Charles I: Villain or Victim? Quiz

Answer: James I

James I inherited the throne of England when his cousin, Elizabeth I, died without heirs in 1603. As smart as Elizabeth was, she didn't remember that providing successors to the throne was one of the most important duties of a monarch. While it is agreed that the Stuarts were the rightful heirs, they were from Scotland, and ruling England in the seventeenth century was nothing like ruling Scotland.

Many of the issues that affected the reign of Charles were present during his father's reign, and were allowed to simmer; eventually it was too much for the English Parliament, accustomed to certain rights and privileges, to tolerate.

Answer: Divine Right of Kings

The idea of the divine right of kings really gave the king free reign to do as he pleased. According to the belief, no one - not the aristocracy, or the lawmaking body, or any other earthly authority - had the power to judge the king or tell him what to do. Before James I became James VI of Scotland, he wrote a book, "Basilikon Doron", supposedly with the intention of educating his then-heir, Henry, that a king must "acknowledgeth himself ordained for his people, having received from the God a burden of government, whereof he must be countable." The idea of the divine right of kings was relatively easy to sell to Roman Catholics at the time, as they were well acquainted with the idea of petrine supremacy - in other words, the pope is the supreme spiritual authority of the Church on earth, and therefore, is infallible.

It is logical to assume that these same ideas were taught to Charles as well, especially after Henry, his beloved brother, died at the age of eighteen in 1612. Twelve-year-old Charles, weak and sickly, possibly due to rickets, became the heir apparent.

In the portrait, Charles is being crowned by the hand of God.

Answer: Married a Catholic

There was talk of a marriage agreement for diplomatic purposes to Maria Anna of Spain in 1620, with hopes that such a marriage would keep England out of active involvement in the Thirty Years' War (mostly fought over religious differences) and bring peace.

The government in England, however, was rather hostile to the idea of uniting England's royal family with Spain's for two reasons. Spain was their age-old enemy and ruled by Catholic monarchs. After James I died, Charles turned his attention toward France.

He had seen the French princess, Henrietta Maria, while traveling to Spain years earlier; in 1625 they were married by proxy, even though there continued to be opposition to the English monarch marrying a Catholic. Interestingly, his new wife refused to attend her husband's coronation because it was a Protestant religious ceremony.

Answer: He fined landowners who did not attend his coronation

When Charles became king, he actually inherited financial problems that went back to the time of Elizabeth I. It was apparent that he could not rely on Parliament for funds; their idea of waging war on Spain was attacking Spanish ships in North America, hoping to gain wealth from the treasures ships traveling across the Atlantic. Even though England is regarded to have been the least taxed country in Europe at the time, Parliament was reluctant to give Charles money beyond what had been given to the king by custom. Consequently, Charles was forced to be creative.

He revived the Distraint of Knighthood law, which required any man who earned £40 or more from land annually to present himself at the king's coronation to be knighted or face a fine. Actually all of the choices were methods Charles used to raise money. Traditionally, when England was at war, citizens in coastal towns were expected to provide ships.

This requirement could be fulfilled with the payment of "ship money" instead. Even though there was a law against granting monopolies for payment, Charles raised money in this way; especially lucrative was the soap monopoly.

The Act of Revocation, which affected the Scottish nobles, took back gifts of royal lands given to the church or nobles since 1540; if people wanted to keep their land they had to pay a yearly rent fee. Even with all these money raising schemes (and more!) the English government was bankrupt by the middle of the 1640s, and no one wanted to loan the king money.

Answer: Prorogation

By the time of Charles I, Parliament had become an institution in England; the expectation was that the king would allow Parliament to meet and fulfill its customary duties. That doesn't mean, however, that other monarchs didn't prorogue Parliament; it was Charles's way of doing so that made him extremely unpopular. Shortly after his coronation, he became embroiled in a conflict over the collection of duties, called tonnage and poundage, which, through tradition, was authorized by Parliament. Enraged that he was not granted money to wage his war with Spain, and involved in a hot debate over his appointment of the Duke of Buckingham as Chancellor of Cambridge University, Charles not only prorogued Parliament, but also imprisoned two members who had spoken against the appointment of Buckingham.

