Roundhead or Cavalier: Which One Are You?

Download Subtitles

Transcript

0:00:05 > 0:00:09In the early 17th century, the British Isles were engulfed

0:00:09 > 0:00:13by bitter religious and political conflict.

0:00:14 > 0:00:17The people divided into two warring tribes,

0:00:17 > 0:00:19The Roundheads -

0:00:19 > 0:00:23radical parliamentarians led by Oliver Cromwell,

0:00:23 > 0:00:26fighting to create a more egalitarian church and state -

0:00:26 > 0:00:28SHOUTING AND SWORDS CLASHING

0:00:28 > 0:00:31and the Cavaliers - royalists led by Charles I

0:00:31 > 0:00:35fighting to preserve the political and religious hierarchy

0:00:35 > 0:00:37and the King's authority.

0:00:37 > 0:00:39SHOUTING AND HORSES WHINNYING

0:00:39 > 0:00:42The conflict came to a head in civil war

0:00:42 > 0:00:47that would revolutionise the culture and politics of Britain.

0:00:47 > 0:00:49MEN SHOUTING AND GALLOPING HOOVES

0:00:51 > 0:00:55'It shattered unified society forever.'

0:00:55 > 0:00:56And ever since then we've had,

0:00:56 > 0:00:59essentially, some kind of two party system.

0:00:59 > 0:01:02The division of Roundhead and Cavalier

0:01:02 > 0:01:06got perpetuated, in many ways, into Whig and Tory,

0:01:06 > 0:01:08Liberal and Conservative,

0:01:08 > 0:01:10Conservative and Socialist.

0:01:12 > 0:01:15The Civil War was more than a battle for political power.

0:01:15 > 0:01:19It was also a struggle between two conflicting attitudes to life

0:01:19 > 0:01:22and that struggle continues to this day.

0:01:23 > 0:01:27I think we subconsciously divide ourselves into Roundheads and Cavaliers.

0:01:27 > 0:01:31It's not a mark of wealth, it's not a question of class distinction,

0:01:31 > 0:01:32it's a, sort of, cast of mind.

0:01:34 > 0:01:39The Cavalier is flamboyant, a person of the grand gesture,

0:01:39 > 0:01:41they're not particularly interested in the nitty-gritty

0:01:41 > 0:01:44of organising life and politics.

0:01:44 > 0:01:47They probably don't have a huge overall plan.

0:01:47 > 0:01:54Rather vainglorious but also terribly affable and very friendly.

0:01:54 > 0:01:58Beautiful, beautiful style, not much substance.

0:02:00 > 0:02:02Roundheads I would say, more austere,

0:02:02 > 0:02:04more careful, more organised.

0:02:04 > 0:02:09Dour, godly, sincere, determined, thoughtful...

0:02:09 > 0:02:12People of principle, people of purpose...

0:02:12 > 0:02:18Very militant, power hungry, rebellious...

0:02:20 > 0:02:22The battle between Roundheads and Cavaliers

0:02:22 > 0:02:25continues to shape our national life.

0:02:25 > 0:02:27In architecture...

0:02:29 > 0:02:30..in the press...

0:02:31 > 0:02:33..on the sports field...

0:02:36 > 0:02:38..and in the kitchen.

0:02:39 > 0:02:42To understand the origins of this great divide

0:02:42 > 0:02:47is to understand what it means to be British.

0:02:50 > 0:02:53Prepare to march. March on!

0:03:00 > 0:03:05August Bank Holiday, Godalming, in Surrey.

0:03:09 > 0:03:11And The Sealed Knot -

0:03:11 > 0:03:16the Roundheads and Cavaliers of 21st Century Britain -

0:03:16 > 0:03:17are on the march.

0:03:19 > 0:03:22They regularly gather to re-create battles

0:03:22 > 0:03:25from a civil war that forged our national character.

0:03:30 > 0:03:33Very definitely pleased to say that I'm a royalist

0:03:33 > 0:03:34and definitely a Cavalier as well.

0:03:34 > 0:03:36And me now, you get Daddy!

0:03:36 > 0:03:40'Cavalier means a gentleman of the royalist ranks, really.'

0:03:40 > 0:03:44'I'm a Roundhead and I'm proud of it. Parliament for me.'

0:03:44 > 0:03:46One voice, one people, one vote.

0:03:46 > 0:03:48Without it where'd we be today?

0:03:48 > 0:03:51We'd all be living in the gutter, king'd still be living in castles.

0:03:52 > 0:03:55The first people to be called Roundheads

0:03:55 > 0:03:59were bands of apprentices rioting in London in 1641

0:03:59 > 0:04:03in protest against the power of the King and the Church of England.

0:04:03 > 0:04:07'Roundheads is a name that appeared out of the blue almost.'

0:04:07 > 0:04:08There was a short-lived fashion for people,

0:04:08 > 0:04:11Parliamentarians and Puritans in particular,

0:04:11 > 0:04:13to wear their hair very short

0:04:13 > 0:04:16and this made their heads look almost naked and bald or round.

0:04:16 > 0:04:21And the name stuck, even though the fashion itself did not last very long.

0:04:21 > 0:04:24The Roundheads were campaigning for a radical transformation

0:04:24 > 0:04:27of Britain's political and religious hierarchy.

0:04:28 > 0:04:34Radical Puritans had, in their day, a very advanced view of equality.

0:04:34 > 0:04:37That view came from their religious beliefs,

0:04:37 > 0:04:40where they were all equal before God,

0:04:40 > 0:04:41they were all going to be saved.

0:04:41 > 0:04:45And if they were all equal in religion

0:04:45 > 0:04:47they should be equal in politics

0:04:47 > 0:04:51and so the religion fed into the political demands.

0:04:52 > 0:04:54The Cavaliers were determined

0:04:54 > 0:04:57to stop this Puritanical Roundhead revolution.

0:04:58 > 0:05:02Cavaliers were fighting to protect the authority of the King

0:05:02 > 0:05:05and to protect the old established Church of England,

0:05:05 > 0:05:07and they saw the Roundheads as fanatics, essentially,

0:05:07 > 0:05:10who would bring down the church, bring down the state

0:05:10 > 0:05:12and bring down law and order itself.

0:05:12 > 0:05:13- ALL:- King Charles!

0:05:16 > 0:05:20'The origin of the term Cavalier comes from the Spanish, "caballero,"

0:05:20 > 0:05:25'and it's used particularly to identify Royalists.'

0:05:25 > 0:05:28Royalist courtiers on horsebacks

0:05:28 > 0:05:30with their swords, with their honour code

0:05:30 > 0:05:33and as the propaganda campaign kicks off

0:05:33 > 0:05:36it also has connotations of drunkenness,

0:05:36 > 0:05:40rowdy behaviour, and can be used, also, as an insult

0:05:40 > 0:05:44as well as a way of identifying the enemy.

0:05:47 > 0:05:51As the conflict spread across the British Isles,

0:05:51 > 0:05:54the two tribes expressed their political and religious differences

0:05:54 > 0:05:56in the way they dressed.

0:05:58 > 0:06:03Cavaliers were flamboyant and extravagant.

0:06:03 > 0:06:06Some even sported ribbons on their codpieces.

0:06:07 > 0:06:11Roundheads valued simplicity and modesty as signs of godliness.

0:06:15 > 0:06:18'Puritans, seeing someone dressed in fine silk clothes'

0:06:18 > 0:06:22showed exactly how morally degraded they were.

0:06:22 > 0:06:25A puritan believed you displayed your own moral integrity

0:06:25 > 0:06:26by quiet, modest dress.

0:06:26 > 0:06:30So seeing those individuals in court full of their fine silks

0:06:30 > 0:06:34really exposed their fundamental moral depravity.

0:06:40 > 0:06:45The war of the wardrobes was fought out in sharply-worded pamphlets -

0:06:45 > 0:06:47precursors of the newspaper.

0:06:49 > 0:06:54One Puritan pamphlet raged against the Cavalier's long hair -

0:06:54 > 0:06:57The Unloveliness of Lovelocks.

0:07:00 > 0:07:05John Lilburne, a radical Roundhead and pamphleteer,

0:07:05 > 0:07:09was a model for the puritan values of modesty and restraint.

