Another feature of Charles I's reign was chaotic religious conflicts. The subjects generally distrust their king's beliefs. On the one hand, his mistakes successfully helped the Protestant forces in the Thirty Years' War, but on the other hand, he married a Roman Catholic princess.
Charles I also reused controversial church figures at that time. Many of his subjects believe that this makes the relationship between the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church too close. Later, Charles I tried to force Scotland to carry out religious reform, which led to the episcopal war. All these made the parliaments of England and Scotland stand firm and eventually contributed to the demise of Charles I.
In the last years of Charles I, the English Civil War broke out between him and Parliament. At the same time, he formulated a series of religious policies, which aroused the dissatisfaction of Calvinists represented by Puritans. After Charles I was defeated in the First English Civil War (1642- 1645), Congress hoped that he would accept the constitutional monarchy.
However, Charles I was stubborn. He allied himself with Scotland and fled to the Isle of Wight. This behavior completely angered Parliament and led to the Second English Civil War (1648- 1649). Charles I was defeated again, and then he was arrested and executed for treason. At the age of 49, the monarchy collapsed immediately, and England established a Republic called the Commonwealth of England. This period is also called Cromwell's vacancy period. Charles ii, the eldest son of Charles I, succeeded to the throne after his father's death, and did not exercise the right to decide until 1660.
1633, Charles appointed william laud, a Catholic, as the archbishop of Canterbury, and with his assistance, he began to force prayer books to church of scotland to unify the religious activities of the two kingdoms. The inhabitants of the lowlands of Scotland were outraged. They swore to support the national oath of allegiance to the Presbyterian Church in Scotland and publicly rejected the new prayer book. Charlie flew into a rage and sent troops to Scotland to realize his wish. But Charlie was defeated in the first episcopal war.
In order to raise money to fight the second episcopal war, Charlie had to convene parliament again. But lawmakers demanded that suppressed complaints be discussed before discussing funds. But a few weeks later, Charlie dissolved parliament again. This is the "short-term parliament". Charlie attacked Scotland for the second time. This time, it was a complete failure. The oath occupied England's territory in Northumberland and Durham, and the king was forced to pay reparations. 1640, the king called parliament again, this time called "long-term parliament", at this time the king was under the control of parliament.
Between the "long-term parliament" and the "short-term parliament", the king was forced to raise funds in various ways: expanding the scope of the "shipbuilding tax" used in Tudor era from coastal areas to inland cities to maintain the needs of the navy; Illegal collection of customs duties (ton tax and pound tax); Impose various unpopular medieval taxes, such as fines for squires who refused to accept knighthood. This led to the opposition between the king and the lower house composed of emerging squires, businessmen and lawyers, who thought that what the king had done was unconstitutional. Some people are increasingly worried that the king will use the northern army and the troops guarding Ireland to impose his will on parliament, but Charlie never thought of this. However, Charles's most capable Earl of Strafford was chosen as a scapegoat by the House of Commons, Earl of Strafford was the Irish Governor, and he and Archbishop Lauder were recognized as the king's "dog-headed strategist" by the Parliament. Then the House of Commons reported Strafford's treason to the House of Lords.
At this time, Charlie also knew the purpose of the House of Commons, but he hoped that Strafford could be proved innocent, so that the authority of the king could be preserved. But at this critical moment, the king was asked to sign a bill depriving citizens of their rights, according to which Strafford could be executed without a legal judgment. At this time, the upper house was threatened by rioting citizens, and the king was threatened by the dangerous situation of his beloved Catholic queen. In desperation, the king signed the bill. Then the king gave up the "shipbuilding tax" and agreed that this long-term parliament could not be dissolved without his consent. The king did not yield to parliamentary leaders on two issues: first, the reform of church of scotland, and church of scotland believed that the Church of England was being Catholicized by the bishop of the king's senior church; The second is the control of the national army, which is the only standing army except the king's guard.
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Charles I had many excellent qualities. He is easy-going and earnest, a loyal and lovely husband and father, and a devout Christian. He is also an aesthete and is willing to spend money on beautiful things. He invited many excellent artists and writers to the court. But he also has serious shortcomings, such as lack of diligence and sense of humor. He also believes that as long as he can win the war and regain his absolute authority, any means is correct (similar to Machiavelli's point of view). Therefore, he made various contradictory promises to the Presbyterian Church in Scotland, the Anglican Church in England, the Roman Catholics in Ireland and the Puritan leaders in the parliamentary army, and he did not intend to keep these promises. In this way, he gradually lost everyone's trust.