Final Review

During the fourteenth century, what factors increased English resentment of the papacy and its demands?

• England’s resentment grew because the papacy seemed to take English money, override English authority, and side with England’s enemies—all while failing to provide the spiritual leadership people desperately needed.

  • Gold was flowing out of England and into papal coffers faster than money was coming in

  • the papacy increasingly used provisions—the power to appoint clergy to English church positions without asking the king, the nobles, or the local church.

    • outsiders were taking English jobs and English money.

  • England was entering the Hundred Years’ War against France; In 1309, the papacy moved from Rome to Avignon, a city under strong French influence.

  • Black Death Struck— the papacy’s financial demands now felt not just unfair, but morally offensive.

  • John Wyclif, who argued that:

    • the Church was too wealthy

    • the papacy was corrupt

    • England should not be ruled spiritually by a foreign power

  • Resentment of the church had hardened into a broader movement for reform.

How did Richard II’s reign end, and how did he die?

• Richard II’s reign ended when Henry Bolingbroke overthrew him in 1399, and he died soon after in captivity—almost certainly by starvation—at Pontefract Castle.

  • Richard had never forgotten the humiliation of the “Merciless Parliament” — led by his cousin Henry Bolingbroke

  • When Bolingbroke’s father died Richard confiscated everything sending Bolingbroke into exile

  • Richard sailed to Ireland to put down a rebellion, believing England was secure.
    But while he was gone, Henry Bolingbroke returned from exile—not with an army of conquest, but with a simple promise: He only wanted his inheritance back.

    • English nobles, furious at Richard’s tyranny, rallied to Henry.

    • Richard was captured, brought to London, and placed in the Tower. There, under pressure, he abdicated.

    • Henry Bolingbroke became King Henry IV.

How did the events surrounding the usurpation of Henry IV tend to enhance the authority of Parliament?

• Henry IV’s usurpation strengthened Parliament because he needed its approval to legitimize his seizure of the throne, and once Parliament realized a king depended on them for authority, it began asserting new powers—especially over taxation, counsel, and oversight.

What was the purpose of the statute De Haeretico Comburendo?

• The statute’s purpose was to stop the spread of Lollardy, the reformist movement inspired by John Wycliffe.

How was Henry V able to defeat a much larger French army at Agincourt in October 1415?

• Henry V defeated a much larger French army at Agincourt because he turned terrain, weather, discipline, and longbow tactics into overwhelming advantages while the French suffered from mud, overcrowding, and disorganized leadership.

  • Battlefield trapped the French

  • The English longbow devastated the French Advance

  • French disorganization and English discipline under Henry V

• Turning point in the Hundred’s Year War for the English, leading to a series of victories that solidified their control over key territories in France.

What were the provisions of the Treaty of Troyes (June 2, 1420)?

• The Treaty of Troyes (1420) declared that Henry V of England would become heir and regent of France, disinherited the Dauphin Charles, and united the crowns through Henry’s marriage to Catherine of Valois.

What military breakthrough for France was achieved through the agency of Joan of Arc in 1429?

• Joan of Arc’s lifting of the Siege of Orléans in May 1429 was the breakthrough that saved France from collapse, revived the Valois cause, and reversed the course of the Hundred Years’ War.

What were the consequences for England of the end of the Burgundian alliance in 1435?

• When Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, signed the Treaty of Arras with Charles VII on 21 September 1435, he formally abandoned England and reconciled with the French crown. This single diplomatic shift shattered the foundation of English power in France.

  • The end of the Burgundian alliance in 1435 was a catastrophe for England: it isolated English forces in France, cut their supply lines, and allowed a newly unified French kingdom to drive them out of Paris and begin the reconquest of Normandy.

What single French port remained in English hands after the Hundred Years’ War in 1453?

• The Pale of Calais

Under what circumstances did Henry VI come to the throne?

• Henry VI father, Henry V, died in 1422, leaving his infant son to inherit the throne amidst ongoing conflicts and power struggles in both England and France.

• Under the Treaty of Troyes (1420), Henry became the heir to the French throne, as the treaty recognized him as the legitimate successor to Charles VI of France, thus igniting further tensions between the English and French nobility— he inherited two crowns

• A regency government ruled in his name— Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, and John, Duke of Bedford

• Henry’s long minority (he did not begin to rule personally until 1437) meant that:

  • powerful nobles competed for influence,

  • the government lacked a strong central authority

  • England’s position in France depended heavily on the abilities of his regents.