0:07:09 > 0:07:12'John Lilburne had an engraving done of him'

0:07:12 > 0:07:16and it promoted this image of the man in plain clothes,

0:07:16 > 0:07:20in black dress, unadorned, plain,

0:07:20 > 0:07:25just a little bit of ruff collar and a very simple hairstyle -

0:07:25 > 0:07:29the classic Roundhead with a few curls around the ears.

0:07:30 > 0:07:34The Cavaliers defended their exuberant exhibitionism

0:07:34 > 0:07:37with pamphlets of their own -

0:07:37 > 0:07:38and it wasn't just the men.

0:07:40 > 0:07:45'There is one wonderful pamphlet, by a woman, denouncing what she called,

0:07:45 > 0:07:48' "The ill-bred plebeian zealotry of Puritans," '

0:07:48 > 0:07:50and insisting that it was entirely up to women

0:07:50 > 0:07:52to wear hair as long as they liked,

0:07:52 > 0:07:55to wear beauty spots and cosmetics,

0:07:55 > 0:07:59and denounced religion as just as fickle as fashion had ever been.

0:08:00 > 0:08:06The English Civil War dropped a pebble into our pond

0:08:06 > 0:08:10and those ripples keep coming, keep coming.

0:08:10 > 0:08:13MUSIC: "Vogue" by Madonna

0:08:20 > 0:08:22'I think if we look at modern fashion then, obviously,'

0:08:22 > 0:08:26a sense of permissiveness, and pleasure, and glamour,

0:08:26 > 0:08:28and extravagance has won out.

0:08:28 > 0:08:30So the Cavaliers have definitely won.

0:08:30 > 0:08:32# Vogue

0:08:32 > 0:08:35# Let your body groove to the music

0:08:35 > 0:08:37# Hey, hey, hey!

0:08:37 > 0:08:39# Vogue... # What are you looking at?

0:08:39 > 0:08:41'I do think that the exposure,

0:08:41 > 0:08:44'which goes on in our streets at the moment, is plain immodest.

0:08:44 > 0:08:47'And I did use to say to some of the girls on Strictly,'

0:08:47 > 0:08:49"Are you feeling a bit cold?"

0:08:49 > 0:08:53Because they weren't really wearing very much and I do disapprove.

0:08:53 > 0:08:57And I do think that people should conduct themselves modestly.

0:08:57 > 0:09:02I mean, just the sense of disapproval of everything

0:09:02 > 0:09:04still happens today.

0:09:04 > 0:09:08The idea that dressing up is wrong, anything indulgent is wrong.

0:09:08 > 0:09:13It's about distracting you away from your core value,

0:09:13 > 0:09:18which, you know, obviously, for the Roundheads was God, was religion.

0:09:24 > 0:09:26In the early 1640s,

0:09:26 > 0:09:29the Roundheads stepped up their parliamentary campaign

0:09:29 > 0:09:33for democratic reform of church and state...

0:09:33 > 0:09:35but the Cavaliers refused to compromise

0:09:35 > 0:09:37the supremacy of the monarchy.

0:09:38 > 0:09:43'By the summer of 1642, their differences are irreconcilable.'

0:09:43 > 0:09:47They can only be decided on the field of war by the use of the sword.

0:09:47 > 0:09:48And that's what happens,

0:09:48 > 0:09:53both Parliament and the King set up their standards in August 1642,

0:09:53 > 0:09:55and the English Civil War is under way.

0:09:56 > 0:10:02On October 23rd 1642, at Edgehill, in Warwickshire,

0:10:02 > 0:10:07Roundhead and Cavalier armies faced each other for the first time.

0:10:14 > 0:10:18The King's Cavalry were crack troops led by his nephew,

0:10:18 > 0:10:21the 23-year-old Prince Rupert of the Rhine.

0:10:21 > 0:10:25One of the most experienced cavalry commanders in Europe,

0:10:25 > 0:10:28he was the very image of a Cavalier.

0:10:28 > 0:10:32'He was so dashing, he was definitely romantic.'

0:10:32 > 0:10:38And I love the fact he used to ride into battle with his standard poodle,

0:10:38 > 0:10:42which the parliamentary forces thought was his familiar,

0:10:42 > 0:10:44running along beside him.

0:10:44 > 0:10:46How do you train a poodle to take somebody's throat out

0:10:46 > 0:10:49if they're trying to hamstring your horse, I don't really know!

0:10:55 > 0:10:59'This the saddle belonging to Prince Rupert of the Rhine.

0:10:59 > 0:11:02'An extremely posh saddle.'

0:11:03 > 0:11:08The most expensive accessory which a household can have is tapestry

0:11:08 > 0:11:10and this is a miniature piece of tapestry.

0:11:10 > 0:11:12It's also extremely comfortable

0:11:12 > 0:11:15by the standards of saddles of that day and most.

0:11:15 > 0:11:17Instead of the usual hard leather thing,

0:11:17 > 0:11:20what you have here is velvet plush,

0:11:20 > 0:11:22really deep, and maximum comfort.

0:11:25 > 0:11:29At Edgehill, Rupert launched the Cavalier's secret weapon...

0:11:31 > 0:11:34..a manoeuvre he'd learnt on the battlefields of Europe...

0:11:34 > 0:11:36MEN SHOUTING

0:11:36 > 0:11:38..the thunderbolt charge.

0:11:42 > 0:11:44'You hear the sound of thousands and thousands

0:11:44 > 0:11:48'of horses' hooves striking the ground at once'

0:11:48 > 0:11:50and it's louder than thunder.

0:11:50 > 0:11:54It's an extraordinary cacophony of noise,

0:11:54 > 0:11:56which sweeps you along with it,

0:11:56 > 0:11:59as finally the canter turns into the all-out charge.

0:12:01 > 0:12:03Horses encourage each other,

0:12:03 > 0:12:06so as one moves faster the whole mass begins to go,

0:12:06 > 0:12:11and it's rather like something being released from a bow or from a gun.

0:12:12 > 0:12:14'Prince Rupert knew the shock value of cavalry.'

0:12:14 > 0:12:16He went straight in and hard.

0:12:16 > 0:12:19He knew if he broke the enemy cavalry they would never reform.

0:12:19 > 0:12:21He could then dominate the field.

0:12:21 > 0:12:23MEN SHOUTING

0:12:25 > 0:12:30The Cavalier Thunderbolt scattered the Roundhead cavalry

0:12:30 > 0:12:33but then Prince Rupert and his high-spirited horsemen

0:12:33 > 0:12:34continued charging...

0:12:36 > 0:12:41..off the battlefield and toward the Roundhead encampment.

0:12:41 > 0:12:45'And one of the most glorious things about old-fashioned warfare'

0:12:45 > 0:12:47is your ability to loot the defeated enemy.

0:12:47 > 0:12:52And here in the wagons were not just the foodstuffs, and the drink,

0:12:52 > 0:12:55and the cloth for the ordinary soldiers

0:12:55 > 0:12:58but all the valuables of the officers.

0:12:58 > 0:13:00And so what Rupert's troopers did

0:13:00 > 0:13:02was set about plundering for hours -

0:13:02 > 0:13:06behind them the battle was largely being lost.

0:13:06 > 0:13:09The Cavaliers' lack of self-discipline

0:13:09 > 0:13:12allowed the Roundheads to regain the initiative.

0:13:12 > 0:13:17As darkness fell, the battle of Edgehill ended in stalemate.

0:13:20 > 0:13:22'Cavaliers don't do self-discipline at all,'

0:13:22 > 0:13:26that's, the absolute antithesis of Cavalier thought is self control,

0:13:26 > 0:13:28it's all about letting it go.

0:13:28 > 0:13:31You know, about just enjoying the moment.

0:13:31 > 0:13:34It's carpe diem, it's gather ye rosebuds while ye may,

0:13:34 > 0:13:35all of that kind of stuff.

0:13:37 > 0:13:40'A Cavalier person, in a way, reflects Cavalier principles,

0:13:40 > 0:13:43'which are they don't care too much. They are there for the moment.'

0:13:43 > 0:13:45They are dazzling rather than detailed,

0:13:45 > 0:13:49they are, they are there to entertain and to move life along

0:13:49 > 0:13:52but they're not there, really, to do the nitty-gritty.

0:13:55 > 0:13:59Over the next three years, as the Civil War swept through the country,

0:13:59 > 0:14:02the radical Parliamentarian Oliver Cromwell

0:14:02 > 0:14:05emerged as the Roundheads' most effective military leader.

