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Parliament Meets - Petition of Right
After his father's death, Charles I inherited a costly war with Spain. Despite his attempts to circumvent them, Charles was forced to appeal to Parliament for finances. Parliament distrusted Charles, and before they agreed to finance the war, he was forced to sign the Petition of Right. The Petition repealed many of the actions Charles had previously implemented, restricting his expanding influence. This was the first of many examples of the reliance English monarchs had on Parliament. -
Charles I Starts a War in Scotland
When Charles I and William Laud attempted to impose the English episcopal system and the Anglican Book of Common Prayer on the Scottish, who were accustomed to religious tolerance from James I, they started a war Charles I was unprepared for. Again, Charles was forced to call on Parliament for funds, and again they brought a list of grievances. Charles refused, dismissed Parliament, and lost to the Scots. He was forced to reconvene Parliament and work on their terms, further limiting his power. -
The Long Parliament Convenes
After Charles's loss to the Scots, Parliament is reconvened. Unlike previous meetings, the English upper classes represented in the Long Parliament are united in opposition to the monarch. Parliament impeaches Charles's advisors, abolishes courts that supported royal policy, and expands their own powers. They also ensure they have established meeting times, and the monarch cannot disband them without their consent. Overall, the monarchy loses its supremacy to new parliamentary checks. -
Militia Ordinance
After Charles I began raising an army outside of London, a nervous Parliament passed the Militia Ordinance, which permitted them to raise their own army. This affront to Charles's authority plunged England into a four year civil war that pitted the monarchy and its Cavaliers against Parliament and its supporters. Not only did civil war loosen the grip of the monarchy, but Parliament's victory and Charles's eventual beheading served as reminders that monarchs officially had someone to answer to. -
Parliament Abolishes the Monarchy
After the Cavaliers were defeated and Charles I was beheaded, Parliament officially abolished the monarchy. Oliver Cromwell ruled cruelly as Lord Protector in the now Puritan republic of England. Although Cromwell became a dictator and the monarchy was eventually reinstated, the period in which England had no monarch was both an immediate check on monarchical power, and limited what powers were returned to the monarchy once it reemerged. After 1660, the monarchy was afraid of overstepping. -
Test Act
When Charles II assumed the throne of England, many, including Parliament, accused him of having Catholic sympathies. His Declaration of Indulgences only worsened these fears. When Charles II asked Parliament for funds to support a war with Holland, Parliament refused until he repealed the Declaration. They then passed the Test Act, which kept Roman Catholics from service to the crown. Once again Parliament had checked monarchical actions and forced Charles to comply with parliamentary wishes. -
Glorious Revolution
After William III marches his army into England and forces James II to flee, Parliament declares William III and his wife Mary II the official English monarchs. Their recognition of the Bill of Rights limited monarchical power, and ensured the individual rights of the English upper class. English monarchs were now subject to law and Parliament. Their agreement to restrictions on the power of the monarch was the official introduction of limited constitutional monarchy to England
