Attempted impeachment of Buckingham - May 1626

Question 1

What did the Commons attack Buckingham for?

Answer 1

His poor handling of foreign policy.

Question 2

Which two politicians attacked Buckingham openly in the Commons?

Answer 2

Sir John Elliot and Sir Dudley Digges

Question 3

• Who was particularly dangerous towards Buckingham?
• Who was he and what did he know Charles had done?
• What did Charles do and what did the Lords do?

Answer 3

• Earl of Bristol was particularly dangerous to Buckingham.
• He had been the ambassador to Spain during the 1623 Spanish adventure. He knew that, while in Madrid, Charles had bribed Spanish courtiers but had promises to offer concessions to English Catholics if the Spanish match was secured.
• Charles charged Bristol with treason but Bristol offered evidence that convinced the Lords that Buckingham should be held for treason instead.

Question 4

What happened once the impeachment hearings were over?

Answer 4

Once the impeachment hearings were done May 1626, Elliot and Digges were imprisoned in the tower of London.

Question 5

• What did Charles do to try to stop Buckingham’s impeachment?
• Why was this statement such a viable threat?

Answer 5

• To try to stop Buckingham’s impeachment, Charles undiplomatically implied a threat to Parliament’s future existence in a statement which smacked of Absolutism.
• Easy to make a case that Charles was going absolutist because of his continued reliance on prerogative financial measures of the dissolution of the 1626 Parliament in order to protect Buckingham and Montagu.