Personal rule, 1629-40 Flashcards
Why can it be argued that Charles I was seeking absolute monarchy?
- Dissolution + personal rule constituted deliberate attempt to destroy parliament and govern by divine right
- Parliament opponents were imprisoned - 1632 - John Elliot died in Tower of London
‘Eleven years Tyranny’?
What is the argument against the view that Charles was seeking absolute monarchy?
- May have sought efficiency and stable govt
- Based on his political and religious beliefs
Why did the dissolution in 1629 provoke little reaction?
Due to actions of MPs forcing resolutions seeming to justify it
How did Charles’ personal rule initially go?
Well - first few years - calm and orderly - Charles effective ruler
- He devoted many hours to daily govt business - regularly met w/ privy council
What appointments did Charles make from 1632-33?
1632 - Sir Thomas Wentworth, later Lord Strafford, as Lord Deputy of Ireland
1633 - William Laud as Archbishop of Canterbury
How did Charles end hostilities w/ Spain?
How did annual war spending change?
1630 - Treaty of Madrid
- Annual spending on war - £500,000 from 1625-29 to under £70,000 in 1630s
What policy areas did Charles pay attention to during his personal rule?
- Crown’s finances
- Reorganisation of the management of Crown lands
- Adding new impositions of T&P
- Feudal payments revived
In 1634, what economic decision by Charles generated resentment and public debate?
He issued a monopoly patent for soap production - that shut out competition in the market
1641 - opponents claimed many driven out of business - and prices to public rising - only to benefit king’s revenues
What was the greatest economic controversy of Charles’ personal rule?
Ship Money - annual levy - worth £200,000 a year to the Exchequer
- For upkeep of the navy
- Collected by country sheriffs - set amount by govt
Why was Ship Money so controversial?
Usually levied once or twice in a monarch’s reign - but now was levied annually and across the entire country rather than just countries lining the coast.
What was the distraint of knighthood?
- Medieval custom - those w/ land over £40 per annum - expected to be knighted at King’s coronation
- If they failed to present themselves - would be fined - over 9,000 were fined
Why were groups w/ Puritan connections concerned by the reforms in church, state and society from 1629-36?
Church of England:
- Promotion of Arminians - Laud - insistence on control of clergy by bishops
- Charles and Laud - demand strict adherence to rules
- Substitution of ritual and formality in place of Puritan emphasis on individual prayer and preaching
(Ministers who resisted - brought before church courts or Prerogative court of High Commission - deprived of livings if failed to conform)
Were the clergy impacted by the church reforms during Charles’ personal rule?
Number of them forced out didn’t rise greatly in 1630s - numbers exclude 100 or more clergy who emigrated to puritan colonies of New England
What 3 things did Charles’ church policies emphasise?
- Order
- Formality
- Hierarchy
What was the aim of the religious reforms in the 1630s?
- Hierarchy and ceremony designed to instil respect for monarchy
- Emphasised religious roots of Charles’ power
Why was catholic influence in the church perceived to have increased in 1630s?
- Churches decorated w/ statues and colour, organs restored
- Altar moved to east end of church - for traditional communion
Charles’ most loyal servants - Wentworth and Laud
Influence of the Queen - maintained her own chapel and Catholic clergy - encouraged catholic worship
1635 - Charles welcomed to his court an ambassador from the pope
How did opposition view the reforms to church and state?
To them, the unfolding picture of govt ominously clear, uniform and threatening to all they valued.
What were the first attempts at organised resistance to the king during personal rule?
- Group of Puritan gentry and nobility - active in parliament before 1629 - maintained contact in the Providence Island Company
Leaders: John Pym, Earl of Warwick, Duke of Bedford, Lord Saye and Sele
- Contacts - stretched to family in East Anglia
- Lawyer: Oliver St. John and John Hampden
What did John Hampden do in 1636?
Refused to pay Ship Money - initiated legal challenge - Charles used as test case in 1637 - St. John = Hampden’s counsel
Judges found in king’s favour - 5-7 decision in early 1628
How did the Privy Council and/or Prerogative Courts silence opposition in the 1630s?
E.g. - 1637 - Star Chamber - 3 puritan writers, who attacked govt, to have ears cut off and branded on cheeks then imprisoned
(Burton, Bastwick and Prynne) - sentenced by Laud - rising influence of Laudian bishops in govt
Who was William Juxon?
Bishop of London
In 1636 - appointed to post of Lord Treasurer - presence of clergymen in govt
Why did the yield of Ship Money fall to 20% of expected money in 1639?
- Privy Council and Sheriffs distracted by need to raise army to fight in Scotland
Why did Charles’ decision to extend reforms to Scotland ensure failure?
1) Weakened his grip on govt
2) Little understanding of Scottish Kingdom
3) Didn’t trust Scottish Privy Council - relied on Scottish exiles in London
What was the position of the Scottish Kirk in the 1630s?
Had undergone Calvinist reformation - John Knox in 1560 - emerged as Presbyterian institution
- Presbyterian Kirk run by assembly of ministers and lay Elders
