Chapter 5

Question 1

Major Privy councillors

Answer 1

• Richard Weston
• Francis Cottington
• Henry Montagu
• Thomas Coventry
• William Juxon
• William Laud
• Thomas Wentworth
• Sir Francis Windebank

Question 2

Prerogative courts

Answer 2

• court through which the discretionary powers, privileges, and legal immunities reserved to the sovereign were exercised
• The Court of Star Chamber; tried cases too powerful to be brought before ordinary courts
• The Court of High Commission; enforce conformity to canon laws
• Regional Councils
• Privy Council; acted as a court when King’s direct judgement was required

Question 3

Books of Orders

Answer 3

• distributed to JPs on 31 January 1631
• drafted by the Lord Chief Justice
• purpose was to ensure “better administration of justice … relief of the poor and … reformation of disorders”
• greatly increased control of Charles’ government over what had until then been largely local affairs handled by the local gentry
• demanded more from the elite in society

Question 4

hundreds

Answer 4

• administrative units made up of parishes within a country
• parish is the smallest unit of local government, and typically has its own church

Question 5

the orders in the Book of Orders 1631

Answer 5

• JPs to convene a monthly meeting of enforcement officers at hundred level
• JPs to send monthly reports of meetings to sheriff
• Sheriffs to report to the Circuit Judges
• Circuit Judges report upwards to the Privy Council
• Penalty for not complying was punishment by Star Chamber

Question 6

Local government system

Answer 6

• Constables: responsible for policing the hundreds
• Country Sheriffs: Responsible for administration of justice and collecting taxes
• JPs: 50 per county. Judged lesser criminal cases
• Deputy Lieu.: Appointed by crown. Trained local militia
• Lord lieu.: Responsible for ensuring local defence & mobilising country militia

Question 7

Cutting expenditure (Prudence)

Answer 7

• debt of £2 million
• Weston & Cottington counseled Charles
• end of foreign wars
• reform of Royal household

Question 8

Customs duty

Answer 8

• Tax on imports & exports
• Products listed in Book of Rates
• When BoR was revalued in 1635 to account for inflation the amount of tax increased significantly
• 1931-35: £270,000 p.a.
  -post 35: £425,000 p.a.

Question 9

Monopolies

Answer 9

• Loophole in Statute of Monopolies Act 1623
• Raised 100s of thousands of £
• ripe avenue for corruption
• Weston was targeted for Popish Soap

Question 10

Ship Money

Answer 10

Levied on costal town & cities in October 1634
- Extended to whole of England 1635
- Raised roughly £200,000 p.a. between 1634-1638
- Initially 90% compliance. Fell to 25% in 1639
- Non compliance by Hampden in Nov 1637 led to the Hampden Case

Question 11

Distraint of Knighthood

Answer 11

• resurrected an all-but-forgotten law
• required any man who earned £40 or more from land each year to present himself at the king’s coronation to be knighted or incur a fine

Question 12

Trial of Prynne, Bastwick, & Burton

Answer 12

• Puritans. Doctor, clergyman, & lawyer.
• Star Chamber found them guilty of seditious libel in 1637

Question 13

Alter controversy

Answer 13

• Beauty of Holiness
• Originally Communion table was at centre of church
• Now North South alignment against easternmost wall, table covered in cloth
• Annual visitations
• Fear of return to Catholicism. Alarm at disruption of tradition. Strict enforcement suggested lack of tolerance from Laud & King

Question 14

Politicisation of the clergy

Answer 14

• Scottish Bishops made JPs in 1634
• Lord Chancellor of Scotland + Lord Treasurer of England titles held by clerics
• Laud made Chancellor of Oxford Uni in 1630
• Overlap between religious & political spheres

Question 15

Establish conformity

Answer 15

• Clergy given renewed instructions about conducting services
• Church canon revised to include new alter policy
• Visitations and Presentment Bills used to report conformity of parish priests to Laud
• Star Chamber & High Commission used with greater frequency with harsher punishments
• Laud removed Chief Justice Heath in 1634

Question 16

The Hampden case

Answer 16

• In November 1637
• Hampden taken to court for failing to pay his ship money dues
• the culmination of a growing disgust over Ship Money
• The case became a cause célèbre and helped to galvanise opposition to the King
• provided a platform of popular protest.
• Verdict was 5 out of 12 judges agreeing with him
• reduced speed of collection of ship money
• Even when Ship Money was deemed legal after the Hampden Case of 1637, this verdict served only to increase the extent of the opposition, for the closeness of the verdict encouraged the opponents and the fact that Ship Money was now an official tax rather than an occasional contribution towards security widened resentment towards it.

