The early Stuarts
James I
James VI King of Scotland, succeded Elizabeth to the throne as James I. He was
protestant and a learned man who wrote treaties (trattati) in english and latin, but he
believed in witchcraft (stregoneria). During his government, he reduced the danger of
the civil war, and ignored the Parliament. He also based is rule on the “theory of the
divine right of kings”. He believed that he was the representative of God on earth.
He joined Scotland to England and Wales as one kingdom and introduced a flag called
the Union Jack.
Gunpowder Plot
A year after his coronation, James signed a peace treaty with Spain. This put an end to
the conflicts between these two countries. In 1604, the king met the representatives
of the Puritans, to try to solve the conflicts between them. In particular, they agreed
about baptism and the civil role of the Church. James also ordered a new translation of
the Bible, published in 1611. In this period, the Chatholics had been excluded fro, the
“Hampton Court”, so a group of them, led by Guy Fawkes, organised the gunpowder
Plot to blow up the Parliament on 5th November 1605. However, the conspiracy was
find out and the plotters were executed. The Chatholics weren’t persecuted, but the
government encouraged public celebration at the failure of the plot. This became an
annual event called Bonfire Night, with fireworks and the figures representing Guy
Fawkes are burnt on bonfires. Many dissenters emigrated to The New World because
in this period, The Church of England declared dissent as treason.
Charles I
Charles I was the James’s son and his wife was Henrietta Maria, the Chatholic daughter
of the King of France. Like his father, he ignored the Parliament and ruled eleven years
without it. In 1628 was signed “The Petition of Right”, which stated that the king
couldn’t imprison without trial or impose taxes without the consent of the Commons
(protestants), but Charles dismissed it because he thought that he was king by divine
right.
In 1635 he extended “ship money”, a tax on coastal towns, for their difence. Charles
was forced to summon “the Short Parliament”, because he needed money to pay
his army to fight a ribellion in Scotland, but they refused. In the same year was elected
a new Parliament, “the Long Parliament”. The middle-class wanted that the king
was subjected to the Parliament. Parliament tried to impose its supremacy on the king,
in order to reduce his power, but in 1642, Charles entered in the House of Commons
(camera dei comuni), to arrest its most five extremist parlamenterians, but they had
already escaped. So the king raised an army of Royalists and declared war against the
parliamentarians.
The Civil war and the Commonwealth
The two parties
Between 1642 an 1649 there were bloody battles between th e Royalists and
the Parliamentarians. The parliament represented liberty and the Royalists
represented tyranny. The Puritans who supported the king were called “Roundheads”,
because they cut their hairs short.
The Royalists were concentrated in Wales and the west of England, while the sea
ports, the city of London and eastern England supported Parliament.
