A Level History Notes: The English Revolution and the Personal Rule of Charles I (1629-1640)

Historiographical Perspectives on the Personal Rule

Historians differ significantly regarding the period between 1629 and 1640. The study of these varying viewpoints is known as historiography.
Whig Historians: Writing in the late 19th and early 20th centuries (named after the political party), they argue for a "high road" to civil war. They believe the conflict was an inevitable long-term struggle for power between the Crown and Parliament.
Revisionist Historians: Emerging from the 1970s, they "update" previous views by focusing on short-term factors. They emphasize King Charles I's personal role and argue that the civil war was not inevitable.
Post-Revisionist Historians: They seek a middle ground, suggesting that while the war was not inevitable, it was driven by legitimate, long-term causes.
Terminology: Whigs refer to this period as the "Eleven Years’ Tyranny" (1629-1640), emphasizing Charles's attempt to rule as an absolute monarch. Revisionists use the more neutral term "Personal Rule," suggesting positive aspects and a lack of inevitable conflict.
The 1649 Context: At the end of the civil war, Parliament would eventually try the King for "high treason," alleging he sought a tyrannical rule that overthrew the rights of the people. This interpretation colors how the 1630s are analyzed.

The Mechanism of Government: The Privy Council and Prerogative Courts

In $1629$ , Charles dismissed Parliament, stating they should not return "until you can come to a better understanding of yourselves." He did not recall them until $1640$ .
The Privy Council: This was the King’s body of chosen advisors who shaped wishes into policies and oversaw implementation. Charles relied on a small group often called the "cabinet council."
Key Privy Councillors:
- Sir Thomas, Lord Coventry: Lord Keeper of the Great Seal.
- Henry Montagu, Earl of Manchester: Keeper of the Privy Seal.
- Sir Richard Weston, Earl of Portland: Lord Treasurer.
- William Juxton, Bishop of London: Lord Treasurer.
- William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury: First Lord of the Treasury.
- Francis, Lord Cottington: Chancellor of the Exchequer and Master of the Court of Wards.
- Sir Francis Windebank: Secretary of State.
- Sir Thomas Wentworth: Lord Deputy of Ireland (influential, though stationed in Ireland).
The Prerogative Courts: These were used to enforce the King's will and assert royal authority:
- The Star Chamber: Comprised of select Privy Councillors. It heard cases in secret and could issue fines, imprisonment, or corporal punishment, but not the death penalty.
- The Court of High Commission: The primary Church court, used by Laud to punish those defying religious uniformity.
- Regional Courts: The Council of the North and the Council of the Welsh Marches.

Local Government and the Book of Orders (1631)

In the $17\text{th}$ century, there was no professional civil service; the Crown relied on unpaid local officials, primarily drawn from the gentry.
Local Officials:
- Sheriffs: Appointed by the King to administer justice and hold criminals for assizes. This was a largely unpopular role.
- Constables: Unpaid men from the local community who served for one year to uphold common law.
- Justices of the Peace (JPs): They judged criminal cases and met at half-yearly assizes. They were expected to enforce laws ranging from poor relief to road maintenance.
- Lords Lieutenants: One per county, responsible for local defense and mobilizing the militia into a national army.
The Book of Orders ( $1631$ ): Charles issued this to streamline local government, a method used previously by Elizabeth I and James I but made more rigorous by Charles.
- Procedures: JPs were ordered to meet monthly in each "hundred" (a division of a county) to supervise constables and send reports to sheriffs.
- Reporting: Sheriffs passed these to the Privy Council. Failure to report could result in punishment by the Star Chamber.
Implications: This represented "Paternalism"—the idea that it was the duty of those at the top of a God-given hierarchy to care for those below. However, it caused resentment among the gentry due to central interference and the cost in time and money.

