1625-1640 Flashcards
parliament of 1625
the king’s belief in the divine right of kings made parliament uneasy as they were afraid he may try to do away with them, charles believed he could rule without parliament
tonnage + poundage 1625
commons refused to grant charles the right to exercise taxation, instead they suggested he be granted it for a year, so he would be forced to regularly call parliament
failure of expedition to cadiz 1625
poorly trained and equipped badly led by buckingham’s nominee, it failed. the commons began discussing impeachment proceeding against buckingham, charles dissolved parliament
parliament of 1626, met + dissolved to prevent impeachment of buckingham
they launched an impeachment against buckingham, charles was forced to dissolve parliament without any grant of taxations in order to stop the process of impeachment, charles responded by demanding a forced loan on all taxpayers
forced loans levied 1626
any who refused to pay taxes were to be punished by being imprisoned or conscripted into military service
five knight’s case 1627
result of a major confrontation in 1628, when charles summoned another parliament to provide funds for the now desperate need for national defence
arminians defend king’s right to raise forced loans 1627
after ending the session of parliament because of continuing complaints about buckingham and the promotion of arminians in church
expedition to la rochelle 1628
buckingham’s inept diplomacy to war and a failed attempt to support a protestant rebellion in la rochelle
assassination of buckingham 1628
buckingham was assassinated by a disgruntled army officer named john felton while reviewing the fleet at portsmouth
petition of right 1628
briefly offered the opportunity for reconciliation between charles and parliament
the end of foreign policy
- charles had to repeatedly call parliament to fund his wars
- by 1630, charles had made peace with both his foreign enemies, therefore cutting expenditure
- charles kept out of conflicts in europe, separating england from europe in order to avoid more wars
search for financial stability
- charles enforced ship money which was one of his main methods of raising funds, it was originally given to coastal areas for naval defense but he extended to inland areas without parliaments consent
- the forests originally belonged to the monarchy for hunting, so charles enforced this forcing those on the land to pay rent
- those who were wealthy were invited to the palace to be knighted, those who failed to attend were forced to pay a fine
- it was discovered that the money raised was for charles personal treasury and not for the nation
deterioration of relations
- his way of raising money rose tensions
- his closed court made him even less aware of rising sentiments against him
- his catholic bride made things worse
- rumours of a popish plot arose
- without parliament all of the focus on what happened in the country fell onto charles
religious policy
laudian reforms
- he aimed to create a uniform church throughout the kingdom
- he wanted to increase the authority + power of the clergy by restoring their lands and lay positions of power
- concerned protestants saw it as a restoration of catholic protestants
- charles’ support of laud made him clearly associated with these changes, which hurt his standing in the realm
the scottish covenant
- 1633, charles was crowned in edinburgh
- 1637, introduced the english prayer book to scotland resulting in riots breaking out in scotland
- a group scottish of nobles + clergy signed a covenant swearing to uphold their traditional church + not allow changes to be imposed on it
- they created their own government and wanted the king to negotiate with them to accept their church. charles was furious + raised an army, this is known as the bishops war.
- in 1640, charles summoned parliament to ask for money after 11 years
bishops war + return of parliament
- parliament made grievances known regarding matters such as unpopular ship money
- this resulted in charles dissolving parliament again, this session of parliament being known as short parliament
- his army marched north to confront the scots, who also raised an army
- charles’ defeat was followed by the occupation of northumberland + cumbria
- charles was forced to pay the scots to not advance further, so charles had to re-call parliament
personal rule
- proclamation of 1629 declared that he would summon no more parliaments until his subjects had a better understanding of what he sought to do
- after buckingham’s assassination, factional politics were fully restored
- the leading group headed by sir ricard weston as lord treasurer, sympathised with spanish and catholics
- sir thomas wentworth became a key advisor to the king. became lord president of the council of the north in 1629. lord deputy of ireland in 1632.
