Relations with Parliament 1625-29 Flashcards
What did Cogswell argue about Charles?
Cogswell historian: Charles was James’ polar opposite.
What were Charles’ beliefs about power? What policies would attacking Spain follow?
Charles believed very much in obedience to the crown and personal monarchy, and refused to meet compromise.
Charles’ policy of attacking Spain followed 4 policies:
- Financial backing of Christian IV of Denmark, his uncle, who would attack Catholics through North Germany.
- Financial backing of Protestant Dutch.
- Money for Mansfeld expeditionary force of 6,000 Englishmen.
- Naval attack on Spain to capture gold from South America.
In 1625 Parliament, what did Charles take as an attack on him? MPs like Sir Edward Coke wanted to attack Buckingham, what rumours were there? Who was Charles also criticised for supporting?
In 1625, Charles wanted £1m for the war effort, but Parliament only voted 2 subsidies of £140,000, and tonnage£age for one year. Charles took this as a personal attack, but this was more an attack on Buckingham, supported by MPs such as Sir Edward Coke who persuaded Parliament, seeing Buckingham’s failure of naval duties as Lord High Admiral.
There were rumours he had bewitched the King.
Charles also received criticisms from supporting Richard Montagu and appointing him royal chaplain after writing Appello Caesarem in 1625, a clear show of his approval of anti-Calvinism. He didn’t make the enemy clear and didn’t engage with influential court supporters in the countryside or Commons like Edward Sandys.
Parliament was dissolved.
Describe events which played out at the York House Conference 1626…
In February 1626, at the Earl of Warwick’s request, Charles held the York House Conference to discuss religious issues, focusing on the writing of Richard Montagu.
Buckingham supported the stance of William Laud, the Arminian, and was not persuaded away from anti-Calvinism, supporting Charles as his favourite.
Richard Cust argued that Charles refused to engage in discussion of his religious policy as he believed his royal authority was at stake.
Why was Mansfield 1625 a failure?
When were Christian IV’s forces defeated?
- In 1625, the Mansfeld expeditionary force of 6,000 was sent to Holland, with no training and limited equipment, and 4,000 died of disease/starvation.
- In August 1626, Christian IV’s forces were defeated by Catholics.
Describe preparations made for the 1626 elections to reduce opposition…
What did Charles do to make concession?
Before the 1626 Parliament, opponents such as Coke and Thomas Wentworth were made sheriffs, making writs for the elections.
Moreover, Buckingham removed Parliamentary/court opposition including the Earl of Arundel, using his influence, alongside lord and deputy lieutenants, his opposition.
Charles tried to make concession by punishing recusants, and threatening return of ships used at La Rochelle against the Huguenots, potentially starting war with France.
Describe Parliament of 1626…
What did Laud open it on, and who did MPs attempt to impeach?
What happened with the Earl of Bristol?
Parliament poorly funded.
Laud opened the second Parliament with a sermon on obedience to Charles.
In 1626, Buckingham’s impeachment in the Lords was attempted with a Parliamentary petition, with John Eliot directing his attack. Earl of arundel, who had been arrested from the Lords, also supported it.
The Earl of Bristol, who had been ambassador to Spain in 1623, knew Charles had tried to bribe Spanish courtiers in 1623, promising concessions, so he was charged with treason, but he issued evidence to the Lords to persuade them that Buckingham was guity.
What was requested in 1625, and due to poor payment when was the Forced Loan requested?
What did Richard Cust argue?
Who did Thomas Scot liken Buckingham to in 1627?
In 1625 benevolence was requested, and in 1626, with ship money failing to finance Charles, the Forced Loan was written, equivalent to five subsidies, where those liable to pay would be summoned to public meetings where refusal to pay would be outright opposition. Richard Cust said it would be a ‘test of political loyalty.’
In 1627 Thomas Scot, MP for Kent, likened Buckingham to Agag and Charles to Saul, claiming that subjects may disobey the King’s order if he acted in a way of tyranny, falling out with parliaments and using loan and impositions to oppress the people.
