Chapter 1 Flashcards
Prerogative Powers for the Monarch
They had power over:
Foreign diplomacy, as Head of State
Declaration of War, as commander-in-chief of the military
Legislation, right to call/dissolve parliament
Religion, Supreme Governor of the C o E
Subsidy
A sum of money which would aid Crown policies like War.
The limit of the Crown’s money would limit their absolute power.
Since the wealthy (MP’s) had to pay the subsidy they tried not to grant them.
Prerogative Crown Income x4
Crown Lands - sold/rent - fixed rent meant income was reduced as they couldn’t update rent from
Customs Duties - Taxes from good imported into the country. Crown could temporarily sell the rights to collect taxes quickly.
Feudal Dues - Control an estates inheritance (ancient right) till heir is 21
Parliamentary Subsidy - Funds approved by Parliament for emergencies like war.
Why was Prerogative Income an Issue?
Monarch could become financially self-sufficient = absolute.
Centre of most tensions between Crown/Parliament (Political Nation).
What was the other limitation on absolutism?
The crown needed the Political Nation to help control the general population as Crown only had 2000 employees.
Political Nation = responsible for collecting taxes, training the militia, enforcing laws and conducting trials.
The unwritten constitution
Country was ran by an unwritten constitution which was a mixture of parliamentary laws/common law/documents like the Magna Carta/tradition/custom.
Ability to interpret the constitution in different ways enabled compromise.
The Great Chain of Being
Idea that an ordered society is set in place by God and that everyone should accept their position in that set.
Problems with increasing population between 1500-1650
Price inflation/food shortage/land shortage/unemployment/greater reliance on the state for poor relief. strained the hierarchical society with a new sub class of poor people being developed + rich people charging more because of new demands.
Paternalist
idea that is is a fatherly duty of those above others in society to look after the interests of those beneath them, especially in times of hardship.
Other three groups that formed the Political Nation
the aristocracy/lesser gentry who’s status was based on land ownership/newer groups like lawyers + merchants, whose wealth was salaried not through land (named pseudo-gentry because of the non-land-based nature of their wealth).
James I
reigned (1603-25)
James VI of Scotland in 1567 and became king of England after Elizabeth I the Tudor monarch died childless, James had a claim from his great-grandmother, Margaret Tudor.
He was a successful pragmatic ruler and practical enough to realise that he needed to work with Parliament - He did dissolve Parliament a few times due to frustration.
Charles I
reigned (1625-49)
Young son of James and became king as brother Henry died at 18.
He was temperamentally unsuited to kingship and was unprepared for the role + didn’t get along with Parliament.
Charles II
reigned (1660-85)
Eldest son of Charles I and spent formative years in existence;e in Europe after the defeat of his father .
Restored to the throne in 1660 as a result of the collapse post-Cromwell regimes.
His main goal was to stay on the throne and was also a pragmatic king.
James II
reigned (1685-88)
Charles II younger brother and was stubborn like his father Charles I which made him failed politically.
It was his Catholicism which created a revolution against him.
William III and Mary II
William reigned (1689-1701) Mary reigned (1689-94) William of Orange was a Dutch Protestant whose claim to the English Thorne was through his wife Mary who was the eldest daughter of James II. The Political Nation invited them to the throne to protect Protestantism.
