JAMES I AND PURITANISM
A religious controversy helped to embitter the dispute between James and Parliament. The king, who was Puritanism a devout Anglican, made himself very unpopular with the Puritans, as the reformers within the Church of England were called. The Puritans had no intention of separating from the national or established Church, but they wished to "purify" it of certain customs which they described as "Romish" or "papist." Among these were the use of the surplice, of the ring in the marriage service, and of the sign of the cross in baptism. Some Puritans wanted to get rid of the Book of Common Prayer altogether. The Puritans were distinguished by their austere lives. They looked with disfavor on May Day and Christmas festivities, observed the Jewish Sabbath in all its rigor, and condemned the Anglicans who played games and danced upon the village green on Sundays. As the Puritans had a large majority in the House of Commons, it was inevitable that the parliamentary struggle against Stuart absolutism would assume in part a religious character.
[Illustration: A PURITAN FAMILY
Illustration in an edition of the Psalms published in 1563 A.D.]
CHARLES I, KING, 1625-1649 A.D.
The political and religious difficulties which marked the reign of James I did not disappear when his son, Charles I, came to the throne. Charles was a true Stuart in his devotion to absolutism and divine right. Almost immediately he began to quarrel with Parliament. When that body withheld supplies, Charles resorted to forced loans from the wealthy and even imprisoned a number of persons who refused to contribute. Such arbitrary acts showed plainly that Charles would play the tyrant if he could.
PETITION OF RIGHT, 1628 A.D.
The king's attitude at last led Parliament to a bold assertion of its authority. It now presented to Charles the celebrated Petition of Right. One of the most important clauses provided that forced loans without parliamentary sanction should be considered illegal. Another clause declared that no one should be arrested or imprisoned except according to the law of the land. The Petition thus repeated and reinforced two of the leading principles of Magna Carta. [20] The people of England, speaking this time through their elected representatives, asserted once more their right to limit the power of kings.
PERSONAL RULE OF CHARLES I, 1629-1640 A.D.
Charles signed the Petition, as the only means of securing parliamentary consent to taxation; but he had no intention of observing it. For the next eleven years he managed to govern without calling Parliament in session. The conduct of affairs during this period lay largely in the hands of Sir Thomas Wentworth, afterwards earl of Strafford, and William Laud, who later became archbishop of Canterbury. The king made these two men his principal advisers and through them carried on his despotic rule. Arbitrary courts, which tried cases without a jury, punished those who resisted the royal will. A rigid censorship of the press prevented any expression of popular discontent. Public meetings were suppressed as seditious riots. Even private gatherings were dangerous, for the king had swarms of spies to report any disloyal acts or utterances.