Describe consequences of the 1626 Forced Loan…
Opponent judges, who doubted the loan’s legality, were dismissed, such as Chief Justice Carew.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, George Abbott, a Puritan, was suspended by Charles for refusing to licence Arminian cleric Robert Sibthorpe’s sermon which promited the Forced Loan, persuading people it was their duty to pay as propaganda.
76 were imprisoned for refusal to pay the loan and only 70% of the loan was collected, £267,000.
Richard Cust: created principled opposition.
What was the 1627 Five Knights’ Case?
In November 1627, five of the main loan resistors were imprisoned by Charles who claimed a writ of habeas corpus, where they had to be tried for an offence or released at the Five Knights’ Case. Charles’ prerogative to imprison those who refused to pay was upheld.
In 1628 Parliament offered 5 subsidies as long as their grievances were addressed. These included… which led to the Petition of Right.
In 1628, as Charles used his Secretary of State, Sir John Coke, to negotiate, Parliament offered 5 subsidies on terms that their grievances would be addressed:
- Illegality of extra-parliamentary taxation such as tonnage and poundage.
- Billetting, where troops in the south-west had to be taken up by locals, housed and fed, as free quarter, with no promised future payment.
- Martial law to control the troops reeked of absolutism to gentry.
Another grievance was the imprisonment without trial. At the Five Knights’ Case, Charles claimed he could imprison people for no good reason, in that particular case, for safety of the state, but his attorney-general, Heath, falsified the legal records of the judgement to make it a general right, meaning anybody could end up in the Tower. MPs like Sir John Eliot considered a Bill of Rights which would state rights of subjects Charles couldn’t overrule, but Parliament made a less radical version, the Petition of Right, with Sir Edward Coke.
Who was John Eliot?
John Eliot was a leading critic of Buckingham, and in Parliaments 1625-9 was involved in Petition of Right and Three Resolutions, considered to be one of the ‘fiery spirits,’ by Charles alongside an MP gone too far by fellow MPs. In 1629, he was put in the Tower of London and died by 1632.
What was English law based on? When was the Petition of Right approved and under what threats by Parliament?
What did it achieve?
What did Coke consider Buckingham’s rule to be?
When was the remonstrance by Parliament held?
England had unwritten constitution based on the Magna Carta, ‘ancient law,’ Common Law, and custom/tradition. However, this was open to interpretation. While this allowed compromise to be achieved with a working King and Parliament, MPs had concerns. The Petition of Right was approved by Charles on 7 June 1628 under threat of Parliament action against Buckingham and threat that he would not receive 5 subsidies if his response was not correct.
- Freedom from arrest for unfair cause.
- Parliament consent to taxation.
- Imposition of martial law/billetting outlawed.
Parliament turned to look at the state of the kingdom and Buckingham’s rule, and Coke denounced it the ‘cause of all our miseries.’
17 June 1628 Remonstrance established to criticise Buckingham and his foreign policy, with another a week later as Charles collected tonnage and poundage against the Petition of Right, with Charles then suspending their session the next day and claiming his right to collection.
How was Buckingham killed?
On 23 August, 1628, as Buckingham left the Greyhound Inn, Portsmouth, he went to bid farewell to courtiers. As one colonel bowed, Sir John Felton emerged and stabbed him in the left side of his chest. A search commenced for a ‘Frenchman,’ as it was suspected he was working under Louis XIII, emerging as the man who was guilty.
When was his funeral?
Why did Felton kill him and where was he executed?
Buckingham’s funeral was set on 18 September 1628, with a torchlit procession through London to Westminster Abbey. Felton was a lone assassin, a soldier who had wanted to be promoted to captain, alongside disliking being plunged into debt by pay delay. He had left a note in his hat summarising his reasons for killing Buckingham and was executed at Tyburn before his body was hung in chains outside Portsmouth.
