Charles - Chapter 4

Question 1

how could we define a constitutional royalist?

Answer 1

A person who supported Charles during the civil war despite being opposed to his personal rule (e.g ship money and forced loans). Their royalist allegiance was born out of a distaste for the unconstitutional actions of parliament.

They wanted a monarchy but didn’t really approve of Charles being the monarch.

Question 2

what factors gave the royalists the upper hand at the start of the war?

Answer 2

• royalist cavalry was very strong and experienced
• followers of Charles often raised troops at their own expense and the nobility and gentry were often able horsemen.
• roundheads relied on trained bands (local militias) who had little experience in the absence of a war in England for 150 years.

Question 3

what was the issue with roundhead leadership at the start of the war?

Answer 3

They were reluctant to commit to an all-out war against the king.

Question 4

name some parliamentary generals

Answer 4

Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex.

Sir William Waller.

Question 5

Why did charles attempts to recruit troops from Europe fail?

Answer 5

His European counterparts saw Charles as an unreliable ally and were preoccupied with the thirty years war.

Question 6

Why were the roundheads able to accrue more revenue?

Answer 6

They controlled the wealth South and East of England as well as London so could collect more taxes to support their army.
The royalists controlled the North and West.

Question 7

What were the advantages of controlling London?

Answer 7

• collection of customs duties
• borrow money from the City of London
• use the lines of the communication from London.

Question 8

What was the primary aim of the royalist forces at the start of the war?

Answer 8

• to regain control of London.

Question 9

• how did control of the Navy benefit the roundheads?

Answer 9

It allowed them to control trade into England and the customs duties associated with it.

Question 10

Name the three strategic arms depots in England?

Answer 10

Hull
London
Portsmouth

Question 11

What gave the roundheads an advantage at the beginning of the war?

Answer 11

They controlled the large arms depots at Hull and London, giving them superior numbers of resources to the royalists.

Question 12

What happened to Portsmouth between August and September 1642?

Answer 12

It had originally declared for the royalist but fell to roundhead besiegers in early September. This gave the roundheads control of the navy.

Question 13

What were the negatives of Prince Rupert’s leadership?

Answer 13

He routinely overstretched his forces and his confusion and inefficency created rivalries within the leadership.

Question 14

Who was Prince Rupert?

Answer 14

Charles’ nephew.

Question 15

How did the upper classes respond in the English Civil War?

Answer 15

Many didn’t get involved at all. Around half of them declared no allegiance.

Question 16

How did Provincialism damage both sides?

Answer 16

Provincial rivalries made it challenging to create a national fighting force and many groups simply used to civil war as a backdrop to play out conflicts they otherwise wouldnt have been able to.

Question 17

Parliament dissolved the Scottish parliament in 1640.

How did the Scots react?

Answer 17

they continued to sit in the parliament even though it had been prorogued by Charles.

Question 18

What was the problem with Charles’ army in the first bishops war?

Answer 18

soldiers had shown too much sympathy to the scots and too many had defected to the scots for Charles to rest easy.

Question 19

Why wouldn’t parliament grant Charles money to engage the Scottish army?

Answer 19

They didn’t trust him not to dispense with parliament once he had received money. Parliament had learned from the personal rule.

Question 20

How did Charles’ upset protestants in the war against the Scots?

Answer 20

Charles tried to recruit Spanish troops and officers to fight against the Scots. He allowed the Spanish to land an army in southern England to attack the united provinces.

Question 21

When did the Short Parliament first meet?

Answer 21

13th April 1640

Question 22

Which group of MP’s didn’t want to fight the scots?

Answer 22

Those who didn’t approve of Laudianism didn’t wish to fight the Scots and so were reluctant to grant a subsidy to Charles.

Question 23

How many subsidies did Charles ask for in the short parliament?

Answer 23

12

Question 24

How many matters of complaint did John Pym present to the king in the short parliament? What did they include?

Answer 24

36.

Impositions and ship money were of high priority.

Question 25

When was the great contract proposed?

Answer 25

1610

Question 26

Why did Charles need to call another parliament?

Answer 26

The Scottish army had captured Newcastle and cut off London’s main supply of coal. York became vulnerable. Charles had to call another parliament to try and counter the advancing Scots.

Question 27

Why did Charles order the convocation to continue sitting even after the short parliament had been dissolved?

Answer 27

, Charles ordered Convocation to continue sitting even after he dissolved the Short Parliament because the Convocation had not yet passed the canons which Charles had had Archbishop Laud draw up and which confirmed the Laudian church policies as the official policies of the Church of England.

Question 28

What was the ‘et cetera oath’?

Answer 28

An oath designed to identify dangerous sectaries who would refuse to accept it.
It was widely ignored.

Question 29

Why did Charles call the long parliament?

Answer 29

12 of Charles’ critics wrote a petition lamenting the innovations in religion and increase in popery and called for another parliament. They were working alongside the Scots. Nathaniel Fiennes wrote to tell the covenantors about the petition. Charles called a council of peers in York and decided to call another new parliament.

Question 30

What preceded the elections of 1640 in the counties?

