Charles I 1625-1640 - Key info
C1 → Charles I’s personality, style & aims
-Charles becomes King 1625
Differences between Charles and James
-James’ rule was more similar to Elizabeth’s than different, 1625 was a more crucial turning point
than 1603
-James had presided over the longest period of unbroken peace enjoyed by Britain during the 17th
century and although had his faults, especially financially, he had avoided conflict and had fewer
enemies than Charles would (although puritans and parliament disliked James very much)
-Due to James’ poor relationship with parliament, it would be hard for Charles to get them to trust
them - they set bad relations from the very beginning of his rule
→Charles was very loyal to the Church of England - but Arminian
→He lacked political skill and acumen, was inflexible, unwilling to compromise, was influenced
highly by those around him (e.g. Buckingham, his wife), and could not communicate his ideas well
Was the Civil War caused by pilot error or mechanical failure?
-Was it the political failures of Charles or the outdated system
-Many problems arose from the fiscal insufficiency of parliamentary supply (parliament not voting
enough money) → e.g. the failure of foreign policy 1625-9 was largely due to lack of money
Some positive aspects of Charles’ reign
-His marriage to a Catholic queen ensured a catholic/arminian foothold at court that gave some
security to its adherents there
-He did not burn anybody to death for being a heretic
-His personal rule produced a kingdom of peace and tranquillity which compared to the religious
wars in Europe, was impressive
-He didn’t permit a single political execution in any of his three kingdoms → this shows compassion
but may be a negative as it would permit the people to see him as weak and were less likely to fear
him
-The fact that Charles caused a civil war suggests he was a strong leader - a serious threat to
opposition (an incompetent leader would have conformed to the beliefs of the opposition)
C2 → Buckingham & Foreign Policy: War with France and Spain
The Huguenots
→French Protestants (france was catholic)
→Were seen as potential allies of Protestant England against threat of Catholic powers e.g. Spain
and France
,→Faced Persecution by the Catholic rulers in France who feared they were a threat to their
authority
→Helping the Huguenots would show support for them and a Protestant country was expected to
help other protestants, however this would threaten relations with France, a superpower that would
be a great ally and could have helped England against spain (France and Spain were both catholic
but were enemies)
→In 1624 James had helped the French King against the Huguenots but all this did was cause an
embarrassment as a protestant king should have supported the protestants and the French never
even showed signs of helping England against spain, so James gained nothing
Foreign Policy
→ Buckingham had advised James & Charles on foreign policy - massive failures
→In Jan 1625 the expedition Buckingham recommended - Mansfeld’s Expedition - failed (had led a
small army to Europe to try and fight its way through the Palatinate, it ground ti a halt in the
netherlands, destroyed by disease and desertion (this was an attack on Spain)
→Oct 1625 Buckingham led the Cadiz expedition to attack Spain, army landed on the coast, got
drunk, and had to return home, where many didn’t make the journey due to ships not being well
prepared and running out of food and water → of the 12,000 that set of only 5000 men returned
→Attempted to get france to join them in war with Spain with the marriage of Charles to the French
Queen Henrietta Maria however a trade war with France and the fact that they didn’t initially like
each other, as well as Buckingham’s poor relation with the new French First minister (Cardinal
Richelieu) caused relations to deteriorate so France did not join
→1627, Rochelle leads the Ile de Re expedition to try and relieve the Huguenots which was hugely
unsuccessful due to underfunding and poor planning → when arrived their ladders were five feet
short
→Buckingham persisted with a further two unsuccessful fleets and in October 1628 La Rochelle
surrendered to Louis XIII → great embarrassment for Protestant England
, C3 → Relations with Parliament 1625-29
The Role of Parliament
-In early 17th century, MPs wanted to retain and protect Parliament’s place in the constitution, but
showed no signs of wanting to attack the powers of the Crown
-One of the main things which limited the importance of Parliament was that they met infrequently
House of Lords = about 90 hereditary Lords, bishops and judges appointed by the Crown
House of Commons = about 500 members - mostly gentry - elected by landowners and the wealthier
citizens in towns
-parliament met when the King decided, it’s main functions were to
1. Advise the King
2. Help the King pass laws → acts of parliament needed the majority support of the Lords and
Commons
3. Approve the collection of taxes in an emergency
The Royal Prerogative
Consisted of two parts:
→ordinary powers = the monarch’s right to choose own advisers, command armed forces, oversee
law and order, to call and dismiss Parliament, and to make all the important decisions of
government
→absolute powers = given to the monarch to use in times of emergency, when he considered that
national security made it necessary to override the law
-political principles were fuelled and exploited by self-interest and by the competition for power
Why did Charles I fall out with Parliament, 1625-9?
1625 Parliament
→Charles had planned war expenditure (against Spain, to indirectly help Frederick regain the
Palatinate) of £1 million, but after refusing to explain his position or ask for a specific subsidy,
Commons only granted £140,000
→There were complaints about the marriage contract between Charles and Henrietta Maria, as her
catholicism alarmed parliament
→They also limited tonnage and poundage - only granting it for a year rather than for life
→This was directed at Buckingham but Charles took it as an attack on his prerogative
→He decided to ignore them and continued to collect it after the year