0:14:05 > 0:14:07Open your order from the centre!

0:14:07 > 0:14:09In 1644, he began building

0:14:09 > 0:14:13Britain's first full-time professional fighting force...

0:14:13 > 0:14:14Port your pike!

0:14:14 > 0:14:16..the New Model Army.

0:14:16 > 0:14:17Double your files!

0:14:17 > 0:14:20It became a showcase for the Roundhead values

0:14:20 > 0:14:22of godliness and discipline.

0:14:38 > 0:14:43Without discipline you get nowhere in life

0:14:43 > 0:14:46and that's very true of today, never mind the 17th century.

0:14:47 > 0:14:50You think this is your birthday, don't you, Josh?

0:14:50 > 0:14:52You have to have discipline,

0:14:52 > 0:14:54you have to have order

0:14:54 > 0:14:59and Cromwell was very good at instilling order into his troops.

0:15:04 > 0:15:06We believe, "Work hard and play hard."

0:15:06 > 0:15:10It wouldn't be unfair to say Ruperts believe,

0:15:10 > 0:15:12"Play hard, and play a bit harder."

0:15:13 > 0:15:16So, that's the main difference between the two units.

0:15:21 > 0:15:24Discipline was absolutely essential.

0:15:24 > 0:15:29And we know that the Parliamentary troops were far better disciplined.

0:15:30 > 0:15:33Everything from drunkenness and fornication

0:15:33 > 0:15:35being punished severely...

0:15:35 > 0:15:39The penalty for blasphemy was particularly severe.

0:15:39 > 0:15:42Somebody who was a persistent blasphemer

0:15:42 > 0:15:46would have his tongue drawn out of his mouth with pincers,

0:15:46 > 0:15:48and bored through with a red hot iron,

0:15:48 > 0:15:50so he ended up with a hole in his tongue.

0:15:52 > 0:15:54Cromwell now set out to improve the performance

0:15:54 > 0:15:56of the Roundhead cavalry.

0:15:59 > 0:16:01He trained them, and trained them, and trained them,

0:16:01 > 0:16:04until they would charge home,

0:16:04 > 0:16:06the thunderbolt charge, like Prince Rupert's men,

0:16:06 > 0:16:07but after the charge,

0:16:07 > 0:16:10they would regroup, return to the battlefield,

0:16:10 > 0:16:13and be good for another charge.

0:16:13 > 0:16:17And that, of course, was a tremendous advance.

0:16:17 > 0:16:21The Roundheads also introduced a military uniform for the first time.

0:16:23 > 0:16:25The famous redcoat,

0:16:25 > 0:16:28worn by the British army for the next two centuries.

0:16:34 > 0:16:38The New Model Army recruited according to military competence,

0:16:38 > 0:16:40not aristocratic birthright.

0:16:42 > 0:16:45Britain's feudal hierarchy was being replaced by the newly-emerging

0:16:45 > 0:16:47Roundhead state.

0:16:51 > 0:16:55You have new institutions. The committee for the army,

0:16:55 > 0:17:00the committee for the navy. And so, the state bureaucracy

0:17:00 > 0:17:06is inevitably increasing to a size previously unheard of.

0:17:06 > 0:17:11I think a good case can be made that the modern state begins

0:17:11 > 0:17:15in the 1640s, with the Civil War and these new bureaucratic institutions.

0:17:19 > 0:17:23Roundhead bureaucracy introduced a new spirit of professionalism

0:17:23 > 0:17:25into British life, that still endures.

0:17:31 > 0:17:32We work all the hours that God sends,

0:17:32 > 0:17:34and if you don't die of a heart attack,

0:17:34 > 0:17:37you might make a nice profit in your old age,

0:17:37 > 0:17:38when you're too old to enjoy it.

0:17:38 > 0:17:44But certainly that "Cavalier joy", as it's called,

0:17:44 > 0:17:47has gone in our attitude to work.

0:17:47 > 0:17:50We've definitely become the Roundhead state.

0:17:52 > 0:17:55Undoubtedly there is a more austere

0:17:55 > 0:17:59and professional attitude in British life.

0:17:59 > 0:18:02The great cult of the amateur, the great cult of the eccentric,

0:18:02 > 0:18:05the person who sort of organised life from the seat of their pants

0:18:05 > 0:18:06has rather gone, I think.

0:18:06 > 0:18:09I think we certainly do expect people to have a plan,

0:18:09 > 0:18:12to stick to it, and to understand the detail of the machine.

0:18:23 > 0:18:26Deep in the Cavalier heartlands of modern Britain,

0:18:26 > 0:18:29the cult of the amateur lives on.

0:18:41 > 0:18:45Henley of course started as the Regatta in 1839,

0:18:45 > 0:18:48and amateur sport was absolutely at the heart of it.

0:18:53 > 0:18:57There was something fundamental about the way you looked at sport.

0:18:57 > 0:18:59The amateur was not all about winning,

0:18:59 > 0:19:03it was the playing the part. It was about the whole man.

0:19:03 > 0:19:05The professional was about the prize.

0:19:09 > 0:19:12Ready for the contest, boys? Come on.

0:19:12 > 0:19:15The flower, it's all dying on you.

0:19:17 > 0:19:18I'm more a Cavalier.

0:19:18 > 0:19:21Cavalier, sir. Cavalier attitude and mannerism.

0:19:21 > 0:19:24Cavalier. And that's all about team spirit and enjoying yourself.

0:19:24 > 0:19:26It's not about winning.

0:19:26 > 0:19:28It's just about taking part.

0:19:28 > 0:19:30The buttonholes at the veterans'

0:19:30 > 0:19:35National Flower Day Competition would humble any 17th century dandy.

0:19:36 > 0:19:41These are calla lilies, Asiatic lily and estrelicia,

0:19:41 > 0:19:45the bird of paradise flying in and taking nectar from it.

0:19:45 > 0:19:48This is plucked from the garden this morning.

0:19:48 > 0:19:52These are all hand-reared. and smelling delightful.

0:19:52 > 0:19:55But even in this Cavalier stronghold,

0:19:55 > 0:19:58there's been a Roundhead incursion.

0:20:07 > 0:20:10Two British Olympic hopes, Andy Triggs-Hodge

0:20:10 > 0:20:15and Pete Reed have brought Roundhead professionalism onto the water.

0:20:17 > 0:20:19Rowing is 24 hours a day for us.

0:20:19 > 0:20:23I pressurise myself in training, to make sure I'm improving

0:20:23 > 0:20:26on a daily basis. I feel that that's a decent Roundhead attitude.

0:20:26 > 0:20:29And it's finding anything we can do.

0:20:29 > 0:20:32It's all the little things that help you through the day.

0:20:32 > 0:20:36If you can reduce the amount of hours you drive, if you can sleep longer.

0:20:36 > 0:20:39The quality of your bed, it all makes a difference.

0:20:39 > 0:20:46It's applying how we execute our finest 2km race in the Olympic Games,

0:20:46 > 0:20:50and how every bit of life affects that in the four years prior.

0:20:50 > 0:20:52At the end of the day, it is all about winning.

0:20:53 > 0:20:55But Olympic success still calls

0:20:55 > 0:20:57for a touch of the old "Cavalier" spirit.

0:21:02 > 0:21:03When I get on the water,

0:21:03 > 0:21:07there's got to be a bit of me that's a bit of a loose cannon,

0:21:07 > 0:21:09and you've just got to go out and do crazy things,

0:21:09 > 0:21:14cos if you don't, you'll never achieve your personal best.

0:21:15 > 0:21:18I think it's fascinating the way most sports teams require

0:21:18 > 0:21:21a combination of Roundhead and Cavalier.

0:21:21 > 0:21:24The England rugby team, for example, requires the Roundhead,

0:21:24 > 0:21:27Jonny Wilkinson, to kick the ball through the post

0:21:27 > 0:21:31with metronomic efficiency, but it also needs those extraordinary,

0:21:31 > 0:21:34flamboyant figures on the wing, who can suddenly carve through.

0:21:34 > 0:21:38I think it's the same of all sports, and perhaps it's true of all teams.

0:21:38 > 0:21:42You need a Boycott, but you also need to have a Kevin Pietersen.

