Talk:English Civil War

Wikipedia:WikiProject Wars of the Three Kingdoms and the Interregnum

I am setting up a Military history task force at Wikipedia:WikiProject Wars of the Three Kingdoms and the Interregnum all welcome. -- PBS (talk) 10:09, 21 March 2010 (UTC)

Edit request from 76.119.143.217, 31 May 2010

{{editsemiprotected}} Final sentence in first paragraph of "Personal Rule" section: court ("but they lost in court") is spelled "coubrt".

76.119.143.217 (talk) 18:15, 31 May 2010 (UTC)

Done. Thanks! haz (talk) 18:38, 31 May 2010 (UTC)

Abolition of "star chamber" by Long Parliament

I believe that the abolition of the "star chamber" in 1941 deserves mention. This action by Parliament restored the authority of the courts to try lawbreakers before a jury in a court of law, and not before a panel of appointees beholding to the King or the King himself. From the wiki article on jury trial

One of the most ancient and most established instruments of power was the court of Star Chamber, which possessed an unlimited discretionary authority of fining, imprisoning, and inflicting corporal punishment, and whose jurisdiction extended to all sorts of offenses, contempts, and disorders, that lay not within reach of the common law. The members of this court consisted of the privy council and the judges; men who all of them enjoyed their offices during pleasure: And when the prince himself was present, he was the sole judge, and all the others could only interpose with their advice. There needed but this one court in any government, to put an end to all regular, legal, and exact plans of liberty. For who durst set himself in opposition to the crown and ministry, or aspire to the character of being a patron of freedom, while exposed to so arbitrary a jurisdiction? I much question, whether any of the absolute monarchies in Europe contain, at present, so illegal and despotic a tribunal. While so many terrors hung over the people, no jury durst have acquitted a man, when the court was resolved to have him condemned. The practice also, of not confronting witnesses to the prisoner, gave the crown lawyers all imaginable advantage against him. And, indeed, there scarcely occurs an instance, during all these reigns, that the sovereign, or the ministers, were ever disappointed in the issue of a prosecution. Timid juries, and judges who held their offices during pleasure, never failed to second all the views of the crown. And as the practice was anciently common of fining, imprisoning, or otherwise punishing the jurors, merely at the discretion of the court, for finding a verdict contrary to the direction of these dependent judges; it is obvious, that juries were then no manner of security to the liberty of the subject.

The first paragraph of the Act that abolished the Star Chamber repeats the clause on the right of a citizen to be judged by his peers:

Abolition of the Star Chamber July 5, 1641 An act for the regulating of the privy council, and for taking away the court commonly called the star-chamber.

WHEREAS by the great charter many times confirmed in parliament, it is enacted, That no freeman shall be taken or imprisoned, or disseised of his freehold or liberties, or free customs, or be outlawed or exiled or otherwise destroyed, and that the King will not pass upon him, or condemn him; but by lawful judgment of his peers, or by the law of the land.71.174.128.244 (talk) 15:34, 24 January 2011 (UTC)

I'd encourage you to add something suitable to the article, backing it with a suitable reference or reference(s). Hchc2009 (talk) 18:01, 24 January 2011 (UTC)

Crises of succession....

Petrsw, I'm really not seeing where the rest of the section talks about "successive crises of succession". There are two successions that I can see mentioned: Elizabeth > James and James > Charles. There's nothing in the text that I can see that suggests there was a crisis surrounding either transition. The closest we get is Charles' subsequent marriage to Henrietta being criticised, but it's not described as a crisis, and the "suspicions" over Charles' constitutional views - again, not exactly the language of a "crisis". That's why I think you need to add a suitable reference in to support your addition. Hchc2009 (talk) 19:27, 15 September 2011 (UTC)

Referencing...

