All three of Charles Stuart's kingdoms are in rebellion. Presbyterian covenanters have thrown King Charles and his bishops out of Scotland, occupying northern England. Catholic confederates have retaken much of Ireland. Parliament has ejected the king from his capital, London, and is raising England's trained bands to defend its constitutional rights and the protestant reformation. Each set of rebels claims loyalty to his majesty while taking up arms against him. The king has raised his battle standard in Nottingham and moved his court to Oxford. Anxious to release royalist troops from garrison duty in Ireland, for use against Parliament, King Charles is negotiating with the Catholic confederates under a temporary truce, and considering the legitimisation of catholicism in Ireland.