0:21:46 > 0:21:49On June 14th, 1645,

0:21:49 > 0:21:53Roundhead discipline was put to the test at Naseby, in Northamptonshire.

0:21:54 > 0:21:58The New Model Army prepared to confront the Cavalier forces.

0:22:00 > 0:22:04Prince Rupert began the battle with another thunderbolt charge.

0:22:05 > 0:22:08At Naseby, Prince Rupert was on the Royalist right wing.

0:22:08 > 0:22:13He charged and scattered the Parliamentary left wing.

0:22:13 > 0:22:17But made the same mistake as at Edgehill.

0:22:17 > 0:22:19His men scattered off in all directions,

0:22:19 > 0:22:22plundered the baggage train,

0:22:22 > 0:22:24and were not much use for the rest of the battle.

0:22:25 > 0:22:30Cromwell's new, well-drilled cavalry were now ready to be deployed

0:22:30 > 0:22:32with devastating effect.

0:22:33 > 0:22:36On the right wing, Cromwell charged home,

0:22:36 > 0:22:40scattered the Royalist left wing,

0:22:40 > 0:22:44and then got his men to come to the assistance of the cavalry,

0:22:44 > 0:22:48and then charge into the flank of the Royalist infantry,

0:22:48 > 0:22:50and win the Battle of Naseby.

0:22:54 > 0:22:57Naseby annihilates the King's own army,

0:22:57 > 0:23:00it destroys a body of men he had built up over three years.

0:23:00 > 0:23:02And he never manages to rebuild it.

0:23:02 > 0:23:05It is the knockout blow of the English Civil War.

0:23:07 > 0:23:08By October 1647,

0:23:08 > 0:23:11the King was imprisoned,

0:23:11 > 0:23:13and the Cavaliers were in disarray.

0:23:13 > 0:23:17Roundhead forces were camped just outside the capital, here in Putney.

0:23:18 > 0:23:22The more radical Roundheads were now demanding their reward

0:23:22 > 0:23:25- a more equal society.

0:23:25 > 0:23:27They became known as the Levellers.

0:23:30 > 0:23:33These people wanted reform of the law,

0:23:33 > 0:23:37religious toleration, reform of election procedure.

0:23:37 > 0:23:40They wanted the soldiers who'd fought for parliament

0:23:40 > 0:23:42to be rewarded in some way.

0:23:42 > 0:23:44These were not mercenaries.

0:23:44 > 0:23:47These were, in the language of the day, developing "citizens".

0:23:47 > 0:23:50- Second colour, yes?- ALL: Yes.

0:23:50 > 0:23:55- Who's going to be second colour? - Alex.- No, we'll sort that out...

0:23:55 > 0:23:58Today, the 21st century Roundheads are following tradition,

0:23:58 > 0:24:01by voting for their commanding officer.

0:24:01 > 0:24:03You've got advice...

0:24:03 > 0:24:05It's important to have democracy,

0:24:05 > 0:24:07because the Royalists had dictatorship,

0:24:07 > 0:24:08and it didn't work.

0:24:08 > 0:24:11ALL: Aye.

0:24:11 > 0:24:15Inspired by radicals like John Lilburne,

0:24:15 > 0:24:17the Levellers published their demands for human rights

0:24:17 > 0:24:19and democratic reform

0:24:19 > 0:24:22in a manifesto called The Agreement Of The People.

0:24:24 > 0:24:26It's a radical vision of England.

0:24:26 > 0:24:29It's an England, eventually, in which he would like to see

0:24:29 > 0:24:33a greater extension in democracy. Voting rights for certain men.

0:24:33 > 0:24:38Men, not women, one should add. Not servants, not beggars.

0:24:38 > 0:24:40Religious toleration.

0:24:40 > 0:24:43This is the type of England Lilburne would like to see.

0:24:44 > 0:24:49It was a fascinating and fabulous moment in British history.

0:24:52 > 0:24:55The Levellers, by The Agreement of the People

0:24:55 > 0:24:58were proposing a bill of rights

0:24:58 > 0:25:02that would give individuals,

0:25:02 > 0:25:07autonomous individuals, certain rights against government.

0:25:07 > 0:25:12So that is a very important, profoundly important idea today.

0:25:16 > 0:25:18But the Roundhead forces were divided.

0:25:18 > 0:25:22Even a committed Parliamentarian like Cromwell

0:25:22 > 0:25:26feared the Levellers' egalitarian demands would lead to anarchy.

0:25:28 > 0:25:33For 13 days, here in the Church of St Mary in Putney,

0:25:33 > 0:25:36the two sides took part in a great debate

0:25:36 > 0:25:38about the future of the nation.

0:25:39 > 0:25:42The position of the generals was put by Cromwell's son-in-law,

0:25:42 > 0:25:46Henry Ireton, who said the vote should be restricted

0:25:46 > 0:25:49to those who traditionally had it.

0:25:49 > 0:25:53To the people who had a stake in the country, who owned a piece of land.

0:25:53 > 0:25:56From his point of view, this was only right and proper.

0:25:56 > 0:25:59Why should you have a say in government

0:25:59 > 0:26:02if you don't own anything, if you're poor?

0:26:02 > 0:26:05If you're beholden to a people who are more powerful than you,

0:26:05 > 0:26:08they will influence the way that you vote.

0:26:08 > 0:26:10This is a profound moment.

0:26:10 > 0:26:13There had been popular rebellions before in English history.

0:26:13 > 0:26:18These had been about particular issues - food, taxation -

0:26:18 > 0:26:24but not about a right to have a say in how government is chosen.

0:26:27 > 0:26:30The Levellers began a debate about citizenship and democracy

0:26:30 > 0:26:34that continues in modern Britain, and across the world.

0:26:36 > 0:26:40It was John Lilburne who said famously,

0:26:40 > 0:26:44that although we may die, our ideas will live on,

0:26:44 > 0:26:47and it will be for later generations to implement them.

0:26:50 > 0:26:53And, after all, this is what we are about today.

0:26:53 > 0:26:58I always laugh about the Conservatives who dismiss

0:26:58 > 0:27:02the European Convention on Human Rights,

0:27:02 > 0:27:04because it goes back to these times

0:27:04 > 0:27:06when torture was abolished,

0:27:06 > 0:27:10when religious freedom - comparatively - was permitted,

0:27:10 > 0:27:14when parliament was sovereign, when we were working out democracy.

0:27:14 > 0:27:17These rights go back to Cromwell and the Levellers,

0:27:17 > 0:27:19who argued them in this little Putney church.

0:27:21 > 0:27:24With the King in prison, the Roundheads could now

0:27:24 > 0:27:26set about moulding the nation in their own image.

0:27:27 > 0:27:33But playful Cavalier traditions were deeply rooted in British life.

0:27:33 > 0:27:37- Give me an 'O'.- ALL: O! - Give me an 'N'.- ALL: N!

0:27:37 > 0:27:38- Give me an 'I'.- ALL: I!

0:27:38 > 0:27:40- And an 'O'.- ALL: O!

0:27:40 > 0:27:45- And an 'N'.- ALL: N!- Onion! - CHEERING

0:27:45 > 0:27:48Here in Newent, Gloucestershire, the Roundhead struggle

0:27:48 > 0:27:52to crush the town's Cavalier spirit has never been forgotten.

0:27:53 > 0:27:57There's still remains of the Cavalier/Roundhead rivalry.

0:27:57 > 0:27:59Gloucester being a Roundhead stronghold,

0:27:59 > 0:28:02and the rural area surrounding being Cavalier.

0:28:02 > 0:28:04There was fighting going on.

0:28:04 > 0:28:06There was a battle around here,

0:28:06 > 0:28:09and it can take hundreds of years for that to wear off.

0:28:11 > 0:28:14SHOUTING

0:28:14 > 0:28:19Every year, the people of Newent reaffirm their Cavalier spirit

0:28:19 > 0:28:22with the pleasures of the 850-year-old Onion Fayre.

0:28:23 > 0:28:26- CHEERING - Who won?

0:28:26 > 0:28:29ALL: Five, four, three,

0:28:29 > 0:28:32- two, one.- Go!

0:28:32 > 0:28:37The climax of this festival is the World Onion-Eating Championship.

0:28:37 > 0:28:39Put your hands in the air when you're finished, lads,

0:28:39 > 0:28:42and open your mouths for the judges.

