Introduction
King Charles I of England and Scotland (1600-1649) was charming, clever and convinced that he had inherited a divine right and duty to govern the country his own way. Parliament disagreed, demanding a constitutional role in law-making and criticising his policies. It did not seem likely to end well.
IN 1625, Charles I inherited a kingdom torn apart by competing religious convictions and hatreds. A century before, Henry VIII, chafing at political interference from Rome, had taken control of the English Church and blended its traditions with fashionable Protestant ideas from Switzerland. It was done harshly, by law, and each successive government arbitrarily changed the blend.
Charles was no different, moving the state Church back towards more traditional beliefs, and ordering fines, imprisonment and even physical mutilation for dissent. His revised service book for a very Swiss-Protestant Scotland provoked the Bishops’ Wars of 1639-1640, and ended in humiliating defeat.
The King suddenly looked weak, and could ill afford it. Back in 1628, Parliament had unexpectedly supported Sir Edward Coke’s ‘Petition of Right’, a litany of Charles’s abuses of power including arbitrary taxes, towns under martial law, forced loans to the Crown, and opponents jailed without charge or trial. Since then, the King had not consulted Parliament once, and anger was rising.
Précis
The English Reformation made religion the business of the Government, and left the country deeply divided. Charles and his Parliament disagreed bitterly on what form of religion the country should adopt, and also on Charles’s manner of rule, which his opponents claimed was arbitrary and cruel. When Charles stopped consulting Parliament entirely, the crisis came to a head. (58 / 60 words)
The English Reformation made religion the business of the Government, and left the country deeply divided. Charles and his Parliament disagreed bitterly on what form of religion the country should adopt, and also on Charles’s manner of rule, which his opponents claimed was arbitrary and cruel. When Charles stopped consulting Parliament entirely, the crisis came to a head.
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Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, because, despite, since, unless, until, whereas, who.
Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
How did Charles I alienate the Scots?
Suggestion
By imposing a new Church service book. (7 words)
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
John Calvin was a 16th century Swiss theologian. Many MPs liked his teachings. Charles did not.