chap 2 1629-40

Question 1

personal rule (political) - charles’ chief ministers

Answer 1

• lord cottington: 1628 joined privy council
• william laud: first lord of the treasury (1635-40)
• sir thomas wentworth: lord deputy of ireland (1632-40)

Question 2

personal rule (political) - star chamber

Answer 2

• made up of privy councillors selectted by monarch
• king could remove cases from common-law courts & bring them to star chamber where defendents could be questioned in private, fined, imprisoned or corporal punishment
• especially useful to attack those who disagreed with government policy

Question 3

personal rule (political) - court of high commission

Answer 3

• chief court of the church
• designed to enforce conformity to canon law
• monarch could use it to discuss civil as well as religious cases and its judgements could be passed on to star chamber for sentencing

Question 4

personal rule (political) - privy council

Answer 4

• chiefly advisory body
• could function as a prerogative court

Question 5

personal rule (political) - regional councils

Answer 5

• council of north located in york & council of welsh marches could function as prerogative courts to impose royal control from westminister
• leader of each council known as lord president & act as regional governor ensuring local officials carried out royal requirements effectively
• used imprisonment & fines as primary punishments

Question 6

personal rule (political) - thorough

Answer 6

• laud & wentworth used their authority as privy councillors to govern by imposing strict standards upon royal officals like sheriffs, jps, bishops
• referred to this as thorough

Question 7

personal rule (political) - book of orders 1631

Answer 7

• 1631 book of orders set out a significant reform of local gov
• consisted of 8 orders & 12 directions
• directions were conventional & issued to jps
• instructions for allocating poor children apprenticeships, employing the idle
• penalty added for non compliance by star chamber

Question 8

personal rule (political) - wentowrth

Answer 8

• 1628 given ley royal appointment as council of north
• after this was loyal to king
• this dramatic shift alienated him amongst his previous allies in parliament & nicknamed ‘the grand apostate’
• identified buckingham as instigator of foreign policy he hated
• identified with the petition of right but it was more moderate version which was less directly critical of king

Question 9

personal rule (political) - thorough

Answer 9

• wentworth & laud corresponded frequently
• used term ‘thorough’ to encapsulate what they tried to achieve in their roles
• both were known for their attention to detail
• demanded same of royal officials including sheriffs, jps, bishops
• believed corruption should be rooted out of public life & order returned to church and state
• non-conformity was a challenge to king’s authority that should be quashed
• they wanted royal officials to be held accountable for their actions

Question 10

personal rule (political) - policies in england

Answer 10

• 1628 wentworth became lord president of the council of the north & responsible for implementing royal policy in yorkshire, cumberland, northumberland
• as one of king’s representatives he embodied thorough & approached his job with efficiency & his insistence to 1631 book of orders meant many of lower classes saw lives improved
• e.g. provisions for poor enforced properly & measures made to ensure poor farmers not illegaly evicted from their farmland by wealthy landowners
• came at a cost - north of england which was distant from london wasn’t prepared for imposition of central government control that came with wentworth
• long established local gentry farmers resented loss of power from thorough
• wentworth identified attacks on him as an attack on king himself & used privy council as a prerogative court to enforce respectful treatment & submission to his authority

Question 11

personal rule (political) - policies in ireland

Answer 11

• july 1633 - wentworth promoted to role of lord deputy of ireland (highest royal office in that kingdom)
• due to his reputation for loyal & efficient service in norht but also reflected how charles never warmed to him despite his appreciation of loyalty
• wentworth saw hi role as bringing royal authority to bear on all irish society showing no favouritism
• had 3 goals - impose authority of english crown, make irleand profitable for the king, impose religious uniformity & conformity laudian style

Question 12

personal rule (political) - the ‘graces’

