England: Absolutism and Constitutionalism

                                         England

41.When Edward VI (r. 1547-53: 16th), the son of King Henry VIII, died, he was succeeded by his step-sister Mary (r. 1553-38: 16th), who was the daughter of Catherine of Aragon and thus a Catholic. She began converting Edward VI's Protestant England back to Catholicism, killing many Protestants in the process (thus she became known as “Bloody Mary”) She married Philip II of Spain, who was also a staunch Catholic. She died without an heir, so her step-sister succeeded her as Elizabeth I, and she converted England back to Protestantism.

42. Philip II of Spain hoped to marry Elizabeth I as well, so he tried for many a year as did many other men, but she never married for reasons of state.

43.Also, Philip II was growing angry at England, because Francis Drake (the second man to sail around the globe) was pirating the gold from his ships coming from the New World, and when Philip II demanded that Elizabeth I stop him, she knighted him instead. Philip II was also angry about the rapidity with which England and Scotland were converting to Protestantism, and he of course was determined to make everyone Catholic.

44.The execution of the Catholic Mary Queen of Scots determined Philip II's decision to invade England in 1588 with his powerful Spanish navy called the Spanish Armada of 130 ships. While picking up Spanish troops at the port of Calais (in/near the Netherlands bordering the English Chanel and North Sea), the English broke the Armada's formation by sending flaming boats into them to make them think they were ladened with explosives. Then it was much easier to destroy the individual ships. On top of that, a storm came into the port causing more confusion and Spanish shipwrecks, so the Spanish invasion didn't succeed and only 60 of the 130 ships returned to Spain. This was a major psychological blow to Philip II and it is considered the first visible sign of the decline of Spanish dominance.

45.King Henry VIII (see 2:113) and Elizabeth I of England came close to being absolute monarchs (in that they almost always got their way), but since England had a constitutional monarchy, they never truly came to be as such. The Act of Supremacy (1534) made King Henry VIII the “head” of the Church of England and the Act of Supremacy (1559: 16th) did the same for Elizabeth I, though it entitled her with “governor” of the Church of England so as not to imply that she had control over its doctrine. It also required all officials and clergy to make an oath of allegiance acknowledging her as the “governor” of the Church of England.

46.The monarchy had to get the consent of Parliament in all issues, but with the threat of war looming from Spain, Parliament showed great loyalty toward Queen Elizabeth I since she was a strong leader. When the Spanish Armada was defeated (1588), the Parliament felt safe and thus it decreased its loyalty to the monarchy.

47.The Parliament consisted of two levels of administration: the “House of Lords” that was made up of the influential Nobles, and the “House of Commons” that was made up of influential and representative members of the middle-class. The “House of Commons” had grown sharply, doubling in size due to the prosperity of the middle-class during that time. The Puritans made up the majority of the “House of Commons,” so they began asking for more rights for the Puritans, but Elizabeth I was strong enough not to succumb (James I would have problems with them).

48.When Queen Elizabeth I died (1603) without an heir, she was succeeded by her cousin James VI of Scotland, the son of Mary Queen of Scots, and he became King James I of England.

49.James I faced a fractious religious England since it contained Anglicans (of the Anglican Church (Church of England)), Puritans, Separatists (who wanted to break from the Anglican Church), and Catholics. He began fighting with them. Puritans (17th) were English Calvinists/Presbyterians/Huguenots (though it is important to note that they differed slightly). They believed in a simplified religion based on individual conscience, the direct authority of the Holy Scriptures, and a society of belief in which preaching played a prominent role.

50.James I was a believer in the Divine Right of Kings Theory, which stated that Kings were chosen by God and should therefore be absolute and answerable only to God (this was corroborated by his Presbyterian belief in predestination, and such a birthright as kingship made him almost explicitly apart of the elect). Though he was Presbyterian (Calvinist, Huguenot, Puritan), he was against the Presbyterian idea of allowing the congregation (people) to elect their presbyters (church officials) since it undermined his absolutism (according to the Divine Right). Thus he fought with the Puritans, who were English Presbyterians.

51.He did concede to the Puritans by allowing them to create the “King James Bible” that was an “English” translation and interpretation of the Bible.

52.Then James I began fighting with the Catholics, but eventually gave them rights (after his secretly Catholic wife probably persuaded him to), exempting the Catholics from having to pay the tithe to the Anglican Church, but this caused a great decrease in Anglican Church revenue, so he quickly took those rights away.

