Ch 8 Political Divisions: the Personal Rule + the Short Parliament

Question 1

-What saw Charles embark on his personal rule 1629-40?

Answer 1

• collapse in relationship between Charles + Political Nation by 1629
• Charles’ belief in his own divine right to rule

Question 2

-How did the Privy Council benefit in Charles’ Personal Rule 1629-40?

Answer 2

• there wasn’t a Parliament to govern, so Privy Council gained even greater importance
• though Charles’ Personal Rule led to opposition + discontent in England, Scotland + Ireland

Question 3

What were the 2 key prerogative courts + what did they do?

Answer 3

• Court of Star Chamber = made up of privy councillors selected by monarch; Charles could hold cases in secret before them
• Court of High Commission = chief court of the Church used by Laud to enforce conformity; if defendant was found guilty in this court, he/she was then sentenced by Star Chamber, of which Laud was also a member

Question 4

-Why was finance a problem for Charles? And what did debt equal by 1629?

Answer 4

• Charles failed to secure subsidies from Parliament
• by 1629, Charles had debt of £2million; so first chief financial ministers @ start of personal rule faced continual problem of raising revenue + cutting expenditure

Question 5

• How were savings achieved?

- What was the problem with these?

Answer 5

• securing peace w/ France (1629) + Spain (1630) through the Treaties of Susa + Madrid
• Weston’s reforms of court finance in order to lower the cost of running Charles’ court
• both measures had negative political consequences; Charles withdrawal from the Thirty Years War sat uncomfortably w/ many, particularly Puritans who regarded destruction of Catholicism as a crusade
• the reduction in court costs also alienated some of the Political Nation who were used to the decadence of James I’s court

Question 6

-Source of Crown Income:
CUSTOMS DUTIES (INCLUDING TONNAGE + POUNDAGE)
= Charles’ management of these sources during Personal Rule

(methods of Charles to increase income through royal prerogative)

Answer 6

• tonnage + poundage granted to Charles for only 1 year in 1625, but he continued to collect it
• in 1631-1635 this form of income brought Charles £270,000 per year
• 1635 a new Book of Rates updated the amount paid on goods as customs duty to be more in line w/ market value (due to inflation) thus increasing amount Crown received
• by end of 1630s, amount coming in from customs duties had risen to £425,000 a year

Question 7

-Source of Crown Income:
FEUDAL DUES (INCLUDING WARDSHIP)
= Charles’ management of these sources during Personal Rule

(methods of Charles to increase income through royal prerogative)

Answer 7

• Crown had right to run any estate inherited by heir under 21yrs
• during Personal Rule, income from this increased by 1/3rd to approx £75,000 a year

Question 8

-Source of Crown Income:
MONOPOLIES
= Charles’ management of these sources during Personal Rule

(methods of Charles to increase income through royal prerogative)

Answer 8

-loophole in the Monopoly Act allowed grants to corporations, the most notorious granting of monopoly for soap to a group of Catholics (nicknamed the Popish Soap) which earned Charles £33,000

Question 9

-Source of Crown Income:
RECUSANCY FINES
= Charles’ management of these sources during Personal Rule

(methods of Charles to increase income through royal prerogative)

Answer 9

-income from these fines increased from £5,300 a year in 1620s to £26,866 in 1634

Question 10

-Source of Crown Income:
DISTRAINT OF KNIGHTHOOD
= Charles’ management of these sources during Personal Rule

(methods of Charles to increase income through royal prerogative)

Answer 10

• anyone holding land w/ income of £40 per year or more who had not received a knighthood at Charles’ coronation was fined
• by 1636 Charles had raised nearly £175,000 in this way

Question 11

-Source of Crown Income:
OTHER FINES
= Charles’ management of these sources during Personal Rule

(methods of Charles to increase income through royal prerogative)

Answer 11

• forest fines = fines for any landowners said to have encroached on areas of royal forest; Charles used rather dubious maps + documents to impose fines on major landowners (ALIENATED LAND OWNERS)
• land titles = fines imposed on those who rented land from the Crown but lacked a clear title to the land or could not prove continuous occupation for the previous 60yrs
• enclosure fines = fines imposed on those who had illegally enclosed off common land

Question 12

-What were Charles’ methods to increase income through royal prerogative termed as?

Answer 12

• fiscal feudalism

- raised annual income during Personal Rule from £600,000 to £900,000; yet was still in serious financial trouble

Question 13

-What was Ship Money?