0:28:42 > 0:28:43CHEERING

0:28:50 > 0:28:52LOUD CHEERING

0:28:55 > 0:28:57I've been practising nearly all week.

0:28:57 > 0:29:00This is the fourth year now I've won it.

0:29:02 > 0:29:04That was my slowest time ever.

0:29:04 > 0:29:08Thank you very much. See you all again, hopefully, next year.

0:29:09 > 0:29:11I've got to be Cavalier, without a doubt.

0:29:11 > 0:29:16You have only got to look at today. The party atmosphere, the fun everybody is having.

0:29:16 > 0:29:19I couldn't imagine that under Cromwell.

0:29:20 > 0:29:23Puritans were not really in favour of fun.

0:29:23 > 0:29:26The Puritans felt that a lot of popular behaviour

0:29:26 > 0:29:28was bad for the people themselves, even if they liked doing it.

0:29:28 > 0:29:31Their approach was to do what was good for the people,

0:29:31 > 0:29:33not necessarily what the people merely wanted.

0:29:37 > 0:29:41But the Roundheads were confronted by a pleasure-loving people.

0:29:41 > 0:29:45And they were never happier than when they were getting drunk.

0:29:45 > 0:29:48Puritans pretty much find drunkenness a despicable

0:29:48 > 0:29:50form of immodesty.

0:29:50 > 0:29:54Drunkenness allows your sins to come to the fore.

0:29:54 > 0:29:56Drunkenness means you're out of control,

0:29:56 > 0:29:58and you can't act in a godly way.

0:29:58 > 0:30:02So, for the Puritan, the alehouses are these great sites of sinfulness,

0:30:02 > 0:30:04and have to be policed and disciplined.

0:30:07 > 0:30:12I don't know what makes the English a nation of binge drinkers.

0:30:12 > 0:30:14There is something about the inhabitants of this island

0:30:14 > 0:30:17which means we want to drink too much,

0:30:17 > 0:30:22and not just get amusing with it, but actually pick a fight with it.

0:30:22 > 0:30:25Of course, the Roundheads were terribly disapproving

0:30:25 > 0:30:29about alcohol, because it is fundamentally pretty anti-social.

0:30:29 > 0:30:33Drunken British people are absolutely appalling.

0:30:35 > 0:30:37Where the Cavaliers have won,

0:30:37 > 0:30:43is that, I think, most of the British population,

0:30:43 > 0:30:47whatever their political beliefs, actually,

0:30:47 > 0:30:51feel they have the right to get drunk if they want to.

0:30:51 > 0:30:53They have the right to eat what they want to,

0:30:53 > 0:30:57even if it makes them fat, they have the right not to go for a run.

0:30:57 > 0:30:59That's their business.

0:30:59 > 0:31:02They're perfectly happy with the government saying,

0:31:02 > 0:31:04"You can't get drunk and then drive."

0:31:04 > 0:31:09That's absolutely fine, but not, "You can't get drunk."

0:31:09 > 0:31:13Perhaps that's the line between Roundhead and Cavalier.

0:31:19 > 0:31:23In 1648, the Roundheads turned their attention

0:31:23 > 0:31:26to one of the most popular forms of public entertainment,

0:31:26 > 0:31:28the theatre.

0:31:28 > 0:31:31Parliament issued an order for the "utter suppression

0:31:31 > 0:31:35"and abolishing of all stage-plays."

0:31:35 > 0:31:38Puritans were very suspicious of the theatre,

0:31:38 > 0:31:40and almost everything involved with it.

0:31:40 > 0:31:44They thought some of the plots were dealing with unsuitable subjects.

0:31:44 > 0:31:47Violence, or bawdy comedy, they didn't like that.

0:31:47 > 0:31:49They strongly disapproved of the actors -

0:31:49 > 0:31:52the fact that all the female roles were taken

0:31:52 > 0:31:54by young boys in drag, essentially,

0:31:54 > 0:31:57and they said the emotions being created on stage were, of course,

0:31:57 > 0:32:00artificial and false emotions - that was bad.

0:32:00 > 0:32:02And finally they disapproved of the audiences,

0:32:02 > 0:32:05that different ages and sexes were jumbled together,

0:32:05 > 0:32:09and that theatres attracted pickpockets and prostitutes.

0:32:13 > 0:32:16The Roundhead mission to control the people's pleasures

0:32:16 > 0:32:20unleashed a culture war between high-minded Puritans

0:32:20 > 0:32:22and populist Cavaliers.

0:32:22 > 0:32:24It continues to this day.

0:32:25 > 0:32:29The Cavalier culture has absolutely won out, as far as the arts go,

0:32:29 > 0:32:30and erm...

0:32:30 > 0:32:35It is sort of pushing out high art by popular art.

0:32:37 > 0:32:40I feel deeply oppressed by what I see

0:32:40 > 0:32:43when I run through the programmes on the television.

0:32:43 > 0:32:47Oh! Watch it!

0:32:47 > 0:32:53What I suspect about the drama is that it's facile, mostly.

0:32:53 > 0:32:56It's designed to please.

0:32:56 > 0:32:57It knows that it has to please

0:32:57 > 0:33:01the greatest possible number of the population.

0:33:01 > 0:33:03Oh, that dirty, disgusting monster!

0:33:03 > 0:33:07There's a kind of run of repeated gestures,

0:33:07 > 0:33:11and repeated emotions, which people satisfy themselves on,

0:33:11 > 0:33:18like sausage in a bun, or ice cream.

0:33:22 > 0:33:26Those things are OK, but too much of them isn't good for your life,

0:33:26 > 0:33:29I feel, being a Roundhead.

0:33:32 > 0:33:35I think that this is a very old contest

0:33:35 > 0:33:39between the Roundhead critic of frivolity

0:33:41 > 0:33:43and the Cavalier enjoyer of it.

0:33:45 > 0:33:48- Welcome to Downton.- Lady Grantham, this is so kind of you.

0:33:48 > 0:33:52Not at all, Duke. We're delighted you could spare the time.

0:33:52 > 0:33:54Very popular shows, of any kind,

0:33:54 > 0:33:56bring out a sort of anger

0:33:56 > 0:34:01among a certain kind of journalist.

0:34:01 > 0:34:03I don't know what it is, quite.

0:34:05 > 0:34:09Sometimes, you could say it's envy of the fact that their message

0:34:09 > 0:34:12is reaching so few, and this other message,

0:34:12 > 0:34:15which they consider worthless, is reaching so many.

0:34:15 > 0:34:18That may be a good part of it.

0:34:18 > 0:34:24But certainly, there is a Roundhead anger

0:34:24 > 0:34:28at the extent of popular culture's reach.

0:34:28 > 0:34:33But I don't think that's ever going to change.

0:34:33 > 0:34:35Mama, may I present Matthew Crawley and Mrs Crawley.

0:34:35 > 0:34:37My mother, Lady Grantham.

0:34:39 > 0:34:41What should we call each other?

0:34:41 > 0:34:45We could always start with "Mrs Crawley" and "Lady Grantham".

0:34:49 > 0:34:51As the Puritan revolution unfolded,

0:34:51 > 0:34:55the Roundhead parliament was still being challenged by Cavaliers

0:34:55 > 0:34:57demanding the King's release from prison.

0:34:59 > 0:35:04In 1649, Cromwell took action to assert Parliament's supremacy.

0:35:04 > 0:35:09He put the King on trial for treason and war crimes against the people.

0:35:09 > 0:35:13Putting the King on trial was almost inconceivable.

0:35:13 > 0:35:15It is unthinkable.

0:35:15 > 0:35:17Kings have been killed on the battlefield,

0:35:17 > 0:35:19kings have been assassinated.

0:35:19 > 0:35:22But trying a monarch - a divinely appointed king,

0:35:22 > 0:35:25the power that exists by God's authority -

0:35:25 > 0:35:29trying a king by authority of the people is almost unprecedented.

0:35:32 > 0:35:35On the morning of January 20th, 1649,

0:35:35 > 0:35:39Charles I was marched into Westminster Hall.

0:35:41 > 0:35:43Up to 10,000 people watched

0:35:43 > 0:35:47as the Roundhead Solicitor General John Cook and his team

0:35:47 > 0:35:50prepared to make legal history.

