As long as Cranfield had the support of both James and Buckingham, he would stay in his position. In 1623, Cranfield appointed his nephew, Arthur Brett as a new favourite when Buckingham went to Madrid for six months. It failed. Cranfield was fired in 1624 when James made Buckingham a Duke in order to show his continuing support. When he returned from Madrid, the Duke wanted to go to war with Spain. Cranfield opposed the idea as it would mean that any hope of retrieving the king’s finances were lost. In order to get rid of Cranfield, Charles and Buckingham used the Commons to impeach him for corruption. James would not sacrifice his favourite and his son for his Treasurer.
Cranfield increased royal income by £80000, but had failed to leave any lasting improvements in crown finances, although he did become one of the richest men in the country.
George Villiers was born in 1952 and was the second son of a second marriage of a minor member of the Leicestershire gentry. He completed his education in France and was introduced at the court of James I in August 1614 where he immediately impressed he King. He quickly gained many titles, including Master of the Horse in 1616, Earl of Buckingham in 1617, a Marquess in 1618 and Lord High Admiral in 1619. In 1626, the Commons issued Articles of Impeachment against Buckingham. It included a list of his titles and offices and one of the charges that was made against him was the engrossing of offices. It was rumoured that Villiers shared the King’s bed. Buckingham distorted the system of government by excluding other counsels from consideration by the king.
In 1620, Villiers married Lady Katherine Manners who was the daughter of the Earl of Rutland and a Roman Catholic. In 1623, he accompanied James’ son Charles, who was not yet King to Spain to arrange a marriage between Charles and Maria, the daughter of the Spanish King, but his display of arrogance contributed to the failure of the negotiations. After returning to London, he persuaded the King to go to war with Spain and Lionel Cranfield opposed it. Cranfield was dismissed as the King was eager to honour his favourite.
Buckingham arranged a marriage between Charles and Henrietta Maria of France, but this failed to bring peace with France and increased the possibility of Roman Catholics coming to the Royal Line. This made him very unpopular. He then arranged a naval and land expedition against Cadiz, the Spanish port, but it resulted in a miserable failure.
In 1626, the bill to impeach Buckingham was brought before parliament in May. King Charles dissolved parliament before Buckingham could be tried. The case was then brought before the Royal Court, where it was dismissed. In 1627, Buckingham led 8000 men to the French port of La Rochelle to help the Huguenots (French protestants) who were under attack. He was eventually forced to withdraw and was another embarrassing failure for him.
Buckingham had the extravagance of James. In the 1620’s, he was on an income of £20000 but he still managed to run up debts of £70000 when he died. He advertised his wealth and status by spending £3000 on clothes. Contemporaries believed that the crown’s financial position would improve if Buckingham’s expenditure was curbed.
In 1628, parliament tried to get the king to dismiss Buckingham but he was very supportive of his friend and stood by him. On August 27th, Buckingham went to Portsmouth in order to arrange another expedition to La Rochelle, but on August 22nd, a naval lieutenant, John Felton, stabbed him to death. This caused there to be much rejoicing in the land. He was 36 years of age and was buried in Westminster Abbey, near to the tomb of King James. His tomb bears the inscription, “the Enigma of the World”.
In general, neither Cranfield nor Buckingham had a particularly positive or long lasting effect on the state of the country. Cranfield did manage to save the country money and increase royal income, as well as becoming one of the richest men in the country, and Buckingham was responsible for several embarrassing situations such as the defeat at the port of La Rochelle and most of the country was happy when he was stabbed to death. Neither of them had a very good or productive time whilst they were in power. Cranfield had the better career as he got out of it alive and made the country money, but Buckingham gained many titles and responsibilities. Overall, Cranfield was the better man as he did not end up being hated by the country.