James's political system in England and Parliament Flashcards

1
Q

what is the kings prerogative?

A

the kings power to act on his own authority without reference to others. included control of foreign policy war and peace, regulation of overseas trade and pardoning of criminals.

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2
Q

who was head of the political system?

A
  • the king
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3
Q

what did the king have control of?

A
  • policy, distribution of offices, gifts like money and land.
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4
Q

who was the head of the church?

A

-sovereign, and so had the authority to change religious practice

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5
Q

how was the highest law created?

A

-common law courts, to change these you needed a statute (law passed by parliament)

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6
Q

what is the divine rights of kings?

A

-right that monarchs derived their power from God and were only accountable to him

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7
Q

how was the court divided?

A

public outer chamber and the privy inner bed chamber

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8
Q

what was patronage?

A
  • a young person would require a person of a more favourable position and gift him and serve him and in return the patron would advance his interests.
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9
Q

what happened in parliament?

A

policies are explained and approval sought, serious disquiet was expressed if necessary and policies were modified.

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10
Q

when was the king most powerful?

A

-when parliament was in session because the king in parliament could enact statute laws obtain additional taxes from his subjects

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11
Q

what happened in the first session of the Parliament of 1604?

A

-first a dispute over the Buckinghamshire election.
-then James talked about a union when Parliament hate the Scots
-failure of union which he seeked until 1610 caused him to lose faith in the commons

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12
Q

what happened in the second session of 1604?

A

-due to meet on 5th of Nov 1605 but stopped by Gunpowder Plot
-met Jan 1606 and Parliament was relieved that they weren’t killed so they forgot about their doubts of James’s extravagance and gave him the largest peacetime sum of 400k

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13
Q

what happened in the final session of the 1604 Parliament?

A

-largely taken up with negotiations over the Great contract with neither side feeling that the other would stick to the agreement.

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14
Q

what happened in the addled Parliament of 1614?

A

-discussed impositions due to lack of agenda
-when one MP demanded that Scottish members of the bedchamber should be sent home James dissolved Parliament after lasting only a few weeks.
-because they made no supply and did not pass any legislation it is called the addled Parliament

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15
Q

1610-21 who were James’s favourites?

A

-George Villiers and Robert Carr
-they dominated Parliament and their connections and influence determined the policy of the court.

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16
Q

who was Robert Carr?

A

-young scot came to James’s attention in 1607
-became Earl of Somerset and was showered with money offices and titles
-1613 married Frances Howard, the Howards favoured a pro-spanish foreign policy
-the anti-Spanish faction led by the Earl of Pembroke decided to try and entice James’s favour away by introducing George Villiers who James was captivated by

17
Q

what was the Overbury affair?

A

-Thomas Overbury was a friend and mentor of Carr.
-he opposed Carr’s marriage and so was put in the tower of London.
-the countess arranged to have him poisoned in 1613
-when it was found out the countess and Carr were found guilty of the murder, James reduced their sentence and after a few years gave them a full pardon

18
Q

who was the Duke of Buckingham?

A

-fall of Carr led to the rise of Buckingham
-lavished gifts on him and let him to take over much of the direction of affairs.

19
Q

what happened in the first session of 1621?

A

-country was experiencing the worst depression of the century granted only 2 subsidies of about 140k which was not enough.
-Parliament spoke of their grievances particularly about monopolies which caused inflation
-Parliament and James agreed against monopolies but was denied by the Lords

20
Q

what happened in the second session of 1621?

A

-pressing issue was the Palatinate and securing it for Frederick with the Commons eager to see England take the lead for the Protestant cause
-James did not like Parliaments involvement in foreign policy and threatened Parliament.
-commons then entered a formal account of their privileges into their journal in a document known as the Protestation.
-when James heard about this he ripped the page out and abruptly dissolved Parliament.

21
Q

what happened in the Parliament of 1624?

A

-Subsidy act
-statute of monopolies
- impeachment of Cranfield- Charles and Buckingham wanted to remove him because he was a strong supporter of Spain, but he still had King’s support so they used impeachment

22
Q

what was the subsidy act?

A

-1624
-commons would give money for a war, in return for 300k the crown agreed that the money could only be used for: defence of the realm, Ireland, aid to the United Provinces and the navy. and was to be spent under the supervision of officials appointed by Parliament

23
Q

what was the statute of monopolies?

A

-reinstatement of the 1621 bill that failed.
-no longer could James make grants to individuals as patents could not be issued except for new inventions which were held for 14 years.
-had a major flaw as patents could still be issued to chartered companies and companies, so anyone who wanted a patent just had to form themselves into a company for it to be issued legally.