Charles I

“Charles I (1625-1649) was a far abler ruler than his father. He was a man of greater courage and more dignity of character, but he had been trained from infancy in the belief of his divine right to fule, and he chose ministers who encouraged him in this view and tried to apply it practically. Parliament was not disposed to be amiable after the wrongs it had suffered at the hands of James. In the first fifteen months of his reign two Parliaments were summoned and angrily dissolved; the first because it demanded that its grievances should be redressed before it granted the king the requisite supplies; the second because it impeached the king’s minister, Buckingham. In the interval between the second and third Parliaments the king raised money by forced loans and benevolences, throwing into prison those who refused to comply with the illegal demands. Under the influence of Buckingham the king tried to divert the attention of his subjects from bad government at home by entering into a war with France; but the result was humiliating, and the king’s minister was more hated than ever."—Colby, 1899

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