53.A radical Catholic group planned to kill the Parliament (because it contained so many Puritans) and James I all in one attack, so that they could establish a Catholic administration. They rented a building with a basement that ran underneath the Parliament building, and in it they placed barrels of gunpowder to explode and destroy the Parliament while it was in session (5 Nov. 1605) with James I present. It was thus called the Gunpowder Plot (5 Nov. 1605: 17th). The plot was revealed when some of the conspirators wrote notes of warning to their friends in Parliament. An investigation led to the discovery of the basement filled with gunpowder and guarded by the leader Guy Fawkes (17th), who was thus executed.

54.Everything that King James I did turned against him.

55.James I ended a war with the Spanish (1604) under the condition that the English were to stop illegally trading with the Spanish colonies in the New World. This condition angered the Protestant traders.

56.James I tried to marry his son Charles to Maria (17th) the daughter of Philip III (17th) of Spain (who was the son of Philip II of Spain) in order to create a religious balance (his other daughter Elizabeth had married a Protestant named Frederick V), but the Protestant English (most of England) didn't like that, because Spain was very Catholic (James I's Civil Adviser the Duke of Buckingham tried to arrange the marriage).

57.James I's daughter Elizabeth (17th) married Frederick V, who was the elector of Palatinate. When Frederick V was fighting the Catholics in the Thirty Years' War in Europe, James I wouldn't help him, so the English looked down upon James I for not fighting against the Catholics and for not helping his own son-in-law (Frederick V).

58.King James I had appointed the Duke of Buckingham (1592-1628: 17th) as his Civil Adviser, and he was much hated by the Parliament, because he exercised a great deal of power but was an inadequate, untrained statesman. He worked on getting an alliance for England with Spain by trying to arrange the marriage of King James I's son Charles to Maria the daughter of Philip III of Spain, but after 8 years of negotiations, the Spanish turned down the marriage. To get back at Spain, the Duke of Buckingham caused a war between the two countries. He did successfully arrange the marriage (1624) of Charles to Henrietta Maria (17th) the daughter of Louis XIII of France, but he caused a war between England and France by helping the Huguenots in France (which was against the monarchy that was officially Catholic). Thus he caused English to get into a war with Spain and with France. He was an adviser to King Charles I (James I's son), until he was killed by John Felton (17th) in 1628, who was angered by his diplomacy.

59.King James I of England was succeeded by his son who became Charles I of England (1652). Charles I believed in the Divine Right of Kings Theory like his father, and thus continued to fight with parliament.

60.The Parliament's main power at this time was its control of the taxes (England never had a constitution, so these were tacit powers that were consecrated and held in earnest by the English people). Thus, the Parliament demanded more power over the taxes in order gain power: Traditionally, Parliament had voted at the beginning of a King's reign on the amount allowed for a King's Tonnage and Poundage (17th), the customs duties (taxes on imported good like wool and wine) that made up a large portion of a king's annual income. Now the Parliament wanted to reevaluate these taxes annually, which would give them more control over the king. James I of course didn't allow this by dissolving the Parliament when he didn't want to bother with them and Charles I did the same at first and later just ignored its annual evaluations.

61.Charles I acquired much of his money with forced loans from the nobles. He also received a lot of money through taxes. One important tax that Charles I collected was the Ship Money (17th) tax that required the counties bordering the sea to fund a navy to protect the English coastline, and the coastal counties were unhappy with it since Charles I was collecting the Ship Money tax during a time of peace and since he wasn't using it really to fund the navy. To get even more money, Charles I placed the Ship Money tax on the interior counties as well, which angered the English people, because now Charles I was creating new taxes without the consent of the Parliament, which was against the (unwritten) law. A man in London named John Hampden (17th,), who was also a member of Parliament, refused to pay this “new,” interior Ship Money tax, so he was tried for a crime by Charles I and lost with a vote of 7 to 5 (Thus 5/12 of the jurors were against their king, Charles I, which did not look good or bode well for Charles I).

62.Yet, Charles I was in war with France and Spain, and this drained a lot of money from him, so he was forced to call upon Parliament (1629) to make new taxes for him. Parliament would not grant Charles I new taxes (more money) until he had signed the Petition of Rights that established conditions in which Charles I had to submit to the law of the Parliament. It stipulated that 1.Charles I could not establish martial law in England during times of Peace. 2.Charles I could not levy taxes without the consent of the Parliament. 3.Charles I could not arbitrarily imprison people. 4.Charles I could not quarter soldiers in private homes.

63.After Charles I got the taxes from Parliament (1629), he dissolved Parliament and broke the tenets of the Petition of Rights (since he believed in the Divine Right of Kings Theory).

