Stuart Britain Key Dates: Charles I

March 1625

Charles’ coronation

May 1625

Charles’ wedding to Henrietta Maria

June 1625

Charles’ first parliament meets for the first time, granting him only 1 year of tonnage and poundage

Money to fight Spain

The reason Charles called his first parliament

Tonnage and Poundage

Customs duties typically granted to the monarch for a life time, that was only granted to Charles for one year by parliament

July 1625

Richard Montague appointed as royal chaplain

August 1625

Parliament meets in Oxford due to a plague outbreak in London. Buckingham receives criticism and ‘The Useless’ Parliament is dissolved.

September 1625

The Cadiz Expedition failure

Over 1000

The number of people who died during the Cadiz expedition

February 1626

The York House Conference and Parliament is reinstated.

June 1626

Buckingham is impeached and the second of Charles’ Parliaments is dissolved

September 1626

The Forced Loan

£250,000

The amount of money raised by the Forced Loan

76

How many men refused to pay the Forced Loan and were imprisoned?

July-October 1627

The La Rochelle failure

4,000

The number of men who died at La Rochelle because of Buckingham’s leadership

November 1627

The Five Knight's Case

Darnel, Corbet, Erle, Heveningham, and Edward Hampden

The five men imprisoned without trial in the Five Knight's Case

March 1628

Charles’ third Parliament is called

June 1628

The Petition of Right

Imprisonment of people without cause, the quartering of soldiers on subjects and no marital law during peace time.

The complaints in the Petition of Right

July 1628

Laud and Montagu are promoted to Bishops

August 1628

Buckingham is assassinated

December 1628

Wentworth appointed president of the Council of the North

March 1629

The Three Resolutions are proposed, the third Parliament is dissolved and Personal Rule begins

The denunciation of Arminianism, and the end of the collection of Tonnage and Poundage.

The demands in the Three Resolutions

April 1629

The Treaty of Susa, ending war with France

August 1630

Exchequer judges support the King’s rights to levy knighthood fines

November 1630

The Treaty of Madrid, ending war with Spain

January 1631

The Books of Orders are issued

January 1632

Thomas Wentworth is appointed lord deputy of Ireland

1633

Laud is appointed Archbishop of Canterbury

June 1633

Charles I's coronation in Scotland

It took 7 years for Charles to visit Scotland, it took place in Edinburgh rather than Scone Abbey and it appeared very Laudian

Why was Charles I's Scottish coronation unpopular?

October 1634

Ship money writs sent to maritime counties

June 1635

Ship Money is extended inland, medieval forest courts are revived

Distraint of Knighthood, Revival of Forest Laws, Enclosure Fines

Three examples of Fiscal Feudalism

March 1636

Bishop Juxon becomes Lord Treasurer, a religious figure in a secular position resembled absolutist regimes

June 1637

Burton, Bastwick and Prynne are sentenced by the Star Chamber

July 1637

Charles imposes a new Prayer Book on Scotland, causing the Prayer Book Rebellion

1637-1638

The Hampden Case

June 1638

The Hampden Case ends

7

The number of judges in favour of the monarch during the Hampden Case

5

The number of judged in favour of John Hampden during the Hampden Case

February 1638

The Scottish National Covenant is established

November 1638

The Scottish National Assembly abolishes bishops

April-June 1639

First Bishops War

September 1639

Wentworth returns from Ireland and advises Charles to recall parliament

January 1640

Wentworth is created Earl of Strafford

April-May 1640

Short Parliament Dates

To finance the war with Scotland

The reason the Short Parliament was called

June-October 1640

The Second Bishops War

October 1640

The Treaty of Ripon

The Scottish army would occupy Northumberland and Durham and would be paid £850 a day in order to maintain itself

What was agreed in the Treaty of Ripon?