• These circumstances later contributed to instability at home and the erosion of English power abroad

• Henry VI’s minority affected the Hundred Years’ War and contributed to the Wars of the Roses.

What were the factors behind Jack Cade’s revolt (1450)?

Until Queen Margaret gave birth to the Prince of Wales in 1453, who was the heir to the throne?

• The heir to the throne before the birth of Edward of Westminster in 1453 was Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, Henry VI’s uncle and the last surviving brother of Henry V.

How did Henry VI react to the birth of his son, the Prince of Wales

• Henry VI did not react at all to the birth of his son at first—because he was in a complete mental collapse. Months later, when he finally recovered, he recognized the child, asked his name, and thanked God

How did the King’s insanity between 1453 and 1454 indirectly precipitate civil war in England?

• Henry VI’s insanity indirectly precipitated civil war because it created a total collapse of royal authority, triggered a power struggle between Queen Margaret and Richard, Duke of York, and removed the king’s ability to mediate noble rivalries—allowing factional conflict to escalate into open war.

  • It created a power vacuum at the heart of government

  • In 1454, Parliament appointed York as Protector of the Realm, giving him control of government.

  • Henry’s recovery reversed everything—causing political whiplash

  • The king’s inability to arbitrate disputes removed the last restraint on noble violence

Under what meteorological conditions was the battle of Towton (March 1461) fought?

• The Battle of Towton was fought in a blinding snowstorm, with sleet and snow driven by a strong south wind that blew directly into the faces of the Lancastrian army.

• The storm wasn’t just background—it shaped the battle:

  • Yorkist archery dominance early in the fight was directly caused by the wind.

  • Lancastrian visibility was severely impaired, making coordinated movement difficult.

  • The cold and snow increased exhaustion and slowed retreat, contributing to the extraordinarily high casualties.

• Towton is remembered not only as the bloodiest battle on English soil, but also as one fought under some of the harshest weather conditions recorded in medieval warfare.

What were the political consequences of King Edward IV’s 1464 marriage to Elizabeth Woodville?

• Edward IV’s marriage to Elizabeth Woodville shattered his alliance with Warwick, empowered a controversial new faction, and destabilized the Yorkist regime so profoundly that it helped reignite the Wars of the Roses.

How was Edward IV able to turn the 1475 invasion of France into profit for the crown?

• Edward IV turned the failed 1475 invasion of France into a financial windfall by negotiating the Treaty of Picquigny, which gave him a massive upfront payment of 75,000 crowns and an annual pension of 50,000 crowns, plus additional pensions for his nobles

  • The Treaty of Picquigny established a seven‑year truce and free trade between England and France, reducing military costs and increasing commercial revenue

Upon what pretexts did the Duke of Gloucester seize the throne on the death of his brother in 1483?

• Richard, Duke of Gloucester, seized the throne in 1483 by claiming that his brother Edward IV’s marriage to Elizabeth Woodville was invalid, that their children were illegitimate, and that a Woodville conspiracy threatened his life—pretexts used to justify removing Edward V and taking the crown himself.

What was the outcome of the Battle of Bosworth (1485)?

• The Battle of Bosworth (22 August 1485) ended with the decisive defeat and death of King Richard III, the collapse of the Yorkist regime, and the accession of Henry Tudor as King Henry VII, marking the end of the Plantagenet dynasty and the beginning of the Tudor era.

How did Henry VII’s marriage strengthen his claim to the English throne?

How may the character and policies of Henry VII best be described?

• Henry VII was a cautious, calculating, financially astute monarch whose policies of centralization, fiscal discipline, and diplomatic pragmatism rebuilt royal authority and laid the foundations of the Tudor state.

In 1487 and 1497, which imposters impersonating Yorkist claimants to the throne of England threatened Henry VII?

How did the decline of the old nobility (hastened by the Hundred Years’ War and the Wars of the Roses), work in Henry VII’s favor?

