King Charles vs Parliament
Charles the 1st provoked the fight between himself and the parliament of England. There were three main causes for the fight between King Charles and Parliament. He collected money "illegally", Kings Charles signing the Petition of Rights and Charles the first hiring new advisers. Charles wanted lots of money and he got that using illegal ways of getting it. He brought back ship money (a taxation of the people to supply their king with as warships), mortgaged royal properties, tonnage and poundage (similar to duty paid at borders), he billeted soldiers with homeowners and he auctioned or sold off noble titles. Even with all this money being produced King Charles needed even more money and decided to recall short parliament in 1628. Parliament then refused to work with Charles until he ended all illegal money making activities. The last straw with Charles was the new advisors Lord Strafford and Archbishop Laud. King Charles hired these men because his old adviser (the Duke of Buckingham) was assassinated. Both of the new advisors claimed they needed more money, this in turn angered the Puritans, they went and tore down and destroyed many Anglican churches in England. Kings Charles still needed even MORE money for extravagant lifestyle, so he recalled Long Parliament in 1637. They also were unsupportive of the king, but made a compromise with him, they would give him money if he handed Strafford and Laud to be killed. The last events that sent England into chaos was the Grand Remonstrance. It was a written law to be made that would determine how much power the king had and what limitations should be imposed. Parliament had a hard time determining these things. King Charles learned that the House of Commons was divided and decided that he should arrest all the Parliament member who thought that he should be stripped of all his power as traitors. Kings Charles fight with Parliament was surrounded by power and money issues.