Chapter 4.3 Lecture Notes
Henry III- Broke away from the Catholic Church
-Convinced Parliament to pass the Act of Supremacy…head of Church of
England
***Worked with Parliament in order to attain funding to fight wars
Tudors- Had great influence over Parliament
Elizabeth I highly influenced decision makers
James Stuart (James I)- Elizabeth I’s cousin become king
- Tries to exert an absolute monarchy over England
- Tells Parliament it is his divine right
- Dissenters and James I clashed
- Puritans sought to purify the Church of England of Catholic practices
Charles I- Inherits the throne as an absolute monarch
- imprisoned his enemies without trial
- Taxed his subjects to an extreme
- Charles I asked Parliament for $$, but made him sign the Petition of Right
- Charles I later ignored the petition and ruled for 11 years without Parliament
- Made many enemies, especially Puritans (he imprisoned dissenters)
Long Parliament (1640-1653)
-Triggered political Revolution
-Parliament tried and executed Charles I’s ministers including the Arch Bishop of
Canterbury
-In 1642, Charles I retaliated and led troops into the House of Commons to arrest the
radical leaders.
-Radical leaders escaped and raised their own army
Civil War (1642-1651)
-Cavaliers (King’s Army) comprised of nobles and rich supporters of Charles I
-Roundheads (Parliament’s Army) was led by Oliver Cromwell (Puritan)
-By 1647, the king was in the hands of the roundheads
-The king was imprisoned, put on trial, and executed by 1649.
***This was huge!!! This is the first time a monarch was tried and executed by his own
people.
Cromwell and the Commonwealth
-Upon winning the war, Cromwell led Parliament to abolish the monarchy, the House of
Lords, and the Church of England
-Declared England a republic (aka Commonwealth) under the leadership of Cromwell
Commonwealth challenged
(Exterior problems)
-supporters of Charles II, heir to the crown attacked England via Ireland and Scotland
-Cromwell crushed rebellion, took actions against Catholics and exhiled Charles II and
Catholics to Ireland
(Internal problems)
-levelers believed poor men should have the same voice as the rich and affluent
-females within the levelers voiced their right to petition
-gentrys were horrified at even the thought of the levelers gaining power
-Cromwell then became the Lord Protector….a dictator
Under Cromwell- Puritans purified England
-Closed theaters and fined those who did not acknowledge Lord’s Day
-Puritans thought women’s place was in the home
-Catholics were banned from open worship
-In 1648, Cromwell dies
End of the Commonwealth
-by the time Cromwell’s death in 1648 people grew very tired of the military rule and the
laws of the Puritans
-Parliament invites Charles II to return to England
***Even thought the Commonwealth ended, Puritan ideal about morality, equalitiy,
government, & education endured…These ideals would help in shaping the government
of the greatest nation that there is or ever will be….the United States of America
Restoration to Glorious Revolution
-1660 Charles the second returns to England and welcomed by cheering crowds
-he was very popular
-he reopened the theatres,
-reinstated the Church of England, but emphasized toleration of the Protestants
-He accepted the petition of right, but believed in a strong monarchy
1685- James II inherits the throne
-practices Catholicism openly and upsets subjects
-Parliament invited James II’s Protestant daughter Mary and her Protestant husband
William III to become the rulers of England
-When Mary and William III landed in England, James II fled to France
SO GLORIOUS A BLOODLESS WAR!!!!
English Bill of Rights (was written before William and Mary could be crowned)
-Parliament passed the English Bill of Rights
1. Supremeacy of Parliament
2. Monarch had to summon Parliament regularly
3. House of Commons had the “purse” (controlled the treasury)
4. King or Queeen could not interfere in Parliamentary debates or suspend laws
5. No Roman Catholic could sit on the throne
6. Trial by jury
7. Abolished Excessive fines and cruel or unjust punishments
8. Habeas Corpus affirmed (no person can be held in a prison without being charged
for a crime)
***Toleration Act
-Limited religious freedoms to Protestants (Quakers, Puritans, dissenters)
-Only members of the Church of England could hold public office
-Catholics are allowed no religious freedoms