• The decline of the old nobility—accelerated by the Hundred Years’ War and the Wars of the Roses—worked in Henry VII’s favor because it weakened the great magnate families who had previously dominated politics, allowing him to centralize power, restrict noble independence, and build a far stronger monarchy than his predecessors.

What was the Court of Star Chamber?

How did prosecution of cases involving livery and maintenance serve to enhance royal authority?

• Livery = a noble’s badge or uniform worn by his followers.

• Maintenance = the noble’s protection of his retainers, often shielding them from the law.

  • Together, they created private armies and private legal networks that allowed magnates to intimidate juries, dominate local politics, and challenge royal authority.

  • By the time Henry VII came to power, these practices had helped fuel the Wars of the Roses. Controlling them was essential to restoring order.

How was Henry VII able to free himself from dependence on Parliament for grants of money?

• Henry VII freed himself from parliamentary financial control by transforming the monarchy into a self‑financing institution—rich in land, ruthless in enforcing feudal rights, and skilled at extracting revenue through law, administration, and diplomacy.

How did Henry VII secure peace with Scotland?

• Henry VII secured peace with Scotland through a mixture of diplomacy, strategic marriage, and careful management of border tensions—culminating in the Treaty of Perpetual Peace (1502) and the marriage of his daughter Margaret Tudor to James IV of Scotland.

What secured by the terms of the Treaty of Medina del Campo in 1489?

What did the Intercursus Magnus, secured with the Netherlands in 1497, provide for?

• The Intercursus Magnus restored and regulated trade with the Netherlands on highly favorable terms for England, strengthened Henry VII’s finances, and forced Burgundy to abandon Yorkist pretenders—making it one of the most successful commercial treaties of his reign.

How did the young Henry VIII treat Empson and Dudley, on his accession?

• Henry VIII treated Empson and Dudley with swift, calculated brutality on his accession: he had them arrested within days, imprisoned in the Tower, charged with trumped‑up treason, and executed in 1510 to win instant popularity by destroying the most hated agents of his father’s financial regime.

• Sir Richard Empson and Edmund Dudley were Henry VII’s chief financial enforcers.

  • They ran the Council Learned in the Law, extracting bonds, recognizances, and fines from nobles and gentry.

  • They were widely feared and despised—seen as symbols of Henry VII’s harsh fiscal policies.

How and why was the 1514 peace with France (which involved the marriage of the King’s sister, Mary Tudor, to the French King) to be short lived?

• The 1514 peace with France was short‑lived because the marriage that sealed it—Mary Tudor to Louis XII—collapsed almost immediately when Louis died on 1 January 1515, allowing his successor Francis I to abandon the agreement and resume a far more aggressive, anti‑English foreign policy

Who was the King’s chief minister early in his reign, and the last churchman to hold such office in England?

• Cardinal Thomas Wolsey

Who did Pope Leo X bestow the title “Defender of the Faith” on Henry VIII?

• Pope Leo X bestowed the title “Defender of the Faith” on Henry VIII in 1521 as a reward for Henry’s published attack on Martin Luther and his defense of traditional Catholic doctrine.

Why did Henry VIII wish to have his marriage to Catherine of Aragon annulled?

• Henry VIII sought an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon because he believed the marriage was invalid in God’s eyes and because it had failed to produce the one thing he considered essential for dynastic security: a legitimate male heir.

Which political circumstance in 1527 ensured that Pope Clement VII was unable to accede to King Henry VIII’s petition for a divorce?

• Pope Clement VII could not grant Henry VIII an annulment in 1527 because he was effectively the prisoner of Emperor Charles V—Catherine of Aragon’s nephew—after the imperial army sacked Rome that same year.

Although Sir Thomas More succeeded him as Lord Chancellor, who became Henry VIII’s chief advisor on the death of Cardinal Wolsey in 1529?

• Thomas Cornwall

Who became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1532, and secretly married Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn shortly afterwards?

• Thomas Cranmer

In 1539, King Henry VIII ordered that an English translation of the Bible be placed in all the parish churches of England. What was the effect of this?

• The effect of Henry VIII’s 1539 order to place an English Bible in every parish church was revolutionary: it made Scripture publicly accessible for the first time in English history, encouraged widespread lay reading and discussion, and unintentionally fueled religious controversy, criticism of clergy, and the spread of Protestant ideas.

What was the dissolution of the monasteries?

