Why did Charles I decide to govern without calling the parliament?

      During the 1920s, the problem that kept poisoning the relations between Charles and the Parliaments was finance. During 1625-1629, England fought wars with Spain to help out his brother in law Frederick, and with France by negotiation on the Treaty of La Rochelle. The King desperately needed money for the war expense; he kept calling the parliament for voting him subsidies. The King had 12 subsidies from the parliament during his reign which was biggest amount in the history of England.

    Two famous cases about Charles’ financial problem and how he got the money were the Forced Loan and Tonnage and Poundage. During the war with France, Charles was unfit to handle foreign policy became more common than ever. At the same time, the government’s need to raise money became more desperate than ever. Having failed to get any subsidies out of the Parliament of 1626, Charles introduced the Forced loan. There was no intention of ever repaying the money, but the use of the ‘loan’ helped the government to pretend it was not raising a tax without Parliamentary consent. Forced loan was paid by the gentries, aristocracies, local government officials, and collected by the same people. If people failed to pay the loan, they would be sent to prison. There was an incident that five knights refused to pay the money and they were imprisoned. At the same time, Charles was also getting unauthorised tonnage and poundage. Tonnage and poundage was the money given by people rewarding the good ruling of the King, it was only voted once by the parliament in 1625 for one year. This time, Charles collected the money without discussing with the parliament.

    These two cases above harm the relations between King and Parliament because they broke the Petition of Right that the King signed and agreed with in 1628. The Petition of Right was drawn up when Charles called the third parliament. Charles called the third parliament as he needed money desperately for the wars he was fighting. Parliament didn’t want to grant him as they fear the King would use the money to remove Parliament, so they drew the Petition of Right. There were four issues: no arbitrary imprisonment, no arbitrary Billeting, no arbitrary taxation and Martial Law. However after he signed this, he continued to collect tonnage and poundage and sent the five knights into prison.

   The House of Commons had 3 resolutions for the King’s continuation of collecting Tonnage and Poundage. Whoever tried to change or innovate religion, support Tonnage and Poundage and pay Tonnage and Poundage are seen as capital enemies. Charles was extremely angry because he thought this act was using his Prerogative Power, the parliament is discussing issues included foreign policy and religion.

    The third main reason was Charles’ promotion of Arminian clergy, it was seen by Puritans as an attempt to introduce Catholicism, an innovation in religion. The English Church was a Protestant Church, but it kept some of the traditions and appearance of Catholicism. Ordinary people were forced to go to churches every Sunday. In the 1620s, there were too main religious groups, Arminians and Puritans. Arminians claimed to be more Catholic and The Puritans claimed to be more Protestant which was England’s religion.

    While Charles was conducting the quarrel over the Five Knights, he was busy moving Arminian clergy into key positions in the Church. William Laud, later Archbishop of Canterbury, and Richard Neile, later Archbishop of York, were made members of the Privy Council. So the King had the control of English Churches. At the same time, the Arminians were gaining control of the censorship. In the middle of Parliament’s attack on Buckingham, he was made the Chancellor of Cambridge University, and this office gave him control over the work of the Cambridge press. William Laud had controlled the press of London. The King gained full control of the press in England after Pembroke’s death and Laud succeed his place as Chancellor of Oxford. At the same time, some of the Arminian clergy were doing more than anyone else to give the King public support over the Forced Loan. It was this time that many people decided that the religious changes and the issues of taxation were two parts of the same argument. If Charles wanted to set up a new religion, which Parliament would not support, he would need to rule without Parliament. If he was to do without Parliament, he would have to be able to raise taxes without the consent of Parliament. It was this time that many people think the illegal taxes rather than forced loan, were part of a plot to destroy the religion and liberties of England.