Personal rule, 1629-40

Question 1

Why can it be argued that Charles I was seeking absolute monarchy?

Answer 1

• 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’?

Question 2

What is the argument against the view that Charles was seeking absolute monarchy?

Answer 2

• May have sought efficiency and stable govt

- Based on his political and religious beliefs

Question 3

Why did the dissolution in 1629 provoke little reaction?

Answer 3

Due to actions of MPs forcing resolutions seeming to justify it

Question 4

How did Charles’ personal rule initially go?

Answer 4

Well - first few years - calm and orderly - Charles effective ruler
- He devoted many hours to daily govt business - regularly met w/ privy council

Question 5

What appointments did Charles make from 1632-33?

Answer 5

1632 - Sir Thomas Wentworth, later Lord Strafford, as Lord Deputy of Ireland

1633 - William Laud as Archbishop of Canterbury

Question 6

How did Charles end hostilities w/ Spain?

How did annual war spending change?

Answer 6

1630 - Treaty of Madrid

- Annual spending on war - £500,000 from 1625-29 to under £70,000 in 1630s

Question 7

What policy areas did Charles pay attention to during his personal rule?

Answer 7

• Crown’s finances
• Reorganisation of the management of Crown lands
• Adding new impositions of T&P
• Feudal payments revived

Question 8

In 1634, what economic decision by Charles generated resentment and public debate?

Answer 8

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

Question 9

What was the greatest economic controversy of Charles’ personal rule?

Answer 9

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

Question 10

Why was Ship Money so controversial?

Answer 10

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.

Question 11

What was the distraint of knighthood?

Answer 11

• 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

Question 12

Why were groups w/ Puritan connections concerned by the reforms in church, state and society from 1629-36?

Answer 12

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)

Question 13

Were the clergy impacted by the church reforms during Charles’ personal rule?

Answer 13

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

Question 14

What 3 things did Charles’ church policies emphasise?

Answer 14

1. Order
2. Formality
3. Hierarchy

Question 15

What was the aim of the religious reforms in the 1630s?

Answer 15

• Hierarchy and ceremony designed to instil respect for monarchy
• Emphasised religious roots of Charles’ power

Question 16

Why was catholic influence in the church perceived to have increased in 1630s?

Answer 16

• 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

Question 17

How did opposition view the reforms to church and state?

Answer 17

To them, the unfolding picture of govt ominously clear, uniform and threatening to all they valued.

Question 18

What were the first attempts at organised resistance to the king during personal rule?

Answer 18

• 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

Question 19

What did John Hampden do in 1636?

Answer 19

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

Question 20

How did the Privy Council and/or Prerogative Courts silence opposition in the 1630s?

Answer 20

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

Question 21

Who was William Juxon?

Answer 21

Bishop of London

In 1636 - appointed to post of Lord Treasurer - presence of clergymen in govt

Question 22

Why did the yield of Ship Money fall to 20% of expected money in 1639?

Answer 22

• Privy Council and Sheriffs distracted by need to raise army to fight in Scotland

Question 23

Why did Charles’ decision to extend reforms to Scotland ensure failure?

Answer 23

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

Question 24

What was the position of the Scottish Kirk in the 1630s?

Answer 24

Had undergone Calvinist reformation - John Knox in 1560 - emerged as Presbyterian institution

• Presbyterian Kirk run by assembly of ministers and lay Elders

Question 25

What did Charles issue to Scotland in 1636?

Answer 25

Book of Canons to Scottish Clergy - how to lay out churches + Church of England practices

Question 26

What did Charles’ introduce to Scotland in 1637?

Answer 26

English Prayer Book to Kirks - read in St. Giles Cathedral - riot and disorder in lowlands

Question 27

What happened in Scotland in 1638?

Answer 27

National Covenant to defend Kirk + restore religious rights

- Charles and Covenanters raised armies - Charles lacked money relied on county militias

Question 28

What happened in 1639 when Charles realised he couldn’t win against the Covenanters?

Answer 28

• Signed Treaty of Berwick - ended First Bishops’ War

Question 29

Why was there a ‘taxpayers’ strike’ from 1639-40?

Answer 29

Many of gentry didn’t want to fund war w/ Scots - Charles lacked funds, unable to borrow from merchants - turned to Wentworth - advised him to call parliament

Question 30

Short Parliament

Answer 30

April 1640 - 3 weeks - Charles demanded money - Commons entered series of debates - compelled to dissolved

Question 31

Second Bishops’ War

Answer 31

Ill-organised, under-equipped forces from Charles
- Most soldiers sympathised w/ Scots - occupied themselves burning altar rails and other symbols associated w/ Catholicism

Charles defeated at Battle of Newburn - Treaty of Ripon - Oct 1640 - forced to pay Scots £850 a day while occupying Newcastle

Question 32

Explain Calvanism

Answer 32

• John Calvin (1509-64)
• Achieve salvation through God’s grace - not through own merits
• 17th century - outward signs of godliness - predestined to heaven

Question 33

Explain Presbyterianism

Answer 33

• Church governed by assembly of elders or officials - instead of hierarchy or bishops