King Charles, the Commonwealth
& the Duke of Buckingham

In 1627 British Parliament opened impeachment proceedings against George Villiers, the Duke of Buckingham, to which the King, Charles I, responded in turn by dissolving his Parliament. As Charles and George had travelled together and incognito to Spain in February 1623, to try to reach agreement on the long-pending Spanish match; they were long since friends, and Charles had just placed him in command of the English forces for a French relief task force mission at the siege of La Rochelle. In fact Charles and the Duke of Buckingham had assumed together de facto control of the Kingdom by 1624 when King James I was growing ill. In May 1626 more so, Charles had nominated his friend and ally the Duke of Buckingham as Chancellor of Cambridge University, appeasing his disastrous military advances made against Spain.

When two members of parliament Dudley Digges and Sir John Eliot, who had spoken against the Duke of Buckingham were arrested for the condemnation, the Commons became outraged, and on 12 June 1626, the Commons launched a direct protestation:

Without parliament Charles had left himself unable to raise any money. Charles thus assembled a puppet parliament in 1628 drawing up the Petition of Right, and on referral from the Magna Carta. In his "personal rule of Charles I", or the "Eleven Years' Tyranny" ruling the English nation from his coffers; Charles made peace with France and Spain, effectively ending England's involvement in the Thirty Years' War (to salvage finances). He introduced a monetary tax additionally, exploiting a naval war-scare in 1635 to gain funding (in which many prominent British businessmen were fined for refusing to pay).

These measures were followed with proper religious reformation which would though tip the balance unfavorably. Charles believed in High Anglicanism, a sacramental version of the Church of England, theologically based upon Arminianism, a creed shared with his main political advisor, Archbishop William Laud. In 1633, firstly Charles appointed Laud as Archbishop of Canterbury, of which the Puritans claimed was a attempt towards Catholicism (and a return). While vying for a uniform Church throughout Britain and Scotland in fact, this was non-gratis and a riot broke out in Edinburgh following, after he introduced a High Anglican version of the English Book of Common Prayer in mid-1637. The mainstream response to the objections formed into Royal policy in the National Covenant which rejected all innovations not first having been tested by free parliaments and general assemblies of the church.

The militant responses increased until King Charles I was defeated losing Newcastle to the Scots, after which he absconded the English religious pressure on Scotland and paid the Scots' war-expenses for good return. Short lived however, Charles' hand had been forced and to break the Scottish rebelliousness, and the treaty he attacked them forthrightly in Berwick. In turn the Scots invaded England, occupying Northumberland and Durham.

Meanwhile, Charles' chief advisor Thomas Wentworth, 1st Viscount Wentworth, had risen to the role of Lord Deputy of Ireland in 1632 and brought in much-needed revenue for Charles by persuading the Irish Catholic gentry to pay new taxes in return for promised religious concessions (who he made the Earl of Strafford duly). However when Charles tried again to reform parliament, granting a new autonomy in the process, the nobles agenda provided contrary to Charles' military circumstance. They firstly condemned Wentworth, the accomplished financer to Charles, to death, who was executed; a order which Charles himself signed out of fear for his wellbeing. As the parliamentarians continued to suspect Charles of wanting to impose episcopalianism and unfettered Royal rule by military force the situation turned grim. The Irish Catholics, fearing a resurgence from the Protestants, rebelled and rumor's that the King supported the Irish, and was sympathetic to Catholic rule (Spanish), led to a irreparable rift. Charles was unofficially denounced by the Parliamentarians but labelled in kind as their servant.

Charles departed London in January 1642 and by 22 August had raised the Royal standard at Nottingham and followed into the first pitched battle, fought at Edgehill on 23 October 1642. He was imprisoned, subsequently at Hurst Castle at the end of 1648, and thereafter to Windsor Castle; where in January 1649, the Rump House of Commons indicted him. The Parliamentarian and Royalist 'Civil War' would continue after Charles was executed, in the initiated era of the 'old' English Commonwealth. He was succeeded by Charles II who returned from exile (after defeat by Oliver Cromwell at Worcester, and failure of his Republican model) on 23 May 1660, and was crowned in the ceremonial restoration of the monarchy on 23 April 1661; amending the gap left by Cromwell (Lord Protector and effective military dictator for near twenty years) and the 190,000 British killed in his war.

Written by Jason Steven Jowett. Sourced from historical fact. This blog may not be reproduced in whole without the author's express permission. Copyright © 2024. greatbrittania.blogspot.com