Answer 12

• 1628 prior lord deputy & representatives of catholic old english & irish catholics had reached an agreement to smooth parliamentary business
• in return for parliamentary grant of 3 subsidies of 120k over 3 years the deputy would agree to following concessions : recusancy fines not collected, relaxation of requirement for catholics in public office to take oath of supremacy, guarantee of land titles over 60 years old
• expectation was wentworth would honour this & appeared he would as requested 2 sessions the first for finance and second for grievances
• once subsidies were voted, graces not addressed

Question 13

personal rule (political) - impact of thorough in ireland

Answer 13

IMPOSE POLITICAL AUTHORITY ON IRISH COUNCIL:
- deployment of trusted advisors brought in from england
- ruthless suppression of critics
- alienated political elites who found influence reduced
IMPOSE RELIGIOUS AUTHORITY ON IRISH CHURCH:
- new irish court of high commission established to enforce laudianism
-irish catholics & old english catholics increasingly isolated as conformity to laudian anglican church enforce more strictly than before
RESTORE IRELAND TO PROFITABILITY:
- book of rates re-issued so crown income from customs doubled between 16-40
-impacted on merchants & traders that had to pay significantly more in customs
- 1634 irish parliament manoeuvred into voting 6 subsidies

Question 14

personal rule (political) - reactions in ireland

Answer 14

• every group in irish society negatively impacted but not yet an organised opposition to wentworth or crown
• wentworth’s ruthless suppression of critics and his iron grip over tools of law & order allowed him to act swiftly when opposition began
• within 2yrs tensions would erupt into rebelling as wentworth’s efficiency & grip on political matters meant he had forced change onto existing political factions & his departure left a major vacuum that created a struggle for dominance

Question 15

personal rule (political) - demands for recall of english parliament

Answer 15

• absence of parliament prevented political nation from debating and expressing its collective will to the king
• thorough’s control of regions meant those who would normally have their voices heard at westminister were experiencing a clampdown on their ability to dissent in the home localities
• increasingly narrow court circle around charles meant nobility lost their personal access to monarch as war as their institutional access via parliament

Question 16

personal rule (political) - reactions in england

Answer 16

• by late 1630s opposition to king’s personal rule becoming more visible
• trial & punishment of prynne, bastwick becoming more widely known and discussed casting light on severity of king’s repression of critics
  -king’s circle of advisors continued to shrink into a ruling clique creating increasing alienation & therefore discontentment among his natural supporters
• efficiency of throrough provoked opposition as meant that king’s authority reached further into localities than previously possible - was sometimes good (helping with poverty) it also provoked anger when disrupted local communities

Question 17

finance - prudence

Answer 17

• in 1629 charles had a debt of £2mill far exceeding his income
• james i inherited a debt of 300k in 1603 which rose to 726k in 1617
• forced loan brought in 240k
• weston & cottington counselled charles to cut expenditure by reducing spending on ferieng affairs by concluding peace with france (1629 treaty of susa) and reforming charles’ household to dramatically reduce its share of royal expenditure
• in 1628 royal household had cost 40% of charles’ ordinary income dropping dramatically in 1629
• in 1635 laud commissioned a report into weston’s management of crown’s finances & discovered debt hadn’t been substantially reduced BUT crown income running ahead of expenditure which was undeniable success

Question 18

finance - customs duty

Answer 18

• products that incurred customs duties were listed in an official book of rates also indicated value of each product & amount of tax levied on it
• amount of tax either fixed rate or a % of listed value of item so didn’t change if price at which product was brought/sold went up or down
• price of good rose significantly (inflation) in early modern period but book of rates infreuently updated so when charles ordered it to be revalues in 1635 he immediately made money
• but wans’t effective in long temr as would receive smaller payments when it was revalued yearly

Question 19

finance - monopolies

Answer 19

• huge profits made by being sole producer of particular product so sale of monopolies was a ripe avenue for corruption
• parliament vigorously attacked monopolies in early 1620s & use of them led to corruption in court in the 30s
• weston was a target as he procured a monopoly of ‘popish’ soap & called this as rumoured to be financed by catholic friends of queen
• many protestant households refused to by the soap
• a black market trade sprang up