- william laud became bishop of london in 1628. wentworth + laud became close allies
policy of thorough: in england, book of orders jan 1631
- issued following economic recession + poor harvest, provoking fears of brakdown of society as unemployed + hungry labourers wandered from parish to parish
- 3/4 books of instructions sent to key officials in local government, especially JPs
- JPs commanded to report monthly to the privy council- any deemed unworthy were to expect punishment in the court of star chamber, the orders contained instructions including: the collection + use of poor rates, the upkeep of roads + bridges, the movement of goods + the control of local markets + the treatment of beggars
- alleviated the worst social consequences of economic crisis
- 1/10th were submitted of reports were actually submitted so the council were unable to monitor JPs
thorough in england: reform of the militia
- militia was made up of county-based soldiers that were only mobilised during times of national emergency
- in 1629, council issued orders for the regular training
- inadequacy of militia became apparent during wars against spain and france
thorough in ireland
- 1632 wentworth was appointed lord deputy of ireland
- sought to make ireland financially independent of england
- called irish parliament in 1634-35, agreed to a vote of six subsidies, in 1640 a further four subsidies were granted
- he doubled the amount of income from customs
- he converted all doubtful claims to land into tenures from the crown
consequences of thorough in ireland
- alienated the old english and new english
- by challenging existing land ownership, wentworth created resentment + fear
- rising of the old english in rebellion in 1641 can be attributed to wentworth’s decision to proceed with the plantation
- also alienated the city of london
- received a large grant of land in londonderry for a low rent, faied to fulfill its obligations + in 1635 was fined £70,000, creating a dangerous resentment
- in 1639, the king needed the support of the city it offered him only £5000
- the scottish crisis led to wentworth’s recall from ireland in 1639, he became earl of strafford, his recall created political vacuum which helped cause irish rebelllion of october 1641
fiscal feudalism
- distraint of knighthood raised a lot of money. every man with an income of more than £40 a year was supposed to be knighted, those who failed to show would be fined. by the end of the 1630s, it raised about £170,000 but was very unpopular
- forest law was another way of raising money, boundaries of royal forests were changed + large numbers of people found that they were living in royal forests + could be fined and had to pay rent
- wardship also brought in an extra £50,000
- an issue with this is that they didn’t provide a permanent solution to the king’s need for adequate supply
monopolies + grants
- charles exploited a loophole that enables him to grant monopolies to companies, rather than individuals
- every £100,000 raised for the king, £750,000 went into the pockets of patent holders
- monopoly on the sale + production of soap were heavily unpopular
- the ‘popish soap’ brought in £29,000 a year by 1636
ship money
- traditionally levied for coastal defence
- in 1635 it was extended to inland areas against parliament permission
- tax was demanded every year until 1640
- tax was successful, it raised £190,000 a year with a rate of 2.5% of non payment for the first 3 years
- the methods of assessing and collecting tax created much opposition. the sheriff was made personally responsible for collecting the tax and it placed a heavy burden on him
- unpleasantness of collecting tax weakened support for the government
- up to 1637 ship money was the most profitable tax ever recorded in peacetime
financial reforms and who it upset + why
- revival of forest laws upset those who lived in the forests that were claimed to be royal forests as they could be fined for engaging in agriculture
- distraint of knighthood upset gentry and those who had an income of more than £40 a year
- monopolies upset individuals, JPs and sheriffs as it gave them to businesses rather than individuals
- feoffees for impropriations upset puritans, puritans purchased land to put a puritan church minister in charge. laud didn’t like this and he took the land away, this upset the puritans as they lost church land
- ship money upset the people living in-land and on the coast
laudian reforms- church buildings + layout
- enhance the interior beauty of the church to emphasise what he called ‘the beauty of holiness’
- changes the fonts, the renewal of stained glass and the restoration of organs
- ruling that the communion table should be removed from the centre of the church
church buildings + layout changes- reasons for unpopularity
