1629-1640 Flashcards
Historiography of the Personal Rule
> Whig - Gardiner - Eleven Years Tyranny
Revisionist - Sharpe - some creative reform
Privy Council during Personal Rule
> Became more important within gov
Key members - Laud, Weston & Windebank
Court of Star Chamber
> Enforced Charles’ rule
Made up of Privy Councillors chosen by Charles
Held in private
Defendants could be imprisoned but not executed
Court of High Commission
> Used to enforce conformity within the church
Used by Laud
Sentenced by Star Chamber
Book of Orders
> 1631
Listed actions and roles to be taken by JPs & Sheriffs
- Gentry resented central interference, cost and time involved
+ Charles tried to improve efficiency of local gov
Court
> Formal and remote
Masques and “Catholic” art
Catholic/Arminian e.g. Papal agents George Con & George Panzani
Court vs country
“Conspiracy mentality”
Cut Expenditure
> Peace with France - 1629 Treaty of Suza
Peace with Spain - 1630 Treaty of Madrid
Weston cut court costs
Ship Money
> 1634 levied in coastal areas
1635 levied countrywide
Charles claimed necessary as a national emergency
Created discontent but 34-38 90% collected
Opposition e.g. Hampden
Tonnage & Poundage
> Continued to collect without parliamentary approval
1631-5 £270,000pa collected
1635 new Book of Rates issued - raised amount paid - late 1630s £425,000pa
Use of Extra Parliamentary, Old Taxes
> Distraint of Knighthood, £175,000 raised by 1635
Monopolies e.g. Soap - Popish Soap £33,000
Forest fines - £38,667
Created discontent
Laudianism
> Description of policies of Archbishop Laud
Anti-predestination
Emphasis on ritual and ceremony rather than preaching & the bible
Created opposition from the largely Calvinist population
Laudian Changes
> Communion table moved & railed off
Ceremony
Use of music
Vestments
Removal of gentry pews
Ban of Feoffes of Impropriations
1640s Convocation published Canons stating measures including et cetera oath
Book of Sports
> Reissued in 1633
Listed activities which could be carried out on Sunday e.g. Morris dancing
Puritans saw this as an attack on Sabbatarianism
Wentworth (Strafford)
> Initially a critic of Charles’ policies e.g. arrested for not paying Forced Loan in 1627
Idea of “Thorough” in Ireland - increase royal authority and impose uniformity
Financial Policy in Ireland
> Aim - allow crown to profit from Ireland
New Book of Rates - 1633-40 income doubled to £80,000pa
Fine levied on City of London for lack of development on land owned there - £70,000
1634 Irish Parliament granted 6 subsidies (£120,000) in return for grievances addressed (didn’t happen)
Plantations extended
Crown’s right to disputed land established
Fines on New English e.g. Richard Boyle fined £15,000
Religious Policy in Ireland
> Imposition of Laudianism
Caused problems in the complexity of Irish religion
John Bramhall appointed Bishop of Londonderry in 1634
1634 Irish Convocation adopted 39 articles
Political Policy in Ireland
> Impose authority of crown on Ireland
Wentworth manipulated Parliament - subsidies were agreed but grievances e.g. Graces not addressed
Attacks on New English elite e.g. Lord Mountnorris accused of Treason
Scotland - Act of Revocation
> 1625
Land taken from Scottish nobility
Historical precedent but used by Charles on a much wider scale
United opposition from Scottish nobility
Led to 1627 Committee for Surrenders
Government of Scotland
> Charles - absentee king - didn’t visit until 1633
Anglo-centric
9 member of Scottish Privy Council - English
Main advisors - Menteith, Lennox & Hamilton seen as pro-English
Religious Policy in Scotland
> Aim - enforce Laudian conformity and strengthen the church including financially and role of Bishops
Scotland largely Presbyterian
“Catholic” coronation 1633
Canons 1633 - altar moved, surplice to be worn and no improvised prayer
Canons imposed by Royal Prerogative
1637 Laudian Prayer book - seen as Catholic
The Hampden Case
> 1637
Charles took Hampden to court for non-payment of Ship Money
12 judges found 7 to 5 in Charles’ favour
Made it difficult to collect Ship Money for a while
Prynne, Bastwick & Burton
> 1637 brought before Star Chamber
Criticised Laud’s policies
Fined £5000, imprisoned for life, publicly ears cropped
Outcry due to their professional status
Their punishment got more publicity than their pamphlet
Parishioners at St Gregory’s Church
> 1633
Opposed moving of Communion Table
Brought before Privy Council
John Lilburne
> 1638
Printed unlicensed literature criticising Laud’s policies
Brought before Star Chamber
Fined, whipped, pilloried and imprisonment
Continues to write
Opposition to Religious Changes
> 1634, Charles’ Chief Justice dismissed because Laud feared he might oppose changes in court
1637, Bishop John Williams imprisoned criticised altar policy in “The Holy Table, Name and Thing”
Great Migration
> Emigration to New England
1629-40, 60,000 people
Not all for religious reasons
Many ordained ministers went
Companies set up to organise migration e.g. Providence Island Company
Opponents often involved in these companies e.g. Pym, Saye and Sele
Seen as networks for opposition
Private Diaries
> 1970s Historians researched private diaries e.g. Alan Everitt looked at diaries in Kent
Evidence of private opposition to Charles’ policies
Opposition in Scotland
> 1630 Alexander Leighton fined £10,000 by Star Chamber for criticising Bishops
1634 petition against religious changes
1637 riot against Prayer Book in St Giles Cathedral
1638 National Covenant
Bishops’ War
