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{{Short description|Parliament supporter in the English Civil War}}
{{about|the Parliamentarians during the English Civil War|other uses|Roundhead (disambiguation)}}
{{use British English|date=January 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2024}}
{{Use shortened footnotes|date=April 2023}}
{{Infobox political party
| name          = Parliamentarians
| colorcode     = #C8102E
| founded       = {{start date|1641}}
| dissolved     = {{end date|1678}}
| predecessor   = 
| merged        = [[Whigs (British political party)|Whigs]]
| leader1_title = Leaders
| leader1_name  = [[Oliver Cromwell]]<br>[[Richard Cromwell]]<br>[[John Bradshaw (judge)|John Bradshaw]]<br>[[Thomas Fairfax]]
| ideology      = [[Parliamentary supremacy]]<br/>[[Popular sovereignty]]<br/>'''Factions:'''<br />[[Constitutional monarchism]]<br/>[[Republicanism]] <br/>[[Universal suffrage]] {{small|([[Levellers]])}}<br/>[[Proto-socialism]] {{small|([[Diggers]])}}
| position      = 
| religion      = [[Protestantism in England|Protestantism]]
| national      = 
| international = 
| country       = England
| flag          = Flag of England.svg{{!}}border
}}

The '''Parliamentarians''', commonly called '''Roundheads''' by their enemies, were the supporters of the [[Parliament of England]] during the [[English Civil War]] (1642–1651). They fought against King [[Charles I of England]] and his supporters, known as the [[Cavalier]]s or Royalists, who claimed rule by [[absolute monarchy]] and the principle of the [[divine right of kings]].<ref>{{harvnb|Roberts|2006|loc={{page needed|date=January 2011}}}}</ref> The goal of the Roundheads was to give to Parliament the supreme control over [[executive branch|executive administration]] of England.{{sfn|Macaulay|1856|p=105}}

==Beliefs==
[[File:John Pettie Puritan Roundhead.jpg|thumb|upright|A Roundhead as depicted by [[John Pettie]] (1870)]]
Most Roundheads sought [[constitutional monarchy]] in place of the [[absolute monarchy]] sought by Charles;<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://rfb.bildung-rp.de/fileadmin/_migrated/content_uploads/Monarchy_versus_Parliament_01.odt|title=Monarchy versus Parliament: England in the 17th century|last=Krowke|first=André|website=rfb.bildung-rp.de}}</ref> however, at the end of the [[English Civil War]] in 1649, public antipathy towards the king was high enough to allow republican leaders such as [[Oliver Cromwell]] to abolish the monarchy completely and establish the [[Commonwealth of England]].

The Roundhead commander-in-chief of the first Civil War, [[Thomas Fairfax]], remained a supporter of constitutional monarchy, as did many other Roundhead leaders such as [[Edward Montagu, 2nd Earl of Manchester]], and [[Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex]]; however, this party was outmanoeuvred by the more politically adept Cromwell and his radicals, who had the backing of the [[New Model Army]] and took advantage of Charles' perceived betrayal of England in his alliance with the [[Scottish people|Scottish]] against Parliament.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.olivercromwell.org/wordpress/?page_id=818|title=Oliver Cromwell: a Scottish perspective|first=Laura |last=Stewart|publisher=The Cromwell Association}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://bcw-project.org/church-and-state/second-civil-war/engagement|title=The Engagement, 1647–48|last=Plant|first=David|date=November 2008|website=BCW Project}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/civil_war_revolution/cromwell_01.shtml|title=Oliver Cromwell|last=Morrill|first=John|date=February 2011|publisher=BBC}}</ref>{{dubious|date=February 2020}}

England's many [[Puritans]] and [[Presbyterianism|Presbyterian]]s were almost invariably Roundhead supporters, as were many smaller religious groups such as the [[Independent (religion)|Independents]]. However, a number of Roundheads were members of the [[Church of England]], as were most [[Cavaliers]]. Roundhead political factions included the proto-anarchist/socialist [[Diggers]], the diverse group known as the [[Levellers]] and the [[Christian eschatology|apocalyptic Christian]] movement of the [[Fifth Monarchists]].

==Origins and background of the term==
Some Puritans (but by no means all of them) wore their hair closely cropped round the head or flat. This created an obvious contrast between them and the men of [[1600–50 in Western European fashion|courtly fashion]], who wore [[ringlet (haircut)|long ringlet]]s.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} During the war and for a time afterwards, ''Roundhead'' was a term of derision,{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} and in the [[New Model Army]] it was a punishable offence to call a fellow soldier a Roundhead.{{sfn|Worden|2009|p=2}} This contrasted with ''Cavalier'', a word used to describe supporters of the Royalist cause, but which also started out as a pejorative term. The first proponents used it to compare members of the Royalist party with Spanish ''Caballeros'' who had abused Dutch Protestants during the reign of [[Elizabeth I]]. However, unlike Roundhead, Cavalier was later embraced by those who were the target of the epithet and used by them to describe themselves.{{sfn|Worden|2009|p=2}}
[[File:William Frederick Yeames - And when did you last see your father? - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.5|A Roundhead inquisitor asks a son of a Cavalier, "[[William Frederick Yeames#And When Did You Last See Your Father?|And when did you last see your father?]]"—[[William Frederick Yeames]] (1878)]]
"Roundheads" appears to have been first used as a term of derision toward the end of 1641, when the debates in Parliament in the [[Clergy Act 1640]] were causing riots at [[Westminster]]. The [[Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition|''Encyclopædia Britannica'' Eleventh Edition]] quotes a contemporary authority's description of the crowd that gathered there: "They had the hair of their heads very few of them longer than their ears, whereupon it came to pass that those who usually with their cries attended at Westminster were by a nickname called ''Roundheads''".{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} The demonstrators included London apprentices, for whom Roundhead was a term of derision, because the regulations which they had agreed to included a provision for closely cropped hair.{{sfn|Worden|2009|p=2}}

