Hello everyone and welcome to the history of England episode 376 Letters of Blood.

Okay, we were on the 24th of February 1641, compromises in the air. We appear to be moving

towards a settlement, led by Bedford, Antisclient, Pym, Singeon and Handen. It was based on

freeing victims of the personal rule, ending prerogative taxes, the removal and replacement of

those evil counsellors, regular parliaments held by law, rolling back those lordian reforms,

and in return, subsiders would be provided at a reasonable level for the king.

And then the Scots had lobbed their grenade, demanding abolition of the Episcopie,

and the atmosphere had turned distinctly chilly. For Charles, Bishop was

were non-negotiable and for many MPs it was the same. And Charles saw her way out here. He saw

her way to split the reformers and bring moderate and royalist MPs to his side,

prevent any further concessions and regain the initiative. The Junto was now divided between

their religious radicals and Scots on the one hand and the moderate Bedford faction on the other,

but neither of them could afford to lose Scottish support. But the Scots' declaration of

24th of February had without doubt changed the dynamic between them. And now the Junto couldn't

be confident that Parliament would be on the Scots side as a whole. And in pursuit of a settlement,

the moderate Bedford himself would dearly love to lose them because they now stood in the way

of an amicable conclusion, but still they held the stick, the army in the north.

So now everything came to the trial of Strathod. Could a solution be found that saved

Charles's honour and determination to protect the life of his servant, and yet in short,

Strathod could never again help Charles impose arbitrary rule. And therefore, help the settlement

come home. Now there was clearly a problem. Charles's expectations of the 25th of February,

the far more optimistic than they should have been. He had consistently refused the Junto's

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