Personal Rule to Restiration

• Divine right of kings


  The belief that the authority of kings comes directly from God
• How did Parliament think England should be run?

  - The king should respect the rule of the law (magna carta)

  - The Monarch should respect rights of parliament (couldn't imprison without trial, needed approval to raise taxes)

  - Had to call parliament regularly
• Recusancy laws


  Fined people for not attending Protestant church services (suspended by Charles)
• 1625


  Charles goes to war with Spain
• 1626


  MPs threatened to put Buckingham on trial, so Charles dissolved Parliament
• 1628


  Charles is forced to reconvene Parliament (which he redissolves in 1629)
• Concerns about the liberties of freeborn Englishmen held by MPs

  - Protecting the Church

  - Local power & accountability

  - Fair taxation
• William Laud


  - Archbishop of Canterbury

  - Church reform

  - Worried by puritans
• Religious reforms


  - Only priests could lead sermons

  - Priests had to use the Common Book of Prayer

  - Bowing at the home of Christ

  - Elaborate church decoration
• What happened to Henry Burton, John Bastwick and William Prynne?

  Had their ears cut off for handing out puritan pamplets
• Sir Richard Weston


  - Lord treasurer

  - Very unpopular

  - Taxes were collected with ruthless efficiency
• Charles' taxes


  - Ship Money

  - Forced loans

  - Sale of monopolies

  - Forest fines

  - Distraint of knighthood
• Sir Thomas Wentworth


  - Appointed council of the North (1628)

  - Became Lord deputy of Ireland (1632)
• New book of orders

  - 1631

  - Allowed Wentworth to make local officials send regular updates to the king

  - Increased level of control
• What did Wentworth do in Ireland

  - Bypassed law and acted as ruler of Ireland, using his own army

  - Raised taxes for Charles
• Response to Laud's religious policies

  - Much of the population followed them out of obedience

  - Many, especially the gentry, approved

  - Many worried this was a return to Catholicism
• Why did personal rule end

  - Charles tried to impose Laud's reforms in Scotland and faced riots (1637)

  - The first bishops war (1639)

  - Parliament met but refused to fund Charles unless he listened to him (April 1640)

  - Charles was forced to call parliament (November 1640)
• The first Bishops war

  - 1639

  - Charles raised an army to fight the Scots

  - Believed the Covenanters would flee and the Scots would support him

  - Charles was forced to retreat and remove church reforms
• Events leading to Civil War

  - Charles opened long Parliament in 1640

  - Concessions

  - Division among the MPs (1641)

  - Rebellion in Ireland (1641)

  - Grand Remonstrance (1641)

  - The attempt on the five members (1642)
• John Pym in the Long Parliament

  - Used taxes as a bargaining tool

  - Secretly communicated with the Scots to keep pressuring Charles

  - King was forced to agree to concessions & the impeachment of his advisers
• Triennial Act


  - 1641

  - Parliament would sit at least every three years
• December 1640


  - Laud was impeached & imprisoned

  - Pym tried to impact Wentworth and declared him guilty with no evidence

  - Charles had to sign Wentworth's death warrant
• Own consent act


  - May 1641

  - Parliament couldn't be dissolved without its consent
• August 1641


  Ship money and knighthood fines made illegal
• Why did division arise among the MPs in 1641

  - Pym abolished Laudian reforms

  - Many moderates didn't like either side
• Rebellion in Ireland 1641

  - Massive Catholic uprising in Ireland

  - English control was overthrown

  - Protestant propaganda sheets told stories of a massacre carried out against Protestants in Ireland
• The Grand Remonstrance


  - 1641

  - Made by Puritans to put more restrictions on Charles

  - 200 MPs refused to vote
• The Attempt on the Five Members

  - 1642

  - Charles grew suspicious of Pym and other leading Puritans

  - Tried to arrest five MPs for this

  - The MPs escaped, going to Parliament

  - Some now saw Charles as a tyrant - he had to leave London
• Militia Ordinance


  - 1642

  - Stated Parliament had control of the militia
• Commissions of Array


  - June 1642

  - Stated that Charles controlled the militia
• Nineteen Propositions


  - 1642

  - Charles refused
• Terms of the Nineteen Propositions

  - Anti - Catholic laws to be strictly enforced

  - Reform of the Church along Puritan lines

  - Parliament should appoint all ministers

  - Parliament should discuss and approve government policy
• Public mood in 1646

  - People hoped the king would be prepared to discuss a settlement

  - Didn't want to remove the king

  - Charles was a prisoner, but thought he could agree a settlement

  - Many people were prepared to accept Charles back with little restriction
• Impacts of the Civil War


  - People thought society was going to collapse

  - The New Model Army

  - Religious Turmoil

  - Local Social Order

  - Levellers
• The New Model Army

  - Helped Parliament win; they were disciplined, equipped and organised

  - Taxes increased to pay for this

  - English people were scared of a standing army

  - Cromwell was becoming very influential

  - Developing their own ideas
• Religious Turmoil


  - Puritans were in Parliament and wanted reform

  - People feared their reforms would lead to a breakdown in society

  - Some were willing to accept Presbyterian reforms (removing bishops)
• Local Social Order


  - County committees were set up in the war to collect taxes, which were bypassed by the gentry

  - The gentry were keen to abolish these
• Levellers


  - Believed society should be more equal

  - Caused a lot of concern

  - Many soldiers in the New Model army were levellers
• Why was it so difficult to reach a settlement 1646-48

  - Charles listened to concerns but made no deals

  - Believed he had been put there by god, so he would be fine

  - Thought if he waited long enough, his opponents would be so divided that he would be reinstated
• Presbyterian concerns


  - Wanted a quick settlement (prepared for few restrictions on the king)

  - Worried about radical beliefs which threatened the Church

  - Opposed restoring the pre-war Church

  - Unwilling to deal with the concerns of the New Model Army