Dear Folk,
The kings of England, especially those who followed Elizabeth, had their problems with Parliament. Ever since it was invented by Simon de Montfort, Parliament was saying "nay" when kings and queens desperately wanted them to say "yea." Other European monarchs did not have these problems: they just did what they wanted, launched wars, whatever, and then raised taxes. On this day, August 22, 1642, King Charles Stuart hoisted up his banner and went to war with Parliament.
James I was the first Stuart king of England. He arrived in the country after the death of Elizabeth I to find the treasury almost completely empty, the plague in London, and his legacy from his predecessor: thousands of formal gowns sewn richly with pearls and gems. None of them were James' size, either.
James' first Parliament did not enthusiastically endorse the formal union of England and Scotland. They might have been a tich worried as to be continually ruled by a dynasty of Scots. They said they would study the matter. In the meantime, James got the church folk to meet and to pass some nifty taxes on everyone from archbishop to country cleric. Over 300 clergymen left their offices rather than being so heavily taxed. Slackers! James showed them by enforcing the Recursancy Laws which punished those who did not go to church or went to the wrong kind (Catholic).
James' second Parliament, convened 4 years after the first one was dissolved, did little better. There were 300 new members. James did his best but all the Parliament wanted to do was argue about the King's taxes. James dissolved this parliament after just two months. They did not pass a single resolution and were called for that "The Addled Parliament."
Seven years later James was forced to call a third Parliament to session. He had gotten England involved, though half-heartedly, in a war in Bohemia of Protestants against Catholics. Remember the defenestration in Prague? I talked about that a little in "A Plump and Pleasant King." Wars cost money. Parliament granted him a little. In the meantime, it rebuked their King for his handling of affairs of state. That Parliament lasted almost a year.
On December 18, 1621 some Parliamentarians got together to issue "The Great Protestation." It said, in part, that the rights of Parliament were an ancient and sacred birthright and that affairs concerning the king, state, and defense of the realm are fitting topics for debate in Parliament. James angrily tore that page out of the record of the Commons and dissolved Parliament.
James' son Charles and the Duke of Buckingham went down to Spain to contract for a marriage between Charles and a lady from the Spanish nobility. In return England wanted help in the war in Bohemia. Spain rather naturally ducked. Charles and Buckingham came home in a snit (a smallish vessel much like a snood but very uncomfortable.) In James' fourth Parliament, the folk were angry not so much at Spain but at Charles and Buckingham. Oh well. The Parliament did authorize some funds for defense of England and sent a small contingent of soldiers across the channel where they died do to lack of sufficient funding. How is that any different today? Forgot the screens for the helicopter intakes? Whoopsy!
Charles I got married May 11, 1625 to Henrietta Maria, sister of French King Louis XIII, and I'll bet none of you were invited. I surely wasn't. It was the same year that Charles I became king.
He called his first Parliament on June 18, 1625 and dissolved it two months later. That Parliament granted the king a little tax money and some cash for a war with Spain. In February 1626 he called a second one. For this one he thought he had a lock on things. He made the guys who were the leaders of the first Parliament and made them sheriffs. That made them ineligible to sit in the Parliament. Cool move. Only problem was that this new Parliament was even more resistant to the meddling of kings. They impeached Buckingham. When the King's side put charges against the leaders of the opposition, they were forced to let the leaders go because Parliament refused to meet without them.
Two more Parliaments met. Each forced the issue of arbitrary rights claimed by the King. The ideals of no taxation without representation, no billeting soldiers in private homes, no martial law in times of peace, no just arresting folks without due cause and charges were pressed. This was over 100 years before the Americans fought for the same rights. Leaders of these Parliaments wound up in jail and dying for their brashness.
Charles I ruled for 11 years (1629 - 1640) without a Parliament raising money any way he could: old feudal privileges, strange taxes, selling monopoly rights, bake sales, you name it. Finally Scotland, home of the Stuarts, and religion, which had been daddy James' strong suit, brought Charles to convene another Parliament. The Scots had some problems with the Anglican Church. Reading the liturgy in English was repugnant to them. The Scots formed their own Church. This led to two wars with England. Charles needed money badly. His fourth Parliament met for less than a month in 1640. They said that they would grant no money until Charles listened to their grievances. Charles just was not in a listening mood.
The last one, the Long Parliament, technically sat from November 2, 1640 to March 16, 1660. You see Charles, in return for peace with the Scots, promised the Scottish army a cash settlement. He could not pay it. Further, the Scottish army would not disband until they were paid. Parliament thought that this surely would be just what they needed to get Charles to listen. Parliament pushed hard for their right to exist independent on the king's whim, the rights of the middle class folk to have businesses fairly taxed and free from unfair monopolies. They even wanted the right to appoint royal ministers and even to appoint guardians for the king's children. What do you think Charles said?
In July of 1642, Parliament appointed a committee of public safety, and put Lord Essex in charge of an army of 20,000 foot soldiers and 4000 cavalry. And on August 22, 1642 King Charles I Stuart raised the royal standard at Nottingham. The military phase of the Great Rebellion had begun.
What have we learned? Don't mess with Scotland? Control the money, control the king? Sometimes negotiations fail and you just gotta go out there and get medieval on folks' buttocks? How about all taxation is theft? Whoops, did I say that?
If it pleases my Parliament of readers, we shall speak more of the war later. I do want to make known that on August 22, a scant few years ago, a wonderful poet, critic, and friend, Erin Harris graced this world by entering it. It was to this world's benefit, I assure all of you.
Hey, if you are out there impeaching your Buckingham, establishing your own wee kirk in the dale, or fighting a king and you want to send these missives off to others, do keep my name and sig attached.
Holding my bake sale and astrology discounts,
J. Ellsworth Weaver
SCA – Sir Balthazar of Endor
AS – Polyphemus Theognis
TRV – Sebastian Yeats