with different countries. Charles went to war in 1628 against
the French and lost. In 1640 Charles went to battle with the
Scots and lost. He had to pay the Scots to leave England. This
war caused financial difficulties. In 1626 Charles asked
Parliament to raise money for him and Parliament refused
because they thought Charles wasn’t spending his money
wisely. He was mainly spending his money on artwork by Van
Dyke and Ruben. Parliament thought that Charles I should be
setting better examples to his people by spending his money
on things that were needed. This caused general money
problems which were reflected in the political area.
In 1629 Charles locked MPs out of Parliament for 11yrs.
This made Parliament strongly believe that they should have
more say in running the country. Charles firmly believed in the
‘Divine Rights of Kings’, and that it was his right to rule his
country. Charles appeared to favour Catholicism and many
feared that Charles was bringing up his children as Roman
Catholics. There had been religious discontent since the reign
of Henry VIII.
Between 1639 and 1640 The Bishops’ Wars were fought
between the Scots and the English forces led by Charles I.
Charles wanted to enforce Anglican reforms onto the Scottish
church. Charles was furious that his proposals were rejected
by the Scottish Assembly at Glasgow in 1638 and quickly tried
to form an English force to march on Scotland in 1639. As
Charles did not have the money to do this he was forced to
leave Scotland without fighting a battle. Charles found out that
Scotland had been plotting with the French so he decided to
launch a military expedition. This time, Charles called
Parliament in order to get money. When Parliament formed,
they immediately wanted to discuss grievances against the
government, and were generally opposed to any military
operation. Their demands were that Charles’ evil ministers
must be punished, ministers should be appointed who will
advise Charles to follow sensible policies and some of these
ministers should come from Parliament. Other demands were
that the King must get rid of courts such as the Star Chamber
which allowed him to look upon his opponents, regular
meetings of Parliament must be held and last but not least
there can be no taxes without Parliament’s agreement.
Charles resolved these demands by banishing other ministers
(including Laud) to prison, critics who worked for Charles
within parliament were appointed Charles’ advisors and the
courts of the Star Chamber and the High Commission were
abolished. Charles completed the other demands by making a
rule that Parliament should meet at least three times a year, he
made ships money illegal and the Tunnage and Poundage Act
which meant Charles could collect customs duties for only two
months more. The long Parliament could not be dissolved
by Charles without its agreement.
The tension between Charles and Parliament was still
great. This tension was brought to a head on January 4th,1642
when Charles attempted to arrest five members of Parliament.
This attempt failed, since they were spirited away before the
King’s troops arrived. Charles left London and both he and
Parliament stocked military resources and recruited troops.
Charles officially began the war by raising his standard at
Nottingham in August, 1642.
At this stage of the war, Parliament had no wish to kill
the king. It was hoped that Charles could be reinstated as
ruler, but with a more constructive attitude towards Parliament.
The majority of the country were neutral in the Civil War, and
both sides only had about 13,000 men. The areas of Royalists
support tended to be the North, West and Wales. Parliament
were supported by the richer South and East, including
London. Parliament also held most of the ports, since the
merchants that ran them saw more profit in a Parliament-lead
country. Parliament definitely had more access to more
resources than the King, and could collect taxes. Charles had
to depend on donations from his supporters to fund his
armies. Charles’ supporters were made to give his armies three
things. These three things were food, taxes to keep the army
going and themselves to fight for him. This effected
communities and families because they got split up. Village
homes were destroyed and many innocent people suffered.
Some people tried to stop the attacks on their villages..
Before the English Civil War started there were many
problems between Charles and Parliament. Both Parliament
and the King ordered armies to be organised. People were
forced to make a choice about which side they were going to
support. There were many battles between the King and other
countries and Charles lost all of them. Charles then paid the
Scots to leave England and that set off money problems
between the King and Parliament.
Pippa Harvey
8Y13
