(5) Charles I's Personal Rule

Question 1

How long was Charles’ Personal rule for?

Answer 1

11 years

Question 2

How many people were in the Privy Council?

Answer 2

Around 35

Question 3

What was the Privy Council?

Answer 3

A group which supported the monarch and enacted the royal will in their home regions

Question 4

How could the Privy Council have benefited Charles in his personal rule?

Answer 4

Providing him with advice and keeping him in touch with the political nation

Question 5

What were the two factors that mitigated the usefulness of the Privy Council?

Answer 5

1. Charles rarely attended the twice-weekly Council meetings
2. Charles allowed a ‘Spanish faction’ to emerge, who were Roman Catholics

Question 6

With the absence of Parliament, what could Charles not do?

Answer 6

Enact Laws

Question 7

What were prerogative courts?

Answer 7

They helped govern the country more effectively

Question 8

What was the Star Chamber?

Answer 8

• made up of Privy Councillors
• privately questioned
• could not give the death penalty, but heavy fines

Question 9

What was the Court of High Commission?

Answer 9

Cheif court of the church, to impose canon laws

Question 10

What were Regional Councils?

Answer 10

Functioned as prerogative courts to impose royal control away from Westminster

Question 11

What were the two Regional Councils?

Answer 11

• Council of the North
• Council of the Welsh Marches

Question 12

What were the primary punishments of the Regional Councils?

Answer 12

Imprisonment and fines

Question 13

What was the aim of local government?

Answer 13

Ensured the king’s peace was maintained and communities had stability and order

Question 14

What was ‘Thorough’?

Answer 14

Wentworth and Laud’s strict authority imposed tightened controls upon royal officials (sheriffs, JPs etc)

Question 15

What was the Book of Orders?

Answer 15

A long-established means of communication between the Crown and local government

Question 16

When was the Book of Orders revised?

Answer 16

1631

Question 17

Why was the Book of Orders revised?

Answer 17

Due to harvest failures in 1629 and 1630

Question 18

Who reformed the Book of Orders?

Answer 18

Henry Montagu and his brother

Question 19

What did the Book of Orders consist of?

Answer 19

• 8 orders and 12 directions
• directions were instructions on preventing vagrancy, allocating poor children to apprenticeships, employing the idle and repairing the roads
• JPs to report to sheriffs
• sheriffs report to Circuit judges
• Circuit judges report to the privy council

Question 20

What was the penalty for non-compliance to the Book of Orders?

Answer 20

Punishment by Star Chamber

Question 21

What was Charles’ debt in 1629?

Answer 21

£2 million

Question 22

How did Charles reduce expenditure?

Answer 22

• reduce spending on foreign affairs by concluding peace
• reform Charles’ household

Question 23

What was the treaty with France?

Answer 23

1629 Treaty of Susa

Question 24

What was the treaty with Spain?

Answer 24

1630 Treaty of Madrid

Question 25

How much did Charles' royal household cost in 1628?

Answer 25

40% of his ordinary income

Question 26

What were the ways that Charles was able to receive money?

Answer 26

- customs duty - recusancy fines - distraint of nighthood - monopolies - wardships - forest fines - building fines - enclosure fines

Question 27

What was customs duty?

Answer 27

Including tonnage and poundage, this was a tax on imports and exports

Question 28

What were recusancy fines?

Answer 28

Fines on those who did not attend compulsory CofE Sunday services

Question 29

What was the distraint of knighthood?

Answer 29

Anyone who held land worth £40 pa had to be knighted at the coronation of a new monarch or fined

Question 30

What were monopolies?

Answer 30

Buying a monopoly gave a corporation the sole right to produce, import or sell a product - 'Popish soap' earned Charles £33,000

Question 31

What were wardships?

Answer 31

The Crown could administer the estate of an heir who inherited under the age of 21

Question 32

What were forest fines?

Answer 32

Fines for any land extended property into royalist forests

Question 33

What were building fines?

Answer 33

Fines for buildings beyond the chartered boundaries of a town

Question 34

What were the enclosed fines?

Answer 34

Fines on landowners for illegally enclosing common land

Question 35

When had Charles previously tried to levy Ship Money?

Answer 35

In 1628

Question 36

When did Charles levy Ship Money on coastal towns and cities?

Answer 36

1634

Question 37

When did Charles extend the levying of Ship Money to all of England?

Answer 37

1635

Question 38

How much did Charles raise pa from Ship Money?

Answer 38

£300,000

Question 39

When was the Hampden Case?

Answer 39

November 1637

Question 40

What was the Hampden Case?

Answer 40

John Hampden was taken to court for failing to pay Ship Money dues - the case became a test of the king's prerogative

Question 41

How many judges out of 12 agreed that Ship Money was unlawful?

Answer 41

5

Question 42

Who defended John Hampden?

Answer 42

Oliver St John

Question 43

What was the impact of the Hampden case?

Answer 43

It reduced the speed of collecting Ship Money and reduced compliancy

Question 44

What percentage was compliancy to ship money at in 1635?

Answer 44

98%

Question 45

What percentage was compliancy to ship money at by 1639?

Answer 45

25%