64.William Laud and Thomas Wentworth were appointed to fill the void that the Duke of Buckingham left.

65.King Charles I appointed William Laud (1573-1645: 17th) as the Archbishop of Canterbury (to fill the void that the Duke of Buckingham left). He was a conscientious and diligent man. He was an Anglican Christian and liked the rich Anglican robes. He also established a standard setup and location for the Eucharistic table complete with a communion (kneeling) rail, which was very Catholic. Thus, the Puritans were angry with him, because he appeared to be a secret Catholic (since he liked the rich robes and Catholic table). He further angered the Puritans with his Declaration of Sports (ca. 1634: 17th), which called for sporting events to take place on Sundays, which the Puritans didn't like because they believed that Sunday was supposed to be a day of rest (they thought he was mocking that belief).

66.King Charles I appointed as the Civil Adviser (to fill the void left by the Duke of Buckingham since he was the Civil Adviser before him) Tomas Wentworth (1593-1641: 17th), who was the Earl of Strafford. He believed that the king should be the most powerful government institution (and though he fully supported Charles I, he still disagreed with him occasionally on his choice of advisers, which shows that he wasn't a sycophant). He was hated by older associates (Parliament) as a traitor, because he was more loyal to the king now and thought that the king should be able to do things that Charles I was doing. He governed Ireland (and was well liked by the Irish). He was against the Parliament's religious intolerance (presumably of the Catholics and Puritans).

67.On top of the wars England had with France and with Spain (both caused by the Duke of Buckingham), Charles I and William Laud (the Archbishop of Canterbury) began a war with Scotland in an attempt to convert Scotland to the Church of England (the Anglican Church). This was called the Bishops' War (1639-40: 17yh) and it had two major parts: The first Bishops' War (1639) ended in a truce. The second Bishops' War (1640) began with the a Scottish invasion of England in which the Scottish defeated the English and remained stationed in England until their issues were solved. To get the Scottish out, Charles I signed the Treaty of Rippon (1640: 17th), which required England to pay an indemnity of 850 lbs for each day that the Scottish were station in England.

68.During the second part of the Bishops' War (1640), Charles I had run very low on money (since he was also fighting France and Spain), so he was forced to call a Parliament to make new taxes. He and the Parliament could not agree on anything, so after three weeks, Charles I dissolved the Parliament. Then he disparately need new taxes, so Charles I called a Parliament again and it would only help him if he agreed to some terms, which ultimately made Charles I a constitutional monarch (though England has never had a constitution). It was called the Long Parliament (1640-1660: 17th), because it was not officially dissolved by its own vote until 1660. These terms were that 1.Charles I had to impeach Thomas Wentworth and William Laud (so reluctantly he placed them under arrest and put them in The Tower, and executed Wentworth (1641 and Charles I never forgave himself since he was close to Thomas Wentworth) and executed William Laud (1645). 2.Charles I had to agree to the Triennial Act (1641: 17th), which required the Parliament to meet every three years with or without the king's consent. 3.Charles I had to abolish the Court of the Star Chamber (17th), a royal court controlled completely by Charles I in which the prosecutor was also the judge (which pretty much guaranteed a guilty verdict for the defendant) and it was intended to be used to implement the will of the king legally with a “judicial” facade. It was considered an “extralegal” court. It dealt with odd cases and punishments. 4.Charles I had to abolish the High Court, which was the same as the Court of the Star Chamber, though it dealt with religious heresy. It was considered an “extralegal” court. 5.Charles I had to accept the Grand Remonstrance (17th) and allow the circulation of its copies, and it was a document that outlined (hyperbolically) the crimes that officials had accused Charles I of committing since the beginning of his reign. Charles I was also never to do any of those crimes again. 6.Charles I, most importantly, had to agree never to dissolve a Parliament without the consent of the Parliament.

69.Most of England believed that Parliament had done enough to curb the power of King Charles I, but the radicals in Parliament (the extremist Puritans) and the radicals around the country (the extremist Puritans) wanted to reform the Church of England by getting rid of the bishops (and all other things with the semblance of Catholicism) and by establishing the Puritans' method of worship as the standard. This caused a political division in Parliament, so Charles I took advantage of it. He then sent 500 soldiers into the House of Commons to arrest 5 of the Puritans' ringleaders (John Hampden included). The 5 ringleaders had been tipped off, so they had left Parliament and Charles I was left with only shame for storming Parliament.

70.King Charles I left London and went to Oxford, and a Civil War began (1642).