Question 17

Sir John Hampden (1595 – 1643)

Answer 17

• prominent puritan MP
• close friend of Sir John Eliot
• first cousin of Oliver Cromwell,
• In 162o8uikyujty7 was imprisoned for nearly a year for refusing to pay the forced loan
• In 1635 refused to pay 20 shillings in ship money
• During the Long Parliament, was the principal lieutenant of John Pym
• 1 of the five members Charles attempted to arrest in January 1642
• in 1841 his statue was erected in the Palace of Westminster
• referenced by Benjamin Franklin & John Adams prior to American Revolution to justify cause

Question 18

Oliver St. John defending Hampden: what does he say about who is best qualified to levy ship money

Answer 18

“Parliament is best qualified and ready to levy Ship Money among all ranks of people and across all parts of the kingdom.”

From the records of the Court of the Exchequer, 1637

Question 19

Oliver St. John defending Hampden: What is Parliament appointed as according to the law?

Answer 19

“Parliament is appointed by the law as the ordinary means of supply upon extraordinary occasions, when the ordinary supplies will not do.”

From the records of the Court of the Exchequer, 1637

Question 20

Oliver St. John defending Hampden: What does he state about the identification of war in Ship Money writs?

Answer 20

“My Lords, the writs for Ship Money do not identify any war at all has been proclaimed against our State.”

From the records of the Court of the Exchequer, 1637

Question 21

Oliver St. John defending Hampden: What is the central question raised regarding altering property for defense purposes without Parliament’s consent?

Answer 21

“So the case is, whether in times of peace His Majesty may, without consent in Parliament, alter the property of the subjects’ goods for the defence of the realm.”

From the records of the Court of the Exchequer, 1637

Question 22

Chief judge Sir Robert Berkeley summing up of the Hampden Case; Where is it acknowledged that Peers and Commons may make known their grievances and seek redress?

Answer 22

“I agree the Parliament is the most ancient and supreme court where Peers and Commons may make known their grievances and petition him for redress.”

Question 23

Chief judge Sir Robert Berkeley summing up of the Hampden Case: What does he say the law does not adhere to?

Answer 23

“But the law knows no King-yoking policy.”

Question 24

Chief judge Sir Robert Berkeley summing up of the Hampden Case: What are the two maxims of the law of England mentioned in the source?

Answer 24

“There are two maxims of the law of England: ‘The King is a person trusted with the state of the Commonwealth’ and ‘the King cannot do wrong’.”

“Upon these two maxims the highest rights of majesty are grounded with which none but the King himself has to meddle…”

Question 25

Venetian Ambassador's perspective on Hampden Case 27 February 1637: What consequence does the decision have on the meeting of Parliament and the King's power

Answer 25

"at one stroke it roots out for ever the meeting of Parliament and renders the King absolute and sovereign."

Question 26

Venetian Ambassador's perspective on Hampden Case 27 February 1637: What effect does the decision have on the political situation?

Answer 26

"It has created such consternation and disorder that one cannot judge what the outcome will be."

Question 27

Venetian Ambassador's perspective on Hampden Case 27 February 1637: What does he suggest will happen if the people submit to the present prejudice?

Answer 27

"If the people submit to this present prejudice, they are submitting to an eternal yoke"

Question 28

Venetian Ambassador's perspective on Hampden Case 27 February 1637: What does he imply about the King's goals and ambitions?

Answer 28

"...thus finally the goal will be reached for which the King has been labouring so long."

Question 29

What is at the heart of Oliver St John's defense of Hampden

Answer 29

At the heart of his defense is the argument that Parliament is the proper body to levy taxes and allocate resources for defense, particularly in times of peace when there is no immediate threat to the realm. Therefore, the defense revolves around the necessity of Parliament's consent for altering property for defense purposes.

Question 30

Sir Oliver St John (1598 –1673)

Answer 30

In 1638 he defended John Hampden, along with co-counsel Robert Holborne - notable speech established him as a leading advocate. - In the same year he married Elizabeth Cromwell, cousin of Oliver Cromwell, leading to an intimate friendship with Cromwell - In 1641, with a view to securing his support, the Charles appointed him solicitor-general - did not prevent him from taking an active role in the impeachment of Strafford - As a result, he was dismissed from the office of Solicitor General in 1643