paper 1 history

• Charles's early years


  1625-29
• Personal Rule


  1629-40
• Return of parliament


  1640-42
• 1st Civil war


  1642-46
• 2nd Civil war


  1648-49
• Commonwealth


  1649-1653
• Protectorate


  1653-1660
• Charles II


  1660-85
• James II


  1685-1688
• Glorious Revolution


  1688-1701
• Be aware: you could be asked exam questions on Charles I that span different dates. The dates determine what you discuss in the essay, therefore you need to have notes on each section.
• Examples of date boundaries that have come up in the past

  • 1625-49 (Charles's early years - Civil wars/regicide)
  • 1625-40 (Charles's early years - end of Personal Rule)
  • 1629-40 (Personal Rule only)
  • 1629-42 (Personal Rule – end of long parliament)
  • 1629-49 (Personal Rule - Civil wars/regicide)
  • 1640-49 (Return of Parliament - Civil wars/regicide)

  
• King Charles ascends to the throne

  March 1625
• Proxy marriage of Charles and Henrietta Maria


  May 1625
• Charles's First Parliament


  1. To raise money for an attack on Spain

  2. Parliament ordered Tonnage and Poundage for one year

  3. Parliamentary discussions – disapproval of Charles' marriage/marriage terms
• Cadiz - Failed expedition, cost £250,000, intensified criticisms of Buckingham, war with Spain affected English wool exports


  November 1625
• Charles's Second Parliament


  1. To raise funds for military expeditions (such as La Rochelle)

  2. Charles made leading opponents for the 1625 Parliament into sheriffs

  3. Parliament dissolved before any money is given to prevent impeachment of Buckingham
• Forced Loan begins - Raised £250,000 against parliament's will, 76 prominent gentlemen imprisoned


  September 1626
• 1626-27 Billeting of troops on the South coast of England
• Siege on La Rochelle


  September 1627
• Five Knights case


  1. Five gentlemen applied for a writ of Habeas Corpus which called into question the legality of their imprisonment

  2. Judges found in favour of the King but the case became a focal point for opposition to his arbitrary use of power
• Charles's Third Parliament

  1. Charles hesitant to recall parliament after La Rochelle, but Buckingham convinces him to do so. Needed funds

  2. Parliament refused to give money unless King signed the Petition of Right
• 1628 The Petition of Right - Parliament believed this was a declaration of their established rights, denounced the Forced Loan, imprisoning people arbitrarily and martial law. King signed but believed he could enforce his powers anyway

  
• Buckingham assassinated


  August 1628
• The Three Resolutions


  Proposed by Sir John Eliot, condemned the collection of tonnage and poundage and innovators in religion - the practice of Arminianism, criticised the promotion of Montague and Laud, session ended in scenes of violence
• Personal Rule begins


  March 1629
• Progression of rooms at the royal court

  • Court masques became progressively more exclusive and access to the king was severely restricted
• Histriomastix – 1632, Prynne wrote a violent denunciation of court masques. He was brought before the Star Chamber in 1634 and given a number of punishments, including having his ears cut off
• Judiciary


  • The king appointed all the judges and therefore could expect favourable verdicts, with parliament not sitting, Charles used the judiciary to bend existing laws to his needs, the king could remove cases from common-law courts and have them heard in secret before the Star Chamber, the king handpicked the members of the prerogative courts - Laud sat in both courts
• Government


  • The bishops and advisers in the Privy Council were loyal as Charles appointed them, the king wielded much power but local authorities frustrated the king, the local JPs, constables, sheriffs and juries were unpaid officials. Their inefficiency angered the king
• The policy of Thorough


  • Imposing uniformity, Destroying puritanism, Reinforcing the Divine Right of Kings, Ship money levied inland in 1635, Forest laws, Monopolies, Distraint of Knighthood, Resurrection of antiquated feudal rights, Strafford in Ireland, Actions in Scotland, Book of Common Prayer published in 1637 to extend Anglican conformity to Scotland, National Covenant signed by leading Scottish nobles and clergy to protect Presbyterian church in 1638, First Bishops War 1639, Mismanaged a dangerously complicated situation in Ireland, Aimed to restore the authority of Crown and Church, Wanted to create an Irish Catholic army for the Crown, Continued collection of tonnage and poundage, Second Bishops War 1640
• The essence of Thorough was accountability, a government that looked closely at the actions of officials and held them responsible for their oversights and mistakes. They thought that Charles problems sprang from the fact that he was not well served. If the existing structures of church and government could be made to do their jobs properly, the result would be a King in harmony with his subjects
• In 1629, peace was the immediate answer to the drain on the royal finances. Charles dealt with the financial burden of a costly foreign policy by swiftly making peace with France (Treaty of Susa, 1629) and Spain (Treaty of Madrid, 1630). These foreign policy adventures had been a massive drain on his resources, so their conclusion was a huge boost to royal finances. This also subsequently boosted trade. (Charles's personal rule was viable only as long as he avoided war)
• Goal in Ireland was to make Ireland contribute to the exchequer: Wentworth's (Strafford from 1640) harsh regime in Ireland turned the province from a financial liability costing the crown in excess of £20,000 a year in the early 1630s, to a financial asset by the late 1630s
• Ship money was initially a key source of income The tax, which used for the upkeep of the English navy, was traditionally levied on coastal counties. In 1635, it was extended inland during peacetime as a national tax. Initially about £200,000 was levied each year, which was equivalent to three parliamentary subsidies. This was collected without difficulty until problems began in 1637 in Scotland. Between 1634 and 1638, 90% of ship money was paid
• Crown's debt of £2million (1629) was reduced to £18,000 in 1635, and a balanced budget by 1637. Charles managed to increase his income from £600,000 to £900,000 per year
• Charles I summoned both the Short and Long Parliaments in 1640 because only Parliament could raise the money he needed to wage the second Bishops' War against the Scots, who were resisting his attempts to impose episcopacy on them
• In the first session of the Long Parliament (Nov. 1640-Sep. 1641), MPs were relatively united; there was broad acceptance among MPs that the king needed to be limited after the 11 years Personal Rule; he was surrounded by evil influences and action was needed to remove these and restore the historic constitutional balance between king and parliament. Parliament began by dealing with the King's advisors (i.e. Strafford and Laud) and by attempting to undo the Personal Rule

  
• In the second session, however, divisions emerged in the Commons. Some MPs had become increasingly concerned that Pym's proposals for constitutional change were becoming too radical
• Root and Branch Petition

  Petition presented to the Long Parliament in December 1640, called on Parliament to abolish episcopacy - The hierarchical Church government (i.e. governance of the Anglican Church by bishops) - from the 'roots' and in all its 'branches', anger was not directed towards the King, the petitioners implied that it is evil advisors around the king who are to blame