71.The North and West of England were on Charles I's side (along with most of the Nobles and country gentry, who were the aristocrats and rich businessmen). They were called the Cavaliers (17th). Charles I created an army illegally (since he needed the Parliament's consent).

72.The South and East of England were on Parliament's side and were called Roundheads (17th), and were named as such for their haircuts. In response to Charles I raising an army, they did so as well. Yet, they didn't have the military might that King Charles I (and his nobles) had, so they solicited the help of the Scottish with the Solemn League and Covenant that promised to impose the Presbyterian religion on the Church of England. They called their army the New Model Army and they made its commander Oliver Cromwell, who was also a member of Parliament. The New Model Army was comprised mostly of Presbyterians.

73.The Battle of Marlston Moor (2 July 1644: 17th) was the first major battle of the Civil War, and in it the Roundheads (Parliament) defeated the Cavaliers (Charles I, though it was Charles I's nephew Prince Rupert (17th) whom they defeated).

74.The Battle of Naseby (14 July 1645: 17th) was the last, decisive battle, which was one by the Roundheads (Parliament) who defeated the Cavaliers (Charles I). Charles I turned himself over to Parliament and ended the civil war (1646).

75.Though Parliament won, it was clear to the Scots that it was not going to uphold the Solemn League and Covenant by imposing Presbyterianism on England (Puritanism wasn't quite Presbyterian), so the New Model Army, Parliament, and the Scots began falling apart. The Scots were paid for their help and sent back to Scotland.

76.The Presbyterian Roundheads were interested in freedom to practice their religion and not in making the Presbyterian religion the state religion.

77.Cromwell proposed that Parliament reinstate the bishops of the Church of England and King Charles I as a constitutional monarch, but allow for the toleration of other religions. Though at the end of the war, the people of England could accept Charles I back in office but not religious toleration. They also wanted the New Model Army dissolved since it was a provocative factor. Thus Parliament disallowed religious toleration and voted to disband the New Model Army, but the New Model Army refused the order.

78.Charles I then made the same deal that the Roundheads had made with the Scottish (Presbyterians) and the Parliamentary Presbyterians. He solicited the help of Scotland (and the Presbyterians) and in return he promised to impose Presbyterianism on England. The New Model Army would not allow this deal to be made (because it would give Charles I military power once more). Thus a “new” civil war broke out (1648).

79.Scotland, the Parliamentary Presbyterians, and the royalists (people for a monarchy) were on the side of Charles I. The New Model Army and the rest of Parliament were against him.

80.In the Battle of Preston (1648: 17th) Cromwell and his New Model Army defeated Charles I.

81.Then one of Cromwell's officers, Colonel Pride (17th), destroyed the Presbyterian majority in Parliament by driving out of Parliament 143 Presbyterians of the 203 (leaving behind 60). The new Parliament constituted a Rump Parliament (17th), which was a Parliament in which the minority (Presbyterians) carried on in the name of the majority that was kicked out. The Rump Parliament 1.abolished the monarchy and the House of Lords in Parliament (it then executed Charles I after publicly trying him for crimes). 2.Created a republic called the “Commonwealth” that was really just a dictatorship run by Cromwell.

82.Scotland was against Cromwell's “Commonwealth” (Republic) and declared Charles I's son king at Edinburgh as King Charles II, but Cromwell and the New Model Army defeated him (1650) and he fled to France where he stayed until 1660.

83.Cromwell then went to Ireland to govern it, but was “disgusted” with the Catholics, so he massacred many of them and so the Irish rebelled against him as well.

84.Cromwell then dissolved the Rump Parliament and declared himself to be the Lord Proctor (dictator).

85.Cromwell died (1658) and was succeeded by his son Richard, who tried to keep power militarily and absolutely, but he was also incapable of unifying all of the diverse groups (religious and ethnic). General George Monk (17th) came down from Scotland and overthrew Richard. He then invited the remnants of the Long Parliament (the Rump Parliament) to reconvene (since Cromwell had disbanded them). The Long Parliament met and officially ended (1660, after being open since 1640) when it voted to dissolve itself and create a new Parliament. The new Parliament began the Restoration (of the monarchy) by choosing Charles I's son Charles II to be the King of England. 86. 87.Elizabeth I (r. 1558-1603: 16th) was the last Tudor monarch. She was the closest thing to an absolute monarch that England had ever had. She new how to flatter the Parliament to get her way. She ended the French dominance in Scotland by driving out the French troops that had been stationed their to deal with the Protestant rebels (who had declared Mary of Guise deposed and were stationed their by King Francis II through the influence of her daughter Mary Queen of Scots). This resulted in the Treaty of Edinburgh (1560: 16th), which allowed for the Protestant Church to be established in Scotland. She executed Mary Queen of Scots after putting her under house arrest for 19 years after she had fled from rebels. She defeated the Spanish Armada (1588). She was succeeded by her cousin, the son of Mary Queen of Scots, King James VI of Scotland who became King James I of England.