0:35:50 > 0:35:53What they do is make an argument that separates the office of the King

0:35:53 > 0:35:55from the person of the King,

0:35:55 > 0:35:59and what they are prosecuting is a wilful, wicked tyrant -

0:35:59 > 0:36:02an individual not a king.

0:36:03 > 0:36:07Everyone was aware of what an ominous moment it was

0:36:07 > 0:36:11and what an iconic moment it was in British history.

0:36:11 > 0:36:16It was the symbol of the end of absolute power.

0:36:18 > 0:36:20And there's a telling moment. This is the King,

0:36:20 > 0:36:24the man who is used to having his every whim served.

0:36:24 > 0:36:28At some point, the silver top of his cane

0:36:28 > 0:36:30falls off and rolls to the floor.

0:36:32 > 0:36:34The King expects somebody else to pick it up

0:36:34 > 0:36:37but he's instructed to pick it up himself.

0:36:37 > 0:36:39And at that little moment, I think,

0:36:39 > 0:36:41we can see the theatre of power that's going on.

0:36:45 > 0:36:49These days, we've found a way

0:36:49 > 0:36:52to put heads of state on trial

0:36:52 > 0:36:55for a particularly heinous crime,

0:36:55 > 0:36:57a crime against humanity,

0:36:57 > 0:37:01against which their immunity does not operate.

0:37:03 > 0:37:06And so Milosevic, Saddam Hussein,

0:37:06 > 0:37:11Charles Taylor, Karadzic, and so forth,

0:37:11 > 0:37:13will be prosecuted

0:37:13 > 0:37:18on the basis that John Cook took the first nervous step

0:37:18 > 0:37:22to bring down an all-powerful head of state,

0:37:22 > 0:37:26namely on the grounds of their commission

0:37:26 > 0:37:30of a crime against humanity, a crime against their own people.

0:37:35 > 0:37:40After a seven-day trial the King was found guilty.

0:37:40 > 0:37:43He would be executed here,

0:37:43 > 0:37:46outside the banqueting hall of Whitehall Palace.

0:37:49 > 0:37:52So January 30th, just before two o'clock,

0:37:52 > 0:37:55a very nervous, anxious Charles I stepped out onto the scaffold,

0:37:55 > 0:37:57having said farewell to his family.

0:38:02 > 0:38:04And a few moments later, the axe fell.

0:38:04 > 0:38:07SCREAMING

0:38:08 > 0:38:12Around the gathered crowd, people reacted by fainting,

0:38:12 > 0:38:16women miscarried. There was tremendous horror.

0:38:16 > 0:38:18But that horror reverberated around the kingdom.

0:38:18 > 0:38:22It was as if a great cataclysm in a sense of order had happened.

0:38:22 > 0:38:25Like the twin towers, like those planes smashing into them,

0:38:25 > 0:38:28there's a sudden horror and chaos.

0:38:31 > 0:38:36The Roundheads now abolished the monarchy and the House of Lords.

0:38:37 > 0:38:39An English republic was established.

0:38:42 > 0:38:46The Roundhead revolution intensified.

0:38:49 > 0:38:50The King had encouraged

0:38:50 > 0:38:53the installation of ornate stained-glass windows

0:38:53 > 0:38:55in churches all over the country.

0:38:56 > 0:38:59The Roundheads were now determined to smash them

0:38:59 > 0:39:03as they imposed their own austere form of Protestantism.

0:39:03 > 0:39:05Charles loved ritual,

0:39:05 > 0:39:06he loved beauty,

0:39:06 > 0:39:09he loved holiness as a sort of experience

0:39:09 > 0:39:11that brought someone closer to God,

0:39:11 > 0:39:17whereas Puritans loved the idea of plain, unadorned, simple -

0:39:17 > 0:39:19no stained glass in their churches.

0:39:21 > 0:39:24In 1651, the Roundheads went into action

0:39:24 > 0:39:27here at Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford.

0:39:29 > 0:39:31The orders from the newly-installed dean

0:39:31 > 0:39:33are written in the church records.

0:39:33 > 0:39:38"All pictures representing God, good or bad angels, or saints,

0:39:38 > 0:39:41"shall be forthwith taken down out of our church windows."

0:39:41 > 0:39:44Well, when the windows were taken out,

0:39:44 > 0:39:47they were laid out on the floor

0:39:47 > 0:39:50and one of the canons who was appointed by Cromwell

0:39:50 > 0:39:52was so against them being preserved

0:39:52 > 0:39:54that he furiously stamped up and down on it,

0:39:54 > 0:39:56destroying most of the glass.

0:40:05 > 0:40:09Only one out of the 20 stained-glass windows

0:40:09 > 0:40:11survived the Roundhead assault,

0:40:11 > 0:40:15perhaps because it contains a powerful Roundhead message.

0:40:15 > 0:40:19The prophet Jonah is on his way to warn the people of Nineveh

0:40:19 > 0:40:22that they must give up the pleasures of the flesh

0:40:22 > 0:40:24or face the wrath of God.

0:40:34 > 0:40:36It's fantastic. I think it's got so much more detail

0:40:36 > 0:40:39than any other stained-glass window in the cathedral

0:40:39 > 0:40:41and every time you look at it, you see something new,

0:40:41 > 0:40:45there's always something that sticks out that you've never seen before.

0:40:54 > 0:40:56For centuries, the smashed stained-glass windows

0:40:56 > 0:40:58were thought to have been totally destroyed.

0:41:00 > 0:41:05But 13 years ago, the verger spotted something in a pile of rubbish

0:41:05 > 0:41:08that was being cleared out of a coal hole.

0:41:08 > 0:41:10It was like discovering buried treasure.

0:41:10 > 0:41:13It was amazing.

0:41:13 > 0:41:17You think, "What have I found?"

0:41:17 > 0:41:20If you look at the glass without light behind it,

0:41:20 > 0:41:24it looks just like a piece of slate, almost.

0:41:24 > 0:41:27But then when I show it to the light...

0:41:27 > 0:41:30This is the first piece of glass I found.

0:41:30 > 0:41:32You can imagine my surprise!

0:41:33 > 0:41:36We've probably most likely got Christ

0:41:36 > 0:41:38disputing with the Doctors of Divinity

0:41:38 > 0:41:43and all we have here are some of the doctors in that scene.

0:41:43 > 0:41:45The central figure, which will have been Christ,

0:41:45 > 0:41:46will have been destroyed at the time.

0:41:46 > 0:41:52So it's very unlikely that there'll be any images of Christ left.

0:41:55 > 0:41:58ALL CHANT: Rooster! Rooster! Rooster!

0:42:01 > 0:42:06In 1653, Cromwell was confirmed as head of state,

0:42:06 > 0:42:12Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland.

0:42:12 > 0:42:16His government intruded ever more deeply into people's lives

0:42:16 > 0:42:19and passed a law to make Sunday

0:42:19 > 0:42:22a day of worship and quiet contemplation.

0:42:24 > 0:42:27Sunday should be hanging out with the guys, having a good time,

0:42:27 > 0:42:29drinking a few drinks, watching some football.

0:42:29 > 0:42:33There are enough things we're not allowed to do during the rest of the week,

0:42:33 > 0:42:36so we deserve to do something we want to do on a Sunday.

0:42:36 > 0:42:38Definitely not sitting in church and thinking.

0:42:38 > 0:42:41BELL CHIMES

0:42:44 > 0:42:47The Puritans wanted the whole of the Lord's day, as they called it,

0:42:47 > 0:42:50to be devoted to religion alone, exclusively,

0:42:50 > 0:42:54and they pushed through a series of ordinances and parliamentary acts

0:42:54 > 0:42:56banning all the things of which they disapproved,

0:42:56 > 0:43:00so that every conceivable activity pretty well was prohibited.

0:43:05 > 0:43:07Hundreds of activities were banned.

0:43:07 > 0:43:11It was forbidden to ride a horse...

0:43:11 > 0:43:15sit on your own threshold...

0:43:15 > 0:43:18or even to knit on a Sunday.

0:43:21 > 0:43:23Where Puritans were in control locally,

0:43:23 > 0:43:25they enforced these restrictions very tightly indeed,

0:43:25 > 0:43:28and one remarkable case in a village not far from here -

0:43:28 > 0:43:29Barnsley in Gloucestershire -

0:43:29 > 0:43:35two village women were put in the stocks merely for having gone for a Sunday afternoon stroll,

0:43:35 > 0:43:37even though they had already attended

0:43:37 > 0:43:39two church services that morning.

