Why Did the King Lose the First Bishops' War?

The Unpopularity of the War

Leading Puritans such as Lord Saye and Sele and Lord Brooke were not the only people who thought that the Scottish cause was just. Throughout the country there were people who had no desire to fight Scotland,which they saw as a godly country courageously defending itself against policies that were deeply unpopular in England itself.

The Absence of Parliament

No English King in recent times had fought a war without parliamentary support. Charles had to try to finance the conflict from his non-parliamentary taxes, supplemented with personal loans + private gifts. Ship Money receipts were dwindling away. Charles faced a creeping paralysis of local government brought on by his failure to communicate with the kingdom through regular parliaments.

The Discretionary Nature of English Local Government

Government 'of the county, by the county, for the county' was not a system likely to produce an efficient, well-trained national army during…