An Experiment in Absolutism, 1629-40 Flashcards
What were William Laud’s roles within government?
Laud had become bishop of London in 1628 and Charles appointed him Archbishop of Canterbury in 1633. This made Laud the most senior cleric in the Church of England and Charles allowed him the freedom to impose the reforms he wanted. Laud was famously anti-social and difficult to work with, and became active on the Privy Council. He was appointed Lord Treasurer in 1635 and was active in the prerogative courts. Not since the reign of Henry VIII had members of the clergy exercised such political authority.
Please give five of Charles’ closest ministers.
1) Bishop of London William Juxon - another Arminian - joined the Privy Council in 1636.
2) Francis Cottington, a former enemy of Buckingham, was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1629. He was viewed with suspicion and had a Catholic wife.
3) Francis Windebank, who became Secretary of State in 1632, was probably a secret Catholic.
4) William Noy was appointed Attorney General in 1631. He helped Charles to resurrect the long-forgotten taxes that enabled him to finance his personal rule.
5) Richard Weston, first Earl of Portland, was another former enemy of Charles. He was secretly Catholic, and was instrumental in persuading Charles to sign the Treaty of Madrid in 1630, which made peace with Spain.
Without a parliament to provide him with funds, Charles had to embark on new methods of raising money. With the help of William Noy, his attorney general, what seven measures did Charles take to revive long-forgotten taxes and tighten government spending?
1) Charles signed the Treaty of Madrid in 1630, which ended hostilities with Spain. As a result, his annual spending on war reduced from £300,000 per annum in the 1620s to less than £70,000 in the 1630s.
2) He raised £358,000 from the continued collection of Tonnage and Poundage.
3) Fines for building on or encroaching on royal forests raised around £40,000. Monarchs had been able to levy these fines for centuries but many had not bothered to impose them.
4) In 1630, Charles revived a medieval custom based on an Act from 1278, known as distraint of knighthood, whereby all those with land worth more than £40 per annum were expected to be knighted by the monarch on their coronation. If they failed to present themselves at Charles’ coronation, they were fined. Nearly £175,000 was raised as a result.
5) Charles issued monopolies in return for a fee. A monopoly on the production of soap was given to a group of Catholic courtiers.
6) Another feudal device that was collected more carefully was wardship revenue, which raised £55,000 per annum.
7) The most infamous of Charles’ taxes was ship money, a charge traditionally levied on coastal counties to pay for the navy. Most monarchs levied Ship Money once or twice during their reign, but Charles introduced it as an annual tax and charged all counties, not just those near the coast. It raised around £200,000 pa between 1634 and 1640.
Like the other taxes, Ship Money was generally paid as expected across the counties between 1634 and 1639. There were a small number of complaints, particularly about the amount being levied rather than the principle of the tax itself. The most high-profile challenge to the King’s authority to collect Ship Money came from Buckinghamshire gentleman and Puritan, John Hampden. Please explain in five points the Hampden case.
1) Hampden refused to pay Ship Money in 1636 and initiated a legal challenge against it.
2) His lawyer in the case was Oliver St John. Both men were part of a circle of Puritan gentry and nobility who had been active in the Providence Island Company, a private shipping company.
3) Charles decided to use Hampden’s challenge as a test case in 1637.
4) Seven judges ruled in favour of Charles’ continued collection of tax and five ruled against.
5) According to contemporaries, the reaction of the gentry to the result of the case was generally hostile and created issues for Charles by the end of the decade.
Charles and Laud demanded strict adherence to rules and imposed ritual and formality in place of the Puritan emphasis on individual prayer and preaching. It was reflected in Laud’s changes to the fabric and ordering of churches - what five main aesthetic changes did Laud make?
1) Organs were installed and the singing of hymns was encouraged.
2) Fonts were decorated.
3) Statues and colour returned to churches.
4) Stained glass was installed.
5) The communion table was moved from the centre of the congregation to the east of the Church, where the Roman Catholic altar had always stood. It was also railed from the congregation. This was a particularly objectionable change in the eyes of the Puritans.
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