 On the outbreak of the First English Civil War Brent sided with Parliament.Before Charles I entered Oxford (29 October 1642), he had abandoned Oxford for London.On 27 January 1645 Charles I wrote to the remaining Fellows at Merton that Brent was deposed from his office on the grounds of his having absented himself for three years from the college, of having adhered to the rebels, and of having accepted the office of judge-marshal in their ranks.