The Caroline Court: Order, Formality, and Isolation

After the death of Buckingham in $1628$ , Charles reformed the court from the informal, often scandalous style of James I to one of strict hierarchy and dignity.
Etiquette and Access: Charles restricted access to himself to emphasize the divine nature of the monarch. He established a progression of rooms: Great Chamber (\rightarrow) Presence Chamber (throne room) (\rightarrow) Privy Chamber (\rightarrow) Withdrawing Room (\rightarrow) King's Bedchamber (restricted to personal servants and royalty).
Court Orders: Rules included no hats in the chapel if the King was present and specific times for prayer, exercise, and business.
The "Court and Country" Gap: Because the court was the only center of power without Parliament, it became isolated. The gentry resented being forced to leave London for their counties (under threat of fines) and viewed the court as exclusive, corrupt, and "un-English."
Art and Masques:
- Charles was an avid art collector (specifically patronizing van Dyck) and loved masques: elaborate plays where chaos was restored to order by the King and Queen.
- Masques used mechanical engines for effects, such as Charles appearing as the god Apollo or Henrietta-Maria as an angel.
- Puritans viewed these as frivolous, Catholic-leaning, and evidence of absolutist tendencies.
Conspiracy Theories:
- The "Country" believed Catholics at court were leading the King toward absolutism.
- The "Court" believed radical Puritans intended to destroy the royal prerogative.

Financial Policies: "Good Housekeeping" vs. "Fiscal Feudalism"

By $1629$ , Charles faced a debt of $\approx £2,000,000$ due to wars with Spain and France.
Savings: Achieved by making peace with France ( $1629$ ) and Spain ( $1630$ ), though this was unpopular with those favoring an anti-Catholic foreign policy.
Fiscal Feudalism: Advisors like Weston, Cottington, and Attorney General William Noy searched history for "the King's mines"—forgotten sources of prerogative income.
Revenue Sources:
- Customs Duties (Tonnage and Poundage): Raised $£270,000$ ( $1631$ - $1635$ ) and $£425,000$ annually by $1639$ after updating rates for inflation.
- Recusancy Fines: Collected from those refusing to attend Church of England services; raised $£26,866$ in $1634$ .
- Distraint of Knighthood: Fines for landholders with land worth $\ge £40$ per year who had not been knighted at Charles's coronation; raised $£175,000$ total.
- Monopolies: Selling exclusive trade rights. The "Popish Soap" monopoly alone raised $£33,000$ .
- Wardships: Controlling estates where the heir was < 21; raised $£75,000$ annually.
- Forest Fines: Fines for encroaching on royal forests (based on questionable maps); raised $£38,667$ .
- Enclosure Fines and Land Titles: Fees for unauthorized common land fencing or lack of 60-year continuous occupation proof.
Total Financial Impact: Annual income rose from $£600,000$ to $£900,000$ . Debt was halved to $£1,000,000$ by $1637$ .

The Controversy of Ship Money and the Hampden Case

Ship Money ( $1634$ ): Traditionally levied on coastal counties during war for naval protection against piracy. It was controversial because England was at peace.
Inland Extension ( $1635$ ): Charles extended the tax to all counties. Unlike Parliamentary subsidies, Charles set a target for each county and let local officials determine individual assessments.
Objections: No precedent existed for Ship Money as a permanent, annual tax. Furthermore, ships were being used to protect Spanish vessels due to Charles's pro-Spanish policy.
The Hampden Case ( $1637$ ): John Hampden, a member of the gentry, refused to pay. His lawyer, Oliver St John, argued Charles had enough time to call Parliament rather than use emergency powers.
Outcome: The judges ruled for Charles in a narrow $7$ to $5$ decision. While a legal victory, it was a moral defeat that highlighted the limits of royal prerogative.
Compliance: Paid at a rate of $\approx 90\%$ until $1638$ , but dropped to $20\%$ by $1640$ due to the case and the Scottish crisis.

Religious Reform and the Rise of Laudianism

By the $1620\text{s}$ , the Church of England was divided between Puritans (Calvinists) and Arminians (Laudians). Charles heavily favored the latter.
William Laud: Bishop of London ( $1628$ ), Archbishop of Canterbury ( $1633$ ). He aimed for the "beautification" of churches.
Laudian Reforms ( $1633$ - $1639$ ):
- Altar Policy: Moving communion tables to the east end, railing them off, and covering them with decorative cloths.
- Ceremony: Increased use of music, stained glass, vestments, and the removal of gentry pews.
- Uniformity: Laud used visitations (inspections) and the Court of High Commission to enforce order.
Specific Directives:
- The Altar Policy was justified by reports of disrespect (e.g., a woman "dandling and dancing her child" on a holy table).
- Catechism: Reintroduced the list of set religious responses used in the Catholic Church.
- Preaching Restrictions: Limited to Sunday mornings/evenings to suppress Puritan influence.
- Feoffees of Impropriations: Banned this Puritan group that raised money to appoint their own ministers.
- Book of Sports: Encouraged activities like morris-dancing on Sundays, directly attacking the Puritan Sabbatarian belief. Ministers refusing to read it from the pulpit were fired.
The $1640$ Canons: A meeting of clergy passed Laud's reforms into law including the "Etc. Oath," which Puritans feared implied a return to Papal power.

