Parliament was recalled in February 1626, but now its feeling towards the Duke had become even more hostile due to the failure on the Cadiz expedition (which he led) in the autumn of the previous year. The King was again in need of money, which was the reason Parliament was recalled. The MPs agreed to provide four subsidies, but delayed passing the bill until the impeachment papers were drawn up against Buckingham for: dishonestly amassing royal offices, corruption and impoverishing the Crown. Charles dissolved Parliament again to protect Buckingham, however, this put him in an impossible position, as he was desperate for money to support his heavy expenditure, but without access to subsidies, or an extension of the grant of tonnage or poundage, this was impossible.
The only option Charles had to raise the necessary capital that he needed was to borrow the sums of money he needed. The City of London granted him a mere £20,000, which was a tiny sum compared to what he required. Charles’ only other option was to continue collecting custom duties without Parliamentary consent, and to order a forced loan equivalent to five subsidies. Within ten months of implementing this, a sum of £240,00 was raised, however, this did not happen without opposition. Many MPs from the recently dissolved Parliament refused to accept the legality of the collection of these duties, as they were arranged without Parliamentary consent. The forced loan by the King created uproar throughout the nation, which culminated in the ‘Five Knights Case’ in which five men refused to give the King the money he required, and challenged the King’s right to imprison them. These men were eventually imprisoned by judges who were upholding the King’s royal prerogative. Even though Parliament wasn’t in session, the extra-parliamentary collection of duties from the nation caused further friction between the Crown and Parliament, whose relationship seemed to be rapidly diverging from being compliant with one another.
The relationship between Charles and Parliament up to now had been very rocky, partially due to the fact the Parliament was a little naïve about just how expensive the war with Spain would be, and was unwilling to grant the King money, as they didn’t support his choice of advisors (especially Buckingham), or his foreign policy with other European countries. Buckingham’s exploits may have been the match that ignited the tension between Charles and Parliament, as he had made several blunders on his various trips to the continent including his negotiation of a marriage between Henrietta Maria (the sister of the French King), promising her that she could carry on practicing Catholicism. He also told her that English ships would help to suppress a French Protestant uprising in La Rochelle. English MPs were enraged y his continuous blunders, and outright furious by his incompetent diplomacy with the French, eventually leading England to be at war with both France and Spain. Parliament’s attempt to impeach Buckingham infuriated the King, as Buckingham was one of his closest advisors, further straining the relations between them
Even though countless problems had arisen between Charles and Parliament, he was forced to recall them in 1628 to seek the approval for further taxation. Buckingham had recently returned from another failed expedition against the Isle of Rhe, which some might have thought would have lessened the chances of cooperation between the King and Parliament, but surprisingly the MPs restrained themselves from attacking Buckingham for his inept diplomacy, and agreed to provide five subsidies for the King, if he agreed to deal with the grievances that Parliament had. Parliament put forward the ‘Petition of Right’ in which they requested that the King should recognize the illegality of extra-parliamentary taxation, billeting, martial law and imprisonment without trial. Charles agreed to these conditions, and the subsidies were duly granted, showing that this was the high point of cooperation, and compromise between the two sides, as each of them required something from the other. Parliament used the subsidies as a bartering counter in order to get some concessions from the King, shifting political power in the country away from the King.
However, this co operational period between the two sides did not continue with Parliament being recalled again in January 1629. When Parliament met, there was open rejoicing about the death of Buckingham, which infuriated the King, as he thought Parliament lacked and remorse, and secretly suspected the Commons for Buckingham’s murder. Charles continued to collect tonnage and poundage without the consent of Parliament, which angered MPs. Charles’ view was that he was not bound by the ‘Petition of Right’, but could disregard it, as it was part of his royal prerogative to do so. He also thought he was justified to collect taxation without Parliamentary consent if it was for the good of the nation. Parliament’s trust in the King declined, and their period of cooperation began to rapidly crumble. In Court, strenuous attacks were made of Arminianism and the collection of taxation, which the King solved by dissolving Parliament for a third time. The Lords complied with their dissolvement, but the Commons were not as compliant. Two MPs (Holles and Valentine0 along with Sir John Eliot were tried and imprisoned after attacking both Arminianism and extra-parliamentary taxation. As a result, Charles dispensed with Parliament’s services for the near future. He thought that the problems he had encountered with Parliament were due to a small group of troublemakers who had corrupted their fellow MPs to their viewpoint.
In conclusion I can say that Charles’ relations with his Parliaments up to 1629 were very uncooperative, as it was dissolved thrice for many reasons, but twice in order to protect his favourite, the Duke of Buckingham. Parliament disliked Buckingham, and the King’s appointment of Richard Montague as royal chaplain, and his Arminian views, while Charles disliked the way Parliament openly attacked both his Arminian views and Buckingham. The one period of cooperation between the two sides was the ‘Petition of Rights’ in which the King assented Parliament’s requests and Parliament granted the King five subsidies, however that period of cooperation was short lasted and eventually ended with Parliament being dissolved. Generally the King’s relations with Parliament until 1629 were uncooperative, and sometimes a little vicious in the way each would attack the others viewpoints, and question one another’s rights.