stuarts

Charles became king of Britain

1625

Class system

King

Peerage

Landed and merchant classes

Lower classes

Royal prerogative

Control of foreign policy, war and peace

Regulation of overseas trade

He could call/dissolve/prorogue parliament

He appointed all judges and ministers

Proclamations

Issued by the king, but only parliament could pass it into statute law

Divine right of hereditary monarchy

Monarchs derived their power from God

Parliament’s privileges

King couldn’t enter the chamber of the HoC

Freedom of speech

MPs had freedom of arrest during parliament

Impeachment in parliament

HoC impeached the accused person who then stood trial before the HoL

Parliament- finance

They expected the king to pay for the costs of his household, court and government from the Crown’s private income (crown land)

Subsidies called ‘extraordinary revenue’ voted by parliament could be given to the king

Prerogative courts

Court of Star Chamber and Court of High Commission

Court of Star Chamber

Cases heard in secret, couldn’t sentence a man to death but could inflict corporal punishments

Court of High Commission

Highest ecclesiastical court, used to enforce religious uniformity

Charles I

Married a catholic called Henrietta Maria of France, believed he was given his position by god, didn’t think it was necessary to explain his actions

Habsburg struggle

parliament offered Charles 2 subsidies worth only £140,000 as they declared no war had been declared

Tonnage and poundage

Temporary grant of 1 year issued to give time for a full discussion of reform

Charles took it personally and adjourned Parliament for 3 weeks, but parliament still refused

Buckingham was blamed for mishandling the king’s affairs

Charles dissolved parliament

Attack on Cadiz

In 1625 a fleet reached a farm full of vats of wine which they drank, the expedition was a failure

They were humiliated and Lord Admiral Buckingham was blamed

Parliament 1626

Charles asked for another subsidy to continue the war against Spain

Parliament agreed in return of the impeachment of Buckingham, going against royal prerogative of choosing advisors

Charles dissolved Parliament

Charles asked JPs to ‘lovingly, freely and voluntarily’ give him money, but many refused

July 1626

Forced loan

1626, anyone who refused answered to the Privy Council

He extracted £250,000

South Coast

1626 he began billeting soldiers as a form of punishment for local opposition in towns like Banbury

Five Knights Case

1627, 76 people imprisoned for refusing to pay the forced loan

5 knights applied for a writ of habeas corpus, but they were sent back to prison as Charles exercised his right to imprison people as monarch

La Rochelle expedition

1628, led by Buckingham

The ladders they brought were too short and didn’t reach the walls, so now at war with France and spain

Parliament 1628

Charles summoned parliament to ask for a subsidy, who offered it in return for accepting the petition of right

Petition of right

7th June 1628

Crown cannot impose taxes without Parliament’s consent

Cannot imprison people without just cause

Cannot billet soldiers on the homes of subjects

Cannot impose martial law on its subjects

Can only act within the law

Charles succeeded to the throne

1624, found an empty treasury and dwindling credit

He gained a loan from the City for London merchants for £60,000 which was not enough

Charles’ religion

He promoted arminian clergy and offered important positions in court to arminians

Charles’ revised version of the petition of rights

He could collect tonnage and poundage without Parliamentary grant

Imprisoned merchants who refused

Buckingham’s assassination

August 1628, by John Felton who blamed him for military failures

The public celebrated with bonfires

In January 1629 when Parliament reassembled they celebrated the news

Commons Protestation 2nd of March 1629

A group of MPs (led by Sir John Eliot) demanded the passing of the Three Resolutions

When the speaker refused to delay the adjournment, they held him in his chair until the resolutions passed

Charles dissolved parliament for 11 years

Commons Protestation 1629

Against Arminianism, against tonnage and poundage, those who pay t&p are traitors

Significance of dissolution of parliament

1629

Without parliament he could only collect certain taxes

Instability- seen as destroying parliament

An absolute monarchy

A stable government based off the king’s beliefs

Personal rule

11 years when Charles governed without parliament

Reducing expenditure during personal rule

Signed Treaty of Susa 1629

Signed Treaty of Madrid 1630

Expenditure of military dropped from £500,000 a year in the 1620s to £66,000 a year in the 1630s

Sources of income during personal rule

Rents from crown land

Wardship

Tonnage and poundage

Monopolies

Distant of knighthood

Revival of forest laws

Ship money

Wardship

When a landowner died leaving a child heir the crown could administer the estate until the heir came of age

Monopolies

Selling corporations the sole right to produce, import or sell products

Led to charges of corruption at court

Distraint of knighthood

Men owning estates worth £40 a year were supposed to attend coronations, they were fined for not doing so

Hadn’t been employed since the early tudors

Revival of forest laws

Those who couldn’t produce title deeds for inherited land were taxed

earl of Salisbury was fined £20,000

Ship money

In 1634 it was levied with the intention of building ships

In 1635 it was extended to inland counties

1636 it became annual

The only preceded for raising it inland was the Armada crisis of 1588

Hampden case

November 1637 John hampden refused to pay shop money

The king won 7:5 (judges)

In 1638 the amount collected fell by 20%

Emigration

In 1630, 11 ships with 700 passengers left for america

Laudian reforms

Churches were decorated with statues and colour

Organs were restored

Altars moved to the east end of the church for traditional communion

Book of common prayer

Pacification of Berwick

Charles and Scot’s agreed to disband as long as the king agreed to call a Scottish general assembly and an English parliament ie first bishops war