Britain - Political History: Charles I and Parliament

Monarchy in 1625

• Royal Court: monarch’s friends, associates and servants and ambassadors or office holders.

• Privy Council: closest friends and advisers, advised the monarch.

• Church of England: king appointed bishops and archbishops, and they controlled the laity. Archbishop of Canterbury was usually a member of the Privy Council.

• Court: staffed by judges appointed by the king. Law enforced by JPs and parish officials (constables, church wardens ect)

• Parliament: had a limited role as its meetings were infrequent. By 1625, however, they were becoming a regular part of the system.

The 1625 Parliament

• Charles succeeded the throne with an empty treasury and dwindling credit.

• He gained a loan of £60,000 but that wasn’t enough and he had to face Parliament.

• Most MPs and Lords were working on taxation, defence of the common law and sometimes impeaching ‘evil counsellors’

• The meeting of Parliament led to a sequence of quarrels leading to Charles embarking on a period of personal rule in 1629.

Disagreements between Charles and Parliament

• Commons refused to grant Charles the right to collect an excise tax, Tonnage and Poundage

• They instead suggested a grant be given for a year, so that Parliament would have to be called regularly

• Charles was promoting more Arminian ideologies, and married Catholic Henrietta Maria

The 1626 Parliament and prerogative rule

• Charles’ decision to call another Parliament in early 1626 demonstrates a lack of awareness

• When Parliament met, they decided to launch an attack on Buckingham

• This forced Charles to dissolve Parliament without any grant of taxation

• Charles demanded a forced loan from all taxpayers. Any who refused were punished by being conscripted

• Many viewed this as a direct challenge to the law

• Lord Chief Justice Carew refused to endorse the legality of it and was dismissed

• A group of 5 knights in 1627 refused to pay were imprisoned and sued for release

Confrontation and dissolution, 1620 - 1629 (1)

• The result of the Five Knights Case resulted in a major confrontation in 1628 where Charles summoned another Parliament to provide funds for the desperate need for national defence

• Attack on Cadiz: led to a growth in the bad relationship with France

• Buckingham’s bad leadership led to war and a failed attempt to support a Protestant rebellion in La Rochelle

• Charles had to seek subsidies as he was at war with both France and Spain

• Parliament voted for five subsidies in taxation

• Also produced a carefully worded document, named the Petition of Right

• Demanded he reverse the decision made in the Five Knights Case, and citizens shouldn’t be asked to pay forced loans, imprisoned without trial or subjected to martial law or forced to provide free lodgings for soldiers

Confrontation and Dissolution 1620 - 1629 (2)

• Charles ended Parliament and then created a revised version of the Petition asserting his right to continue collecting Tonnage and Poundage without a grant

• He also imprisoned any merchants who refused, under the excuse of emergency powers in the national interest

• Richard Chambers, was granted bail, and Charles imprisoned him again by the Prerogative Court

• He appointed William Laud as Bishop of London

• Buckingham was assassinated by an army officer. Charles grieved, the public celebrated with bonfires and MPs celebrated

• When Parliament reassembled, MPs demanded the passing of 3 formal resolutions against Arminisim and Tonnage and Pounddage