Question 20

finance - recusancy fines

Answer 20

• fines on those who refused to attend compulsory church of england sunday services
• enforcement tightened to maximise income
• 1620s revenue was £5.3k and by 1634 was £26,866

Question 21

finance - forest fines

Answer 21

• fines for any land owner who had extended their boundaries into land belonging to the royal forests
• noy scoured ancient maps/documents to identify encroachments & many landed families couldn’t produce centuries-old documents to disprove such claims
• this had raised £38,667 at the cost of significant anger from rich & powerful landowners

Question 22

finance - ship money

Answer 22

• charles had tried prior to levy ship money in 1628 when issued writs to coastal counties & would’ve brought in 170k
• quickly cancelled the writs due to opposition by local collectors who refused to collect a tax parliament had no endorsed
• october 1634 levied ship money on coastal towns/cities but extended it to whole of england by 1635
• raised approx 300k p.a (equivalent of 3 subsidies)

Question 23

finance - hampden case

Answer 23

• november 1637 sir john hampden was a prominent puritan
• taken to court for failing to pay his ship money dues
• became test for king’s prerogative & case was championed by some of best legal minds at time like oliver st john
• reduced speed of collection but most significant impact was it raising debate of wider constitutional issues as opinions of judges were widely circulated (5/12 disagreed)

Question 24

personal rule (religion) - laudianism

Answer 24

• BEAUTY OF HOLINESS - decoration of churches lay them open to charges of being catholic in appearance
• STATUS/ROLE OF MINISTERS - emphasis on sacred status of clergy, more like catholic priests than puritan brothers
• SET PRAYERS ENFORCED MORE RIGIDLY - liturgy, order, decency & emphasis on conformity
• ACTIVITY ON SUNDAYS MATTER OF CHURCH - anti-sabbatarianism (against principle that only religious activities acceptable on sundays)

Question 25

personal rule (religion) - altar controversy

Answer 25

• north south alignment of alter against easternmost wall of church just like a catholic church
• chancel raised & separated by a rail from rest of church

Question 26

personal rule (religion) - altar controversy consequence

Answer 26

• some thought it was return to catholic mass
• many alarmed by sudden break in tradition
• strict enforcement narrowed broad tolerance needed for religious stability
• many hated the disruption to their seats due to rails that separated the chancel & church

Question 27

personal rule (religion) - politicisation of clergy

Answer 27

• all scottish bishops made JPs - archbishop spottiswoode became lord chancellor of scotland
• bishop william juxon became lord treasurer of england
• laud became chancellor of oxford uni & joined privy council
• merging political and religious spheres made clergy vulnerable to political assault
• churchmen began to be more perceived as threat to power of gentry

Question 28

personal rule (religion) - establishing conformity

Answer 28

• asserting conformity: laud tightened use of liturgy to create uniformity & clergy given renewed format to use in service
• auditing conformity: 1629 laud ordered all bishops to return to their diocese & take responsibility for parishes & visitations made to report conformity
• enforcing conformity: star chamber & court of high commission used with greater frequency & punishments harsher

Question 29

personal rule (religion) - beauty of holiness in scotland

Answer 29

• when charles became king he tried taking old church land t bring wealth back to the kirk
• wanted st giles’ cathedral in edinburgh to be refurbished
• efforts met with anger and panic followed by disobedience and raising public fear that bishops would take over
• even charles’ coronation was decorated with a railed off altar with laudian officiation

Question 30

personal rule (religion) - conformity

Answer 30

• 1629 all scottish subjects told to kneel to take communion in their parish church
• to presbyterian this was dangerously catholic
• 1636 laud published new set of scottish canons & based on the english ones, not traditional scottish articles
• these new canons to be imposed on kirk without ratification of scottish general assembly, bishops given authority by formal ceremony of consecration
• no mention of traditional institutions of scottish church government such as kirk sessions
• new prayer book which everyone had to use & dissenters would be excommunicated

