Charles I: Key acts

Petition of Rights

1628

Protect citizens from royal overreach such as:

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:

Illegal tax without parliamentary consent

Abuse of royal prerogatives

Passed through Parliament by 11 votes

Presented to CI on 1 December but he refused 
Attempted arrest on 5 MP’s → pushed eng to civil war

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 Presbyterianism for all kingdoms

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

Par to control army and militia for next 20 years

Certain named royalists were to be excluded from the pardon and punished for their actions 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 - Arminian and foreign failures

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, monopolies, forest fines, distraint of knighthood (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)

Book of Canons 1636
Covenant formed in 1638
Led to riots and the Bishops’ Wars

Charles forced to call Short Parliament in April to fund war efforts

First Civil War

1642-1646

Royalists v Parliamentarians

Key battles: Edgehill, Marston Moor, Adwalton Moor, Naseby

Second Civil War

1648

Charles allied with the Scots in return for 3 yrs Presbyterianism - Engagement

Defeated again by Cromwell’s forces - NMA

Trial and Execution

1649

Pride’s purged removed over 200 moderate MP’s - Creating the rump

High Court of Justice tried Charles for treason

Executed on 30th Jan 1649

Charles death warrant only signed by 59 (including Cromwell)

Root and Branch Petition

1640
Petition calling for the end of episcopacy

Pride’s purge

1648
Military removal of over 200 moderate MP’s leaving the Rump Parliament

Forced loans

1626
Compulsory loan issued by Charles without Parliamentary consent
Led to 5 knights case in 1627- Refused payment and were imprisoned without trial with C claiming ‘emergency powers of arrest’

Militia Bill

Par could raise its own army
1641