He was thirty-seven in 1603 when, as James VI of Scotland, he entered London and became James I of England. He was met with the beginnings of puritanism and he had little familiarity with the accepted limitations on totalitarian monarchy in his new kingdom. His profligate ways led to inevitable and ongoing conflict with the Commons, which refused almost all funding requests from a monarch, who believed in the 'divine right' of kings. Their clashes continued throughout his reign over taxes, foreign policy, negotiations for Prince Charles' marriage, religion - in essence - everything. In 1621, he dissolved a parliament, arrested some of its leaders and announced he would not govern according to the common will. The battle lines were being drawn between a parliament that had been accreting powers for centuries and a monarch with little understanding of English history, and who believed he was answerable only to God. Unlike his mother (Mary Queen of Scots) or his son, he died in bed, in 1625. His reign was praised for a long peace and the King James Bible. He was eulogized with faint praise. He was missed by virtually no one.
Charles I opened his reign with a marriage to a French princess, thus assuring the country of a return to anxiety about Roman Catholicism and it's possible return. Over half a century would pass before civil war, regicide, restoration and revolution would resolve the matter. Charles I was bound and determined to rule absolutely and he continued in his father's footsteps, battling with parliament. He dissolved one in 1629; it would be 11 years before he called another. He assented to an imposition of the English Book of Common Prayer in Scotland in 1639 and had to back down when the Scots raised an army of 12,000. He called a parliament and demanded funding; it was refused. He dissolved it after three weeks. Months later, with the Scots again marching, he called what became known as the 'Long Parliament.' Talk of civil war became common. The Commons impeached and arrested the bishops in the House of Lords. The King sought to arrest the leaders in the Commons. Skirmishing broke out. "The partisans on both sides had provoked the conflict, and it was they who would end it." August 22, 1642 is the generally accepted date for the beginning of the English Civil War.
Parliament was better funded and had a larger army. One of their earlier victories was at Marston Moor, where Oliver Cromwell achieved fame as a commander. He established a national standing army without any aristocratic leaders and dressed them in 'redcoats'. Charles was captured in February, 1647. Negotiations between the puritan New Model Army, the King and a moderate parliament broke down. Charles could have kept his crown had he been willing to compromise. Over the course of the next two years positions hardened. Cromwell and the obdurate revolutionaries began to suggest that the King should die. They had a brief trial and beheaded Charles I on January 30, 1649. "In truth the trial and death of the king were contrived by a small, if committed, minority who in no way represented the wishes of the nation."
The 'Rump Parliament' abolished the monarchy and the House of Lords. There was no template for governing under these new circumstances. "Could a representative parliament ever coexist with what was essentially a military dictatorship?" Parliament offered Cromwell the crown; he sensibly declined. In 1657, he accepted the title of Chief Protector, " a restored monarchy in all but name". A year later, the uncertain reins of government passed upon his death to his son, Richard. Unsure of how to resolve the ongoing differences between the army and parliament, Richard resigned and fled to the continent. The army authorized what became known as the Convention Parliament, which included both a Commons and a Lords. Negotiations with Charles Stuart led to his return and restoration as Charles II.
The reign of the third Stuart was known for "profligacy and sexual license." "The king did not have the patience or the intellect to formulate clear lines of policy or enunciate the ideas that might sustain them." Religious divisions between the Anglicans and the various dissenter sects continued unabated. Though the affairs of state were desultory, commerce, culture and science made marked steps forward in the later third of the century. Newton, Halley, Wren and the Royal Society took the lead in exploring new avenues of thought. 'The origins of the industrial and agricultural revolutions, conventionally located in the eighteenth century, are to be found in the previous age." By 1685, England had the largest merchant fleet in the world. Trade with the colonies, the continent and the Orient increased and brought immense wealth to the country. Yet, religion and the succession remained the most compelling issue of the decade. Charles II had many illegitimate children, but it was his brother, James Duke of York who was the rightful heir. Unfortunately, he was Catholic. When Charles II died in 1685, James II succeeded him. He maneuvered to strengthen the position of Catholics in the country and was blessed with a son and heir in June of 1688. His daughter Mary, a Protestant, was married to William, Duke of Orange, the man who had fought against Louis XIV. A Protestant hero was waiting on the continent. He was invited to invade. An easterly 'Protestant wind' took him across the channel in November. The 'Glorious Revolution' put an end to what Henry VIII had started a century -and-a -half ago - England was and would now always be Protestant. More importantly, Parliament reigned supreme.
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