Divine Right of Kings as most important cause

Introduction

• James I inherited the throne in 1603 with a strong belief in the Divine Right of Kings which maintained the idea that the King had been granted his power to rule by God, and therefore had the last say in state matters.

• This inevitably led to raised tensions and disputes with parliament, who thought the ideas that James had laid out in the Trew Law of Free Monarchies 1598 were closer to tyrannical than a just king.

• However, James' belief in the Divine Right of Kings cannot be seen as the sole factor in the escalating tensions between the Crown and parliament as the financial difficulties of James and the heightening religious tensions in the country caused serious disputes.

• Ultimately though, while other factors certainly did play a large role in the disputes between James I and parliament, the most serious cause of dispute with his parliament is undeniably his belief in the Divine Right of Kings.

Divine Right of Kings: Shirley Case

1604 - Shirley Case

• An MP Thomas Shirley who had debts and was arrested but this was against Common Law as they had parliamentary privilege

• At the beginning of the reign, so set up an expectation of James' exerting his right over other people and disregarding the common law

• Trew Law of Free Monarchies 1598

  • "King is above the law"

• Led to serious disputes as the government did not feel that they could trust James and that he was veering towards absolutism

Divine Right of Kings: Protestation

• Second session of 1621 parliament

• Upon bringing up James' desire for Charles to marry a Catholic, James reminds them that they should not "meddle […] deep matters of State"

• Results in the Protestation of 1621, which aimed to remind James of the "ancient […] liberties of parliament"

• James then ripped it out of the Commons Journal and dissolved parliament

• This deeply concerned parliament who would now perceive James as tyrannical as he would not listen to other opinions

  • Stubborn in his DRoK and therefore creating a  foundation of mistrust between the two, eventually leading major disputes between the Crown and Parliament, such as the Civil War later on

Divine Right of Kings: Fears

Fears of James I becoming a tyrannical king

• Not a lot of evidence behind their worries

• Basilikon Doron 1599 talks about how he does not want to be a tyrannical king in an attempt to reassure his kingdoms that he would not be a tyrannical king

• "[The King] must be accountable"

• Demonstrates how a lot of parliament's worries were never actually realised and therefore the cause of disputes was more likely influenced by larger external factors such as finance and religion

Divine Right of Kings: Interim Judgement

Ultimately caused most of the disputes that James and the Crown had as neither could compromise on what they believed was their rights

• While the fears that parliament had were not necessarily sound in logic, it did inevitably lead to major disagreements that could have easily been resolved if not for James' stubborn belief in DRoK

• Contributing factor of religion and finance

Religion: Spanish Match

1620s - Spanish Match

• James' aimed to marry Charles to the Spanish Infanta

• Made James appear to be a Catholic sympathiser, especially with how close he was with Gondomar (the Spanish Ambassador)

• Caused an increase in Puritan opposition after 1618

  • Clearly religion has led to a major dispute between James and Parliament

Religion: Montague

• Release of A New Gag for an Old Goose 1624

  • Critiqued Puritans and James supported Montague on it 

  • Furthered divides within parliament as James was seen to have a preference of Arminianism

• Alarmed MPs who saw this as Popery and Catholic vestiges

  • Firm belief

• Admittance of Andrewes in the Privy Council in 1619

  • Dipped the balance of power towards Arminians and leading to the development of more impositions and extra-parliamentary taxation

  • Demonstrative of James' preferences to a High-Church group which furthered political tensions in parliament

  • Fuelled disputes over religion in parliament

Religion: Oath of Allegiance

1606 - Oath of Allegiance

• Many Catholics signed it, suggesting that they were happy under James' rule

• An attempt to de-politicise Roman Catholicism

• Managed to maintain short-term peace between the two polar groups

• Demonstrates how religion was not the major cause of disputes between parliament and James I as he was able to defuse the religious situation

  • Especially after Gunpowder plot

Religion: Interim Judgement

Ultimately, religion played a major contributing role to the disputes that broke out between parliament and James

• He was unable to equally manage the divides within his parliament by showing preferential treatment to High Church forms of worship

• Deeply unpopular in a protestant country and therefore meant that there was a feeling of distrust that manifested as disputes within parliament

Finance: Bates’ Case

• Court of the Exchequer ruled in James' favour which worsened tensions between the crown and parliament

• Since there were less subsidies, James' financial situation worsened so his insurmountable debt continued to grow

• Parliament was unable to see past James as a spendthrift and lax monarch

• Increase in impositions by Salisbury which damaged the relationship and was also an overextension of James' kingship

• Therefore exacerbated disputes between them as nothing that James was able to do could relinquish the debt that the Crown was buckling under

Finance: Extravagance and 1614

Extravagance

• James inherited £420,000 debt which only increased with his lavish court spending and extravagance to £700,000

• By 1610, James had given away £10,000 in annual pensions to Scottish followers

  • This undermined 1608 Book of Bounty, demonstrating how James did not listen to others and disregarded the opinion of his parliament (such as Cecil who implemented it)

 

1614 - Addled parliament

• Discussed the issue of parliament and taxation

  • James hastily dissolved parliament with no legislation passed

• This worsened relationships as James continued using extra-parliamentary taxation which parliament disagreed over

  • They saw this as an attack on their parliamentary rights

• James' reliance on sale of monopolies and fines alienated MPs who saw these as illegal taxation without consent

• Worsened tensions and led to greater disputes

Finance: Great Contract

1610 - Great Contract negotations

• A lot of the financial issues could have been solved but the financial difficulties continued through to 1614 causing the Addled parliament

• Due tensions over the royal prerogative and what it permits 

• Inevitably the lack of agreement for the Great Contract was caused by DRoK as James saw parliament's inability to listen to him as an attack on his royal prerogative

• Therefore it was the DRoK that caused the inexorable financial issues that James faced and inevitably caused the disputes

Finance: Interim Judgement

Ultimately, finance was just a contributing factor to the disputes that parliament and James had

• Was unable to come to a resolution that would solve the financial difficulties that James had due to DRoK

• The financial difficulties caused disputes but these were certainly made worse by their inability to compromise and James' strong personal belief in DRoK

Conclusion

• On balance, while the financial difficulties and religious divides that James faced was a contributing factor that caused the major disputes between parliament and James, they were both driven by the most crucial point: James' adamant belief in the Divine Right of Kings.

• This is mainly due to James' texts written before his reign began such as Basilikon Doron 1599, as they worsened parliamentary fears of James as a tyrannical ruler, which was reinforced by his stubborn nature when it came to financial and religious disputes.

• While the Divine Right of Kings was the most significant factor, it alone cannot be blamed for the disputes as religion and financial disagreements exacerbated the tensions between parliament and James

• This caused irrevocable damage to their relationship which built on the fragile foundation of James' insistence of Divine Right of Kings.