The early Stuarts

James I (1603-1625)
James was a son of Mary Stuart. He was a protestant. He had 2 titles and he was the king
of two countries: England and Scotland. Formally, 2 countries had 1 king but they were 2
independent country.
He was unpopular because of Scotland. He was an experienced politician. He knew how
to control the country. From his point of view, the monarch had divine (божественный) power.
And that’s why no person who lived on Earth had the right to control the monarch. He relied
upon absolutism. The Monarch COULD be above the law. He didn’t understand the nature of
English parliament, what it was for, what role it played, whether it was important or not. It was
the mistake of the Tudors because Tudors preferred not to answer the question how much power
parliament could have.
1. Financial difficulties
Reasons:
 Debt left by Elizabeth I (400 000 pounds). It was a huge national debt. And
Scotland could not help much.
 Larger household expenses. James had a family and he had to use more servants.
James had to get the money somewhere. Unfortunately, he didn’t understand how
important parliament was.
o He decided to raise import duties. But he forgot to ask Parliament. And this
event didn’t make the king popular.
o He decided to sail taxes. James understood that those representatives of elite who
lived in London were against him. And on his way from Scotland to England he
decided to win the loyalty of local nobility. And he sold titles to those people
because he knew that it was not possible for him to rely upon the establishment
(элита).
The people also accepted this activity, which allowed the king to get some money, negatively.
Because this sale of titles undermined the prestige of the aristocracy. This activity did not help
James get the money he needed.
So, he had to impose new taxes, one of those taxes that he wanted to impose was a land tax and
then he understood that he had to summon parliament.
2. Parliament
James summoned Parliament 4 times. He summoned his first Parliament in 1604, because
he wanted money. But his Parliament refused to cooperate because it was irritated by the fact
that James raised import taxes without asking Parliament. It did not want to give the money to
the king, it wanted the king to respect the privileges. And James tried to arrest MPs who
disagreed with him.
However, in 1605 Parliament started cooperating with the king. This happened because
of Gay Fox. He wanted to blow up Parliament when the king was inside. Gay Fox was a
catholic. That’s why James and Parliament united for some time against an outside danger.
In 1608 the national debt increased to 600 000 pounds. Parliament didn’t want to help
much. It tried to make the king respect its privileges. What was more, when Parliament discussed
taxes, it had to talk a little bit about the financial situation in the country and about foreign trade,
policy etc. And James was irritated by the fact that Parliament tried to intervene into his foreign
policy.
 1. James did not respect the privileges
2. Parliament tried to discuss important events
In 1624, James was too old and had no wish to quarrel with Parliament. Parliament at that time
got freedom to make legislation, to impose new restrictions for businessmen, to control situation
connected with relations of England and Spain.
Parliament every time it was summoned tried to test what else it could do. The king had no
mechanism of stopping Parliament. The only thing the king could do was to dissolve Parliament.
Charles I (1625-1649)
He was less skillful and he was influenced by his friends. One of those friends was called
the Dike of Buckingham. People believed that he was responsible for the disaster situation in
which England turned out to be in 1625. When Charles came to power, he inherited a serious
economic crisis. The national debt reached 1 000 000 pounds. There was no money; there was a
war against Spain. And there was rebellious Parliament.
The earliest period of his reign was from 1625 up to 1628 when he used Parliament. He
had to summon Parliament to solve those problems. The first thing that Parliament asked Charles
to do was to get rid of the Duke of Buckingham. Charles refused, and then Parliament was
dissolved. In 1626, the same was repeated.
When Charles finally understood that Parliament was not ready to help him and he was
not ready to get rid of his friend, the Dike of Buckingham was killed. In 1626 Charles decided to
do something himself. And he asked people to give him the money. Not in a tax, but in a loan
(взаймы). BUT The king had to give the money back. No one knew when the king intended to
give money back. People were not ready to give money. King stated that if people refused to
give the money, they could be imprisoned. People called this loan “a forced loan”.
This measure was successful economically. Politically this was a disaster. King lost
political support of his people.
