| |
| 1626–30 |
| |
| War against France. Inglorious expedition of Buckingham to the relief of Rochelle (1627). | 1 |
| Exaction of a forced loan to raise money for the French war. | 2 |
| |
| 1628, Mar. 17–1629, Mar. 10 |
| |
| Third parliament of Charles I. (May): Passage of the PETITION OF RIGHT: (1) Prohibition of benevolences and all forms of taxation without consent of parliament. (2) Soldiers should not be billeted in private houses. (3) No commission should be given to military officers to execute martial law in time of peace. (4) No one should be imprisoned unless upon a specified charge. Assent of the king (June 7). Grant of five subsidies. | 3 |
| Charles having, after the first year of his reign, continued to levy tonnage and poundage, the commons drew up a remonstrance against that practice. Prorogation of parliament (June 26). Seizure of goods of merchants who refused to pay tonnage and poundage. | 4 |
| Assassination of Buckingham (Aug. 23) by Felton, a disgruntled naval officer. | 5 |
| |
| 1629, Jan |
| |
| New session of parliament. The Commons at once took up the question of tonnage and poundage. Turbulent scene in the House of Commons; the speaker held in the chair while the resolutions of Eliot were read: Whoever introduced innovations in religion, or opinions disagreeing with those of the true Church; whoever advised the levy of tonnage and poundage without grant of parliament; whoever voluntarily paid such duties, was an enemy of the kingdom. | 6 |
| |
| 1629 |
| |
| Eliot and eight other members were arrested (March 5); Eliot died in the Tower in Nov. 1632 and the others made submission. Parliament dissolved (March 10). For 11 years (1629–40) Charles governed without a parliament, raising money by hand-to-mouth expedients, reviving old taxes and old feudal privileges of the crown and selling monopolies. These were rarely wholly illegal but seemed to parliamentarians contrary to the spirit of the constitution. Charles's advisers: William Laud (1573–1645), bishop of London, 1628, archbishop of Canterbury, 1633; Thomas Wentworth (1593–1641), earl of Strafford and lord lieutenant of Ireland, 1639. Both were extremists. Strafford's policy embittered Ireland. Peace was made with France (April 1630) and with Spain (Nov. 1630). Conformity was enforced. | 7 |
| |
| 1634 |
| |
| The tax that focused hatred on Charles was ship-money, by which a writ issued in 1635 extended to the whole country a tax hitherto levied only on seaboard towns. John Hampden, a Buckinghamshire country gentleman, defying the tax, was tried, 1637–38, and lost his case in court but won it with the public. | 8 |
| |
| 1637 |
| |
| An attempt to read the English liturgy in Edinburgh, ordered by Charles, produced a riot at St. Giles's (June 23). This was followed by the organization of the Scottish Presbyterians to resist episcopacy. On Feb. 28, 1638, was signed the Solemn League and Covenant (whence Covenanters) for the defense of the reformed religion. In November a general assembly at Glasgow abolished episcopacy, settled liturgy and canons, and gave final form to the Scottish Kirk. | 9 |
| |
| 1639 |
| |
| The First Bishops' War. The Scots seized Edinburgh Castle and raised an army. Charles marched to meet them near Berwick but concluded with them, without battle, the pacification of Dunse (June 18). | 10 |
| |
| 1640 |
| |
| Charles, in trouble in Scotland and financially distressed in England, now called his fourth parliament, the Short Parliament at Westminster (April 13–May 5). This parliament, refusing to vote money until grievances were settled, was immediately dissolved. By the treaty of Ripon (Oct. 26) Charles agreed to pay the Scottish army £850 a day until a permanent settlement could be made. These obligations made the calling of a parliament inevitable. | 11 |
| |
| 1640 |
| |
| The LONG PARLIAMENT, the fifth parliament of Charles I (Nov. 3, 1640–March 16, 1660). First session until Sept. 8, 1641. | 12 |
| The fact that the Scottish army was not to be disbanded until paid gave the commons an unusual hold over Charles. On Nov. 11, Strafford was impeached, followed by Laud, and both were sent to the Tower. At the trial of Strafford, impeachment being uncertain, a bill of attainder was introduced which passed both commons and lords in April. Strafford was executed on May 12. Meanwhile, parliament passed the revolutionary Triennial Act, requiring the summoning of parliament every three years even without the initiative of the crown (May 15, 1641). This was followed in May by a bill to prevent the dissolution or proroguing of the present parliament without its own consent, which Charles reluctantly signed, along with Strafford's attainder. The culmination of radicalism was the introduction of a bill for the abolition of bishops. This was the Root and Branch Bill, on which the moderate Puritans split with the more radical Presbyterians. | 13 |
| |
| 1641 |
| |
| In August a treaty of pacification with Scotland was made, and Scottish and English armies were paid with the proceedings of a special poll tax granted by parliament. Charles took refuge with the Scots. On the proroguing of parliament in September, each house appointed a committee to sit in the vacation (Pym, chairman of the commons' committee). Charles attempted to conciliate the moderate parliamentarians by giving office to their leader, Lucius Cary, Lord Falkland. | 14 |
| |
| 1641, Oct. 21 |
| |
| Parliament assembled and heard the news of the massacre of Protestants in Ulster (30,000 killed). Still unwilling to entrust Charles with an army, it presented him with the Grand Remonstrance (Dec. 1) passed in the Commons in November by 11 votes, a summary of all the grievances of his reign. | 15 |
| |
| 1642, Jan. 3 |
| |
| The commons put before the king bills excluding bishops from the lords and giving command of the militia to parliament. From York he refused to sign the latter (March), and there he was joined by 32 peers and 65 members of the commons. He also had the great seal. The parliament at Westminster now was obliged to pass ordinances that were not submitted to the king and did not appear under the great seal. | 16 |
| |
| July |
| |
| Parliament appointed a committee of public safety and put Essex in charge of an army of 20,000 foot and 4,000 cavalry. When on Aug. 22 Charles raised the royal standard at Nottingham, the military phase of the Great Rebellion began. | 17 |
| |
| |
