James I

Question 1

what foreign policy strategy did James follow?

Answer 1

• Rex Pacifus

- “in peace the towns flourish, the merchants become richer”

Question 2

how did James follow this foreign policy strategy?

Answer 2

• he wanted to be the ‘mediator’ of Europe. wanted to marry his daughter to Frederick of the Palatinate and Charles to the Spanish infanta
• peace with spain in 1604 quickly after he took reign

Question 3

why did James want to pursue the spanish match?

Answer 3

• it would align himself with one of the most powerful catholic powers in europe alongside his alliance with the palatinate.
• the offer from Gondomar of a £500,000 dowry in the marriage alliance tempted James due to his recent breakdown with the addled parliament (1614)

Question 4

what opposition was there to the match?

Answer 4

• in 1621, led by Edward Coke, there was a petition asking for there to be war against spain and Charles to be married to a protestant
• in 1620, James had to issue decrees against writing or speaking on state affairs. John Everard preached against the match in 1621 and subsequently spent half a year in prison

Question 5

what was a large failure of James’ foreign policy?

Answer 5

• the mansfield expedition 1625
• Instead of listening to parliament, James decided to embark on an expedition to retake the land which frederick lost at white mountain.
• this cost £60,000 and failed miserably

Question 6

how was James’ extravagance a problem?

Answer 6

• sent as much as £400,000 to a favourite, James Hay which was around 44% of the royal debt at its high in James’ reign of £900,000 in 1618
• spent £185,000 on jewels
• spent £68,000 on gifts and £30,000 on pensions in 1607 alone
• in 1623, he spent £50,000 on a trip to madrid for Charles which achieved nothing

Question 7

what was the selling of the right to collect impositions and why did it fail (cecil)

Answer 7

-sold of right to collect impositions to a consortium to establish a steady income stream, but failed to realise there would a large increase in trade with spain and netherlands after the peace treaty, meaning the consortium would receive a large inflow of revenue, which the crown could have benefitted from

Question 8

what was the Cockayne project and why did it fail?

Answer 8

• the cockayne project promised the crown £40,000 a year through the increased customs on the importing of dyestuffs
• this would be done by setting up an industry to allow those to dye their own cloth at home, thus increasing their need to import dye.
• although, Cockayne clearly hadn’t got the resources to carry it out and after, the dutch banned the import of cloth
• as a result, merchants went bankrupt

Question 9

what was the great contract and why did it fail? (cecil)

Answer 9

• cecil proposed in 1610 that in exchange for £200,000 a year, the crown would give up its rights to warship and purveyance, and its right to create new impositions
• rejected by James and parliament
• james did not think £200,000 a year was worth losing important control over his subjects

Question 10

how else did James raise money?

Answer 10

• Book of rates in 1608 brought in £70,000
• the sale of honours brought in £620,000 from 1603 to the late 20s
• Cecil was able to make money from the existing crown estates - brought in extra £100,000 from rental income and £200,000 from outstanding debt

Question 11

how did james instantly get off on bad foot with first parliament?

Answer 11

• James announced his wish for a full union between his two kingdoms despite the English disliking the Scottish and was suspicious of their presence in James’ court.
• after Parliament refused to rename the country ‘Great Britain’, james in 1604 issued a proclamation to announce he would take the title of the ‘king of Great Britain’.
• the whole affair regarding a union lasted until 1610 and made parliament anxious about James’ absolutist tendencies.

Question 12

what did the parliament do as a result of the gunpowder plot?

Answer 12

in the second session of first parliament, they felt relieved and thankful that the plot had failed and gave James the biggest peace time subsidy to date of £400,000

Question 13

what occupied the third and final session of the first parliament?

Answer 13

• further discussion for a union, which failed to arrive at a satisfactory conclusion
• the suspicion caused by James’ action were shown over negotiations of the great contract, showing how distrustful parliament were of james

Question 14

why were parliament distrustful of James?

Answer 14

james never really explained his intentions clearly, and thus parliament always assumed he had sinister intentions in which he was not expressing

Question 15

what was the addled parliament?

Answer 15

This was a parliament with no agenda and thus the Commons turned to a discussion on impositions. There seemed no prospect of agreement on taxation and when one MP demanded that the Scottish members of the bedchamber should be sent home, James dissolved parliament after a few weeks in session.

Question 16

what occupied the final parliament of 1621?

Answer 16

• There had been no effective meeting since 1610 and James was fearful of the news in the Palatinate and wanted a grant.
• The first session was in the midst of a bad recession and parliament only granted 2 subsidies which wasn’t enough
• The second session was dominated by the issue of the Palatinate and the best means of securing it.

Question 17

why was the 1621 parliament dissolved

Answer 17

The Commons wanted England to take a lead in the Protestant cause and petitioned that Charles should be married to a protestant and declare war on spain. James reacted angrily to this and thus a series of tense exchanges occurred. The 1621 parliament was then dissolved.

Question 18

what were the religious consequences of the gunpowder plot?

Answer 18

• 1605 gunpowder plot led James to adopt a harsher stance towards the Catholics
• In 1605, James passed the Popish Recusants Act which forbade Roman Catholics from practising the professions of law and medicine and from acting as a guardian or trustee.

Question 19

what was the oath of allegiance 1606

Answer 19

-Also shortly after the gunpowder plot (1606), a new Oath of Allegiance was required for Catholics to swear allegiance to James over the Pope. It was aimed to separate the “peaceful subjects” and the “factitious stirrers of sedition”.

Question 20

what was James’ attitude towards catholics post gunpowder plot?

Answer 20

• James was not as repressive as other would have wanted him to be after the gunpowder plot. After the event, the number of Catholics actually rose to 50,000 by 1625 and post 1611, James did not introduce any further measures, possibly because he wanted to pursue a relationship with Spain and France.
• In total, James only executed 25 Catholics, and none after 1619

Question 21

what was agreed at the hampton court conference (1604)?

Answer 21

• In the conference, James won over some of the moderate Puritans when he promised a translated bible (king James bible 1611) and an explanation of the 39 articles
• however, he also said at the conference that he would ‘harry them out of the land’
• James wasn’t as accommodating as the protestants wished as he refused to compromise on the demands to remove the bishops as he knew that “no bishops, no King”.

Question 22

who did James appoint as his arch bishops?

Answer 22

-James’ lack of bias to one side is particularly clear in the appointments of his Archbishop of Canterbury. In 1611, he appointed George Abbot, an orthodox Calvinist, showing that he would only appoint the most able and committed, regardless of beliefs

Question 23

what was the book of sports?

Answer 23

-In 1618, James issues the Book of Sports which made activities, such as maypole dancing, Morris dancing and other recreational activities, permissible on a Sunday. This angered the Puritans and George Abbot so James withdrew his request.