Answer 30

JP’s and county officials held meetings to draw up a list of complaints. These included the concerns of merchants about tariffs and monopolies, concerns over Arminianism and concerns over ship money and religious innovation.

Question 31

What was significant about the makeup of the MP’s in the long parliament?

Answer 31

As the election of 1640 was so soon after parliament was dissolved, half of the MPs were the same so they were experienced and ready to give their views. In other words, they were a tough crowd.

Question 32

What was the first, and only, major reform passed by the long parliament in the first six months?

Answer 32

the triennial act was passed in February 1641 and required the king to call a parliament at least every three years and for it to sit for at least 50 days.

Question 33

How was triennial act flawed?

Answer 33

it was far from ensuring that parliament was a major part of the machinery government since it still allowed for long periods without a parliament sitting.

Question 34

How did parliament remove Charles’ evil advisers?

Answer 34

laud was arrested, impeached and imprisoned in the Tower of London to await trial. He posed little threat now as he was over 60. The Lord Keeper (Finch) and the other six judges who had upheld ship money in the Hampden trial were also imppeached.

Question 35

Which ‘evil adviser’ was the primary target of the long parliament? Why?

Answer 35

The Earl of Strafford (Wentworth)
He was ruthless in the North and in Ireland and was suspected of being ready to use Irish troops to help Charles gain an upper hand. This would have given Charles control of an army independent of parliament.

Question 36

What happened to the earl of strafford?

Answer 36

he was arrested and impeached accused of;

• ‘endeavoring to subvert the ancient and fundamental laws’
• ‘tyrannical government in Ireland’
• ‘provoking war against the Scots’

Question 37

Why was strafford seemingly immune to being charged with treason?

Answer 37

he had royal support

Question 38

why was an act of attainder used against strafford instead of impeachment?

Answer 38

an act of attainder simply required parliament to declare strafford guilty of treason and get the king to agree to it. This pushed the blame and responsibility on Charles.

Question 39

how did the citizenry of London cause a political crisis at the start of 1640? Why did they?

Answer 39

there was riotous behavior in the streets (mainly young unemployed men) who were unimpressed with the economic crisis and the way that Charles’ granted a reprieve to a catholic priest.

Question 40

Why did Charles agree to the triennial act?

Answer 40

street riots were a significant threat and parliament made Charles’ subsidies (to pay the scots) dependent on his assent.

Question 41

How did Charles take a more conciliatory approach?

Answer 41

he told parliament he would give up ‘what parts of my revenue that shall be found to be illegal or grievous to the public’ and to ‘reform all innovations of the church and commonwealth’.

He also agreed to the marriage of his daughter, Mary, to William of Orange, the protestant son of the Dutch leader.

Question 42

what did Charles promise strafford while he was imprisoned in the tower of london?

Answer 42

he would not suffer ‘in life, honor or fortune’ and the Irish army would not be disbanded.

Question 43

what three factors sealed strafford fate?

what event occurred to cause Charles to change his mind?

Answer 43

• the army had plotted to free strafford from the tower and Pym had revealed the plot in order to increase pressure on the king.
• there was a dominant section of the commons devoted to seeing the death of strafford who were pushing the act of attainder
• the london mob lingered around whitehall and Charles feared for the safety of himself and his family.
• strafford, aware of these factors, absolved charles of his promise paving the way for him to sign the act of attainder.

Question 44

when was strafford executed?

Answer 44

11 May 1641

Question 45

what additional powers did Charles award to parliament after strafford death?

Answer 45

parliament had to consent to its own dismissal.

Question 46

what had happened to the privy council by May 1641?

Answer 46

over half of the privy council from the previous year had been imprisoned, exiled or disgraced.

Question 47

what happened as a result of the the committees set up to dismantle the apparatus of the personal rule?

Answer 47

• ship money was made illegal as the judgement of rex v hampden was reversed
• it was illegal to compel anyone to take upon himself the order of the knighthood
• the boundaries of the royal forest were fixed as they had been in 1623
• the star chamber, the council of the north and the council for the marches of wales were all abolished
• the court of high commission was abolished with the proviso that no similar court ever be set up again.
• the tonnage and poundage act made the collection of customs duties legal after it had previously been declared illegal. Income could be collected for two months and then the act had to be renewed every two months to ensure the king could not build an independent income.
• the court of wards was abolished.

Question 48

what happened as a result of the the committees set up to dismantle the apparatus of the personal rule?

Answer 48

• ship money was made illegal as the judgement of rex v hampden was reversed
• it was illegal to compel anyone to take upon himself the order of the knighthood
• the boundaries of the royal forest were fixed as they had been in 1623
• the star chamber, the council of the north and the council for the marches of wales were all abolished
• the court of high commission was abolished with the proviso that no similar court ever be set up again.
• the tonnage and poundage act made the collection of customs duties legal after it had previously been declared illegal. Income could be collected for two months and then the act had to be renewed every two months to ensure the king could not build an independent income.
• the court of wards was abolished.

Question 49

Charles agreed to all of the measures proposed to dismantle the apparatus of the personal rule but why did he believe them to be null and void?

Answer 49

his wife has insisted that because he had been compelled to give his assent, the measures were invalidated.