Highlands Ranch High School - Mr. Sedivy
Highlands Ranch, Colorado

- World History -
National Monarchies: England
The Stuarts

James I (1603 - 1625)
James I was the son of Mary, Queen of Scots. He had become James VI of Scotland after Mary lost her head, and he became James I when he took over England. He was the first to call himself "King of Great Britain." James struggled with Parliament - he thought he ruled by divine right. There was a new English translation of Bible - the "King James Bible."

James I had already ruled as James VI of Scotland for 36 years
before being crowned King of England after the death of Elizabeth.

Charles I (1625 - 1649)
Charles I was James' son. He had conflicts with Parliament over taxes and religion. Charles didn't follow Parliament. He established the Petition of Right: No taxes without Parliament; civilians didn't have to house soldiers; no military law in peacetime; no imprisonment without being charged. Charles dissolved Parliament in 1629 and ruled by himself until 1640.

SIR ANTHONY VAN DYCK: King Charles I on horseback, with Monsieur Saint Antoine.
Charles I was a connoisseur and a shrewd obsever of the power of the arts to increase the dignity and stature of rulers. He and Van Dyck made a specialty of equestrian portaits modelled on those of the Renaissance.

GERRIT VAN HONTHORST: Charles and his queen as Apollo and Diana - 1628

He had religious problems. He was an Anglican with a Catholic wife. Charles persecuted Puritans, having them imprisoned and fined. Presbyterians in Scotland revolted. To get money, Charles called in Parliament in 1640. They said "no money," so he said "no Parliament." (short Parliament) The new Parliament met until 1653 (long Parliament) and made new laws limiting the king's power.

Massacre of Protestants in Ulster - 1641
This representation of an ugly incident at Portadown depicts Catholic priests blessing the massacre of women and children. Charles' opponents didn't trust him with an army to restore English control.

The Civil War was a series of wars between 1642 - 1651. Charles sent troops to arrest Parliament because they had wanted to take over the army. People of London became scared and rioted. There was war between the "Cavaliers" (Anglicans, royalists, nobility, Catholics) and the "Roundheads" (Puritans and Middle Class, so called because they did not wear the wigs of the upper class). The Roundheads won. "God made them stubble before our swords," according to Cromwell. Charles I was beheaded in 1649.

Oliver Cromwell (1648 - 1658)
Oliver Cromwell was a Puritan general. He formed a republic, the Commonwealth. Oliver I was the king England never had. Cromwell was a ruthless leader, and the English people never liked him. He massacred Irish rebels.

Bust of Oliver Cromwell.

Engraving of the symbolic Royal Oak Tree being destroyed in the Civil War - 1651
The cartoon shows not only the royal arms, the crown and the royal sword,
but also Magna Carta, the statutes of Parliament, and the Bible itself.

The royal oak, symbol of authority and stability, is chopped down under the supervision of Oliver Cromwell. The common herd graze regardless, being fattened up for slaughter. Hell gapes beneath Cromwell, who looks unconcerned. Magna Carta and the rule of law go down with the tree.

Cromwell had his own difficuties with Parliament.

The Rump was all that was left of the original Long Parliament after repeated purges. Attendances were down to under 100 members. In April 1653, Cromwell dismissed them with the words: "You have sat here too long for the good you do." That night a poster appeared outside the palace of Westminster: "This House is to be let: now unfurnished."

After Cromwell's death in 1658, he was burried in great state in Westminster Abbey. At the Restoration, his body was exhumed, dragged to Tyburn and beheaded. His head was stuck on a pole outside Westminster Hall, where it remained for over 20 years. Finally, it was blown down in a gale during the reign of James II.

Return of the Stuarts

Charles II (1660 - 1685)
Charles II was the son of Charles I. Because his father had been killed, Charles II had the ravens caged so they couldn't leave. He was a "Merry Monarch," a very popular king. Charles II encouraged religious toleration.

King Charles II is wearing the robes of the Order of the Garter in this portrait.

The Scots hold Charles II's nose to the gridstone.
In an accompanying verse, the presiding cleric remark:
"We for our ends did make thee king, for sure; not to rule us, we will not that endure."

As part of his settlement with the Scots, Charles was obliged in 1650 to accept a Prebyterian form of Church government and subscribe to the Covenant. He launched the desperate invasion from Scotland that ended at the battle of Worcester in 1651.

The Rye House Plot, 1683.
Click the 17th-century political cartoon for an enlargement.

Some of Charles II's opponents, desperate after their defeat in 1681, turned to conspiracy. A half-hearted plan to assassinate Charles and his brother on their way back from Newmarket at the Rye House, near Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, was discovered in 1683. The frog and the mouse contending to be king are presumably Monmouth and William of Orange. The kite destoyed them both.

A pamphlet printed for Langley Curtis.
Click the 17th-century political cartoon for an enlargement.

Left panel: Two kings kneeling before the Pope with London burning in the background, the poisoning of Charles II, the body of a loyal courtier lying in a field, and the martyrdom by burning of English bishops.

Right panel: The scene shows Charles II with the church at his feet (symbolized by a woman with a church on her head) and the executions of traitors in the background.

James II (1685 - 1688)
James II was Charles' son, a Catholic. He had a Protestant daughter, Mary, and a Catholic son. Parliament didn't want his son taking over, so they gave the crown to Mary and her husband, William III of Orange.

James II succeeded his brother, Charles, surprisingly peacefully,
given his open allegiance to the Roman Catholic Church.

This was known as the "Glorious Revolution." (Revolution because they overthrew the last Catholic monarch, Glorious because no one died.) Parliament put more restrictions on the monarch. The king couldn't make or suspend laws, have an army during peacetime, and the king couldn't interfere with freedom of speech in Parliament.

Titus Oates being flogged in the streets of London in May 1685.

The triumph of Charles II after the Oxford Parliament and the succession of his brother James brought bad times for Titus Oates, principal author of the Popish Plot. After the Glorious Revolution he was given a small pension and died in 1705.

William and Mary Crowned.

The awkward constitutional position following James II's flight was solved by offering the crown jointly to William and Mary. William's personal situation, should Mary die before he did, was safeguarded by Anne who reluctantly agreed to postpone her claim to the throne.

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