The prorogation of Parliament which began in June 1628, continued until January 1629.

Answer: Petition of Right

Charles made a grave mistake in dealing with this document, which basically restated principles that were already in place. Only Parliament could approve taxes, martial law could not be imposed upon civilians, people could not be imprisoned without due process of law, and the government was not allowed to house troops in private homes without the consent of the owner. Charles appeared before Parliament, and the entire document was read before all the members, to which Charles responded, "soit droit fait comme est desiré".

This phrase was used to note acceptance of a bill before Parliament. However, not even a month after its passage, Charles once again dismissed Parliament, and continued collecting funds as he pleased. It is commonly thought that Charles agreed to approve the Petition in return for a sum of money.

After he received the funds, he turned his back on his promise.

Answer: William Laud

It must be remembered that people such as the Puritans and Separatists, had already begun to leave England during the reign of James I. There were many who believed the reforms in the Church of England hadn't gone far enough to remove popish ideas and practices. William Laud was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury with the intention of making sure that Puritanical practices did not make their way into the Church, persecuting leaders of the Puritan movement, and using courts like the Star Chamber, that were used to condemn opposing religious beliefs. Hated just as much as Charles, William Laud was executed in 1645.

Answer: Long Parliament

Faced with financial problems, religious unrest, and wars at home and abroad, Charles acquiesced to demands to call Parliament into session in April 1640, but dismissed the group after less than a month. In November of the same year, with no other choice, the Long Parliament was called into session.

These guys were ready for action! They made short work of abolishing the special courts, and a law was passed that Parliament had to be called into session every three years. Illegal ways of raising taxes were ended. Unpopular government officials, such as William Laud, were executed.

Although there were royalist groups in Parliament, Puritan support increased. By 1642, two sides had formed: the Cavaliers (many belonged to the king's cavalry), who supported the king, and the Roundheads, who were led by the Puritan, Oliver Cromwell.

Answer: High Treason

Charles made a critical mistake in 1648; he had the chance to negotiate with Parliament - and DID NOT take advantage of the opportunity. In fact, late in the year Parliament voted 129 to 83 to continue negotiations with the king. However, Oliver Cromwell was able to convince Parliament that Charles was nothing more than a tyrant.

In January 1649, the charge of high treason was levied against the king "for accomplishment of such his designs, and for the protecting of himself and his adherents in his and their wicked practices, to the same ends hath traitorously and maliciously levied war against the present Parliament, and the people therein represented", and that the "wicked designs, wars, and evil practices of him, the said Charles Stuart, have been, and are carried on for the advancement and upholding of a personal interest of will, power, and pretended prerogative to himself and his family, against the public interest, common right, liberty, justice, and peace of the people of this nation." In typical fashion, Charles made a huge mistake.

He refused to plead before the court; unwilling to reject his belief in his divine right as a monarch, he insisted that the court was illegal. He had essentially signed his own death warrant.

Answer: Interregnum

After Charles was found guilty of high treason, he was sentenced to death. This is not something that it appears the people took lightly. The king was guilty of treason? This move was unprecedented, although the French used the idea again 140 years later, with the consequences being the same for Louis XVI. Philip Henry, seventeen years old at the time, wrote that a moan "as I never heard before and desire I may never hear again" came from the crowd after the death of the king.

It was also written that no monarch "ever left the world with more sorrow: women miscarried, men fell into melancholy". Whether the execution was an act of justice or vengeance has been debated for centuries. Nevertheless, the Interregnum would have more than a decade to prove its worth to the English people.

Then what happened? In 1660, tired of military rule and unhappy with Puritanical restrictions, Parliament restored the monarchy. It would not, however, ever be the same monarchy again.