November 1640

The start of the Long Parliament, Wentworth and Laud are impeached and Personal Rule is attacked

February 1641

Laud is sent to the Tower, Triennial Act

March 1641

The prosecution of Wentworth fails to prove its case, the Army Plot

May 1641

The Act of Attainder is passed, Strafford is executed, the Root and Branch bill, and act preventing the dissolution of parliament without its consent is passed

June 1641

Tonnage and Poundage Act, and the House of Lords rejects the Bishops’ Exclusion bill

July 1641

The Prerogative Courts (Star Chamber and High Commission) are abolished

Even figures like Pym had no intentions to get rid of the monarch. However, they wanted to abolish the instruments of Personal Rule.

Why was the Long Parliament determined to get rid of Charles's "Evil Counsellors" and the Prerogative Courts?

June 1641, control Charles's government and the religious practices of his wife and children.

The Ten Propositions

August 1641

Ship Money is made illegal, the Distraint of Knighthood and Forest Act are both declared unlawful, and Charles visits Scotland

October 1641

The 'Incident' in Scotland, and the Irish Rebellion

A conspiracy plot created by Charles and Scottish royalists to kidnap prominent Covenanters.

The 'Incident'

The Irish Rebellion gave rise to moral panic over Catholicism and propaganda linking Charles' duplicity and supposed crypto-Catholicism.

Why was the Irish Rebellion important?

November 1641

The Grand Remonstrance is passed

It highlighted the grievances Pym's Junto had about the Kingdom and passed with 159 voted to 148. This suggested an emergence of constitutional royalism.

Why was the Grand Remonstrance significant?

December 1641

The Militia Bill is introduced, rumours that the Queen is to be impeached

4 January 1642

Charles fails to arrest five MPs

John Pym, John Hampden, Arthur Haselrigg, Denzel Holles and William Strode

Who were the five MPs Charles failed to arrest?

January 1642

Charles I leaves London for the last time prior to his execution

February 1642

The Act excluding Bishops from Parliament passes, signed by the King. Henrietta Maria leaves England in search of foreign assistance.

March 1642

Parliament issues the Militia Ordinance without the king's assent

June 1642, an extension of the 10 propositions and Parliament's last attempt to settle with Charles before the first Civil War

The Nineteen Propositions

22 August 1642

The First Civil War begins after Charles raised his standard at Nottingham

October 1642

The Battle of Edgehill gives Charles a marginal advantage

November 1642

The King’s forces stopped at Turnham Green

February-April 1643

The Oxford Treaty Negotiations occur and are unsuccessful at achieving peace

July 1643

Rupert captures Bristol, siege of Hull begins

August 1643, MPs in the Long Parliament promised to unite the kingdoms under Presbyterianism in return for military aid from the Scottish Covenanters.

What was the Solemn League and Covenant deal between Parliament and Scots?

October 1643

Siege of Hull broken

December 1643

John Pym dies

July 1644

The Battle of Marston Moor, a victory for the Scots and Parliament

September 1644

Essex trapped in Cornwall and surrendered entire army

September-November 1644

Manchester and Cromwell quarrel over military strategy, political and religious divisions arise in Parliament between the peace and war parties - known as the Parliamentary crisis

December 1644

Self-Denying Ordinance introduced

February 1645

The New Model Army is formed by Oliver Cromwell

April 1645

Self-Denying Ordinance is passed

Cromwell, Fairfax and Ireton

The Grandees of the NMA

June 1645

The Battle of Naseby, a major victory for Parliament turns the tide in the civil war

July 1645

Royalists under Goring are defeated at Langport

September 1645

Prince Rupert surrenders Bristol, Scottish royalists defeated by Covenanters

April 1646

Charles I surrenders to the Scots

Jun 1646

Surrender of Oxford to Parliament, Leveller demonstrations in London

The Newcastle Propositions

July 1646
Presbyterian Party
Parliament elected key members of state
Parliament to control militia for 20 years
Bishops to be abolished and a Presbyterian Church to be created for an experimental 3 years

February 1647

The Scots hand the King over to Parliament snd leave England, the Parliament votes to disband the army

April-May 1647

The army refuses to disband and sends petitions, agitators are seized

Heads of Proposals

July 1647
The Heads of the New Model Army
Parliament elected key members of state
Parliament to control militia for 10 years
Freedom of Religion

July 1947

Royalist MPs invade parliament and Independent MPs fled