Answer 13

• prerogative form of income levied in times of emergency to fund the navy
• Oct 1634 = was levied on coastal towns + counties
• Aug 1635 = was extended to inland counties + levied annually until 1639
• raised an average of nearly £200,000 a year (equivalent of nearly 3 parliamentary subsidies)
• on the surface, ship money cold be judged as a financial success
• majority of those who had to pay this tax did so out of fear of punishment + to demonstrate acceptance of monarch’s powers; concern had been voiced in Parliament, but without Parliament during Personal Rule, there was less scope for grievances of the Political Nation to be expressed; adding to what historian John Morrill referred to as a “coiled spring” of underlying discontent

Question 14

-How was Charles the cause of the Scottish Revolution?

multiple kingdom crisis of 1637-42: extent of opposition to personal rule in Scotland, Ireland + England

Answer 14

• he cut himself off from influential Scottish opinion
• became less aware of / ignored the growing discontent
• his imposition of religious uniformity, especially w/ role of bishops, alienated Scots
• as predominantly presbyterian population the Scots had always regarded bishops w/ suspicion

Question 15

-Economic Policies during Personal Rule Timeline:
1629 =
1630 =
1633 =
1634 =
1635 =
1636 =
1638 =
1639 =

Answer 15

1629 = £2mil debt; peace w/ France
1630 = peace w/ Spain; distraint of knighthood fines
1633 = proclamation for nobility + gentry to return to counties
1634 = forest fines; ship money on coastal towns + counties
1635 = new Book of Rates issued; Ship money extended inland + levied annually until 1639
1636 = bishop Juxon appointed Lord Treasurer
1638 = John Hampden's case
1639 = growing resistance to ship money

Question 16

-What happened the first time the new Laudian prayer book was read in St Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh?

(multiple kingdom crisis of 1637-42: extent of opposition to personal rule in Scotland, Ireland + England)

Answer 16

• an organised protest became a full-blown riot; help maintain control of the opposition to Laudianism
• further riots occurred in Glasgow + Edinburgh, + Charles’ Scottish Privy Council was forced to abandon Edinburgh in Oct 1637
• Charles would not back down in response to the October revolt + thus pushed moderates to become radicals

Question 17

-What was the Scottish National Covenant?

multiple kingdom crisis of 1637-42: extent of opposition to personal rule in Scotland, Ireland + England

Answer 17

• Feb 1638 a Scottish petitioning movement formulated document known as Scottish National Convenant
• written mainly by Presbyterians radicals
• was a manifesto to unite those against Charles’ religious policy + to maintain Presbyterianism as the main Scottish religion
• those those who signed the document were known as Convenanters

Question 18

-How did Charles seek to face the Scottish Covenanters?

multiple kingdom crisis of 1637-42: extent of opposition to personal rule in Scotland, Ireland + England

Answer 18

• had to fund an army to face Convenanters rebelling against imposition of Laudian prayer book
• to do this, he sought legal confirmation of his right to collect ship money; was this action that brought English opposition to ship money into the open

Question 19

-Why was the turning of the Scottish Rebellion to armed conflict known as the Bishops’ Wars?

Answer 19

• known as the Bishops’ Wars because Scots were opposing Charles’ imposition of Laudianism
• in order to give himself time to raise an army, Charles had allowed the Scots to call a religious General Assembly in Glasgow in Sept 1638
• in Nov 1638 this Assembly proceeded to annul the canon laws + abolish episcopacy (government of a church by bishops, in this instance the Church of England)
• Charles’ army was not ready until April 1639 because he encountered problems in collecting ship money for finance
• by then the Scots were even more prepared to face the King’s 15,000 untrained + unruly soldiers

Question 20

-What was the Truce of Berwick in June 1639?

Answer 20

• not wanting to recall Parliament to resolve financial issues, Charles negotiated the Truce of Berwick (June1639) agreeing to a meeting of a General Assembly of the Church of Scotland at Edinburgh + Parliament; as well as a disbandment of both armies
• Convenanters did not trust Charles so they did not disband their army, + the Edinburgh Assembly + Parliament set about reducing royal power in Scotland

Question 21

-How can the scale of continuing crisis be seen?

Answer 21

• with Charles decision to recall Thomas Wentworth, Lord Deputy of Ireland
• on his return in Sept 1639, Wentworth advised Charles to call an English Parliament as the only means of raising money to fight Scots
• this Parliament became known as the Short Parliament, because when it met Charles refused to compromise + dissolved it
• Scots crossed the river Tweed & entered England in Aug 1640 to little resistance, they also occupied Newcastle after a minor encounter

Question 22

-What was the Treaty of Ripon?

Answer 22

• Oct 1639 Charles reluctantly agreed to the Treaty of Ripon, stating Charles would pay the Scottish army’s living costs while they occupied English soil
• meant Charles needed to call another Parliament to help fund this

Question 23

-What really changed Charles’ position in England?

Answer 23

• ultimately the continuing opposition in Scotland really changed Charles’ position in England
• not the acts of overt opposition among the Political Nation in England or Ireland

Question 24

-How was the nature of the armies key in the Scottish victory in the Bishops’ Wars?

