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Changes In Europe
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James I Starts Stuart Dynasty
James faced problems from the start. He believed in the divine right of kings and wanted to rule as an absolute monarchy. Because of the wars waged by his predecessors and the fact that he was from Scotland and considered an outsider, he had a hard time agreeing with parliament. A group called the Puritans, who were strict Calvinists, wanted to further reform the English church. Part of this reformation would be taking away power from church officials. James saw this as a threat due to the fact -
Charles I was crowned king.
James I dies and his youngest son was crowned as Charles I. He was popular at first but married a Catholic princess and involved England in oversea military adventures which was frowned upon by most English people. Because of the oversea adventures Charles had to ask parliament for money. -
Petition of Rights
Parliament refused to grant king Charles money until he signed a document called the Petition of Rights, which placed limits on the king. The Petition was a direct challenge to absolute monarchy. Among the provisions was a statement that the king could not levy taxes without parliaments approval. Nor could he imprison anyone without legal justification, declare martial law in peacetime, or force citizens to house soldiers. -
Charles I dismisses parliament
When parliament refused to grant him money again, Charles taxed the English people on his own and forced banks to loan him money. Parliament was furious at Charles actions so in turn he dismissed them and decided to rule without consulting parliament ever again. -
Ship Money.
In times of war people living on the coast would pay extra taxes for the defense of the coastline. Charles decided that ship money should be paid at all times by people living on the coast. One year later he decided to make people living inland pay these taxes as well. The people were not pleased and a man named John Hampden refused to pay until it was agreed to by parliament. The case went and parliament found nothing illegal about ship money. Ship money was made illegal in 1641. -
New English Prayer Book.
The Protestants had been upset by Charles marriage to a Catholic. They were more upset when Charles, along with Archbishop Laud began making changes to the Anglican church. They wanted the churches to be decorated once again and the sermons not to be confined just to the bible. So as an agreement a new English Prayer Book was introduced. -
Bishops war.
This war in Scotland caused King Charles I to become indebted with many people. This debt cause Charles to reconvene parliament. The war was due to conflict between England and Scotland. The war was caused by fierce Scottish reactions to King Charles attempt to replace the Scottish Presbyterian church with the English Anglican church. -
Parliament reconvened
Due to a religious rebellion in Scotland king Charles was deeply in dept. He had to reconvene parliament to ask for money. After being ignored for eleven years parliament was in no mood to help the king. This session became known as the Long parliament because it did not disband for many years. Parliament took the opportunity at being reconvened to limit the kings power even further. They demanded he could not dismiss parliament, they had to be called at least every three years. Charles accepted -
English civil war begins.
A radical Puritan group within parliament moved to abolish the appointment of the bishop in the Anglican church. The king, whose power was connected to the power of the church was outraged and decided to arrest the Puritan leaders for treason. He led troops to the House of Commons, but the men had already escaped. Because Charles had this public display that portrayed his intentions to take back power, parliament decided to rise up against him. Charles called for the support of the English peop -
Battle of Naseby.
This was the decisive battle of the war. The defeat of the Royalists destroyed any chances for Charles victory. Cromwell led his cavalry to victory and captured many important papers showing that Charles intended to import and Irish army with European missionaries in order to defeat Parliament. Parliament published the papers making it impossible for Charles to import the army. -
The King Surrenders.
The Royalist army was outmatched by Cromwell's disciplined troops. Cromwell had risen in power through many great wins and now he rose to full control. He dismissed the parliament members who disagreed with him. The remaining members came to be known as the Rump Parliament. -
Charles beheaded.
The Rump Parliament charged the king with treason and put him on trial. The king defended himself with great eloquence but refused to act as if he was being tried. He was sentenced to death and publicly beheaded in front of his own palace. This was the first European monarch to be formally tried and sentenced to death by a court of law. -
Cromwell named Lord Protector.
Cromwell obtained leadership of England, Scotland, and Ireland. He demanded complete obedience and clamped down on English social life by closing theaters and limiting other forms of popular entertainment. He led military expeditions to Scotland and Ireland. Economic policies led to war with the Ditch and limiting Spanish activity to the America's also brought war with Spain. -
Cromwell's collapse.
When Cromwell died his son Richard took control. He lacked his father's leadership abilities and his government quickly collapsed. This left an opening that parliament took and voted to bring back the monarchy. -
The restoration.
Parliament invited Charles I's son to be the new king. Parliament laid down certain conditions for the son, also named Charles, and he accepted them and the invitation to be king. He was crowned King Charles II and was welcomed to London with shouts of good wishes. -
Setbacks.
The Bubonic Plague returned to Europe, killing perhaps 100,000 people in London alone. A year after that the Great Fire Of London destroyed large portions of the city and many people. A good thing to come of the fire was that it killed the rats who carried the plague. Charles supported many public construction projects to help rebuild the city. -
Habeas Corpus Act.
This act guaranteed that someone accused of a crime had the right to appear in court to determine if the accused should be held or released. This is one of the most important acts in English history. -
James II crowned king.
A Catholic man with a Catholic wife and a Catholic successor, made James an unpopular king. He believed wholeheartedly in his right to rule as an absolute monarch. The English people would no longer support such a belief. -
The Glorious Revolution.
A group of nobles invited James's daughter Mary and her husband William to become king and Queen of England. They were both Protestants, living in the Netherlands. Knowing that it was pointless to fight James fled to France and Parliament gave William and Mary the throne as joint rulers. -
English Bill of Rights.
William and Mary had to sign this document before taking the throne. The Bill of Rights was central to the growth of a constitutional monarchy in England. This Bill of Rights reflected in the U.S. Constitution many decades later.