According to [[John Rushworth]], the word was first used on 27 December 1641 by a disbanded officer named David Hide. During a riot, Hide is reported to have drawn his sword and said he would "cut the throat of those round-headed dogs that bawled against bishops";<ref>{{harvnb|Chisholm|1911}} cites Rushworth ''Historical Collections''</ref> however, [[Richard Baxter]]<!--guess 1911 Britannica just said Baxter--> ascribes the origin of the term to a remark made by Queen [[Henrietta Maria of France|Henrietta Maria]], the wife of Charles I, at the trial of [[Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford]], earlier that year. Referring to [[John Pym]], she asked who the roundheaded man was.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} The principal advisor to [[Charles II of England|Charles II]], [[Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon]], remarked on the matter, "and from those contestations the two terms of ''Roundhead'' and ''Cavalier'' grew to be received in discourse,&nbsp;... they who were looked upon as servants to the king being then called ''Cavaliers'', and the other of the rabble contemned and despised under the name of ''Roundheads''."<ref>{{harvnb|Chisholm|1911}} cites Clarendon ''History of the Rebellion'', volume IV. p. 121.</ref>

After the Anglican Archbishop [[William Laud]] made a statute in 1636 instructing all clergy to wear short hair, many Puritans rebelled to show their contempt for his authority and began to grow their hair even longer (as can be seen on [[:File:PuritanGallery.jpg|their portraits]])<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Powell |first1=Margaret K. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A0MIEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22William+Laud%22+hair+1636&pg=PA20 |title=A Cultural History of Hair in the Age of Enlightenment |last2=Roach |first2=Joseph |date=2020-12-10 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-350-08795-8 |language=en}}</ref> though they continued to be known as Roundheads. The longer hair was more common among the "Independent" and "high-ranking" Puritans, which included Cromwell, especially toward the end of the Protectorate, while the "Presbyterian" faction, and the military rank and file, continued to reject long hair. By the end of that period, some Independent Puritans were again derisively using the term Roundhead to refer to the Presbyterian Puritans.{{sfn|Hanbury|1844|pp=118, 635}}

''Roundhead'' remained in use to describe those with republican tendencies until the [[Exclusion Crisis]] of 1678–1681, when the term was superseded by "[[Whigs (British political party)|Whig]]", initially another term with pejorative connotations. Likewise, during the Exclusion Bill crisis, the term ''Cavalier'' was replaced with "[[Tories (British political party)|Tory]]", an Irish term introduced by their opponents that was also initially a pejorative term.{{sfn|Worden|2009|p=4}}

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
*{{cite book|last=Macaulay  |first=Thomas Babington |year =1856   |title=The History of England from the Accession of James II |volume=1  |publisher=Harper & Brothers |location=New York |pages=105 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ehoPAAAAYAAJ&q=Roundhead+Civil+War&pg=PA105 |isbn=0-543-93129-3}}
*{{cite book|last=Hanbury |first=Benjamin |author-link=Benjamin Hanbury |year=1844 |title=Historical Memorials Relating to the Independents Or Congregationalists: From Their Rise to the Restoration of the Monarchy |volume=3 |pages=118, 635}}
*{{cite book|last=Hunt |first=John |author-link=John Hunt (theologian) |year=2010|orig-year=1870 |title=Religious Thought in England, from the Reformation to the End of Last Century; A Contribution to the History of Theology|volume=2 |publisher=General Books LLC|isbn=978-1-150-98096-1|page=5}}
*{{cite book|last=Ridley |first=Jasper |author-link=Jasper Ridley (historian) |year=1976 |title=The Roundheads |location=London |publisher=Constable |isbn=978-0-09461-230-3}}
*{{cite book|last=Roberts |first=Chris |year=2006 |title=Heavy Words Lightly Thrown: The Reason Behind Rhyme |publisher=Thorndike Press |isbn=0-7862-8517-6}}
*{{cite book|last=Worden |first=Blair |author-link=Blair Worden |year=2009 |title=The English Civil Wars 1640–1660|location=London |publisher=Penguin Books|isbn=978-0-14-100694-9}}

===Attribution===
*{{EB1911|wstitle=Roundhead|volume=23|page=772}}

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[[Category:Roundheads|*Roundhead]]
[[Category:English Civil War]]
[[Category:Parliament of England]]
[[Category:Political parties disestablished in the 17th century]]