• The Dissolution of the Monasteries (1536–1540) was the systematic destruction, closure, and confiscation of England’s monastic houses by Henry VIII—an unprecedented transfer of wealth and power from the Church to the Crown that transformed English society, religion, and landownership.

What actually happened to monastic land engrossed by the crown?

• Most monastic land seized by the Crown did not remain in royal hands for long. Henry VIII sold or granted the vast majority of it to nobles, gentry, and urban elites—creating a new landowning class whose wealth and loyalty were tied directly to the Tudor monarchy.

What was the “Pilgrimage of Grace” (1536)?

• The Pilgrimage of Grace (1536) was the largest and most serious popular uprising of Henry VIII’s reign—a massive northern rebellion protesting the dissolution of the monasteries, Cromwell’s reforms, and the religious and political revolution of the 1530s.

Whose birth in 1537 brought joy and hope to Henry VIII?

• His son Edward VI

What was the main cause of the downfall of Henry VIII’s great minister Thomas Cromwell?

• The main cause of Thomas Cromwell’s downfall in 1540 was his disastrous arrangement of Henry VIII’s marriage to Anne of Cleves—an alliance Henry hated on sight and blamed entirely on Cromwell, giving his enemies the opening they needed to destroy him.

Who was Henry VIII’s last wife - who eventually out-lived him?

• Catherine Parr

On the accession of Edward VI in January 1547, who headed the Council of Regency and later became Lord Protector?

• Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset.

Who replaced Somerset as Lord Protector in 1549?

• John Dudley, Earl of Warwick (later Duke of Northumberland).

Religious policy during the reign of Edward VI moved in which direction?

• Protestant

What particular doctrinal influence was reflected in the “Forty-Two Articles?”

• Reformed (Calvinist) theology/doctrinal, especially in their teaching on predestination, the Eucharist, and the authority of Scripture.

What was the object of English policy towards Scotland (the “rough wooing”) during the period 1544-1551?

• The “rough wooing” aimed to force Scotland—by diplomacy, invasion, and devastation—to accept a marriage between Mary, Queen of Scots, and Prince Edward, thereby bringing Scotland under English control.

What were some of the root causes of the social unrest and rebellion of the mid-1500s?

Under what circumstances did Lady Jane Grey become queen for nine days in July 1553?

• Edward VI (dying without a heir), fearing a Catholic reversal under Mary, altered the succession to install a Protestant heir—an attempt orchestrated by Northumberland that collapsed as soon as Mary asserted her rightful claim.This brief reign was marked by significant political intrigue and the consolidation of religious factions, ultimately leading to Lady Jane Grey's execution and the restoration of Mary I.

What was the grand ambition of Mary I when she came to the throne?

What was the provocation for “Wyatt’s Revolt” in 1554?

• Wyatt’s Revolt was provoked by Mary I’s plan to marry Philip of Spain, which ignited fears of foreign domination, Catholic entrenchment, and the loss of English political independence.

Who was cardinal Reginald Pole, and what did he do in the presence of Parliament in November 1554?

• Cardinal Reginald Pole was an English nobleman, theologian, and papal legate who became the chief architect of Mary I’s Catholic restoration—and in November 1554 he formally reconciled England to the Roman Catholic Church in the presence of Parliament.

How and why was Mary Tudor’s persecution of leading Protestants counter-productive?

What problems confronted Elizabeth I on her accession to the throne?

According to the Act of Supremacy on 1559, what was Elizabeth’s title over the Church of England?

• “Supreme Governor of the Church of England”

What were the broad outlines of Elizabeth I’s religious policy?

How did Pope Pius V’s 1570 excommunication of Elizabeth I adversely affect the position of Catholics in England?

• Turned English Catholics from a tolerated minority into a suspected internal threat, prompting harsh laws, political suspicion, and decades of persecution.

Who was Mary Queen of Scots?

• Mary, Queen of Scots was the Catholic Queen of Scotland from 1542 to 1567, later a claimant to the English throne. She was the cousin of Elizabeth. Seeking protection from her cousin Elizabeth I, Mary instead became a political prisoner. Executed under Elizabeth I’s order

How did the Scottish Reformation of the 1550s and 1560s differ from the English Reformation?

What difficulties did Mary Stuart face on her return to Scotland in 1561?

