The emergence of conflict and the end of consensus 1625-1629 Flashcards
What were Charles’s aims?
Maintain law and order within his kingdoms
Defend his kingdoms from external threats
Provide effective religious leadership
Ensure financial and economic wellbeing
Describe Buckingham
His physical attributes, charm and fluid sexuality meant that he had been able to dominate King James without having to work steadily up a more recognisable career ladder.
What was the Divine Right of Kings?
The idea that the monarch was chosen by God and therefore to challenge the authority of the King was to challenge God himself
What were Charles’s financial policies?
Tonnage and Poundage
The Forced Loan
Describe Tonnage and Poundage
1625
Was a tax on imports and exports which was used to support the navy because of their role in patrolling the English Seas and ensuring that trading ships could cross the waters unimpeded.
It was calculated per ton of wine and pound of other produce
It was awarded by parliament
Normally confirmed just once, allowing the monarch to collect it for the duration of the reign
Charles was granted only one years right to collect tonnage and poundage and this money was insufficient to give Charles freedom to conduct a foreign policy of his choice. Charles regarded the limited grant of tonnage and poundage as a direct attack on his own Divine Right and Prerogative, he decided to ignore Parliament and ordered his tax collection to continue collecting it beyond the first year.
Describe the Forced Loan
1626
Without adequate parliamentary funds Charles resorted to asking the country at large for a benevolence, a voluntary gift of money which the king could request through his prerogative in times of emergency.
In 1626 however, very few volunteered money for Charles . He therefore decided upon another form of prerogative income that was easier to demand, a forced loan, to help him finance war against Spain and France.
All liable were summoned to public meetings where they were individually pressed to pay. This public manner of collections made any refusal to pay a very open act of opposition, creating what was effectively a test of loyalty to the new king.
What opposition did the forced loan face?
In 1627, Thomas Scot, MP for Kent, attacked Buckingham in print, writing that subjects may disobey and refuse an unworthy king’s command if what he wants goes beyond the normal duty owed by a subject to a king.
Some judges refused to endorse the legality of the forced loan and one of Charles’s judges, Chief Justice Carew, was dismissed as a result.
George Abbot, the Archbishop of Canterbury, was suspended by Charles for refusing to license a sermon which defended the forced loan
The Five Knights Case 1627
What was the Five Knights Case of 1627?
The imprisonment of 76 gentry and the Earl of Lincoln who had refused to pay.
The 5 of the 76 decided to force a confrontation with the king by issuing a writ of Habeas Corpus. Under this ancient right they had to be tried for an offence or be released. Charles therefore, had no choice but to take them to trial, creating a test case which shone a spotlight on the constitutional controversy around the king’s authority to raise the loan and to jail its opponents.
What was the York House Conference ?
1626
Buckingham chaired a theological debate at his London Home , York House .
The conference initially focused on the writings of Richard Montague, an Arminian clergyman. He wrote a very divisive book called, An Old Gag for a New Goose, in which he pointed out the similarities between Catholicism and the Church of England.
The York House conference examined his ideas in detail to try to establish whether his doctrine was sufficiently in line with mainstream Anglicanism to allow him to continue in office.
What was the Cadiz Expedition?
1625
Buckingham and Charles decided to send an invasion fleet to the Spanish port of Cadiz.
It was financed by the queen’s £120,000 dowry and was intended to open a war on a second front to distract the Spanish away from the Palatine.
It was an embarrassing fiasco. Not only did the English fail to capture the port or any of the Spanish treasure ships stationed there but most soldiers made themselves useless by getting hideously drunk on Spanish wine.
Parliament was understandably furious when news of the botched and expensive raid reached England
What were the Rochelle Raids?
1627-1628
Buckingham launched another naval expedition in the hope of relieving the Huguenots under attack at La Rochelle.
However, after months of deadlock, a direct assault failed because the English scaling ladders were too short.
The fleet sailed home in the aftermath of another expensive debacle.
Describe the events of Buckingham’s attempted impeachment
Parliament sought to place the blame for foreign policy failure on Buckingham
Charles blamed parliament for not giving him enough money to conduct war effectively
Parliament launched impeachment proceedings against Buckingham
Sir John Elliot and and Sir Dudley Digges directed the attacks and once the impeachment hearings were heard, were imprisoned in the Tower of London
To try to stop Buckingham’s impeachment, Charles rather undiplomatically implied a threat to Parliament’s future existence in a statement which smacked of Absolutism.
In 1626 Charles dissolved parliament in order to protect Buckingham and Montagu
What were the results of the foreign policy failures?
50,000 men had served in Buckingham’s forces and nearly a third of the died.
of 7833 soldiers who were sent to La Rochelle only 2989 returned.
There was disappointment that Buckingham returned alive
Charles had spent all his funds and parliament had to be recalled again in 1628
Why was parliament recalled in 1628?
All Charles’s funds had been spent
Describe the Petition of Right
1628
Asked the king to confirm four ancient liberties that parliament claimed were basic rules of English government and that could be traced back to Magna Carta.
- Subjects could be taxed only by parliamentary consent
- Subjects could be imprisoned only if just cause was demonstrated in court
- The imposition of billeting on the population was illegal
- The imposition of martial law on the civilian population was illegal
What was the consequence of the petition of right?
Charles initially accepted the petition without using the specific terminology that would have made it legally binding. It thus served to heighten parliamentary fears that this particular king could not be trusted.
Describe the assassination of Buckingham
1628
Buckingham was preparing to leave his quarters at the Greyhound Inn in Portsmouth when he was fatally stabbed in the chest. He was killed by a member who had fought in the La Rochelle Raids who had been plunged into debt by delays in pay.
Spontaneous eruptions of celebrations as the news of his assassination spread.
Why was parliament recalled in 1629?
Two fundamental issues had not been addressed in the Petition of Right.
Tonnage and Poundage- The Petition of Right did not mention tonnage and poundage. Charles thus claimed he had not surrendered his right to collect these monies and endorsed the work of customs officers.
Religion-
Charles promoted Laud and Montagu who were both Arminian and it appeared to many that the king was attracted by Catholicism and that this attraction might grow.
Why was parliament dissolved in 1629?
He recognised that he was not going to be awarded tonnage and poundage.
How was it announced to parliament that they were dissolved?
The Kings messenger, the Black Rod, arrived at Westminster to formally advise the House of Commons that the King had decided to dissolve Parliament. Incredibly, the door was slammed shut in his face.
Describe the situation in the House of Commons, while the Black Rod knocked his staff on the door.
The speaker of the house, realising that the king wanted to dissolve the session, stood up an announced that all debates were ended.
Several MPs grabbed at him and forced him back into his chair to keep the session open.
Members of the privy council tried to drag the speaker back out of his chair so that business had to stop but Eliot called out his three resolutions and passed what became known as the Commons Protestation of 1629.
Why did Charles accept the Petition of Right?
Parliament threatened further proceedings against Buckingham and he was once again desperate for money.
