Since Charles ruled without a Parliament, he had to adopt all sorts of devices to fill his treasury. One of these was the levying of "ship- money." According to an old custom, seaboard towns and counties had been required to provide ships or money for the royal navy. Charles revived this custom and extended it to towns and counties lying inland. It seemed clear that the king meant to impose a permanent tax on all England without the assent of Parliament. The demand for "ship-money" aroused much opposition, and John Hampden, a wealthy squire of Buckinghamshire, refused to pay the twenty shillings levied on his estate. Hampden was tried before a court of the royal judges and was convicted by a bare majority. He became, however, the hero of the hour. The England people recognized in him one who had dared, for the sake of principle, to protest against the king's despotic rule.
[Illustration: CHARLES I
A painting by Daniel Mytens in the National Portrait Gallery. London]
LAUD'S ECCLESIASTICAL POLICY
Archbishop Laud, the king's chief agent in ecclesiastical matters, detested Puritanism and aimed to root it out from the Church of England. He put no Puritans to death, but he sanctioned cruel punishments of those who would not conform to the established Church. All that the dungeon and the pillory, mutilation and loss of position, could do to break their will was done. While the restrictions on Puritans were increased, those affecting Roman Catholics were relaxed. Many people thought that Charles, through Laud and the bishops, was preparing to lead the Church of England back to Rome. They therefore opposed the king on religious grounds, as well as for political reasons.
[Illustration: EXECUTION OF THE EARL OF STRAFFORD After a contemporary print. The Tower of London is seen in the background.]
THE LONG PARLIAMENT, 1640 A.D.
But the personal rule of Charles was now drawing to an end. In 1637 A.D. the king, supported by Archbishop Laud, tried The Long to introduce a modified form of the English prayer book into Scotland. The Scotch, Presbyterian [21] to the core, drew up a national oath, or Covenant, by which they bound themselves to resist any attempt to change their religion. Rebellion quickly passed into open war, and the Covenanters invaded northern England. Charles, helpless, with a seditious army and an empty treasury, had to summon Parliament in session. It met in 1640 A.D. and did not formally dissolve till twenty years later. Hence it has received the name of the Long Parliament.
[Illustration: Map, ENGLAND AND WALES—THE CIVIL WARS OF THE 17TH CENTURY]
REFORMS OF THE LONG PARLIAMENT
The Long Parliament no sooner assembled than it assumed the conduct of government. The leaders, including John Hampden, John Pym, and Oliver Cromwell, openly declared that the House of Commons, and not the king, possessed supreme authority in the state. Parliament began by executing Strafford and subsequently Laud, thus emphasizing the responsibility of ministers to Parliament. Next, it abolished Star Chamber and other special courts, which had become engines of royal oppression. It forbade the levying of "ship-money" and other irregular taxes. It took away the king's right of dissolving Parliament at his pleasure and ordered that at least one parliamentary session should be held every three years. These measures stripped the crown of the despotic powers acquired by the Tudors and the Stuarts.