- laud’s desire to ‘see the bishops decently supplied according to their place + dignity meant that parish owners were met with demands to contribute sums of money to fund a religious policy which many were suspicious
- refurbishment of churches were expensive
- had popish connotations
laudian reforms- act of worship
- instil notions of order, decency and deference
- the pulpit was removed from its hither to pre-eminent position and the sacraments, the bread and wine were given new importance
- reissued book of sports in 1633
act of worship changes- reasons for unpopularity
- many gentry were appalled by the new emphasis given to the altar, because this often resulted in the removal of the established gentry’ pews
- inspired resentment on religious grounds
- book of sports ordered the very opposite of established puritan beliefs
laudian reforms- clergy
- ordered bishops to reside in their diocese and stipulated that they visit each of their parishes at least once every three years
- send a detailed report of their activities to the archbishop
- regular inspections or visitations
- a campaign against unlicensed preachers was launched
clergy changes- reasons for unpopularity
- they dealt out harsh punishments to those who criticised the religious changes
- demanded the clergy take an oath that they would never consent ‘to alter the government of this church by archbishops, bishops, deans and archdeacons’
-much more uniformity
why was there a perceived catholic threat?
because people thought that there were catholic plotters within the anglican church. the tolerance of catholics increased in the courts, the queen is catholic and invites people to services. the pope’s ambassador + charles had a shared love of art which was seen as having popish connotations
why was catholicism fear so much?
the pope was identified as anti-christ, the head of a vast international consipracy supported by spain and dedicated to the destruction of true religion, such fears and suspicions isolated the king from many of his subjects
burton, bastwick + prynne
burton, bastwick + prynne were 3 puritans who published pamphlets attacking laud + the queen, were brought to the star chamber accused of sedifion. they were sentenced to be placed in the pillary, branded on the cheeks and had their ears cropped.
1636- providence island company
attempts of an organised resistance came from a group of puritan nobility + gentry who kept contact through a privately owned shipping company. the leaders were john pym, earl of warwick, the duke of bedford, lord saye and sele
1636- hampden case
hampden refused to pay ship money + initiated a legal challenge, which charles decided to use as a test case in 1637. the judges were in the king’s favour
1636- book of canons
charles issued a book of canons to the scottish clergy. this listed instructions as to how they should lay out their churches + introduced a number of practices associated with the church of england
1637- english prayer book
charles introduced the english prayer book to scottish churches. when the book was first read in st. giles cathedral, a riot broke out. disorder spread across the low lands and in 1638 the scottish clergy + nobility met and drew up a national convent to defend the kirk
1639- ship money yield
the ship money yield fell to 20% in 2639 as the privy council + county sheriffs were increasingly distracted + over burdened by the need to raise an army to fight in scotland
1639- national convent
both charles and the conventers raised armies, but charles, lacking money had to rely on the county militias. realising he couldnt win, he signed the treaty of berwick in 1639, ending what was known as the first bishops’ war
1639- taxpayers’ strike
many of the gentry were unhappy with the idea of funding a war with the scots and there was a ‘taxpayers’ strike in the years 1639-40. lacking funds and unable to borrow money from the london merchants, charles turned to wentworth, who advised him to call a parliament
1640- calling of the short parliament
when short parliament was called, amid a flood of petitions against personal rule, charles had the opportunity to save the situations by making concessions. instead charles demanded money from parliament, the commons entered into a series of debates and he was compelled to dissolved parliament after only 3 weeks.
august 1640- second bishops’ war
charles collected together an ill-organised and under equipped forced in order to fight a second bishops war. most of his soldiers actually sympathised with the scots, + occupied themselves burning altar rails + other symbols associated with catholicism
october 1640- treaty of ripon
charles was defeated at the battle of newburn, near newcastle, and under the terms of the subsequent treaty of ripon in october 1640 he was forced to pay the scots £850 a day while they occupied newcastle.
