1- The reign of James I, 1603-25

Question 1

What was the relation between King and Parliament?

Answer 1

Supply and redress

Question 2

Why is Magna Carta relevant?

Answer 2

Only Parliament and not King will be able to increase taxes, as the Magna Carta states that people can’t be taxed without their consent- non-elected people cannot impose taxes

Question 3

RP: Why did Catholics and Puritans think James I’s accession would be to their advantage? Did it work?

Answer 3

CATHOLICS: Hoped that respect for his dead mother, Mary Queen of Scots, would encourage the King to ease persecution.

PURITANS: Hoped his upbringing in the Presbyterian church of Scotland would lead him to favour their plans for reform.

Question 4

RP: Did James I’s accession work to the Catholics/Puritans advantage?

Answer 4

They were both disappointed:

For CATHOLICS: He did suspend fines for recusancy, but when faced with complaints from Par and perhaps regretting the loss of income, he reimposed them in 1604.
- This encouraged an extremist minority to search for help from Spain, and led to the 1605 Gunpowder Plot in which Catholic conspirators attempted to blow up Par while the King was present.

For PURITANS: Their hopes expressed in the Millenary Petition presented to the King in 1603 were short-lived. James agreed to meet them at a conference in Hampton Court in 1604, but at the meeting he rejected their ideas and warned them that if they didn’t conform to the Prayer Book rules he would ‘harry them out of the Kingdom’ .

Question 5

RP: What was the phrase used by James I at Hampton Court 1604 regarding Puritan petitions for religious reform?

Answer 5

He would ‘harry them out of the Kingdom’ if they didn’t conform to the Prayer Book rules.

Question 6

RP: How did James I see the Church and how did he maintain his control of it?

Answer 6

Like Elizabeth, he saw it as an institution that upheld royal power, and maintained control of it by:

  - Appointing bishops that were dependent on him- appointment of Richard Bancroft as Archbishop of Canterbury.
      - He enforced the rules from the Anglican prayer book and some ministers that didn't conform lost their livings and some left the country. 
      - Most, however, conformed to the Anglican Church.

Question 7

RP: What was James I’s policy a few years into his reign?

Answer 7

He had softened his stance considerably:

1. Although recusancy fines continued to be levied, the policy was intermittently applied, and Catholics could often worship undisturbed for long periods.
2. Puritan ministers who conformed to the Prayer Book could often ignore some rules and ceremonies.
3. In 1611, when Bancroft died, he was replaced by the more sympathetic George Abbot, who took a more moderate approach to religious policy.
4. James shared the Puritan enthusiasm for good preaching. For example, weekday lectures were allowed, often to be held in market towns.

Question 8

RP: What were James I’s religious policies in Scotland?

Answer 8

He took cautious steps to bring Presbyterian practice into line with English arrangements.

 - By 1621 he had persuaded the Scots to accept bishops, although with limited powers.
 - An attempt to establish a Prayer Book similar to that used in England aroused great opposition, and James withdrew it.
 - By such cautious and tactful measures he hoped gradually to bring the two Churches together and to create uniformity across the two kingdoms.

Question 9

RP: What did James I achieve with his religious policy?

Answer 9

Having already asserted his authority, he was wise enough to see that political harmony could best be achieved by avoiding unnecessary provocation.

The arrangements provided a measure of peace in the Anglican Church, and allowed Puritan reformers to coexist with others.

By was careful when bringing Anglican religious measures into Scotland, backing off when opposition rose.

Question 10

RP: Was James I’s religious policy successful?

Answer 10

1. Few complaints by Par
2. Policy of broad toleration, kept peace between religious factions.
3. Brought religiously motivated war with Spain to an end.

Question 11

KP: Why did James I clash with Par in the 1st years of his reign?

Answer 11

1. In 1604 there was a disputed election in Buckinghamshire and a clumsy attempt by the Privy Council to reverse the result in favour of the court candidate, Sir John Fortescue, produced an angry protest from the HoC- Commons Apology (in which they asserted their rights)
2. The HoC was already sensitive on the matter of its rights and privileges, after its difficulties with Elizabeth. MPs may also have been concerned about the King’s extravagant claims to divine power and status.
   
   • James had claimed that he was above the law bc he made it.
3. Faced with the Commons Apology, James had suggested that their privileges might be removed in the same way they were granted (by the monarch).

Question 12

KP: How did James I deal with the Buckinghamshire issue?

Answer 12

He suspended the Par session and allowed the issue to be dropped.

Question 13

KP: What led to reconciliation between K&P in 1605-6?

Answer 13

Gunpowder Plot created a sense of Protestant unity, and led to a parliamentary grant that settled the King’s debts.

Question 14

KP: What problems had emerged between K & P in relation to Scotland?

Answer 14

James I desired an Anglo-Scottish constitutional union.