Question 31

personal rule (religion) - 1633 book of sports

Answer 31

• laud re-issued book of sports outlining a rnage of activities that could be done after attending sunday morning service like morris dancing
• directly challenged puritan idea of sabbath (sunday should be focused on scripture)
• priests enforced to read book through visitations and presentment bills

Question 32

personal rule (religion) - abolition of feofees

Answer 32

• member of laity (not clergy) could buy right to collect tithes of a parish and provide a suitable minister for it
• 1620s a group of puritans began buying this right so could put puritan ministers in charge & this group known as feofees
• 1633 - laud used star chamber to abolish feofees for impropriations

Question 33

personal rule (religion) - growth of opposition

Answer 33

• 2 major reasons for growth of opposition to laudianism:
  
  • laudianism challenged beliefs and practises central to puritanism & sensing increasing threat many puritans became radical
  • laudianism looked very catholic and raised fears charles was steering towards rome - united majority of puritans against ‘popish plot’

Question 34

personal rule (religion) - puritan opposition: emigration

Answer 34

• some puritans emigrated particularly to american colonies to escape laudianism & establish new life/society
• 1630s saw particular upsurge
• ‘new england’ name given to describe group of colonies that had been established on east coast of america
• new colonies took on distincively religious complexions: maryland got its name from henrietta maria & was a refuge for catholics
• massachusetts was home to over 20k people at end of 1620s (mostly puritan)

Question 35

personal rule (religion) - puritan opposition: pamphlets

Answer 35

• bolder puritans committed their opposition to laudianism in print
• many pamphlets anonymous but prominent pamphleteers included bastick, burton, prynne and lilburne
• example: the letany by bastwick was an attack on office of bishops

Question 36

personal rule (religion) - puritan opposition: emerging puritan groups

Answer 36

• hampden circle: hampden came to fame in ship money trial & defended by puritans like oliver st john & whilst didn’t have a direct religious importance its not suprising enemies of laudianism would stan up against absolutist tendancies
• puritan pamphleters: evidence of functional work around pprynne, bastwik and burton
• providence island company - 1629 providence island discoered & group of 20 investors formed business would run plantations of tobacco, suger cane, cotton & consisted mainly of puritans (not direct assault) many who became important in 1640s

Question 37

personal rule (religion) - puritan opposition: resistance

Answer 37

• some opponents of laudianism simply attempted to refuse conformity
• parishioners of st gregory’s (london)church resisted required move of their communion table but charles brought them into account in front of privy council 1633 enforcing conformity
• some ministers continued to preach puritan doctrine & dismissed from their posts like nathaniel ward who was dismissed by laud in 1633

Question 38

radicalism, dissent and approach to war - spread of religious radicalism

Answer 38

• radical believers with a focus on an individual’s connection to god expected to hear from god for themselves and looked for evidence of the holy spirit in world around then
• radical sects of future would be led by educated men who were at uni in 30s
• when arrived those that planned to enter church would have found themselves in an atmosphere of nosy religious debate as church struggled to cope with profound impact that laudianism was making

Question 39

radicalism, dissent and approach to war - independent communities of faith

Answer 39

• idea that churches could be ‘independent’ from anglican church was in itself radical
• existence of functional churches outside boundaries of the anglican church had been facet of english church landscape since reformation but stayed small in number & low in influence
• example: william wroth, until 20s was an anglican clergyman with a parish in wales until one of his members died & he saw this as divine punishment for frivolous attitude and became committed puritan
• in 1633 refused to read book of sports & reported to court of high commission & 1639 set up first independant church in wales in llanyaches

Question 40

radicalism, dissent and approach to war - reaction to new prayer book in scotland

Answer 40

• kirk ordered to use new prayer book from july 1637 onwards
• knowing strenght of poular opposition, some priests took pistols with them to church in case they needed to defend themselves
• riot in st giles’ swiftly followed by similar uprising in glasgow
• baille was supposed to led a crucial service but managed to get annan to take his place who was lucky to survive
• resistance grew and petitions against the policy began
• further riots broke out causing scottish privy council to abandon edinburgh
• charles refused to yield as convinced authority of crown would prevail & in feb 1638 issued a proclamation made it treason to protest against prayer book