How did the abdication and flight into England by Mary Queen of Scots present a problem for Queen Elizabeth?

Which plots was Mary Queen of Scots implicated in during her time in England?

• Babington Plot

Did the defeat of the Spanish Armada (1588) represent an end to the Spanish threat to England?

• The Armada’s defeat was a turning point, but not the end of danger — Spain remained a formidable enemy, continued the war, and mounted further armadas for years afterward.

What threat to English rule in Ireland appeared in Ulster in the 1590s?

• The threat that emerged in Ulster in the 1590s was the rise of a powerful Gaelic confederacy led by Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone, and Hugh Roe O’Donnell, which launched the major uprising known as the Nine Years’ War (1593–1603). This became the most serious challenge to English rule in Ireland during Elizabeth I’s reign.

Why did Elizabeth I never marry?

• Power— didn’t want to surrender her own power to her husband. Concerned about factionalism with either marrying a nobleman or a foreign prince, she feared that such alliances could lead to conflict among her subjects and potentially destabilize her reign.

• Strategy — her marriage could be used as a powerful diplomatic tool

• Trauma — what happened to her mother and her father’s multiple marriages

• Fear of Childbirth

How did England change during the reign of Elizabeth I?

What factors motivated Elizabethan explorers, and adventurers?

Who were the parents of King James VI & I?

• Mary, Queen of Scots and Darnley

Who was the chief minister of James I until his death in 1612?

• Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury

What is the doctrine of the Divine Right of Kings?

• The doctrine of the Divine Right of Kings is the political and religious theory that a monarch’s authority comes directly from God, making the king accountable only to God and to no earthly institution such as a parliament, nobility, or the people.

What was the “Millenary Petition?”

• Moderate request for changes in certain practices within the Church of England, presented to King James I of England in April 1603 by Puritan ministers.

What issues were addressed by the Hampton Court conference (1604)?

• In response to the Millenary Petition

• Focused on the Book of Common Prayer, church ceremonies, clerical discipline, church governance

• New authoritative English Bible— King James Version (Authorized Version) of 1611

What was the crown’s main fiscal problem from the Elizabethan period to the Glorious Revolution?

• A structural revenue shortfall—traditional income sources could not meet the escalating costs of government and war, forcing monarchs into chronic financial dependence on Parliament.

• James I wanted to establish policies (some pro-Spain) but he needed money; but the anti-Spain and the anti-French house of commons we not willing/going to give up the money

What did James mean by “No Bishop, No King,” and how did this lead to increasing conflict with Parliament?

• James meant that the authority of bishops was essential to the authority of kings, and this belief pushed him into conflict with Parliament because MPs increasingly challenged both episcopal power and the royal prerogative it supported.

Who were James’ most important favorites after 1612?

• Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset

• George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham

What important colonial enterprises were undertaken during James’ reign?

What were the political purposes behind the Spanish Marriage scheme?

• The proposed match between Prince Charles and the Infanta Maria Anna of Spain

• A vision that Catholics and Protestants must be brought together to find some kind of middle ground.

• Maintain Peace With Spain and Avoid War

• Secure a Huge Dowry and Reduce Dependence on Parliament

• Gain Spanish/Habsburg Support in the Palatinate Crisis— use marriage diplomacy to protect the Protestant Palatinate without military interventions

• Strengthen England’s Diplomatic Position in Europe

• Counterbalance France

In what ways was Charles I different from his father James I?

What were the terms of the “Petition of Right?”

• Drafted the Petition in response to Charles I’s repeated violations of established law—especially his use of forced loans, arbitrary imprisonment, billeting of soldiers, and martial law. The document demanded that the king reaffirm long‑standing legal protections.

  • No taxation without consent of Parliament

  • No imprisonment without cause shown

  • No quartering of soldiers in private homes

  • No martial law in peacetime

• Reaffirmed Magna Carta and the principle of due process.

• Directly challenged Charles’s attempts to expand royal prerogative.

• Accelerating the constitutional crisis that led to the English Civil War.

What was at issue in the controversy over Ship Money?

How and why were the religious policies of Charles I and Archbishop of Canterbury, William Laud, deeply unpopular?

Why was the Short Parliament so called?

