Charles I of England - Early Reign

Early Reign

On 11 May 1625 Charles was married by proxy to Henrietta Maria in front of the doors of the Notre Dame de Paris, before his first Parliament could meet to forbid the banns. Many members were opposed to the king's marrying a Roman Catholic, fearing that Charles would lift restrictions on Roman Catholics and undermine the official establishment of the reformed Church of England. Although he stated to Parliament that he would not relax restrictions relating to recusants, he promised to do exactly that in a secret marriage treaty with Louis XIII of France. Moreover, the price of marriage with the French princess was a promise of English aid for the French crown in the suppressing of the Protestant Huguenots at La Rochelle, thereby reversing England's long held position in the French Wars of Religion. The couple were married in person on 13 June 1625 in Canterbury. Charles was crowned on 2 February 1626 at Westminster Abbey, but without his wife at his side due to the controversy. Charles and Henrietta had seven children, with three sons and three daughters surviving infancy.

Distrust of Charles's religious policies increased with his support of a controversial ecclesiastic, Richard Montagu. In his pamphlets A New Gag for an Old Goose, a reply to the Catholic pamphlet A New Gag for the new Gospel, and also his Immediate Addresse unto God alone, Montagu argued against Calvinist predestination, thereby bringing himself into disrepute amongst the Puritans. After a Puritan member of the House of Commons, John Pym, attacked Montagu's pamphlet during debate, Montagu requested the king's aid in another pamphlet entitled Appello Caesarem (1625), a reference to an appeal against Jewish persecution made by Saint Paul the Apostle. Charles made the cleric one of his royal chaplains, increasing many Puritans' suspicions as to where Charles would lead the Church, fearing that his favouring of Arminianism was a clandestine attempt on Charles's part to aid the resurgence of Catholicism within the English Church.

Charles's primary concern during his early reign was foreign policy. The Thirty Years' War, originally confined to Bohemia, was spiralling into a wider European war. In 1620 Frederick V was defeated at the Battle of White Mountain and by 1622, despite the aid of English volunteers, had lost his hereditary lands in the Electorate of the Palatinate to the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II. Having agreed to help his brother-in-law regain the Palatinate, Charles declared war on Spain, which under the Catholic King Philip IV had sent forces to help occupy the Palatinate.

Parliament preferred an inexpensive naval attack on Spanish colonies in the New World, hoping that the capture of the Spanish treasure fleets could finance the war. Charles, however, preferred more aggressive (and more expensive) action on the Continent. Parliament voted to grant a subsidy of only £140,000, an insufficient sum for Charles. Moreover, the House of Commons limited its authorisation for royal collection of tonnage and poundage (two varieties of customs duties) to a period of one year, although previous sovereigns since 1414 had been granted the right for life. In this manner, Parliament could keep a check on expenditures by forcing Charles to seek the renewal of the grant each year. Charles's allies in the House of Lords, led by the Duke of Buckingham, refused to pass the bill. Although no Parliamentary Act for the levy of tonnage and poundage was obtained, Charles continued to collect the duties.

The war with Spain under the leadership of Buckingham went badly, and the House of Commons began proceedings for the impeachment of the duke. Charles nominated Buckingham as Chancellor of Cambridge University in response and on 12 June 1626, the House of Commons launched a direct protestation, stating, 'We protest before your Majesty and the whole world that until this great person be removed from intermeddling with the great affairs of state, we are out of hope of any good success; and we do fear that any money we shall or can give will, through his misemployment, be turned rather to the hurt and prejudice of your kingdom.' Despite Parliament's protests, however, Charles refused to dismiss his friend, dismissing Parliament instead.

Charles provoked further unrest by trying to raise money for the war through a "forced loan": a tax levied without Parliamentary consent. In November 1627, the test case in the King's bench, the 'Five Knights' Case' – which hinged on the king's prerogative right to imprison without trial those who refused to pay the forced loan – was upheld on a general basis. Summoned again in 1628, Parliament adopted a Petition of Right on 26 May, calling upon the king to acknowledge that he could not levy taxes without Parliament's consent, impose martial law on civilians, imprison them without due process, or quarter troops in their homes. Charles assented to the petition, though he continued to claim the right to collect customs duties without authorisation from Parliament.

Despite Charles's agreement to suppress La Rochelle as a condition of marrying Henrietta Maria, Charles reneged upon his earlier promise and instead launched a poorly conceived and executed defence of the fortress under the leadership of Buckingham in 1628, thereby driving a wedge between the English and French Crowns that was not surmounted for the duration of the Thirty Years' War. Buckingham's failure to protect the Huguenots – indeed, his attempt to capture Saint-Martin-de-Ré then spurred Louis XIII's attack on the Huguenot fortress of La Rochelle – furthered Parliament's detestation of the Duke and the king's close proximity to this eminence grise.

On 23 August 1628, Buckingham was assassinated. The public rejoicing at his death accentuated the gulf between the court and the nation, and between the crown and the Commons. Although the death of Buckingham effectively ended the war with Spain and eliminated his leadership as an issue, it did not end the conflicts between Charles and Parliament over taxation and religious matters.