English Civil War (1642). The English Civil War was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists principally over the manner of England's governance. The first and second wars pitted the supporters of King Charles I against the supporters of the Long Parliament, while the third saw fighting between supporters of King Charles II and supporters of the Rump Parliament. The war ended with Parliamentarian victory at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651. The outcome of the war was threefold: the trial and execution of Charles I; the exile of his son, Charles II; and the replacement of English monarchy with, at first, the Commonwealth of England and then the Protectorate under the personal rule of Oliver Cromwell and briefly his son Richard. In England, the monopoly of the Church of England on Christian worship was ended, while in Ireland the victors consolidated the established Protestant Ascendancy. Constitutionally, the wars established the precedent that an English monarch cannot govern without Parliament's consent, although the idea of Parliamentary sovereignty was only legally established as part of the Glorious Revolution in 1688. The term English Civil War appears most often in the singular, although historians often divide the conflict into two or three separate wars. These were not restricted to England, as Wales was part of the Kingdom of England and affected accordingly. The conflicts also involved wars with Scotland and Ireland, and civil wars within them. The wars spanning all three countries are known as the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. In the early 19th century, Sir Walter Scott referred to it as the Great Civil War. Unlike other civil wars in England, which focused on who should rule, these conflicts were more concerned with the manner in which the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland were governed. The 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica called the series of conflicts the Great Rebellion, while some historians-notably Marxists such as Christopher Hill-long favoured the term English Revolution. Each side had a geographical stronghold, such that minority elements were silenced or fled. The royalty's included the countryside, the shires, the cathedral city of Oxford, and the less economically developed areas of northern and western England. Parliament's spanned the industrial centres, ports, and economically advanced regions of southern and eastern England, including the remaining cathedral cities. Lacey Baldwin Smith says, the words populous, rich, and rebellious seemed to go hand in hand. Many officers and veteran soldiers had fought in European wars, notably the Eighty Years' War between the Spanish and the Dutch, which began in 1568. The main battle tactic came to be known as pike and shot infantry. The two sides would line up opposite one another, with infantry brigades of musketeers in the centre. These carried matchlock muskets, an inaccurate weapon which nevertheless could be lethal at a range of up to 300 yards. Musketeers would assemble three rows deep, the first kneeling, second crouching, and third standing, allowing all to fire a volley simultaneously. At times, troops divided into two groups, allowing one to reload while the other fired. Among the musketeers were pike men, carrying pikes of 12 feet to 18 feet long, whose main purpose was to protect the musketeers from cavalry charges. Positioned on each side of the infantry were cavalry, with a right-wing led by the lieutenant-general and left by the commissary general. Its main aim was to rout the opponents' cavalry, then turn and overpower their infantry. The Royalist cavaliers' skill and speed on horseback led to many early victories. Prince Rupert, commanding the king's cavalry, used a tactic learned while fighting in the Dutch army, where cavalry would charge at full speed into the opponent's infantry, firing their pistols just before impact. However, with Oliver Cromwell and the introduction of the more disciplined New Model Army, a group of disciplined pike men would stand its ground, which could have a devastating effect. The Royalist cavalry had a tendency to chase down individual targets after the initial charge, leaving their forces scattered and tired, whereas Cromwell's cavalry was slower but better disciplined. Trained to operate as a single unit, it went on to win many decisive victories. The English Civil War broke out in 1642, less than 40 years after the death of Queen Elizabeth I.