Answer 24

• the Convenanter army was boosted by the return of many Scots who had been serving as professional soldiers on the Continent in the Thirty Years War; the troops were used to train those recruited to the Convenanter cause; also it was policy that the mid-rank positions of every regiment were given to professional soldiers (in this way there was a core group w/ real expertise directing the army)
• contrastingly, Charles used conscripts or local militia rather than mobilising trained bands, perhaps because he did not trust their political loyalty; the result was his army was made up of the ‘dregs of society’ often rioting as well as committing robberies + murder

Question 25

-By 1629, how was Ireland politically divided?

Answer 25

• Irish Catholics
• Catholic Old English
• Protestant New English
• Presbyterian Scots

Question 26

-What was the policy of ‘plantation’ in Northern Ireland?

Answer 26

-land was taken by English Crown + given to English settlers - which had brought more Protestant settlers into the country since 1608

Question 27

-How was English control limited in Ireland?

Answer 27

• limited to Dublin + surrounding area (known as the Pale)

- beyond the Pale, the Irish Catholic traditional ruling elite still controlled most of the country

Question 28

-What was Thomas Wentworth appointed to in 1632?

Answer 28

• appointed to Lord Deputy of Ireland (King’s representative there)
• role was to stand outside the different factions in Ireland in order to rule them

Question 29

-Key info on Thomas Wentworth?

Answer 29

• prominent opponent of forced loan of 1626
• President of the Council of the North 1628
• Lord Deputy of Ireland 1632
• Recalled to England 1639 to deal w/ brewing crisis in Scotland + England
• became Charles Chief Advisor
• appointed Earl of Stanford, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland + Lieutenant-General of the army
• advised Charles to call what was to become the Short Parliament (convened April1640) to help him crush the Scots

Question 30

-What did Wentworth succeed in within Ireland?

Answer 30

• enhancing the authority of the English Crown + Church over the Irish
• allowing the English Crown to profit more from Ireland by increasing customs duty

Question 31

-Why was the religious context of Ireland a problem?

Answer 31

• for Protestants in Ireland, Laudianism was seen as too close to Catholicism (same as view in England)
• the Protestants were a besieged minority + thus generally felt more threatened by the imposition of Laudianism
• furthermore, those who were ‘planted’ in Ireland tended to be more radical Protestants who felt threatended by Laudian impositions

Question 32

-How did Thomas Wentworth make the situation worse in Ireland in 1641?

Answer 32

-he succeed in alienating all the different groups in Ireland (tensions came to the forefront after Wentworth was called back to England to deal w/ the political crisis)

Question 33

-Why did the Scottish Rebellion of 1637 + Wentworth’s return to England prompt the Irish Catholics to act?

Answer 33

• because Presbyterian Scots were controlling Scotland + were in alliance w/ English Puritans; their growing influence threatened Catholic Ireland
• because w/ Wentworth removed, the Irish sought to pre-emptively prevent radical outsiders imposing harsh Protestant rules on them

Question 34

-When did the Irish Rebellion begin?

Answer 34

• Oct 1641
• lasted over the winter of 1641-42
• seizing the opportunity offered by the absence of Crown authority, Irish Catholics launched a pre-emptive strike against Protestants in Ulster, massacring at least 3,000

Question 35

-What year was the turning point of Charles reign + why?

Answer 35

• 1637
• English opposition to Charles’ financial position + religious policies all occurred against the backdrop of the Scottish Rebellion
• nobles like William Fiennes had opposed ship money; went as far as to start legal action against the Crown deliberately w/ the aim of creating a show trial over the issue
• Charles chose not to give him such a platform + merely ignored his refusal to pay ship money

Question 36

-What happened in the John Hampden case, 1637?

Answer 36

• Nov 1637, Charles took Hampden to court for his refusal to pay ship money, hoping his prosecution would make a point to all that Charles’ authority should be obeyed
• the wider circulated facts of the case fanned the debate on wider constitutional issues
• the judgement for the Crown by a narrow majority, 7 judges to 5, was too politically costly a victory for Charles
• alongside the Scottish Rebellion + growing examples of religious opposition, the slim victory shows that Charles’ Personal Rule was under strain

Question 37

-Key info on John Hampden?

Answer 37

• minor member of Buckinghamshire gentry
• refused to pay the forced loan of 1626 + was briefly imprisoned
• refused to pay ship money in 1635
• prosecuted by Charles in 1637 for his refusal + his trial made him a leading public opponent of the regime
• by 1642, Hampden was among 5 men whom Charles regarded as his leading opponents
• died in a Civil War battle in 1643

Question 38

-What was opposition in England + Scotland a reaction to?

