How did the reign of James I, Charles I lead to constitutional crisis and eventual settlement?

Answer 1

Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of England, Scotland, and Ireland, from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. He famously engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England. As he was an advocate of the Divine Right of Kings, many in England feared that he was attempting to gain absolute power. There was widespread opposition to many of his actions, especially the levying of taxes without Parliament's consent.

Religious conflicts permeated Charles' reign. He selected his Catholic wife, Henrietta Maria, over the objections of Parliament and public opinion. Charles further allied himself with controversial religious figures, including the ecclesiastic Richard Montagu, and William Laud, whom Charles appointed Archbishop of Canterbury. Laud produced changes in the liturgy of the Church of England which many of Charles' subjects felt brought the Church of England too close to Roman Catholicism. Charles' later attempts to force religious reforms upon Scotland led to war that weakened England and helped precipitate his downfall.

The last years of Charles' reign were marked by the English Civil War, in which he was opposed by the forces of Parliament — who challenged his attempts to augment his own power — and by Puritans, who were hostile to his religious policies and apparent Catholic sympathy. The war ended in defeat for Charles, who was subsequently tried, convicted and executed for high treason. The monarchy was overthrown, and a commonwealth was established. As time passed this regime became increasingly dependent upon the army and became in effect a military dictatorship. Various political as well as socio-economic factors led to its collapse. Charles' son, Charles II, returned to restore the monarchy in 1660.

Charles is also the only person to be canonized by the Church of England since the English Reformation.

Answer 2

A number of factors were at work.
a) The new Stuart dynasty (started reigning in England whe Queen Bess died without heirs) received the kingdom by devolution, but they were Scots, and the English ruling classes did not receive them gladly.

b) They were Catholic when the last 75 years had seen England become largely protestant. What's worse, they moved to strongly establish Popish rule over English souls, and while they were nowhere as extreme as "Bloody Mary", there still was a spate of witch trials, burnings at the stake, and what the protestants regarded as persecution.

c) They also strongly believed in absolute rule by Divine Right, a stance which English nobles, used to ruling their estates freely since the civil wars of the 1400s diçd not appreciate either.

End result. First the roundhead rebellion that led to the murder of Charles I and 10 years of puritan "republic". When looking to get rid of James II, the nobles knew they wanted to retain a king, but one who would not interfere with them, so they called in william, who had married a Stuart princess, and did a John Lackland on him, making him sign away his powers in exchange for the crown.