The Stuart Dynasty and the English Parliament.
The Stuart Dynasty predominately ruled the 17th century in England.
It was a time when the kings and the English Parliament were at odds. There were frequent clashes between the kings and the Parliament that led to Civil War.
The first major conflict between King and Parliament was during the reign of James I, who reigned from 1603 until 1625. He believed in the "Divine Right" to rule as he pleased. The Stuart monarchs believed they should be considered sovereign in the land, answerable only to God. They considered themselves to be above the law of England, and controlled the established courts in the name of God. They thought of themselves as representatives of God and refused Parliament's interference in the affairs of state. The Parliament quarreled with the King on this account and was successful in passing the Habeas Corpus Act in 1679, which prevented the King from controlling the courts. .
During the reign of Charles I in 1625-1649, there was an issue of religion. Charles I became a Catholic after marrying Henrietta Maria of France. The people of England turned against him because the most powerful party was Puritans or Protestants, who had elected members in Parliament that, would carry out their wishes. The religious policies between the King and Parliament led to Civil War. .
When Charles tried to rule England without the Parliament, he ran out of money and the country became split between supporters of the king and supporters of the Parliament. The wealth of the nation had shifted to the professional classes and landowners who were determined to make the government submissive to the elected Parliament. The King's nobility did not have the money to finance the monarchy. The King had to raise money outside of Parliament. The Stuart's made every attempt to collect money from the people by using all sorts of mean, fair, and foul means, including selling out monopolies, raising forced loans, unfair taxing and selling Knighthood.
The civil war in england had caused serious conclusions as to the natural course of english history. Up till then, monarchy had managed to establish a thorough dominance over the english public. England had adopted a system of ruling based upon authority of one ruler granted with absolute power. As...
