British History in Perspective General Editor: Jeremy Black PUBLISHED TITLES Rodney Barker Politics, Peoples and Government C. J. Bartlett British Foreign Policy in the Twentieth Century Jeremy Black Robert Walpole and the Nature of Politics in Early Eighteenth-Century Britain Anne Curry The Hundred Years War John W. Derry British Politics in the Age of Fox, Pitt and Liverpool William Gibson Church, State and Society, 1760-1850 Brian Golding Conquest and Colonisation: the Normans in Britain, 1066-1100 S. J. Gunn Early Tudor Government, 1485-1558 Richard Harding The Evolution of the Sailing Navy, 1509-1815 Ann Hughes The Causes of the English Civil War Ronald Hutton The British Republic, 1649-1660 Kevin Jefferys The Labour Party since 1945 T. A. Jenkins Disraeli and Victorian Conservatism D. M. Loades The Mid-Tudor Crisis, 1545-1565 Diarmaid MacCulloch The Later Reformation in England, 1547-1603 A.P. Martinich Thomas Hobbes W. M. Onnrod Political Life in Medieval England, 1300-1450 Keith Perry British Politics and the American Revolution A. J. Pollard The Wars of the Roses David Powell British Politics and the Labour Question, 1868--1990 David Powell The Edwardian Crisis Richard Rex Henry Vlll and the English Reformation G. R. Searle The Liberal Party: Triumph and Disintegration, 1886-1929 Paul Seaward The Restoration, 1660-1668 W. M. Spellman John Locke Robert Stewart Party and Politics, 1830-1852 John W. Young Britain and European Unity, 1945-92 Michael B. Young Charles 1 History of Ireland Sean Duffy Ireland in the Middle Ages D. G. Boyce The Irish Question and British Politics, 1868--1996 (2nd edn) David Harkness Ireland in the Twentieth Century: Divided Island
Histmy of Scotland Keith M. Brown Kingdom or Province? Scotland and the Regal Union, 1603-1715 Bruce Webster Medieval Wales Scotland Histmy of Wales A. D. Carr Medieval Wales J. Gwynfor Jones Early Modem Wales, c.1525-1640 Further titles are in preparation Please note that a sister series, Social History in Perspecti ve, is now available. It covers the key topics in social, cultural and religious history. British History in Perspective Series Standing Order ISBN 978-0-333-69331-5 You can receive future titles in this series as they are published by placing a standing order. Please contact your bookseller or, in case of difficulty, write to us at the address below with your name and address, the title of the series and the ISBN quoted above. Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd Houndmills, Basingstoke. Hampshire RG21 6XS, England
Charles I Michael B. Young Macmillan Education
CHARLES I Copyright 1997 by Michael B. Young Softcover reprint of the hardcover lst edition 1997 978-0-333-60135-8 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information, address: St. Martin's Press, Scholarly and Reference Division, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 First published in the United States of America in 1997 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. ISBN 978-0-333-60136-5 ISBN 978-1-349-25309-8 (ebook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-25309-8 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Young, Michael B. Charles 1/ Michael B. Young p. cm. - (British history in perspective) Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 978-0-312-16515-4. - ISBN 978-0-312-16516-1(pbk.) I. Charles I, King of England. 1600-1649. 2. Great Britain-Kings and rulers-biography. 3. Great Britain-History-Charles I, 1625-1649. I. Title. II. Series. DA396.A2Y64 1997 941.06'2'092--dc20 96-30740 CIP
CONTENTS Acknowledgements vii Introduction 1 1 Prior Commitments 14 Buckingham 14 Rex Bellicosus 17 The Parliament of 1624 21 The War Plan 27 First Impressions 30 2 A Bad Start, 1625-1629 34 Exoneration 35 The Parliament of 1625 37 The Parliament of 1626 45 The Forced Loan 50 The Parliament of 1628 55 The Parliament of 1629 62 Conspiracy Theories and Opposition 65 3 The Personal Rule I 72 Introduction to the Personal Rule 72 Court Culture 80 Foreign Affairs 87 Domestic Affairs 94 4 The Personal Rule II 106 Religious Policy 107 Scotland to 1637 115 Prayer Book and War 120 v
vi Contents 5 A Matter of Trust, 1640-1649 The Demon King The Short Parliament The Long Parliament to 1642 The First Civil War Negotiations and the Second Civil War Trial and Execution Conclusion 126 127 132 139 153 161 167 173 Notes and References Further Reading Index 181 212 218
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am profoundly grateful to Jeremy Black for the invitation to write this book. It was the perfect project at the perfect time, and I cannot thank him enough for giving me the opportunity. It has been a real pleasure working with Macmillan Press. I especially appreciate the professionalism of Vanessa Graham, Simon Winder and Judy Marshall. As always, I am indebted to Maija Jansson for her many favours and invaluable assistance at the Yale Center for Parliamentary History. I am also grateful to two colleagues who read parts of the manuscript and gave me excellent suggestions. Johann Sommerville commented on chapter 2, and Caroline Hibbard commented on chapters 3 and 4. I have profited greatly from their comments, though of course they are not responsible for what I have ended up saying. A book of this sort, surveying the current state of scholarship in a field, is especially indebted to all the many authors who have contributed to the field. In my effort to assess this previous work, I hope readers will find that I have been as free with my praise as my criticism. I hope this is particularly true regarding the work of Conrad Russell. Some years ago Professor Russell and J. H. Hexter, an unlikely combination to be sure, gave me critical support and encouragement which I will never forget. VII
To My Parents