Events
- 4 January – Charles I attempts to arrest five leading members of the Long Parliament, but they escape.[1] This is the last time any monarch enters the House of Commons.
- January – Charles I agrees to parliament’s request to order that the last Wednesday in each month should be kept as a fast day.[2]
- 18 January–March – the Protestation of 1641, an oath of allegiance to the King and Church of England, is circulated around the country for signature by all adult males, the Protestation Returns of 1641–1642.
- 13 February – Charles assents to the Bishops Exclusion Act thereby removing all bishops from the House of Lords.[1]
- 23 February–11 March – Queen Henrietta Maria and her eldest daughter Mary leave Falmouth, Cornwall, to go into exile at the Dutch court in The Hague.[3] At about this time, Mary becomes the first child of an English Sovereign to be granted the title Princess Royal.
- 27 February – Charles rejects the Militia Bill.[1]
- 5 March – Parliament declares that "the People are bound by the Ordinance for the Militia, though it has not received the Royal Assent".[1]
- April – the governor of Kingston upon Hull twice refuses access to the King.
- 1 June – Parliament approves the Nineteen Propositions to be sent to the King, demanding parliamentary control of the civil government of the kingdom.
- 21 June – The King's Answer, rejecting the Nineteen Propositions, is read in Parliament.[1]
- 10 July–30 July – Charles besieges Hull in an attempt to gain control of its arsenal.[1]
- 22 August – Charles raises the royal battle standard over Nottingham Castle, so beginning the English Civil War against his own Parliament.[1]
- 2 September – Parliament orders the theatres of London to be closed, effectively ending the era of English Renaissance theatre.[1]
- 7 September – Siege of Portsmouth (begun on 10 August) ends with Royalists surrendering the port to Parliament.
- 23 September – English Civil War: Royalist victory at the Battle of Powick Bridge.[4]
- 23 October – English Civil War: Royalist victory at the Battle of Edgehill, the first pitched battle of the War.[1]
- 29 October – King Charles enters Oxford and establishes his court there.[4]
- 12 November – Battle of Brentford: Royalist forces defeat Parliamentarians.
- 13 November – Battle of Turnham Green: Royalist forces withdraw in face of the Parliamentarian army and fail to take London.[1]