Root and Branch Petition

The Root and Branch Petition was a petition presented to the Long Parliament on December 11, 1640. The petition had been signed by 15,000 Londoners and was presented to the English Parliament by a crowd of 1,500. The petition called on Parliament to abolish episcopacy "roots and branches".

The House of Commons was reluctant to act on the Root and Branch Petition, though it did ultimately refer the petition to committee in February 1641.

The humble petition of many of his Majesty’s subjects in and about the City of London, and several counties of the kingdom, Sheweth, that whereas the government of archbishops and lord bishops, deans and archdeacons etc, with their courts and ministrations in them, have proved prejudicial and very dangerous both to the Church and the Commonwealth, they themselves having formerly held that they have their jurisdiction or authority of human authority, till of these late times, being further pressed about the unlawfulness, that they have claimed their calling immediately from the Lord Jesus Christ, which is against the laws of this kingdom, and derogatory to his Majesty and his state royal. And whereas the said government is found by woeful experience to be a main cause and occasion of many foul evils, pressures and grievances of a very high nature unto his Majesty’s subjects in their own consciences, liberties and estates – as in a schedule of particulars hereunto annexed may in part appear. We therefore most humbly pray and beseech this honourable assembly, the premises considered, that the said government with all its dependencies, roots and branches, may be abolished, and all laws in their behalf made void, and the government according to God’s Word may be rightly placed amongst us; and we your humble supplicants, as in duty we are bound, will daily pray for his Majesty’s long and happy reign over us, and for the prosperous success of this high and honourable Court of Parliament.

Analysis

I sense you can see a petition created by committee as you read through the complaints and the work of many hands. Some of the "Many Foul Evils" focus of the influence of Catholicism in the liturgy of the church and the iconoclastic paraphernalia. "the frequent venting of crucifixes and popish pictures and the turning of the communion alter wise.

There is also criticism of the clergy themselves and the treatment of their parishioners "The General abuse of that great ordinance of excommunication and corruption through fines which they turn all into moneys for filling of their purses'

The petitioners highlight more general dissatisfaction with the imposition of Ship Money and other taxes, which were less the fault of the church and more the fault of the king, although they often supported the king in gathering the taxes.

As you might expect, the petitioners were unhappy with the availability of popish books on display, some of which specifically depicted the Church of Rome as the true church. However, some of their other complaints were more trivial such as the swarming of the lascivious....Ovid's Fits of Love or books satirizing the Parliament, which were unlikely to have appeared in more than a handful of churches and not something in itself reason to abolish episcopacy