Some brave people decided not to pay this loan to the king. 5 knights refused to pay.
They were imprisoned. But they had the right of habeas corpus. They decided to use it to
understand reasons. No one could explain because there was no specific crime that this people
committed. There were no charges brought against this people. And there was no trial. Finally.
One of those knights died there. People were shocked.
At that time, a prominent lawyer Edward Coke was interested in that case. He decided to
study this subject to understand what civil rights English people had. He had to read documents
of different centuries and he discovered Magna Carta. And when Parliament was summoned
again in 1628 It started talking about Magna Carta and not about taxes. Parliament wanted to
protect itself and the people from aggressive and unlawful behavior of the king. In order to do it
Parliament decided to right a document.
The Petition of Right (1628)
Causes:
 Forced loan
 Treatment of those who refused to pay
 Violation of freedoms of Magna Carta
If the king needed money, Parliament was ready to give this money if the king signed this
document. This was a kind of a blackmail.
Provisions (положения):
1. Protection against arbitrary (unlawful) imprisonment OLD
 The king could not arrest anyone he wanted just because those people disagree with
him.
2. Due process of law OLD
No one could be imprisoned without the trial.
3. Protection against non-parliamentary taxation
Only Parliament had the right to impose taxes.
4. Freedom from quartering troops
The king had to maintain the army. And there was a war against Spain. The kind
didn’t have money and he ordered soldiers to quarter in people’s houses. They didn’t
live in military camps because it was expensive for the king.
5. Freedom from martial law (военное положение) in peace time
Parliament believed that the petition was the law and when the king signed it he would
respect this law. BUT the king believed that the word petition meant that people simply
asked for something that he could give or refused to give. For him this document meant
nothing. He didn’t feel limited by this petition.
King’s reign from 1629 to1640 (without Parliament)
His reign was successful. But he could reign successfully only during the peace time.
1. War against Spain ended.
2. Trade improved.
Sources of revenue:
- Customs duties
- Colonies helped (There were several colonies in America. For example, Virginia
produced Tabaco)
- (illegal methods)
o Distrain of knighthood. A person who had certain income had to become the
knight. This happened during the coronation of the new king. But no one
remembered that. Charles decided to punish people because they did not become
knights when he was crowned.
o Fines for violation of forest laws
Forest law was introduced by William I. Charles believed that the people could
not use royal forests.
o Ship money
It was a tax, which was paid by those people who lived near the sea. Charles
made the whole nation pay ship money.
Religious Reform of William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury.
Charles was protestant and his wife was a catholic. And people believed that Charles could
easily convert into Catholicism. When William Laud introduced this reform, people believed that
the same could happen to the country. Idea of this reform was the appearance of new
ceremonies, which made English protestant church closer to Roman Catholic Church. This
meant a step back to Catholicism. People in Scotland started fighting against the government.
Charles needed extra money. In 1640, he summoned Parliament again. There were two
Parliaments in 1640: short and long. The short Parliament refused to give money. It was
dissolved but then summoned again. Charles had to reach compromise with it.
He promised to put an end to religious reform, to get rid of William Laud, to introduce
constitutional changes, to get rid of the court of Star Chamber, to SUMMON PARLIAMENT
REGULARLY. This was fixed in the Triennial (трай энниал) Act (1641). Parliament had to be
summoned every 3 years.
 1641 – Rebellion in Ireland. Catholics rebelled because their rights were limited. The
king needed more power to control the army. Parliament was not united. Some radical MPs
decided to write The Grand Remonstrance (1641), where they tried to tell the king why they
hated him. It was a list of accusations. Parliament divided into 2 parts:
1. People who supported the king (royalist)
2. People who wanted more power to Parliament (parliamentarians)
Parliament decided to introduce a constitutional reform. It was called The Nineteen
Prepositions (1642). Power to control the army, to control the Privy Council or the choice of
the members of the Privy Council, power to control king’s activity, the foreign policy. THIS
REFORM WAS NOT IMPLEMENTD. King did not sign this document. This fact led to the
civil war in 1642.