Answer 38

-Predominantly a Puritan reaction to Charles’ imposition of Laudianism

Question 39

-Why should all cases of open religious opposition to the regime be considered in the light of wider, underlying discontent?

Answer 39

-Those of less committed faith than Puritans may not have been prepared to openly oppose the Crown, but once the Scottish Rebellion started to clearly undermine Charles’ authority (+ the fact he had to call a Parliament) underlying discontent came to the surface in all 3 kingdoms

Question 40

-What was a way opponents expressed their discontent?

Answer 40

• Emigration; particularly to North America
• leaving England gave the advantage of being away from Laudian impositions + the freedom of North America enabled godly Puritan communities to establish control/power

Question 41

-What is an example of a company that supported emigration? And what was its significance?

Answer 41

• the Providence Island Company
• the formation of such companies supporting emigration were an expression of disgust at Charles I’s Laudianism
• the meetings could also act as a guise for people to come together + actually share ideas on the political situation; especially during the Scottish crisis of 1637

Question 42

-What helped lead to the collapse of Charles’ Personal Rule (1629-40)?

Answer 42

-while there were cases of individual opposition in Ireland + England to Charles’ Personal Rule, it was only w/ the continued rebellion of the Covenanters in Scotland in 1637-40 that his personal rule collapsed

Question 43

-What acted as a trigger for Irish Catholics to rebel in October 1641?

Answer 43

-the removal of Wentworth from Ireland to deal w/ the Scottish crisis + the obvious pressure Charles came under in the Long Parliament

Question 44

-What was the significance of opposition to Charles’ policies? And what did Conrad Russell refer to this as?

Answer 44

• opposition to Charles’ policies was an interrelated multiple-kingdom event across the years 1637-42
• Conrad Russell refers to as the ‘Collapse of the British Monarchies’

Question 45

Key details on the Short Parliament?

Answer 45

• needed to deal w/ the Scottish Rebellion as Charles needed finance
• lasted less than a month (hence the name)
• 13 April 1640 - 5 May 1640
• despite a sense of unity about ending the abuses of the Personal Rule, there was limited organisation among the representatives of the Political Nation who were returned as MPs in 1640
• the King could still rely on a majority in the House of Lords
• as part of Charles strategy to secure parliamentary funding with which to fight the Scots, he announced the illegality of ship money; which won him support in the Commons
• it became clear however that MPs were not going to vote subsidies for the Bishops’ Wars in Scotland; key figures like Pym + Fiennes were actually in league w. the Scottish Covenanters = both they + the Scots recognised that a long-term solution could only be achieved if Charles made concessions to an English Parliament
• it is a mark of how far Charles had alienated the English political elite that many MPs were less concerned w/ their traditional Scottish enemy (who had an army on English borders) than concerned w/ their own King!!!
• Charles recognising that only significant concession would gain him the 12 subsidies he wanted to fight the Scots, dissolved Parliament

Question 46

-Which 3 members of the House of Lords + 2 members of the Commons did Charles arrest + why?

Answer 46

• Warwick (HoL)
• Brooke (HoL)
• Fiennes (HoL)
• Pym (Commons)
• Hampden (Commons)

Question 47

-What did Charles’ decision to face the Scots without parliamentary backing lead to?

Answer 47

-increased tensions + the development of the crisis that was to result in English civil war (1642)

Question 48

Summarise this chapter?

Answer 48

• 20 Aug 1640 = Scots crossed River Tweed to little resistance
• within 10 days they had occupied Newcastle
• Treaty of Ripon = Charles had agreed to pay the Scots £850 a day while they occupied English soil
• unfortunately for Charles, the Council of Peers (made up of English Lords) would not provide the money needed to pay the Scots unless another parliament was called
• they instead produced the Petition of Twelve Peers at end of Aug 1640
• Charles called another parliament which was to become the Long Parliament
• the seizure of initiative in Scotland + England by radical Protestants escalated the growing tension in Ireland to the point where the Irish Catholics rebelled in Oct 1641

Question 49

-What were some of the grievances against the Crown in the Petition of Twelve Peers?

Answer 49

• innovation in religion
• increase in property
• the bringing in of Irish + foreign forces
• the attempts to collect ship money
• the length of time without a parliament

Question 50

What were the Key Chronology events leading to the Long Parliament?

Answer 50

• May=after dissolving Short Parliament, Charles resolves to fight Scots w/ the resources he had (no parliament)
• 20 Aug=Scotts cross border at River Tweed; key defeat for Charles
• Aug=Lords issued the Petition of Twelve Peers
• Sept=Council of Peers (Lords) assembles at York + refuses to cooperate w/ Charles
• 12 Oct=Treaty of Ripon in which Charles agrees to pay Scots for their time in England; in order to raise funds for these payments Charles is forced to call parliament
• 3 Nov=New Parliament known as Long Parliament began