Aodhdubh, I've undone the last set of changes because they lacked any referencing. When you're adding material, you'll need to explain where you've got the information from - e.g. a book, a web-page, a journal etc. If you need any help with the formatting, or just general advice on this, feel free to leave me a message here or on my talk page and I'll happily try and help. Hchc2009 (talk) 07:10, 1 October 2011 (UTC)

Hchc2009 please explain this edit that as I said when I reverted your edit "Does not make sense to put author name into the text". For example look at the article as it is now and view the paragraph that starts "In the 1970s, ...." with your change, you have changed a footnote into "Gaunt 2000, p. 60". -- PBS (talk) 08:59, 12 February 2012 (UTC)

PBS, as per Op CITE, "Each article should use the same citation method throughout. If an article already has citations, adopt the method in use or seek consensus on the talk page before changing it...when adding citations, to try to follow the system and style already in use in the article (if any)" I was fixing the recent introduction of 4-5 sfn templates into an article that otherwise uses Harvbn templates throughout. As you may have noticed, I failed to add the ref tags around the sfn; I've fixed that too. Hchc2009 (talk) 09:04, 12 February 2012 (UTC)

Methods does not differentiate on whether {{harvnb}} or {{sfn}} is used. You have now gone and changed the style because you have removed the full stops from the end of the short citations. What is it that you do not like about the {{sfn}} template? All it is doing is placing a wrapper around {{harvnb}} which you are insisting on doing manually why make the extra work for everyone? -- PBS (talk) 09:14, 12 February 2012 (UTC)

PBS, I have no strong feelings about the virtues of sfn or harvnb; I've edited using both in various articles, depending on the existing style of the article. In this case though, the article uses the harvnb template, which determines the format of new references. As noted in previous discussions, if you feel the article would be improved by a different style, simply propose it on the relevant talk page. Hchc2009 (talk) 09:17, 12 February 2012 (UTC)

How does the format of {{harvnb}} differ from {{sfn}} other than it does not place a full stop after the page number? If there is no visual difference how does it alter the style? It seems to me that your revert and subsequent edits has just made more work for both of us. And there is still more work to do because you have not put in the full stops after the short citations I added, so they currently do not have the same style as most of the rest of the citations. Why make extra work for everyone when they same can be accomplished automatically by using {{sfn}}?-- PBS (talk) 09:30, 12 February 2012 (UTC)

As per my previous, simply propose it as a change on this page and gain consensus. Hchc2009 (talk) 09:33, 12 February 2012 (UTC)

What consensus is needed? There is no change in method or style. Your suggestion implies that it either has to be {{sfn}} or <ref>{{harvnb}}.</ref>, when they can be mixed and matched with no visual difference in the appearance of the text. -- PBS (talk) 09:43, 12 February 2012 (UTC)

PBS, the discussion on this at Wikipedia talk:Citing sources rolls on... but, in the meantime, can I make a proposal? I'm guessing from previous discussions that you'd probably prefer to see sfn used throughout here, rather than harvnb with a full stop; in the case of this article, I think that would be a good move and would happily support it. If you thought similarly, how about we start a new section and jointly propose it as a change? Hchc2009 (talk) 17:03, 14 February 2012 (UTC)

I have no opinion on this. Personally I use {{sfn}}, {{harvnb}} and {{harv}} as appropriate. If someone else chooses to use <ref>{{harvnb|an author|2012|p=100.}} I do not see that it matters. I think it is slightly troublesome to use a named reference tag for repeated citations that simply wrap a {{harvnb}} in reference tags, as {{sfn}} takes care of that automatically and in the long run that means less likelihood of errors. If I add any more information to this or any other article I will continue to use what I think is appropriate and if others wish to change those citations then they can do so. If you think it worth the trouble to convert the <ref>{{harvnb|an author|2012|p=100.}} to {{sfn}} then do so I have not objections, I just hope that when you do so you don't then insist that people have to use {{sfn}}. BTW as you will see from this conversation most editors really do not care about whether {{harvnb}} or {{sfn}} are used throughout an article or if they are mixed, or I suspect hand rolled and look vaguely similar. -- PBS (talk) 05:09, 17 February 2012 (UTC)