However, many Englishmen were deeply anti-Scottish - a sentiment aggravated by James I’s numerous gifts and titles to his Scottish friends.

MPs refused to believe that English institutions could be improved by importing any Scottish ideas.

Question 15

KP: What caused the most serious damage to the relationship between James I and Par?

Answer 15

James’s generosity to his Scottish companions was deeply resented, but it was the problems regarding the King’s finances that caused the most serious damage to the relationship between King and Parliament.

Question 16

KP: What were the key frictions between K & P during James I’s reign?

Answer 16

1. Buckinghamshire election 1604
2. Introduction of the Book of Rates and new impositions in 1608
3. Failure of the Addled Parliament in 1614
4. The Commons Protestation of December 1621

Question 17

FP: Why did James I face financial problems?

Answer 17

By 1607 James had been forced to abandon any ideas of a constitutional union
between England and Scotland, partly bc it was clear that a far more serious cause of conflict would arise from the financial problems facing the Crown, and the failure of James to recognise this and act consistently in dealing with it.

Question 18

FP: From which 2 factors did the Crown’s financial problems arise?

Answer 18

1. years of rising prices had left royal income inadequate for the expenses of government.
2. James’s handling of money and some aspects of his lifestyle amounted to financial irresponsibility,
   • The King was expected to finance gov and maintain his household out of
     ordinary revenue and the customs duties granted to him.

Question 19

FP: Why was James I unable to ‘live of his own’?

Answer 19

1. Before his reign combination of price inflation and Elizabeth’s sales of Crown
   land to finance the war with Spain had made ordinary revenue inadequate, and James inherited a debt of approximately £100,000.
2. As a family man, he had to maintain a wife and children, including a separate
   establishment for the heir to the throne, the Prince of Wales.
3. Elizabeth had failed to update tax assessments in line with inflation. Combined with an inefficient system of collection, this meant that even when Parliament did grant extra taxes, the King received much less than was intended.
4. James misunderstood the value of money, and instead of using money he had, he spent money he did not.
   • Consistently overgenerous to his friends- In 1611 he gave away £90,000, over 2/3 of which went to Scottish friends.

Question 20

FP: What were the Crown’s income sources?

Answer 20

1. ORDINARY REVENUE- Including Crown lands leased out for rent, the arrangement of marriages and monopolies.
2. CUSTOMS DUTIES- Including:
   
   • Tonnage and Poundage, customs on wool and wine granted for life by Par.
   • New impositions
3. OCCASIONAL SOURCES- Including forced loans.
4. DIRECT TAXES (granted by Par)- Including Ship Money

Question 21

FP: Which strategies for financial reform during James I’s reign were successful?

Answer 21

1. Issuing of the Book of Rates in 1608, following the case of Bates where the King’s right to impose new custom duties was challenged.
   
   • These new impositions however were deeply resented and complaints were raised in Par in 1610 and 1614.
   • This issue wasn’t just financial but also involved the balance of royal powers with those of Parliament and the taxpayer.
2. Treaty of London 1604, where James ended war with Spain, reducing gov expenditure significantly.
3. Cranfield’s reorganisation of crown finances led to a reduction of the King’s household expenses by over 50% in 1620.

Question 22

FP: Which strategies for financial reform during James I’s reign were NOT successful?

Answer 22

1. Between 1606 and 1614 the issue of impositions raised concerns in Par about its right to control taxation. This worry remained strong for many years and it certainly contributed to Parliament’s refusal to grant Tonnage and Poundage to Charles for life in 1625.
2. Failure of the Great Contract, where the King would give up some feudal dues in return for a regular parliamentary income of £200,000/year.
   
   • King was aware he would lose a useful means of controlling his most powerful subjects.
   • HoC was aware that by providing him with a stable income that could give the King financial independence, they would lose their most valuable weapon in obtaining redress for any grievances.
3. Failure of the Addled Parliament 1614, where James dissolved it after the HoC failed to vote taxes:
   
   • Rumours had been spread about Court interference in elections, raising concerns about rights and privileges of Par.
   • Followed by complaints about extravagance at Court and increased use of impositions.
   • This ended in conflict between factions and the 2 Houses.
4. Many influential men found that some of their revenue was being stopped by Cranfield’s reforms, so he made many enemies.

Question 23

FP: Who was James I’s chief financial advisor?

Answer 23

Robert Cecil

Question 24

FP: Which was the fundamental financial weakness within the gov?

Answer 24

System of patronage- King expected to reward those who served him by giving out pensions or permitting the collection of fines. - this system inevitably led to corruption within gov.

Question 25

FP: Who was Cranfield?

Answer 25

Master of the Court of Wards in 1618 who began to reorganise royal finances- failure.

Question 26

FP: What was James’s financial position throughout his reign?

