1625-finances+parliament Flashcards
when did Charles become king?
march 27 1625
What did Charles need money for in the 1625 parliament?
-financial backing for his uncle Christian IV of Denmark to attack the Catholics through northern Germany
-financial support for the protestant Dutch
-construction of a force of 6,000 men and monthly funding for a German mercenary, Count Mansfield, to commence military expeditions in the Netherlands
-a naval attack on Spain aimed at capturing their shipments of gold from south America
-also wanted to launch a naval and military expedition on the Spanish mainland
how much would this run him?
£1 million
How much did parliament give him?
two subsidies amounting to £140,000
What else did parliament do during the 1625 parliament?
only gave Charles Tonnage and Poundage for a year rather than the usual whole reign
Why did parliament only give Charles T+P for a year?
-they hoped that it would give them time to discuss reform of customs duties
- helped them keep the king financially attached to them which was a problem with James who would abuse prerogative forms of income like sale of honours and peerages
-
What did Buckingham have to do with T+P?
-Some MP’s wanted to make a point tat Buckingham was failing in his role as Lord High Admiral due to the lack of success in foreign policy, as T+P normally contributed to naval protection
- Bucky lead the lords to block the proposal and Charles cont. to collect it regardless
when was the Mansfield expedition?
Mansfield’s army of 6,000 raw recruits was set down without supplies in Holland, where 4,000 of its soldiers withered away through sickness and starvation without accomplishing anything
What did the Mansfield expedition mean for Charles’ relationship with parliament?
the political nation was upset at this turn of events-especially as they gave fund for a naval battle instead of a land campaign
This meant that that Charles’ first parliament would seek 2 obtain more effective control over foreign and military policy
What happened in the ‘useless parliament’ do?
Instead of voting for additional supply, the Commons was now more interested in attacking Bucky, they accused him of:
Monopolising power
Refusing to take the advice of a specially appointed council of war
Minimising the royal finances
Failing, in his capacity as Lord High Admiral, to defend English merchant shipping from north African pirates
Charles brushes these attacks aside and demand the house turns it’s attentions back to the pressing matter of supply, the commons responded that it would only do so ‘in convenient times’, where up on parliament was immodestly dissolved
Why didn’t Charles just let Buckingham take the fall?
Charles couldn’t afford to have Bucky impeached for pursuing policies of which he approved
What was the legacy of the 1625 parliament?
Bucky encouraged Charles’ notions of his divine right to rule his kingdoms as he saw fit
He was then urged to do so without the constitutional means of rising revenue
Instead, Charles would use arbitrary revenue-rising measures which were arguably unlawful
Parliament will remember this
Charles also decided that he would make sure that trouble-making MPs would not get the chance to sit the next parliament-in this way he hoped to manage the parliament in order to get what he required from it
What was the Cadiz expedition?
A naval expedition against an important Spanish naval base by the English and dutch forces
What did Buckingham hope to achieve with the Cadiz expedition?
capture Spanish treasure ships coming back from the Americas loaded with gold and silver, to the profit of England
loot Spanish towns with the intention of causing distress to the Spanish economy
weaken the Spanish supply chain, making it easier to obtain the return of the Palatinate to Frederick V
to present Parliament with a striking victory, in the hope that this would make MP’s more pliable and reduce tensions between hit and the crown
When did the Cadiz expedition leave and with how many men?
Oct 1625 with 10,000 English troops
What happened?
Although the town was largely undefended Cecil failed to exploit the element of surprise and by the time he landed is army Cadiz and been reinforced
Many 100’s of the troops died as a result of heavy drinking whilst they were looting, leaving them incapable of fending off a determined Spanish counter-attack
During the return journey they were battered by winter storms and the soldiers and sailors were forced to eat rotting food-many died as a result
how much did the Cadiz expedition cost?
£250,000
What happened at La Rochelle?
an English naval squadron that had been ent to Louis XIII had helped to destroy a fleet of Huguenots based in La Rochelle
Charles and Buckingham had thought that they would be used to blockade the Spanish-controlled part of Genoa in Italy-but to the world England had just aided the defeat of fellow Protestants
How did Charles make sure that his opps won’t be attending parliament?
Charles made his leading appoints form the ’25 parliament into county sheriffs as this made them ineligible for membership of the house of commons as they were officers of the crown
in this way he got sir Edward Coke out if the way-leading critic of Buckingham
