Parliament Was Largely Responsible for the Breakdown in Relations Between the King and Commons in the Period 1625 - 1629

Parliament was Largely Responsible for the Breakdown in Relations between the King and Commons in the Period 1625-1629 - Assess the Validity of this View

Between the years 1625 and 1629, the relationship between Charles and the Commons deteriorated significantly. Tension arouse due to calvinist-arminian conflict, Charles’ poor political decisions, difficult nature and overreliance on Buckingham, placing him in the position of primary blame for the breakdown in relations.

The dispute between Charles and Parliament over the granting of subsidies caused Charles to dismiss Parliament, physically dividing the two parties, and was the turning point in the destruction of their relationship. Although it could be argued that it was Parliament’s refusal to grant Charles the subsides which forced Charles to obtain funds independently (forced loan), this situation was escalated by Charles who turned the financial issue into a political one over his mishandling of the Five Knights Case. Charles issued the forced loan in 1626 after the dismissal of Parliament, an unpopular decision among members of the gentry and Parliament as the payments were expensive and compulsory. The subjects who had to make these payments were the same as those who previously had to pay parliamentary subsides, so many parliamentarians were angered as Charles seemed to be acting directly without parliament in an arbitrary manner. This opposition came to public knowledge after Charles attempted to prosecute 5 nobles who refused to make the payments. The case focused on the prerogative of the King and therefore became an issue of political nature. This also increased the perception of Charles acting in an arbitrary manner, increasing tensions between the him and parliament as they worried for the future of parliament. Charles’ dismissal of Parliament left them feeling disgruntled as he overstepped his prerogative and worries grew regarding the nature of his rule, especially when he began to rule independently in 1629.

In Parliaments view, Charles’ foreign policies were expensive and not clearly communicated, resulting in them having little incentive to back them and increased their dislike of Buckingham, a sensitive matter to Charles. Although the foreign policies were suggested to Charles (mostly created by Buckingham), Charles backed them and so took the responsibility for the failures at Cadez and Mansfield, although Buckingham was often blamed. Due to their unsuccessful nature, parliament did not want to grant Charles the subsides to fund them, so he dismissed parliament and the conflict over financial issues began. Charles was over reliant on