How it all started: The fight with Parliament
Charles I was not at first a favourite of the Parliament because he was the son of James I, known as the "wisest fool in Christendom," and a tyrant. He was always constantly needing money because he lived such an excessive life style. To get the money he needed to consult the Parliament. Parliament would sometimes agree to grant Charles request only if he agreed to respect its wishes for more power. The king would refuse and trick the Parliament by not upholding his part of the deal.
King Charles began to look for illegal ways to collect money which made the people of England very angry.
These included:
King Charles began to look for illegal ways to collect money which made the people of England very angry.
These included:
- Ship money
- Tunnage and Poundage
- Sold noble titles
- Mortgaged royal properties
- Billetted his soldiers with homeowners
- Used the secret Court of Star Chamber to illegally convict, imprison, and fine people
Petition of Right
In 1628, Charles called the Parliament again because he was in desperate need of money. By this time the Parliament was aware of the illegal activities of the king and wanted to put a stop to it right away. It told Charles that they would give no money to him unless he stopped robbing his people and until he signed a new charter called the "Petition of Right." The king called off Parliament and decided to rule without it.
Long Parliament
In 1637 Charles was in trouble; he needed money to pay for soldiers to quell the revolt in Scotland. The Scots were angry because he had attempted to force them to worship in the style of the Church of England so they revolted. The king called the "Short Parliament" in 1640 but they sided with the Scots so Charles shut it down in three weeks. Finding no solution to his problem, King Charles called another parliament, this one lasting for 13 years. The "Long Parliament" demanded that Charles' advisors Strafford and Laud be executed.
The Grand Remonstrance
Parliament was tired of the King and they wanted to limit the his power so they considered to pass the Grand Remonstrance. This was a written law that proposed to change the role of the king in the government and to remove many of his powers. When Charles learned that the Commons was divided and radical members wanted to take his rights, he lead 500 soldiers into the House of Commons to arrest them. The members managed to escape but this event soon would lead to the civil war.