Category Social Sciences

 In 1688, parliament brought about the deposition of James II, and invited William III and Mary II of Orange to the English throne as joint sovereigns. This is known as the Glorious or Bloodless Revolution. After this revolution, Parliament became very powerful, but the monarch could still reject legislation brought up by parliament by exercising what was called the royal veto. The word ‘veto’ is Latin for ‘I forbid’ and William used it on four occasions. Although, in theory, the royal veto still exists, it was used for the last time in 1708, by Queen Anne.

 The history of the civil list dates from the reign of William and Mary in 18th century England. Before this, there had been no distinction between the expenses of government in time of peace and the personal expenses of the king. The civil list is the grant made by parliament for the monarch’s personal support, and for that of the royal household.

 The custom of the Civil List dates to 1689, when Parliament, on the accession of William and Mary, voted £600,000 specifically for civil expenses. Through the first Civil List Act in 1697, revenues estimated to yield about £700,000 were assigned to the monarch to cover the royal expenses. The amount was to be used for the payment of government officials, and the up-keep of the royal house.

 At first, the Civil List was revised from time to time. Later, during the reign of George I, the Civil List became a fixed sum, with Parliament paying any debts that were incurred. The Civil List assured a permanent income for the monarch- and at the same time, it ensured that a king could not rule without the help and support of the parliament.

Charles I went to war against the parliament in 1642, and England was plunged into a Civil War for the next three years. The parliamentary army of about 14,000, led by Sir Thomas Fairfax, defeated about 8,000 Royalists, commanded by King Charles I, near the North amptonshire village of Naseby. The Royalists lost nearly all their arms and artillery, and thousands of their men were taken prisoner. One year after Naseby, Charles surrendered to Scotland, who in turn, handed Charles over to the English Parliament.

The Long Parliament was first called by King Charles I on 3rd November 1640, six months after the dissolution of the Short Parliament, and within weeks of the defeat of the English against Scotland. The king was reluctant to summon another parliament, but the expense of the wars had left him desperately short of money and in urgent need of parliamentary subsidies. The Long Parliament met from 1640 to 1653 and from 1659 to 1660. 

The Long Parliament was first convened in 1640, and under the leadership of John Pym and John Hampden, it passed a series of bills designed to weaken the power of the king. After Charles tried to arrest Pym, Hampden, and three other members of the House of Commons, civil war broke out. With the help of the Scots, parliament defeated the forces of King Charles, and he was captured in 1646.

 Meanwhile, the Independents, made up of the Puritans in parliament led by Oliver Cromwell, had become very powerful. Civil war broke out again, time over the issue of religion. The Independents won in 1648. In 1649, parliament abolished the monarchy and the House of Lords, and established the court that had Charles put to death.

In 1653, Cromwell forced parliament to disband. After his death the remaining members of the Long Parliament reconvened. They were persuaded to make way for a newly elected parliament in 1660. 

       After eleven years of ruling without a parliament, Charles was forced to call the parliament in April 1640, as he needed money desperately to pay his troops. Parliament however, refused to cooperate with him, until he settled all its grievances. An angry king dissolved the parliament in just three weeks. Since it met for such a short time, this parliament is referred to as ‘The Short Parliament’. 

Charles I became King of England in 1625. He had problems with Parliament from the very beginning, because, his wife was French, and parliament resented his support of France. When parliament refused to grant him the money he wanted, he dissolved it and started collecting taxes illegally. Those who refused to pay were thrown into prison.

            However, even these harsh steps failed to get Charles the money he needed, so he was forced to call parliament again in 1628. The House of Commons took this opportunity to force Charles to accept a document called the Petition of Rights. The petition restated some of the ancient rights and privilege of Englishmen. It declared that no free man could be thrown into prison without a trial and that the king could not collect any tax without the consent of parliament. The petition also forbade the use of private homes to house soldiers without payment, and reminded the king that he was not above the law of the land.

Charles I agreed to the petition and parliament voted him the revenues he sought. Shortly after-wards, however, the king dismissed parliament, and rejected the petition. He ruled for the next eleven years without summoning parliament.