Charles I (1625-1649) succeeded his father, James I, when he was 25 years of age.

Like his father, Charles I was an advocate of the divine right of kings, which was
the belief that kings received their power from God and were answerable only to
God. His reign was dominated by a continuous and bitter conflict with Parliament,
which culminated in the Civil War, his execution and the abolition of the English
monarchy.
‘Tonnage and poundage’ was a system of import duties. It was the King's
main source of revenue. It had been customary for parliament to grant to the
English crown the duties of tonnage and poundage for life. The first Parliament, in
1625, broke with tradition and granted Charles I tonnage and poundage revenues
for a year rather than for life. This restriction was intended to curb Charles'
autonomy by forcing him to request money from Parliament every year thereafter.
Charles dissolved Parliament and continued to collect unauthorized tonnage and
poundage duties.
Charles came to rely heavily on the Duke of Buckingham's advice and
support and allowed England's foreign policy to be directed by the Duke, who
launched a series of disastrous military expeditions against Spain and France.
Buckingham’s arrogance and abuse of power made him highly unpopular.
An expedition under the command of the Duke of Buckingham was
launched against the Spanish city of Cadiz, hoping that it could capture it before
the arrival there of the Spanish treasure fleet. If successful, it would deal a heavy
blow at Spanish finances, and it would provide Charles with funds without
recourse to Parliament. But the costly expedition ended in disaster and this left
Charles with no alternative but to call the second Parliament, in 1626. The
Commons resolved to impeach the Duke of Buckingham blaming him for the
defeat in Spain. To end the conflict and save his friend, Buckingham, Charles
dissolved Parliament.
Soon afterwards, the King found himself at war with France. As money was
wanted for the French expedition, Charles imposed a tax without the consent of
Parliament. A major expedition of 80 ships under the command of Buckingham
was sent to help the besieged Huguenots, but it ended in disaster.
By 1628 Charles had no option but to turn again to Parliament. The third
Parliament strongly resented the King’s method of raising money during the
previous year. A petition, known as the Petition of Right, was approved by both
Houses of Parliament and was presented to Charles for the royal assent. The
‘Petition of Right’ aimed at restricting the monarch’s powers and preventing him
from raising taxes without the consent of Parliament.
Being reluctant to such limitations on his authority, King Charles signed the
petition unwillingly because he was in desperate need of money. But he soon
realised that harmony between himself and Parliament was impossible. The
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confrontation reached such a peak that Charles I dissolved Parliament, which did
not meet again for eleven years (1629-40), described as ‘Eleven Years Tyranny’, or
‘Personal Rule’.
No law existed that would compel the King to call Parliament but he realised
that if he ruled without Parliament he must do without wars. Accordingly, he made
peace with France and Spain. His system of non-parliamentary rule would last as
long as peace lasted. Without Parliament’s assistance, Charles was obliged to raise
money by obscure and highly unpopular means.
Charles visited Scotland in 1633 and was crowned King of the Scots. The
dispute that erupted in Scotland was a defiance of royal attempts to impose the
model of the Anglican Church on Scotland and, in particular, a resistance to the
introduction of a new Prayer Book based on the English one, which led to the
Bishops’ War (1639-1640) between Charles and the Scottish Presbyterians.
Charles brought his Personal Rule to an end after the humiliating defeat by
the Scots in the First Bishops' War. The King called Parliament hoping that it
would provide the money he needed in the war against Scotland. Parliament
demanded the legality of the dissolution of Parliament in 1629 and the various
abuses of power during his Personal Rule. Charles dissolved the so-called Short
Parliament, which lasted for less than a month (13 April – 5 May 1640).
Instead of seeking a compromise with the Parliament, Charles gathered an
army and marched north, thus starting the Second Bishops’ War. The Scots did not
wait for Charles to invade their country but they mounted a pre-emptive invasion
of the north of England. The King’s army was defeated at the Battle of Newburn. A
truce was made and Charles promised to respect all Scottish political and religious
freedoms.

The Long Parliament

Six months after the dissolution of the Short Parliament, in November 1640,
Charles I was compelled to call the Long Parliament, which lasted for twenty
years. Meanwhile, the first political party had begun to take shape and in the
elections of 1640, the result was an overwhelming victory for the party of the
gentry, merchants and artisans. In the first session of the Long Parliament, the new
party met with no opposition because there was as yet no royalist party.
The meeting of the Long Parliament was the signal for the renewal of the
struggle between the Crown and the House of Commons. The parliament decided
to transfer to the Commons powers previously exercised by the king. The MPs
demanded that Parliament should meet regularly and favoured the restriction of the
king’ powers. To prevent the King from dissolving it at will, Parliament passed the
Triennial Act, which required that Parliament was to be summoned every three

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years. Parliament could not be dissolved without its own consent and if the King
failed to summon parliament, its members could assemble on their own. Parliament
should play a part in the appointment and dismissal of Privy Councillors, principal
state and court officials.
The King agreed to these demands as long as the Scots occupied the north of
England. Charles reached an agreement with the Presbyterian leaders of Scotland
and promised to meet their demands with regard to the Scottish Church, provided
the Scots withdrew their army from the north of England. Charles returned to
England determined to deal more vigorously with his Parliament now that he was
no longer menaced by a Scottish invasion.
English Protestants dominated the government of Ireland and the majority in
the Irish Parliament was represented by English and Scottish Protestants. The
native Irish population remained devoted to Roman Catholicism but Catholics were
barred from holding office. In 1641, the Irish who were driven from their lands,
rebelled against the colonization of Ireland by Protestant settlers from England and
Scotland. Their resentment against the English settlers erupted into violence.
Protestant settlers were evicted from their lands and their farms and houses were
burnt. Some 4,000 Protestant settlers were killed in the uprising.
Charles and Parliament quarrelled over who should control an army to
suppress the rebellion in Ireland. The Puritans feared that Charles might later use
the army against Parliament itself. On the other hand, the royalists were as afraid to
trust the Puritan leaders of the House of Commons with raising an army, as the
raising of an army had always been the right and duty of the crown.
The King decided to get rid of Parliament and, on 4 January 1642, he
entered the House of Commons in person with some hundreds of his followers. It
was a major breach of parliamentary privilege as it was the first time that a
monarch had entered the Chamber of the House of Commons. No monarch has
entered the Chamber ever since. He demanded the arrest of five leading members
of the House of Commons, but found that they had already escaped.
The alarm was sounded and Parliament was protected by the London
masses. Fearing for his own personal life and for that of his family, Charles left
London and travelled north. London locked its gates against the king. The Civil
War had started.