set of conditions prepared by Cromwell and other senior officers; in many ways, they were more lenient than the Newcastle Propositions, particularly in their religious provisions. This not only created a rift between Parliament and the New Model but also between its senior officers and the rank and file, who viewed them as being far too moderate. Seeing an opportunity to divide his opponents, Charles rejected them; on 26 July, pro-Presbyterian rioters burst into Parliament, demanding he be invited to London. In early August, Fairfax and the New Model took control of the city, which re-established command authority over the rank and file. However, with the majority of the New Model now based in or around London, the influence of the Levellers was strengthened; with their support, the Agitators prepared a revolutionary new constitution called the

Agreement of the People '' An Agreement of the People'' was a series of manifestos, published between 1647 and 1649, for constitutional changes to the English state. Several versions of the ''Agreement'' were published, each adapted to address not only broad concerns b ...

. This contained demands for almost universal male suffrage, reform of electoral boundaries, supreme power to rest with the Parliament, religious freedom and an end to imprisonment for debt. At the

in late October and early November, Agitators discussed adoption of the 'Agreement' and the 'Proposals', with Cromwell's son-in-law

representing the Army Council. The Levellers pushed for a single meeting of the entire army, which would vote on which proposal to accept but were out manoeuvred by the Council, which insisted on three separate meetings. They used the delay to ensure adoption of the 'Proposals' by demanding every soldier sign a declaration of loyalty, to Fairfax and the Army Council, with signature signifying acceptance of the 'Proposals'. In return, they were promised their pay arrears in full; it was suggested divisions within the New Model could enable Parliament to delay or even refuse payment. At the first meeting on 15 November, a minority refused, leading to the Corkbush Field mutiny, which was quickly suppressed; Private Richard Arnold was tried for mutiny and shot on the spot as an example. At the two other meetings at

Ruislip Ruislip ( ) is a suburb in the London Borough of Hillingdon in northwest London. Prior to 1965 it was in Middlesex. Ruislip lies west-north-west of Charing Cross, London. The manor of Ruislip appears in the Domesday Book, and some of the ear ...

and Kingston, the other regiments complied with orders to show support for Fairfax. The net result was the Army Council now became a political power, separate from either king or Parliament.

Council of Officers

Over the following years the Army Council changed in constituency. The elected agitators were removed and the Council became an (Army) Council of Officers, remaining an important institution in the ruling establishment of the

English Commonwealth The Commonwealth of England was the political structure during the period from 1649 to 1660 when Kingdom of England, England and Wales, later along with Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland and Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland, were governed as a republi ...

and

the Protectorate The Protectorate, officially the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland, was the English form of government lasting from 16 December 1653 to 25 May 1659, under which the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Scotland, Scotl ...

during the Interregnum. For example, at the start of the Protectorate, ten days after the dissolution of the

Rump Parliament The Rump Parliament describes the members of the Long Parliament who remained in session after Colonel Thomas Pride, on 6 December 1648, commanded his soldiers to Pride's Purge, purge the House of Commons of those Members of Parliament, members ...

on 20 April 1653, Cromwell told the

Council of State A council of state is a governmental body in a country, or a subdivision of a country, with a function that varies by jurisdiction. It may be the formal name for the cabinet or it may refer to a non-executive advisory body associated with a head ...

that it no longer existed and together with the Council of Officers, instituted a new Council of State.

References

Sources

* * * * * * * {{cite web , last1=Scott , first1=David , title=The Independents and the Long Parliament, 1644–48 , url=http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/themes/politics/independents , website=History of Parliament , access-date=7 May 2020 New Model Army 1647 establishments in England