88.King James VI of Scotland, James I of England (r. 1566-1625: 17th) was the son of Mary Queen of Scots. He was left in Scotland when his mother fled from her rebelling subjects. He was a believer in the Divine Right of Kings Theory. He was a Presbyterian. He succeed Queen Elizabeth I of England as James I of England, and he fought with Parliament for absolutism. He fought with the many religious denominations in England, particularly with the Puritans and the Catholics. Everything he did was looked down upon by the English. He tried to marry his son Charles to Maria the daughter of the Catholic Philip III of Spain. He ended a war with the Spanish, but it resulted in the stopping of the illegal Protestant, English traders, which angered the English. He wouldn't help his son-in-law Frederick V the elector of Palatinate, who was married to James I's daughter Elizabeth, fight the Catholics in the Thirty Years' War in Europe.

89.Archbishop Cranmer (1489-1535: 16th) was the bishop of Canterbury who pronounced King Henry VIII's marriage to Catherine of Aragon annulled (against the decision of the Pope). This led to the Protestant Reformation in England. He also headed the committee that created the Church of England's worshiping book called the Book of Common Prayer.

90.Philip II (1556-98: 16th) was the son of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and was the King of Spain. He ruled through micromanagement. He was married to Mary of England. He wanted to marry Elizabeth I. He sent the Armada to invade England and convert it to Catholicism, but failed. He had three goals: 1.To enforce absolute government and strict conformity to Catholicism in all of his territories (he was able to do this in Spain). 2.To make Spain the dominating force in Europe. 3.To use Spanish leadership to restore Catholicism in Western Europe.

91.King Charles I (r. 1635-49) was the son and successor of King James I of England (and King of Scotland). He believed in the Divine Right of Kings Theory and thus fought with Parliament about taxes and absolute sovereignty. He imposed new taxes such as the interior Ship Money tax without the consent of the Parliament to pay for his wars with France and with Spain. He appointed William Laud as the Archbishop of Canterbury and Thomas Wentworth as his Civil Adviser. He and William Laud began the Bishops' War in an attempt to convert Scotland to the Church of England. He won the first part of the war, but lost the second part, which resulted in the Treaty of Rippon (1640) in which England had to pay the Scottish an indemnity of 850 pounds for each day that they were station in England. He then raided the House of Commons in an attempt to arrest the Puritans' 5 ringleaders, but this only caused civil war (between his group called the Cavaliers and Parliament's group called the Roundheads). He was personally defeated at the Battle of Naseby (1645) and turned himself over in 1646. Charles I then allied himself with Scotland by promising to fulfill the Solemn League and Covenant if it helped them. Another civil war began (1648), and Charles I was defeated in the Battle of Preston (1648) and was later executed by the Rump Parliament after being publicly put on trial for his crimes against the state.

92.Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658: 17th) was a member of Parliament who was put in control of the Roundheads' New Model Army (created during the civil war that broke out in 1642). He defeated Charles I in the Battle of Naseby (1645) which led to the end of the first civil war (1642-46) and he defeated Charles I again in the second civil war (1648) in the Battle of Preston. Then his officer Colonel Pride drove the Presbyterian majority from the Parliament and Parliament made him the virtual dictator of the new republic (“Commonwealth”). He defeated the Scottish who rebelled against him by making Charles I's son King Charles II of Scotland and attacking England. He massacred many of the Catholics in Ireland and then defeated their revolt. He dissolved the Rump Parliament (1653 though it was not official since Parliament had to dissolve itself) and declared himself to be the Lord Protector (dictator).

93.Charles II (r. 1660-85: 17th) was the son of King Charles I of England (and of Scotland). He was chosen by the Scottish to be the King of Scotland since the Scottish did not approve of Cromwell's “Commonwealth” republic. Cromwell and his New Model Army defeated them (1550), so Charles II fled to France. Then General George Monk came down from Scotland and overthrew Richard (the son and successor of Cromwell), and invited the Long Parliament to meet again, and it dissolved itself, and called a new Parliament, and it began the Restoration (of the monarchy) and chose Charles II as the King of England.