0:43:42 > 0:43:44Roundhead values would define the British Sunday

0:43:44 > 0:43:47well into the 20th century.

0:43:47 > 0:43:51Strict licensing laws, shops closed,

0:43:51 > 0:43:54no sporting fixtures - an obligatory day of rest.

0:43:56 > 0:43:58Sunday...

0:43:59 > 0:44:02Without a doubt, the worst day of the week.

0:44:04 > 0:44:07Everything was shut and the transport didn't run very much.

0:44:07 > 0:44:09You were not allowed to do anything.

0:44:11 > 0:44:14Church in the morning, walk to the zoo - wow -

0:44:14 > 0:44:16Sunday lunch, nothing.

0:44:18 > 0:44:20My father said he had to read books

0:44:20 > 0:44:23about the holy deaths of little children

0:44:23 > 0:44:25and the little children would lie in their beds and die

0:44:25 > 0:44:28and the angels would come down and take them to heaven.

0:44:28 > 0:44:32And my father said it was absolutely awful, but this was how it was.

0:44:32 > 0:44:34Just like hell.

0:44:34 > 0:44:38So I can't really support Cromwell and the repression of Sunday sports.

0:44:49 > 0:44:53In August 1994, the Sunday Shopping Act

0:44:53 > 0:44:58brought 300 years of Roundhead Sundays to an end.

0:44:58 > 0:45:00I think if our Roundhead forebears

0:45:00 > 0:45:02could see what we've done to Sundays,

0:45:02 > 0:45:06they'd be spinning in their graves like fury.

0:45:06 > 0:45:10You can hear their bucket top boots hitting the top of the coffin, just like this.

0:45:10 > 0:45:13Because we have 100% ruined Sunday

0:45:13 > 0:45:16compared to everything that they believed in.

0:45:16 > 0:45:20I would like Sunday to be a quiet day.

0:45:20 > 0:45:24I would like everything to stop on a Sunday, as it used to,

0:45:24 > 0:45:28for people to be able to spend the day with their families,

0:45:28 > 0:45:32for the church bells to ring out across the land,

0:45:32 > 0:45:35and for there to be an active interest in church.

0:45:35 > 0:45:37That is what I would like to see.

0:45:37 > 0:45:41It's not what I'm going to see in my lifetime.

0:45:42 > 0:45:45We fear Sunday, I think.

0:45:45 > 0:45:48That's the problem that we've got -

0:45:48 > 0:45:51we fear Sunday because it is a void.

0:45:51 > 0:45:55If we're not careful, we might have to sit still,

0:45:55 > 0:46:00be quiet and think about stuff, and this is the thing that none of us

0:46:00 > 0:46:02let ourselves do any more.

0:46:02 > 0:46:04And, of course, for the Puritans

0:46:04 > 0:46:06that's exactly what you should do on a Sunday.

0:46:06 > 0:46:13You should use it as an opportunity to explore your mind,

0:46:13 > 0:46:14explore your spirituality.

0:46:19 > 0:46:23Sunday had now been claimed for the Roundheads.

0:46:23 > 0:46:25At the same time, they also passed a law

0:46:25 > 0:46:28to abolish the celebration of Christmas.

0:46:30 > 0:46:32Puritans strongly disapproved of Christmas.

0:46:32 > 0:46:36They pointed out that there was no evidence that Christ was born on that particular day.

0:46:36 > 0:46:38They pointed out too

0:46:38 > 0:46:41that it had its origins as a Pagan mid-winter festival

0:46:41 > 0:46:43and they strongly disapproved of the fact

0:46:43 > 0:46:46that it had been turned into a general occasion for feasting,

0:46:46 > 0:46:49merry-making, drinking, general profanity.

0:46:49 > 0:46:51All those things were wrong in their eyes.

0:46:53 > 0:46:56How miserable can you be?

0:46:56 > 0:46:59How miserable can you be

0:46:59 > 0:47:01that you do away with Christmas?

0:47:03 > 0:47:05That should say it all about Oliver Cromwell!

0:47:05 > 0:47:09I don't know how people can admire Cromwell!

0:47:09 > 0:47:11# Have a holly jolly Christmas

0:47:11 > 0:47:15# It's the best time of the year

0:47:15 > 0:47:18# I don't know if there'll be snow... #

0:47:18 > 0:47:21The Cavaliers fought back.

0:47:21 > 0:47:24They circulated pamphlets

0:47:24 > 0:47:27attacking the Puritan assault on the old Christmas.

0:47:28 > 0:47:30People hated the fact Christmas was abolished

0:47:30 > 0:47:34and even more hated the idea that they were supposed to treat it simply as another working day,

0:47:34 > 0:47:39and, for the most part, they refused to accept that new regulation.

0:47:39 > 0:47:43Despite the full force of the Roundhead state,

0:47:43 > 0:47:46Cromwell failed to crush the Cavalier spirit of Christmas.

0:47:50 > 0:47:55What you see now is a Christmas which is almost entirely Pagan.

0:47:55 > 0:47:58Bringing in Christmas trees, giving of gifts, lighting candles,

0:47:58 > 0:48:01all of that - this is the very much older history

0:48:01 > 0:48:04that Cromwell couldn't eliminate.

0:48:06 > 0:48:09The Roundheads have been absolutely defeated on Christmas.

0:48:09 > 0:48:12I think Jesus may have been defeated on Christmas.

0:48:13 > 0:48:17HUNTING HORN SOUNDS

0:48:25 > 0:48:28It's like a cavalry charge, and it's every man for himself.

0:48:28 > 0:48:31You have to be an adrenaline junkie to do it. You really do.

0:48:33 > 0:48:35In the early 21st century,

0:48:35 > 0:48:39there was a new stand-off between Roundheads and Cavaliers.

0:48:45 > 0:48:49In 2004, demonstrators invaded Parliament

0:48:49 > 0:48:53to protest against the passing of the Hunting Act,

0:48:53 > 0:48:55which outlawed hunting foxes with hounds.

0:48:58 > 0:49:02And the two tribes went to war once more.

0:49:02 > 0:49:06I think very much that those of us who support hunting see themselves,

0:49:06 > 0:49:11and probably rightly, as the descendants of the Cavaliers.

0:49:17 > 0:49:20Certainly, the rank and file of the Parliamentarians,

0:49:20 > 0:49:23if they were alive today, they would be hunt saboteurs.

0:49:26 > 0:49:29The Atherstone Hunt in Leicestershire

0:49:29 > 0:49:30is one of the oldest in Britain.

0:49:32 > 0:49:35A loophole in the law permits them to continue running with hounds,

0:49:35 > 0:49:39but only if a bird of prey is used for the kill.

0:49:42 > 0:49:44Parliament has set out to ban hunting,

0:49:44 > 0:49:48and that makes us a criminal. Should we kill a fox, we are a criminal.

0:49:50 > 0:49:52Here we are.

0:49:52 > 0:49:55There's absolutely loads of kit in this little bag.

0:49:55 > 0:50:00From hats to gloves to nets...

0:50:00 > 0:50:03Members of the League Against Cruel Sports

0:50:03 > 0:50:06are now keeping close watch on hunts across Britain.

0:50:06 > 0:50:10If the hunt is breaking the law, then with a bit of luck

0:50:10 > 0:50:12we'll get good evidence, to catch them, possibly,

0:50:12 > 0:50:16with their pants down, you know, by being hidden.

0:50:20 > 0:50:23I think it's important that Parliament's will is upheld,

0:50:23 > 0:50:28simply because if you believe in democracy, the law is the law.

0:50:28 > 0:50:34And if we start choosing which law we want to abide by,

0:50:34 > 0:50:38then we will soon slip into anarchy and civil unrest.

0:50:38 > 0:50:40HUNTING HORN SOUNDS

0:50:41 > 0:50:45A Roundhead Britain? Haven't we just lived through it?

0:50:45 > 0:50:48People being told what they can and cannot do,

0:50:48 > 0:50:50limitations on all our activities.

0:50:50 > 0:50:54And I don't just mean hunting - there are plenty of other activities

0:50:54 > 0:50:58that were limited by Mr Blair and his friends.

0:50:58 > 0:51:03I'm afraid I think that modern Britain is decidedly Roundhead

0:51:03 > 0:51:05because I measure that by,

0:51:05 > 0:51:09"How much intrusion do we have from the state in our daily lives?"

