1629-40

• Historiography of the Personal Rule

  • Whig- Gardiner- Eleven Years Tyranny
  • Revisionist- Sharpe- some creative reform
• Privy Council during Personal Rule

  • Became more important within government
  • Key members- Laud, Weston and Windebank
• Court of Star Chamber

  • Enforced Charles' rule
  • Made up of Privy Councillors chosen by Charles
  • Held in private
  • Defendants could be imprisoned but not executed
• Court of High Commission

  • Used to enforce conformity within the church
  • Used by Laud
  • Sentenced by Star Chamber
• Book of Orders

  • 1631
  • Listed actions and roles to be taken by JPs and Sheriffs

  -Gentry resented central interference, cost and time involved

  +Charles tried to improve efficiency of local government
• Court

  • Formal and remote
  • Masques and 'Catholic' art
  • Catholic/Arminian e.g. Papal agents George Con & George Panzani
  • Court Vs country
  • 'Conspiracy mentality'
• Cut Expenditure

  • Peace with France- 1629 Treaty of Suza
  • Peace with Spain- 1630 Treaty of Madrid
  • Weston cut court costs
• Ship money

  • 1634 Levied in costal areas
  • 1635 Levied countryside
  • Charles claimed necessary as a national emergency
  • Created discontent but 1634-38 90 % collected
  • Opposition e.g. Hampden
• Tonnage and Poundage

  • Continues to collect without parliamentary approval
  • 1631-5 £ 270,000 pa collected
  • 1637 new Book of Rates issued- raised amount paid, late 1630s £ 425,000 pa
• Use of Extra Parliamentary, Old Taxes

  • Distraint on Knighthood, £ 175,000 raised by 1635
  • Monopolies e.g. soap- Popish Soap £ 33,000
  • Forest fines. £ 38,667

  -Created discontent
• Laudianism

  • Description of policies of Archbishop Laud
  • Anti-predestination
  • Emphasis on ritual and ceremony rather than preaching and the Bible

  -Created opposition from the largely Calvinist population
• Laudian Changes

  • Communion table moved and railed off
  • Ceremony
  • Use if music~
  • Vestments
  • Removal of gentry pews
  • Ban on Feoffes of Impropriations
  • 1640s Convocation published Canons stating measures including et cetera oath
• Book of Sports

  • Reissued in 1633
  • Listed activities which could be carried out on Sunday e.g. Morris dancing

  -Puritans saw this as an attack on Sabbatarianism
• Wentworth (Strafford)

  • Initially a critic of Charles' policies e.g. arrested for not paying Forced Loan in 1627
  • Idea of 'Thorough' in Ireland- increase royal authority and impose conformity
• Financial Policy in Ireland

  • Aim- allow crown to profit from Ireland
  • New Book of Rates- 1633-40 income doubled to £ 80,000 pa
  • Fine levied on City of London for lack of development on land owned in Ireland- £ 70,000
  • 1634 Irish Parliament granted 6 subsidies (£ 120,000) in return for grievances addressed (didn't happen)
  • Plantations extended
  • Crown's right to disputed land established
  • Fines on New English e.g. Richard Boyle, £ 15,000
• Political Policy in Ireland

  • Aim- Impose authority of Crown in Ireland
  • Wentworth manipulated Parliament- subsidies were agreed but grievances e.g. Graces, not addressed
  • Attacks on New English elite e.g. Lord Mountnorris accused of Treason
• Scotland- Act of Revocation

  • 1625
  • Land taken from Scottish nobility
  • Historical precedent but used by Charles on a much wider scale
  • United opposition from Scottish nobility
  • Led to 1627 Committee for Surrenders
• Government of Scotland

  • Charles- absentee King- didn't visit until 1633
  • Anglo-centric
  • 9 members of Scottish Privy Council- English
  • Main advisors- Menteith, Lennox and Hamilton seen as pro-English
• Religious Policy in Scotland

  • Aim- enforce Laudian conformity and strengthen the church including financially and role of Bishops
  • Scottish largely Presbyterian
  • 'Catholic' coronation 1633
  • Canons 1633- alter moved, surplice to be worn and no improvised prayer
  • Canons imposed by Royal Prerogative
  • 1637 Laudian Prayer book- seen as Catholic
• The Hampden Case

  • 1637
  • Charles took Hampden to court for non-payment of Ship Money
  • 12 Judges found 7 to 5 in Charles' favour
  • Made it difficult to collect Ship Money for a while
• Prynne, Bastwick and Burton

  • 1637 brought before Star Chamber
  • Criticised Laud's policies
  • Fined £ 5,000 imprisoned for life, publicly ears cropped
  • Outcry due to their professional status
  • Their punishment got more publicity than their pamphlet
• Parishioners at St Gregory's Church

  • 1633
  • Opposed moving of the Communion Table
  • Brought before the Privy Council
• John Lilburne

  • 1638
  • Printed unlicensed literature criticising Laud's policies
  • Brought before Star Chamber
  • Fined, whipped, pillories and imprisoned
  • Continues to write
• Opposition to Religious Changes

  • 1634, Charles' Chief Justice dismissed because Laud feared he might oppose changes in court
  • 1637, Bishop John Williams imprisoned criticised alter policy in 'The Holy Table, Name and Thing'
• Great Migration

  • Emigration to New England
  • 1629-40, 60,000 people
  • Not all for religious reasons
  • Many ordained ministers went
  • Companies set up to organise migration e.g. Providence Island Company
  • Opposition often involved in these companies e.g. Pym, Saye and Sele
  • Seen as networks for opposition
• Private Diaries

  • 1970s Historians researched private diaries e.g. Alan Everitt looked at diaries in Kent
  • Evidence of private opposition to Charles' policies
• Opposition in Scotland

  • 1630 Alexander Leighton fined £ 10,000 by Star Chamber for criticising Bishops
  • 1634 petition against religious changes~
  • 1637 riot against Prayer Book in St Giles Cathedral
  • 1638 National Covenant
  • Bishops' War
• Religious Policy in Ireland

  • Imposition of Laudianism
  • Caused problems in the complexity of Irish religion
  • John Bramhall appointed Bishop of Londonderry in 1634
  • 1634 Irish Convocation adopted 39 articles