This prompted an alliance with the Scots, who themselves were looking for religious assurances for which they had fought the Bishops wars with England from 1638-1640. I have chosen to discuss Anthology document 3.12, "The religious provisions of the Solemn League and Covenant, September 1643" in support of my argument the English state went through stages of being absent from dominance during this period. Written as a legal document between the English parliament and the Scots, it assures Scotland of the religious changes they were seeking (no bishops, no book of common prayer) in exchange for military assistance to the English parliament. .
Whilst reading the document I found the English parliaments terms of alliance surprising. The pledge in Clause 2 "endeavor the extirpation of popery, prelacy" (Anthology, 3.6, 252) pledges that the English parliament will unify the churches of England and Ireland, with that of the Calvinist Church of Scotland. Scotland is holding all the trump cards here, signalling dominance over the English parliament. You can gain a sense from reading the document that the English parliament shared some common ground with Charles I. The line "to bring the Churches of God in the three kingdoms to the nearest conjunction and uniformity in religion, confession of faith, form and church government" (Anthology, 3.6, 252) demonstrates the English parliament wasn't far away from Charles I ideas for religion. What differed was the English parliament's use of politics, which sadly Charles I lacked. The English parliament needed to handle the treaty with care due to the situation they found themselves in (the Civil War).
From a position of being absent from dominance the English parliament found themselves back in to a position of being dominant With the New Model Army's formation in April 1645. With its formation parliament was to have a powerful means of clawing back dominance over Scotland and Ireland, with eventual invasions into both kingdoms.