The "British Problem": Scotland and the National Covenant

Charles was an "absentee king" in Scotland. In $1625$ , he passed the Act of Revocation to take back Crown/Church lands from nobles. He was forced to retreat in $1627$ with the "Committee for Surrenders."
Scottish Coronation ( $1633$ ): Held in Edinburgh rather than Stirling, using a ceremony that Scots viewed as Catholic.
The Articles of Perth ( $1626$ ): Re-emphasized rituals like kneeling at communion, which offended the Presbyterian Kirk.
Alexander Leighton ( $1630$ ): Fined $£10,000$ and sentenced to ear cropping for a pamphlet criticizing the Queen and Laud.
The Prayer Book Crisis ( $1637$ ): Charles introduced a new Laudian Prayer Book without consulting the Scottish Parliament or Kirk.
- July $23\text{rd}, 1637$ : A riot erupted at St Giles’ Church in Edinburgh. Bibles and stools were thrown.
- October $18\text{th}, 1637$ : Further riots forced the Privy Council to flee Edinburgh.
The National Covenant ( $1638$ ): Drafted by Archibald Johnson and Alexander Henderson. It demanded a Parliament free from the King and the abolition of bishops. Many signed in their own blood.

Wentworth and the Policy of ‘Thorough’ in Ireland

Thomas Wentworth (Lord Deputy, $1632$ ) and Laud implemented "Thorough"—a policy of extreme administrative efficiency and accountability to the Crown.
Social Groups in Ireland:
- Irish Catholics ( $80$ - $90\%$ of population).
- Catholic Old English (original settlers, landowning nobility).
- Protestant New English (post-Reformation settlers, politically dominant).
- Scottish Presbyterians (settled mainly in Ulster).
Wentworth’s Actions:
- Used "Divide and Rule" to manipulate the Irish Parliament into granting six subsidies ( $1634$ ).
- Book of Rates: Doubled customs income to $£80,000$ annually.
- Religious Uniformity: Introduced the $39$ Articles and a Court of High Commission.
- Land Recovery: Used the "Commission for Defective Titles" to return land to the Church; fined the City of London $£70,000$ for mismanagement in Derry.
- Military: Used increased income to build an army, largely of Catholic Old Irish.
Opposition: Wentworth refused to confirm the "Graces" (Catholic rights regarding land titles and the Oath of Supremacy). By $1640$ , he was widely hated as an "evil councillor."

Radicalism and Financial Exhaustion: The Path to War

Open Opposition in England:
- St Gregory’s Church ( $1633$ ): Parishioners challenged the altar policy and were ordered to obey.
- Prynne, Bastwick, and Burton ( $1637$ ): Three gentry members were fined $£5,000$ each, life-imprisoned, and had their ears cropped for anti-Laudian pamphlets. This corporal punishment for gentlemen caused mass sympathy.
- John Lilburne ( $1638$ ): Whipped and pilloried for printing unlicensed literature.
Migration: $60,000$ people emigrated between $1629$ and $1640$ , many to the "New World" to form "godly" communities. Charles viewed these colonization companies (like the Massachusetts Bay Company) as treasonous.
First Bishops’ War ( $1639$ ):
- The Scottish General Assembly in Glasgow abolished bishops in November $1638$ .
- Charles's army was weak: his commander (Earl of Arundel) had a papal crest on his carriage; troops were poorly trained; pikes were sometimes rotten; and desertion was common.
- Pacification of Berwick (June $1639$ ): A temporary truce where Charles agreed to a new General Assembly and Parliament in Scotland.
The Short Parliament (April $1640$ ): Advised by Wentworth (now Earl of Strafford), Charles recalled Parliament to ask for $12$ subsidies. Led by John Pym, the Commons refused until grievances against "evil councillors" were addressed. Charles dissolved it after only $3$ weeks.
Second Bishops’ War (August $1640$ ):
- The Covenanters, under General Leslie, invaded England and seized Newcastle, cutting off London's coal supply.
- Battle of Newburn (August $28\text{th}$ ): Scottish victory. The English fled to Durham.
- Treaty of Ripon (October $1640$ ): A humiliation for Charles. He had to pay the Scots $£850$ a day in "protection money" and was forced to recall Parliament to fund it. This marked the total collapse of the Personal Rule.