To What Extent Was Charles 1st Responsible for Causing the Civil War in 1642?
Charles 1st was reasonable to an extent, but not fully. Parliament was also to blame, but less so than Charles. Charles had a bad relationship with Parliament from the beginning, resulting in conflict between them. He believed in Divine Right of King, something that his father also believed in. Divine Right of King means that you were chosen to be King by God; therefore, God is on your side. Charles also shut down Parliament a number of times, and ruled without Parliament for a number of years. He took money from the people of his country without Parliament’s permission and he introduced taxes without Parliament’s permission. He started to make bigger changes to the Church, he gave the Scots a new Prayer book, and he made them use it. Parliament was greedy in the sense that when Charles did reopen Parliament that they asked for something in return, when if they did not act, their country would be punished. Parliament also demanded many things from Charles, and did not agree with his ministers. Charles also married a French Catholic Princess.
Charles 1st‘s main adviser Buckingham was very unpopular with most people. A rhyme was invented:
Who rules the Country? The King The rules the King? The Duke (Buckingham) The Rules the Duke? The Devil.
This shows how unpopular Buckingham was with the people. Parliament tried to send Buckingham to prison multiple times. In 1629, they tried to punish him for bungling a naval expedition against Spain. When Charles began his Personal Rule, which began in 1629 and ended in 1640. In this time, Charles used Ship tax, a tax that was used to improve the navy in times of war. However, slowly Charles began to increase Ship tax, and bring it inland, making him very unpopular which his people and Parliament. In 1639 on 20% of the Ship tax money was