2. Monarchy and Divine Right

The accession of Charles I

-27th March 1625, the death of James I and accession of Charles I. 13th of June he was married to Henrietta Maria.
-He became King of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, defender of the faith.

Characteristics of Charles I

-4th of 7 children but all bar 1 died
-Very sickly child, he live in Scotland because he was too frail to moved to England.
-Even as an adult he couldn't shake his Scottish accent.
-This made him feel ill at ease at posh courts.
-He was short and had a stutter so he disliked long conversations like his father.
-Uncomfortable in a boisterous court preferred the company of a few individuals.
-He had a good eye for art he assembled a large collection of magnificent art.
- Reign was characterised by the warm loving relationship he had with his wife (Henrietta Maria) and their 7 kids
-Showed loyalty to Buckingham, Laud and Wentworth

What were the aims of Charles I?

-To maintain law and order
-Ensure effective operation of Justice System
-Support healthy management of the localities by local gentry who are in the best position to prevent civil disorder.
-Defend kingdom from external threat, conduct effective foreign policy, maintain military strength.
-Promote kingdoms as strong and efficient through careful use of public image
-Provide effective religious leadership
-maintain order of the Church of England, scottish kirk and Irish Church.
-Defend true faith from heresy.
-Ensure financial/economic wellbeing.
-Carefully manage expenditure.
-Efficiently collect income including taxation.

The Queen and the court

-Henrietta Maria was 15 when she married Charles and it was contracted for complex religious and political reasons.
-The French King hoped to use the match to strengthen anti- Spanish alliance with England whilst preventing English sponsorship of French Protestant rebels.
-Her formidable mother was a fervent Catholic who hoped she would protect English Catholics and draw England back to Rome.
-Duke of Buckingham provoked trivial quarrel that resulted in estrangement between king and queen until his assassination in 1628.

Queen's growing political influence

-With Buckingham dead they drew closer and fulfilled her wifely duty of having children which catalysed her her status and power.
-The arrival of her high ranking French ambassador helped consolidate her position and helped train her to develop her political influence.
-He gathered a faction inc Earl of Holland and Wat Montagu providing a pro-French balance to pro-Spanish faction in court of William Laud, Richard Weston and Francis Cottingham.
-Helped the queen to orchestrate a turnaround in late 1620s which hinted at the powerful role she would play in the following years.

Protection of Catholics

-Freedom of worship for Henrietta Maria and her attendants was written into the marriage treaty her Catholicism posed a major obstacle to her acceptance by the country resulting in her exclusion from a formal coronation.
-1/5 of English gentry were Catholic so her presence at heart of the court brought protection at lower ends.
-The queen got earl of Holland, protestant, to discreetly secure the freedom of a number of arrested priests in early 1630s.

Development of court culture and courtly entertainment

-In parallel with the development of growth of political power and religious influence came with her ability to create a unique court culture.
-Masques were a feature of courts for many years but the queen was an exuberant participant causing consternation.
-For Puritans objections for the queen's love of masques were much more deep seated as they saw it as ungodly and for women, immoral.
-This intensified when the queen took part in a English play, Shepherds Paradise, the first for a royal woman which prompted William Prynne to attack women actors as notorious whres.
-Her patronage for art celebrated her personality and associated her with Virgin Mary to adorn the queen's image. This increased tension in the atmosphere in the queen's court.

Buckingham and the inner sanctum

-The trajectory of Buckingham typifies the way access to the king was a shortcut to power.
-His physical attributes and charm meant he was able to dominate King James without hard work.
-By Charles' accession Buckingham's influence had nearly destroyed the inner sanctum because he had effectively replaced the king as font of patronage and power and was distributing royal favour exclusively among his own faction.
-The court Charles inherited was notoriously immoral, corrupted by drunkenness and immorality.

The Caroline court

-His personal temperament was swiftly reflected as court rapidly reformed and become more moral and orderly.
-Buckingham initially dominated patronage and ambitious men were trying to gain influence, Charles instructed gentry to spend less time in London and more time fulfilling their duties.
-One member William Palmer was fined 1k in Star Chamber for remaining in London without permission.
-Charles' desire for physical forms of order and decency was a factor in cutting off access to his royal person.
-This isolated him from men expected to become his natural advisors whose advice would've been useful and after Buckingham assassinated failed to revert to functionality of father's court and prioritised order over access.

Demonstrations of Royal authority

-Charles was very attuned to the way visual arts and architecture could convey power and authority and made use of Hampton Court Palace investing heavily into the Palace's fine stock of paintings, furniture and tapestries.
-He was keen to trace English monarch to to glorious Tudor days.
-To project images of power he hired Inigo Jones to design Queen's House at Greenwich for his mother and completed it for Henrietta.
-The London Palace was extensively remodeled by Jones and consists of 2 canvassed The Union of Crowns and Apotheosis of James I.

Divine Right of Kings

-The idea that the monarch was chosen by God and therefore to challenge the authority of the king was to challenge God himself.

-Christians believed God chose the king which is why during coronation a special blessing is made by the most senior chuchman, archbishop of Canterbury.

-Archbishop acted on behalf of the Pope who was the leader of the Christian world.

-Demonstrated the Church could pass God's authority to the king, Divine Right, but Pope could also unmake a monarch if contravening with God's laws.

-Henry VIII break from mode changed this so no longer answer the Pope and sacred (church) and temporal (kingly) power resided with the monarch.

-James I was fervent proponent of Divine Right it was widely held and Charles built on his theories and turned them into a public genre of art and architect.

Opposition to Divine Right

-Parliament: Some members of HOL and more in HOC resisted such a view of monarchial power as it seemed to sweep all before it, removing Ps independent authority and subjecting it to royal will rather than will of the people.
-Catholics: Refused to accept that the Pope's authority could be displaced. This is why allegiance was such a complex issue for them bc they continued to believe the Pope had higher authority than the King.
-Puritans: Extreme Puritans believed the king only had earthly power and should not be allowed to appoint bishops and other spiritual leaders.

Charles' endorsement of Divine Right

-All 3 opponents at different time exerted intense pressure onto Stuart monarchs and both Charles and James' response was to intensify their affirmations of Divine Right.
-James lectured Parliament at great length, scolding them for impertinent assaults of authority but Charles was more subtle but more inflexible.
-He turned powers into tools to reinforce his royal authority and more strident opposition became the stronger he responded.
-Some saw his endorsement of DR as a sign he wanted to become an absolute monarch, where he answered to no-one not even Parliament, more established in Europe, particularly in France and Spain.
-Little to indicate he was aiming to become an absolute ruler like his brother in law Louis XIII his and his wife's actions alarmed an increasingly anxious nation.