0:51:09 > 0:51:12Oh, and they try to protect us against ourselves

0:51:12 > 0:51:15like very good Roundheads.

0:51:15 > 0:51:17To play conkers, you must put goggles on,

0:51:17 > 0:51:21don't do the backstroke in swimming baths in case you crack your dear little head at the end of it -

0:51:21 > 0:51:24all with the force of law!

0:51:24 > 0:51:27Oh, Cromwell would have loved it.

0:51:27 > 0:51:29He would have loved it.

0:51:29 > 0:51:32# ..But he will have a right

0:51:32 > 0:51:36# To be a pilgrim. #

0:51:38 > 0:51:40For all men and women of good will,

0:51:40 > 0:51:44and especially for thy servant Oliver Cromwell...

0:51:44 > 0:51:47ALL: We give thee thanks, O God.

0:51:47 > 0:51:53For all associated with him in the struggle for liberty,

0:51:53 > 0:51:55justice and truth...

0:51:55 > 0:51:58ALL: We give thee thanks, O God.

0:51:58 > 0:52:03Oliver Cromwell ruled as Lord Protector for nearly five years

0:52:03 > 0:52:07until his death on September the 3rd, 1658.

0:52:07 > 0:52:09Every year on this day,

0:52:09 > 0:52:13the Cromwell Association gathers to mark the anniversary.

0:52:15 > 0:52:16Cromwell is one of the great Britons

0:52:16 > 0:52:19and, indeed, at the end of the last millennium

0:52:19 > 0:52:22when they had various polls, he did make the top ten.

0:52:22 > 0:52:24He didn't come first, unfortunately,

0:52:24 > 0:52:26but he is one of the formative influences

0:52:26 > 0:52:29in English and British history, for good and ill.

0:52:29 > 0:52:32He's still a controversial person. He should still be remembered.

0:52:34 > 0:52:37Cromwell was a great man. A greatly great man.

0:52:37 > 0:52:41He bestrides English history like a colossus.

0:52:41 > 0:52:46I mean, the time of his rule is usually whited out,

0:52:46 > 0:52:48because he's the only non-royal,

0:52:48 > 0:52:50which makes him, of course,

0:52:50 > 0:52:55enormously important and infinitely superior to any of the royals.

0:52:57 > 0:52:59I have no instinct towards vandalism at all

0:52:59 > 0:53:03except when I pass Oliver Cromwell's statue outside the House of Commons

0:53:03 > 0:53:05and I dearly wish I could push it over.

0:53:12 > 0:53:15The conflict goes on.

0:53:15 > 0:53:17But even the Cromwell Association

0:53:17 > 0:53:19has called a truce with the monarchy.

0:53:22 > 0:53:27We pray for our Queen and for all who are called at this time

0:53:27 > 0:53:31to serve the state and lead the people.

0:53:31 > 0:53:36'I don't think there is a contradiction in having prayers for both,'

0:53:36 > 0:53:38the protector who was a regicide

0:53:38 > 0:53:40'and having a prayer for the reigning monarch.'

0:53:40 > 0:53:42Amen.

0:53:42 > 0:53:44The impact of the Civil War,

0:53:44 > 0:53:47the tide of blood, the regicide, all the overturning,

0:53:47 > 0:53:50had a lasting effect on the British and the English psyche.

0:53:50 > 0:53:53It makes us shy away from civil war, it makes us shy away from extremism.

0:53:53 > 0:53:56So we're a broad church, and we're inclusive.

0:53:58 > 0:54:03Within two years of Cromwell's death, the monarchy was restored.

0:54:03 > 0:54:05MUSIC: God Save The Queen

0:54:07 > 0:54:09A Cavalier triumph.

0:54:09 > 0:54:13But the new constitution placed significant limits on royal power.

0:54:15 > 0:54:19The Roundheads had put Britain on the road to parliamentary democracy.

0:54:22 > 0:54:26If we look at the 21st century, I think we are a republic in all but name.

0:54:26 > 0:54:29Of course, we have a Queen,

0:54:29 > 0:54:33we will soon have King Charles III...

0:54:35 > 0:54:38..but in fact they have no power

0:54:38 > 0:54:42and I think this is the legacy of the Roundheads.

0:54:51 > 0:54:54Over 350 years after the Civil War came to an end,

0:54:54 > 0:54:59Roundhead values have even infiltrated the Royal Family.

0:55:00 > 0:55:05The Queen herself, it seems to me, is by instinct a sort of Roundhead -

0:55:05 > 0:55:06dutiful, she knows the rules,

0:55:06 > 0:55:09she abides by a code of behaviour that is very precise

0:55:09 > 0:55:13and very austere, in some ways.

0:55:13 > 0:55:15I mean, she lives a sort of very careful life.

0:55:15 > 0:55:19Whereas Prince Charles, it seems to me, is sort of King Charles again.

0:55:19 > 0:55:22There is somebody, we understand, to put toothpaste on his toothbrush.

0:55:22 > 0:55:25This is a man who probably does deep down believe

0:55:25 > 0:55:27in the divine right of kings.

0:55:28 > 0:55:30Centuries of conflict

0:55:30 > 0:55:33have had a surprising effect on the British character.

0:55:33 > 0:55:38It now seems there's a little bit of Roundhead and Cavalier in us all.

0:55:43 > 0:55:46In some ways, it's a strangely self-defining aspect

0:55:46 > 0:55:50of our politics that people feel they are slotted into one or the other

0:55:50 > 0:55:53and then spend quite a lot of time trying to break the mould.

0:55:53 > 0:55:55I think fascinatingly at the moment we probably have

0:55:55 > 0:55:59a prime minister who is, by instinct, a Cavalier,

0:55:59 > 0:56:02but realises that the whole Bullingdon Club,

0:56:02 > 0:56:06"let your hair down" person who is kind of born to rule

0:56:06 > 0:56:11is a very dangerous aspect of his perhaps unfair public persona.

0:56:11 > 0:56:13So Cameron spends a great deal of his time,

0:56:13 > 0:56:16I think, trying to play down the Cavalier aspects of his image

0:56:16 > 0:56:19and trying to play up the Roundhead ones.

0:56:19 > 0:56:22Conversely, Ed Miliband seems to me to be probably a natural Roundhead.

0:56:22 > 0:56:25He is somebody who seems to me to have a very clear and crisp set of ideas

0:56:25 > 0:56:27of where he wants to go.

0:56:27 > 0:56:29On the other hand, he's fighting the perception

0:56:29 > 0:56:31that actually he's very boring.

0:56:33 > 0:56:35I think the Cavaliers did win.

0:56:35 > 0:56:39We have a society which is a pyramid of snobbery and wealth.

0:56:39 > 0:56:42That seems to me a Cavalier Britain.

0:56:46 > 0:56:49We are definitely getting more Cavalier.

0:56:49 > 0:56:51We are now getting more Cavalier.

0:56:51 > 0:56:53And that's not a good thing.

0:56:54 > 0:56:59There are no Roundheads telling you what to do and what not to do,

0:56:59 > 0:57:02you are encouraged to be a Cavalier and just get on with it on your own.

0:57:02 > 0:57:05But, actually, most people are now suddenly realising

0:57:05 > 0:57:08that you've got to have a bit of Roundhead backbone

0:57:08 > 0:57:10in your Cavalier existence

0:57:10 > 0:57:12or else it all implodes.

0:57:14 > 0:57:15Over the last few decades

0:57:15 > 0:57:19we've probably become a more Roundhead society.

0:57:19 > 0:57:21I think we are much more carefully controlled,

0:57:21 > 0:57:23there are many more CCTV cameras around

0:57:23 > 0:57:27that I think Oliver Cromwell and his like would certainly have approved of.

0:57:27 > 0:57:30On the other hand, I think, as a reaction to that,

0:57:30 > 0:57:34when the Cavalier spirit breaks out, it breaks out with all feathers on.

0:57:34 > 0:57:38And so I think in a way we've probably become more extreme

0:57:38 > 0:57:41in both aspects of the national character.

0:57:41 > 0:57:42Roundhead...

0:57:44 > 0:57:46..or Cavalier?

0:57:46 > 0:57:48The battle continues.

0:58:11 > 0:58:14Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd