Charles I: Key acts

Petition of Rights

1628

No taxation without parliaments consent

No imprisonment without cause

Citizens forced to house and feed troops
 No martial law in peacetime - King was using military courts to bypass civil justice

Triennial Act 1641

Par called every 3 years

Minimum 50 day session

Grand Remonstrance

1641
200 grievances about CI’s rule 

Passed through Parliament with 11 votes

Concerns about illegal tax and religious reforms seen as too catholic 

Presented to CI on 1 December but he refused 

19 Propositions

Public matters to be debated in Parliaments

Control of the militia and armed forces to be transferred to Parliament

Education and marriage of royal children subject to parliamentary approval

Strict enforcement of laws against Jesuits and Catholics

Catholic lords to lose voting rights

All officials to take an oath to uphold parliamentary statutes

Newcastle Propositions

1646

Charles had to accept the Presbyterian church system

Charles required to sign Solemn League and Covenant aligning with England and Scotland’s religious settlement

Leading officials and judges would be nominated by Parliament, not the crown

Certain named royalists were to be excluded from the pardon and punished for their roles in the war

Strict laws on Catholics to be enforced

Heads of Proposals 

August 1947

Drafted by Ireton and Lambert

Biennial elections

Parliament to sit for a set number of days

Control of militia to be split between the crown and parliament

Royalists barred from office for 5 years

Freedom of worship for Protestants outside of the C of E

Laws to be passed only with Parliament’s consent

Early Reign (1625-1629)

Charles believed in the divine rights of kings

Par refused to grant T + P for life

Par attempt to impeach Buckingham

Petition of right 1628 challenged royal authority

Charles dissolved Par in 1629

Personal Rule

1629-1640

Charles ruled without Par for 11 years

Used prerogative courts to supress dissent ( Star chamber)

Financial methods: Ship money, forced loans, monopolies (illegal taxation)

Charles promoted Arminianism and appointed William Laud as Archbishop of Canterbury (1633)

Laudian reforms emphasis ceremony and hierarchy

Alienated puritans and increased fears of Catholicism

Scottish crisis

Imposed Book of Common Prayer on Scotland (1637)

Led to riots and the Bishops’ Wars

Charles forced to call Short Parliament (1640) and the Long Parliament

First Civil War

1642-1646

Royalists v Parliamentarians

Key battles: Edgehill, Marston Moor, Adwalton Moor

Second Civil War

1648

Charles allied with the Scots

Defeated again by Cromwell’s forces

Trial and Execution

1649

Pride’s purged removed moderate MP’s

High Court of Justice tried Charles for treason

Executed on 30th Jan 1649

Charles death warrant only signed by 49 (including Cromwell)