What kind of man was this tragic king who ended up plunging England into a civil war? Before the storm had darkened him, he was a reasonably good man, a loving son, a surprisingly faithful husband, a loyal friend, a father loved by his children. In early childhood he was plagued by a congential condition that made him unable to walk until age 7. He trained his body to be strong and athletic and by maturity could ride and hunt with the best. He also had a speech impediment and could hardly talk coherently until age 10; his father thought about getting a surgical procedure on his tongue. Charles's speech improved but he was forever plagued by a stammer and had to learn to talk slowly so he could be understood.
He was not originally slated to be king; that would have been his popular older brother Henry, who was to become Henry IX had he not died at age 18, leaving Charles heir to the throne and unjustly suspected of poisoning him, which no doubt darkened his mood. Unlike his jovial father, Charles preferred a somber court and solitude. He was skilled in math, music, and theology, could speak six languages with varying skill levels, loved art and expanded his brother's collection, became a discriminating collector, and a dutiful artistic patron. He invited the Italian painter Orazio Gentileshi to his court, then Rubens, Vandyck, and Frans Hals, who declined and Rubens came chiefly as ambassador but Vandyck became official court painter and produced numerous portraits of the king with his trademark Vandyck goatee.
Charles's family life contributed to his downfall. Like his father, he took for granted the idea of absolute monarchy with the right to make laws, rule without Parliamentary consent, and override acts of Parliament. As absolutism had been the rule in England since the Tudors and was taken for granted in France and Spain, his ideas seemed to have much precedent and the court and the Queen encouraged it as well. Henrietta Marie had been raised in France during the time when Richelieu was making Louis XIII sovereign over everything but Richelieu. She was a devout Catholic who came to England with an entourage of priests and her faith was reinforced by seeing how discriminated against it was in her adopted country. Inevitably she devoted her energy to improving the lot of English Catholics; no doubt she dreamed of winning over the King himself.
Henrietta bore Charles six children and it must have been difficult for her in the extreme to give in to his wishes that they be raised Protestant, but he had grown attached to the Anglican Church and must have realized that Protestantism was the religion of most Englishmen by this point and that Catholicism would mean submission to the Pope.
Charles's first Parliament met June 18, 1625. The House of Lords had 100 members, the House of Commons 500, of which 3/4ths were Puritans elected by various means of bribery or string pulling; there was no pretense of mass popular democracy. Since this Parliament included among its numbers such giants as Coke, Selden, Pym, Sir John Eliot, and Sir Thomas Wentworth, it is hard to believe that popular election of MPs would have led to a more talented group. The Commoners' collective wealth was threefold greater than that of the Lords. The Commons demanded full enforcement of anti-Catholic statutes. The King requested funds for the government and war against Spain; Parliament voted him £700,000, a deliberately insufficient sum; the navy alone required twice that much.
For the past 200 years, English kings had been granted the authority for the entire duration of their reigns to levy tariffs on imports and exports. Now Parliament through the "tonnage and poundage" bill extended Charles this privilege for one year only. They argued that previous appopriations were wasted in the frivolities of James I's court, that taxes were levied without their consent, and so they felt compelled to require an annual meeting of Parliament and the right to audit government expenditures for the year. Charles was insulted at these demands and when a plague outbreak came to London he ordered Parliament dissolved on August 12.
The government was now in the hands of Buckingham. Charles had not merely inherited the amicable, reckless Duke from his father, he was raised alongside him, traveled with him, and had a hard time seeing his childhood friend for the fool he was. Buckingham had with Parliamentary support goaded James into declaring war on Spain, which Parliament refused to fund. The Duke led a fleet to raid or capture Spanish ports which ended in disaster and the returning soldiers, unpaid and demoralized, took to uncontrolled rape and pillage in the coastal towns.
>>17809123 (OP)>In early childhood he was plagued by a congential condition that made him unable to walk until age 7.>mfwI take back everything I ever said about the man. To go from that to being an in-the-field leader is pure GigaChad energy
>>17809168Royal inbreeding really sucked.
>>17809184supposedly Mary and Elizabeth were infertile due to having deformed pussies
>>17809194No wonder Liz was the 'virgin Queen'. What about Anne?
>>17809199Anne had a cursed pussy but for the complete opposite reason. About 35 kids and all of them died before adulthood.
>>17809240Did she ever do anything that wasn't getting creampied, being pregnant, and pushing out soon to be dead children?
>>17809240I think her case was more from shitty sperm donors than anything kek
It's not like men from this era didn't also have non-functioning dicks
Desperate for money, Charles had to call another Parliament. The opposition grew with his demands. The House told him he couldn't levy taxes without their consent. Eliot, a once friend of the Duke, attacked him as a corrupt nitwit whose personal fortune grew with each failure of strategy or policy. Parliament appointed a commission to investigate Buckingham, the King would not hear of it and said he could not abide by the House investigating his servants, especially a close friend of his. Eliot recommended Parliament withhold funds until the King accepted its right to demand the removal of a minister. Charles countered that he could dismiss Parliament as he saw fit. The House then impeached Buckingham on grounds of treason and demanded his dismissal; the King was told that he would get no funds until this was done. He dissolved Parliament June 15, 1626. The issue of ministerial responsibility was left to the future.
>>17809252it could have been incompetent doctors as well
Charles was again broke. A large quantity of royal plate was sold. "Free benevolences", gifts to the King, were asked of the country. Little coin resulted from this as most Englishmen of wealth and means sided with Parliament. Charles ordered his agents to collect import levies regardless of Parliamentary consent and to seize the goods of merchants who failed to pay; he ordered the ports to maintain the navy and allowed his agents to impress men into the military. English and Danish troops fighting for Protestantism in Germany were being swamped by the imperial armies. The Danes had been promised English subsidies and failed to get them.
Charles ordered a forced loan--all taxpayers were to lend the government 1% of the value of their land, 5% of the worth of their personal property. Rich opponents were jailed, the poor were drummed into the military. Meanwhile English merchants delivered materials at Bordeaux and La Rochelle to Huguenots embattled with Richelieu, causing France to declare war in 1627. Buckingham led a fleet to attack the French at La Rochelle and was repulsed. The £200,000 raised by the loans was soon spent and Charles again had an empty purse. He summoned his third Parliament.
>it seems my superiority has led to some controversies