• It was very brief session, only three weeks, called by Charles I

• Prelude to the Long Parliament

• Issued to primarily to address financial issues related to military campaigns in Scotland.

Why was Charles I obliged to summon the Long Parliament in November 1640?

• Because he was bankrupt, militarily defeated by Scotland, and legally unable to raise the money he needed without Parliament’s consent.

Who were the opposing sides in the English Civil War?

• Royalists (Cavaliers): Supporters of King Charles I who wanted to maintain his authority.

• Parliamentarians (Roundheads): Supporters of the Parliament who sought to limit the king's power and uphold parliamentary sovereignty.

What was revolutionary about the trial and execution of Charles I?

How was England governed between 1649 and 1653?

• Commonwealth of England

• Rump Parliament — Legislative Authority

• The Council of State — Executive Authority

• New Model Army — Real powerhouse. Enforced the Commonwealth; pressured Parliament

Who was Oliver Cromwell?

• English Statesmen and General

• Led parliamentary forces in the English Civil Wars

• Lord Protector of Great Britain, Scotland and Ireland during the Commonwealth

• Raised England’s status once more to that of a leading European power from the decline it had gone through since the death of Elizabeth I.

• Victories at home and abroad helped to enlarge and sustain a Puritan attitude of mind in Great Britain and North America

• Contributed to the evolution of constitutional government and religious toleration.

Why might it argued that the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660 was inevitable?

• Because every alternative form of government attempted between 1649 and 1660 collapsed—military rule lost legitimacy, republican experiments failed, political chaos followed Cromwell’s death, and by 1660 the nation broadly desired stability, which only a monarchy seemed able to provide.

How was Charles II different from his father Charles I?

What was the purpose of the “Act of Indemnity and Oblivion” (1660)?

What was the Clarendon Code of the 1660?

• A series of four laws passed after the Restoration to crush Nonconformity and secure the supremacy of the Church of England by legally excluding Presbyterians, Puritans, and other Dissenters from public and religious life.

Who was the chief minister of Charles II for most of the decade after 1660?

• Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon

What was the attitude of the Cavalier Parliament towards Presbyterians and Independents?

• Overwhelmingly hostile, exclusionary, and punitive—it sought to suppress all Nonconformity and re‑establish a strictly Anglican religious order.

Who was the Earl of Danby, and what was his role?

• Charles II’s chief minister in the mid‑1670s

  • Chief Minister and Architect of the Tory “Court Party”

  • Defender of Anglican Supremacy

  • He pushed Charles II toward a Protestant, anti‑French diplomatic stance,

Who were the “Whigs” and Tories” of the later seventeenth century in England?

• First recognizable political parties

• The terms first appeared in 1679, during the fierce struggle over whether James, Duke of York (a Catholic) should be barred from succeeding Charles II.

Who was the great architect and founder of the Whig party?

• Henry Clay

What political errors were made by James II after he became King in 1685?

• Trying to Expand Royal Power Without Parliament— It revived memories of Charles I’s Personal Rule and convinced many that James aimed at absolutism.

• Using the Royal Prerogative to Promote Catholics— England was overwhelmingly Protestant; promoting Catholics looked like an attempt to “Catholicize” the state.

• Issuing the Declaration of Indulgence (1687–1688)—Even many Dissenters distrusted the policy, seeing it as a ploy to advance Catholicism and undermine the rule of law.

• Attacking the Church of England and Prosecuting the Seven Bishops— This united Anglicans, Tories, and moderates against him; it was a political disaster.

• Attempting to “Pack” Parliament for a Pro‑Catholic Majority— It alienated the political elite—those he most needed for support.

• The Birth of a Catholic Heir (June 1688)— It turned political anxiety into full‑blown crisis and convinced many that only intervention could prevent permanent Catholic rule.

Was the Glorious Revolution inevitable?

• Was not strictly inevitable, but James II’s actions made it increasingly likely by 1688—because he fueled widespread fears of Catholic absolutism, alienated political elites, and created the conditions that led Parliament to invite William of Orange to intervene.

What political and religious principles underlay the Glorious Revolution?

• The Glorious Revolution rested on two intertwined foundations: political principles limiting royal power and affirming parliamentary authority, and religious principles defending Protestantism against the perceived threat of Catholic absolutism.