ENGLAND: Stuart Monarchs and Civil War (1640-60)
JAMES I 1603 - 1625: “Divine Right” monarch, opposes Parliamentary
limits on his authority, especially over taxes; author of
The True Law of Free Monarchies: treatise defending idea of
divine right of kings, “free” from limits on their power
STUART
TAXATION: Traditional feudal dues under James I
1)
Wardship and marriage
royal control of estates of vassals
dying with minor heirs
2) Purveyance:
King’s right to supply his household
at less than market prices
3) Customs duties:
“tunnage and poundage”
voted by Parliament at
accession of new King,
4) sale of monopolies:
royal grant of sole right to manufacture
or sell specific item:
700 separate monopolies had been
created by 1621;
1624 Statue on Monopolies:
Parliament limits royal right to grant monopolies
5) venality of office:
“inflation
of honors”
creation and sale of
new offices and titles: "baronets"
CHARLES I 1625 - 1649:
Conflicts with Parliament over:
1) TAXATION tunnage & poundage
no Parliamentary authority
forced loans:
some gentry jailed for refusal to pay
1628 Petition of Right: Parliament
versus King
King must promise not to borrow
money without Parliament's consent
King rejects Parliamentary
approval of taxation
1629-1640: PERSONAL RULE: Charles suspends
Parliament
tax
expedients expanded
SHIP MONEY: wartime
tax for support of Navy on coastal areas
1635 extended to inland towns;
collected again 1638
1637 John Hampden: Puritan
tax resister taken to court
judges decide in support
of King by narrow margin
2) RELIGION
Anglican repression of Puritans under Archbishop Laud
1637 Anglicanism imposed on Presbyterian Scotland resulting in
1640 Scottish revolt = immediate cause of civil war, since
it
forces Charles to call Parliament for revenues to raise army;
Parliament supports Scottish rebels
1640 - 1660 LONG PARLIAMENT:
CIVIL WAR between King and Parliament breaks out in 1642.
Issues in War:
1. Religious: Anglicans vs Puritans (Roundheads)
2. Parliament vs Royal Absolutism (Stuarts)
3. social & economic: Gentry = lesser landlords,
landed gentry, merchants & artisans (House of Commons)
vs King and great aristocrats (Cavaliers)
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ENGLISH
CIVIL WAR
RELIGIOUS
FACTIONS AFTER 1640
PRESBYTERIANS: State
church on Scottish model
Social agenda: “Puritanism",” Calvinist
style
Christian discipline, enforcement of morality
INDEPENDENTS: reject state church
Congregational model: voluntary Puritan churches
Cromwell supports Independents
RADICALS: sectarian
organization [See Christopher Hill, The World Turned
Upside Down]
Fifth
Monarchy Men: apocalyptic, millenarian
Levellers: egalitarian society; universal male
suffrage
Diggers: agrarian Christian communists; division
of land among agricultural workers
Also: Ranters, Quakers, Shakers, Seekers…
1643
Battle of Marston Moor:
royalist defeat by
"Ironsides Regiment" of Oliver
Cromwell
"New Model Army" of Roundhead
Puritans
1647 PUTNEY DEBATES: Cromwell
presides
issue is political representation
in Puritan Republic
Levellers: universal male suffrage
Independents: vote for property
holders only
OLIVER
CROMWELL:
1642 - 1646 rises in Parliamentary
Army to second in command;
regiment
called IRONSIDES
1646 King captured by Army; 1649 Charles I executed after
1649 Pride's Purge: Presbyterians expelled
from Parliament
only Independents remain = RUMP Parliament
1649 - 1660 PURITAN REPUBLIC under Cromwell'S leadership
1653 – 1658 PROTECTORATE Cromwell dissolves Parliament,
declares himself LORD PROTECTOR; dies 1658
1660 RESTORATION of Charles II at invitation of Parliament
CHARLES
II 1660 - 1685: returns from French exile; pro-France,
pro-Catholic, suspends anti-Catholic legislation
1673 TEST ACT: Parliament requires Anglican conformity
of all office holders to undermine Charles' support of Catholics
JAMES II 1685 - 1688: Catholic convert, brother of Charles II
1688 GLORIOUS REVOLUTION:
Parliament invites William & Mary to take throne; they accept the
BILL OF RIGHTS: see text in Censer & Hunt, pp. 35-37
agree to Parliament's power over taxation & legislation.
CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY as result