Answer 26

1. Difficult financial problems- difficulty reforming the system from within (patronage: King had to rely on patronage to reward his servants, which invited corruption.)
2. Difficulties faced by James were more deep-rooted that personal extravagance (Elizabeth+ fundamental weaknesses)
3. Financial problems:
   - deteriorated the relationship between James and the
   political nation; and
   - raised constitutional issues concerning the rights of Par
   and King.

Question 27

FP: What happened as a result of James I’s reign’s financial weakness?

Answer 27

King had to ask Par for grants of taxation to supplement his income, and members were often ready to grant such aid.

However, problems arose for 2 reasons:

1. MPs were aggravated if they felt that the Crown’s financial difficulties arose from the King’s extravagance or the greed of those in gov administration.
2. The King also applied other financial strategies, such as impositions and monopolies, which caused further friction.
   • Friction between K&P over finance led to disputes over rights and privileges.

Question 28

KF: Which events strained the relationship between King and the political nation?

Answer 28

1. James I’s preference for the company of young men (his favourites), and the power and wealth he gave them, placing them above the political nation in influence and status.
2. The Overbury Scandal, involving the King’s 1st fav Robert Carr, whose marriage to the Countess of Essex led to a huge scandal in 1616, when Carr and his wife were accused of the murder of his secretary, Sir Thomas Overbury, and imprisoned in the Tower.

Question 29

KF: Who replaced Robert Carr as the King’s fav?

Answer 29

George Villiers (later Duke of Buckingham in 1623)

His rapid rise and his influence created resentment from the established nobility.

He was able to manipulate royal patronage in the interests of himself and his relatives, but his influence was still limited and James still had control of key policies.

His political influence only proved disastrous when he became chief advisor of Charles I.

 - He embarked on wars against Spain and France that had no clear purpose and were inefficiently managed. 
 - In 1628 he was described by MPs as 'the cause of all our miseries'. 
 - Buckingham's responsibility for England's troubles was shared with Charles I, who supported his decisions and protected him at the cost of his own relationship with Par.

Question 30

What is an IMPEACHMENT?

Answer 30

Means of bringing royal advisers and members of the nobility to justice by petition of the HoC.

Question 31

FoP: What was James I’s aim in foreign policy when the 30-years-war bagan?

Answer 31

To act as a peacemaker. - keep in contact with both Catholic and Protestant powers
- He married his daughter Elizabeth to a German Protestant prince, the Elector
Palatine.
- Sought a Spanish Catholic wife for his son Charles.

Question 32

FoP: Why did the 30-years-war begin?

Answer 32

• A German prince, the Elector Palatine, was invited to take the throne of Protestant Bohemia, in place of Archduke Ferdinand, the Habsburg candidate who had been earlier.
• The elector was protestant and the son-in-law of James, who advised him not to accept. When the Elector ignored this advice, he was attacked and driven out of Bohemia by Ferdinand, who had become Holy Roman Emperor in 1619.
• Ferdinand then sought to punish him by seizing his hereditary lands. This aroused the other German princes, especially the Protestants, who feared the same treatment.

Question 33

FoP: How did the English view the 30-years-war?

Answer 33

the war was portrayed as a struggle against Catholic tyranny.

Question 34

FoP: Why did James I need to take part in the 30yw?

Answer 34

1. He was a Protestant King

2. Father-in-law of the victim

Question 35

FoP: What did James I do to intervene in the 30-yw?

Answer 35

In 1621 he summoned a Par and asked for money to finance intervention in Europe. He stressed the need to prepare for war to secure peace.

Par voted two subsidies.

Question 36

FoP: What happened in Nov 1621?

Answer 36

Par reassembled, and considered again the need for war finance; many MPs
did have strong Protestant views and in December they petitioned the King to
enter the war against the Habsburgs.

At this point, several MPs raised the issue of what kind of war should be fought (land or naval).
- James thought this debate overstepped the boundaries of parliamentary
privilege. Angrily, he reminded members of the limits of their privilege of free
speech, and that it came by the will of the sovereign.
- Provoked, the HoC set out the Commons Protestation stating that the rights
of Par are the ancient and undoubted right of the subjects of England.
- James tore this out of the Commons Journal.

Question 37

FoP: How did James I deal with the Commons Protestation?

Answer 37

He dissolved Par and continued his diplomatic pursuit of Spanish marriage for his son.

Question 38

FoP: What increased the likelihood of a crisis after the failure of the 1621 Parliament?

Answer 38

The fact that control of affairs was slipping from James to Buckingham and Prince Charles, as the King grew older.
- This can be seen In 1623, however, where the actions of Charles
and Buckingham wrecked the diplomatic strategy started by James: they undertook a secret visit to Spain to try to secure the proposed marriage. The Spanish rejected the match.
- By 1624 they had returned to England, determined on revenge. Under pressure from Charles and Buckingham, James summoned Parliament to
ask for money to finance a war with Spain. The disastrous failure of the expedition infuriated Par when it reassembled in 1625.