Laud was a Royal chaplain in 1611, Bishop of London in 1628 and Archbishop of Canterbury in 1633 and this resulted in Charles mixing religion and politics together. He issued a Book of Orders which revised the Poor Laws, this helped the poor, however it irritated the gentry because this was not the central governments job, and they were interfering in the local governments business.
It has become noticeable that there would have been no financial grievances if there were not any political, if Charles had never decided to rule on his own without Parliament. The grievances all stem from Charles not having enough money to cater for his expensive lifestyle and tastes. One of the first was the problem with tonnage and poundage, during the time when parliament was established; they only granted the King one year of tonnage and poundage, revenue from custom taxes, instead of for life, but during his Personal Rule, Charles collected it every year.
Charles also irritated many people when he began to look for new or old ways to make money and he found a law that had been used for centuries, the Forest Laws, it was illegal to build on Royal Forests but over the years, the forests had dwindled due to farming and housing etc. So Charles armed with the boundaries from the 12th Century, began to fine people living within these boundaries. Some people’s families had been living there for over 200 years and fined despite the fact that Charles did not want the boundaries restored he just needed money.
Charles also began to increase Knighthood fines, which was another financial grievance; this was from a law that anyone with wealth of a total of 40 pounds was to become a knight and then would fight in the Kings army if he was ever needed. Due to inflation 9000 men fell into this category and Charles began to call men to come to court to be knighted, but he wanted their money not their service. Charles gave people little notice and for one unfortunate man, James Mauleverer, Charles only gave him one days notice to get from Yorkshire to London, this was impossible and Charles fined him for not turning up.
One of the most notorious financial grievances was Ship Money, which was a way that Charles could tax coastal towns for him to build ships for a time of national emergency, he did this every year from 1634; Charles claimed the emergency was pirates in the Channel, but in 1635, he began to tax inland towns as well, it became a permanent land tax.
Up until 1637 financial grievances had not been too bad but then the Hampden Case got under way and things went from bad to worse. The Hampden case was when Charles brought John Hampden to court for refusal to pay 1 pound in ship money. Hampden’s lawyer, Oliver St. John, said that the King had found a way of taxing “by the back door” and not through parliament. Charles argued that he had the right to levy taxes during time of National Emergency. St John asked what constitutes a National Emergency. The judges found for Charles, but 5 out of 12 voted for Hampden, this was a huge shock to the King, as he was paying for the judges.
Another case that was during 1637 was the case against Prynne, Bastwick and Burton. Laud and the King tried to use the prerogative courts to prosecute the three men. This brought great shock due to the three men being apart of the Gentry, they were Puritans and were sentenced by Star Chamber, the King’s privy council. Their public punishments shocked many people, especially because they were members of the gentry. Their cheeks were branded with the letters ‘SL’, meaning the letters Seditious Liable, they also had their ears cut off and their noses were slit.
Also in 1637, Laud imposed a prayer book on the Scots because he wanted everyone to pray from the same prayer book, have the same sermons etc. After he tried to impose the books, the National Covenant and the Bishops’ Wars began.
In conclusion, the many grievances that Charles caused, I don’t think were caused intentionally, he did not have the proper training as a child to become unlike his older brother who died before he became King, Charles’ was never meant to become King of England.
