Charles I's Accomplishments

Charles I was born in Fife, Scotland, November 12, 1600. He was the second born son of James VI of Scotland, who ascended to the throne of England and Ireland in 1603, and Anne of Denmark. From his father, Charles acquired the strong belief that kings were intended by God to rule. He ascended to the throne in 1625, and shortly after married Catholic princess Henrietta Maria of France. Tension was apparent between the king and the Parliament as early as their first meeting. This was due mostly to general distrust of the Duke of Buckingham, who had maintained his ascendency with the new king, but also because of Charles I’s marriage to a Catholic. Buckingham was assassinated in 1628. The ongoing tension between Charles and the Parliament was

The Treaty of Ripon was later signed October 26, requiring the king to pay the Scottish army for their war expenses. More desperate than ever for money, Charles summoned another Parliament into session in November. This Parliament, which became the Long Parliament of the English Civil War, proved to be just as difficult for Charles as the first one. Members of the Long Parliament impeached and executed both the Earl of Strafford in 1641, and Archbishop Laud in 1645. To prevent the king from dissolving Parliament, Parliament passed the Triennial Act in 1641. The Act required Parliament to be summoned at least every three years. The Long Parliament also passed acts to prevent the king from levying taxes without parliamentary

The Parliament, known as the Roundheads, had remained in control of London and southeastern England. Many of them were Puritans, and included the lawyers, merchants, and elite of the region. The king had established a court at Oxford. His royalist forces, also known as the Cavaliers, roughly controlled the north and west England. They were supported by nobility, Anglicans, and the elite that resided in the region.
The first battle, the Battle of Array, was inconclusive, and continued from 1642 into 1644. This indecisive direction of the war ceased after the Battle of Naseby, when military balance was tipped in favor of Parliament. The Scots, who had made an alliance with Parliament, took Charles I as prisoner in MAy 1646. Towards the end of the Civil War, tension arose between the more moderate and radical elements of parliament. In December 1648, once the radicals had gained the upperhand, they, under Colonel Thomas Pride removed 96 moderates, who had wished to negotiate a settlement with the king, from the Long Parliament. What is now called “Pride’s Purge,” resulted in the remaining sixty Parliament members coming to the compromise known as the Rump Parliament. The Rump Parliament regarded itself as the rightful Parliament to the Commonwealth of England. They not only voted to terminate the monarchy, the House of Lords, and the Anglican Church, but also order for Charles I to be tried for treason and “other high crimes