Question 41

radicalism, dissent and approach to war - bishop’s war: summary

Answer 41

• both sides began to mobilise for armed conflict
• to buy himself time charles allowed scots to call a religious general assembly which immediately voted to remove episcopacy & abolish prayer book
• by april 1639 war imminent and when it began it became known as bishop’s war as struggle over episcopacy was so central

Question 42

radicalism, dissent and approach to war - bishops war covenanters vs royalists

Answer 42

• SPEED OF MOBILISATION:
  
  • covenanters: rapid (charles thought scot nobility couldn’t raise an army so swiftly)
  • royalists: patchy & slow
• DISCIPLINE & ORDER:
  
  • covenanters: well disciplined, highly motivated and expertly commanded, smaller scottish forces ready to fight
  • royalists: disorderly & ill-prepared, as marched up north they committed robberies, riots & murders
• RESOURCES:
  
  • covenanters: made use of good relationship with protestant powers of nothern europe to buy weapons/equipment in holland, covenant so strong that local committees were able to raise hugely increased taxes to fund mobilisation
  • royalists: accessing only non-parliamentary finance like feudal revenues, personal loans etc charles struggled to fund the army, many deserted as not paid

Question 43

radicalism, dissent and approach to war - bishop’s war: charles’ strategy

Answer 43

• hamilton lead assault by boat on north-east coast of scotland with 5000 men
• from nothern scotland a loyal nobleman would lead a royalist fore to join up with hamilton
• both forces would move south
• troops would be transported from ulster in nothern ireland to western scotland led by earl of antrim
• more forces from ireland would be brought in to strenghen the garrison at carlisle
• main english army would assemble at berwick-upon tweed and move north

Question 44

radicalism, dissent and approach to war - bishop’s war: pacification of berwick

Answer 44

• english army mustered at berwick-upon-tweed and prepared to enter scotland while scottish army under leslie assembled 12 miles away
• charles gave the order to advance into scotland & lord holland allowed his calvary to run too far ahead of the infantry into scottish army
• leslie distributed his forces cleverly making them look stronger than they were
• holland’s forces turned back & exaggerated stories of scottish strength
• running out of money, having failed to intimidate scots into submission with a chaotic and poor quality army with reports of a well armed/organised scottish army charles negotiated with pacification of berwick on june 18 1639
• contained agreement from both sides to disband their armies, charles also agreed to recall scottish general assembly & scottish parliament

Question 45

radicalism, dissent and approach to war - second bishop’s war:

Answer 45

• despite pacification of berwick neither side disbanded their armies
• new general assembly met in edinburgh & confirmed decisions made by glasgow assembly
• scottish parliament met confirmed episcopacy was abolished and set about dismantling royal power in scotland
• charles ordered a muster of his troops at york
• with no money and little popular support for english army, scottish army launched a pre-emptive attack on northumberland in 1640
• english army effectively leaderless as earl of northumberland withdrew from command under cover of illness & sttraford actually ill
• covenantors took newcastle and began to advance on york
• with no options remaining charles called a council of peers which met in york sept 1640
• charles revived the council they advised making peace swiftly so in oct king signed the treaty of ripon with covenanters

Question 46

radicalism, dissent and approach to war - bishop’s war: impact in scotland

Answer 46

• august 1640, group of 18 scottish noble (cumbernauld band) expressed their loyalty to the king and a desire to defend his authority
• had been alarmed by development of radicalism within ranks of covenanters as felt were being pushed too far from voicing grievances into outright rebellion against monarch

Question 47

radicalism, dissent and approach to war - bishop’s war: impact in england

Answer 47

• optimism: some hoped bishop’s war would force charles to recall parliament, re-opening communication and allowing discussion of grievances
  -enmity: windebank joined english army and called the scots ‘filthy, dirty ,nasty’