Transcript English Liberty - Golden State Baptist College

English Liberty
Magna Carta
• Imperfect monarchy results
in despotism
– Applied pejoratively: “who
abuses his power and
authority to oppress his
people”
• Magna Carta of 1215
required King John of
England to proclaim certain
liberties, and accept that his
will was not arbitrary
Magna Carta 1215
• higher taxes, unsuccessful wars and conflict
with the Pope had made King John unpopular
• His barons in defiance and supported by
Prince Louis of France and King Alexander II of
Scots, marched on London
• Supported by the multitude, the city open its
gates to them and they forced the King to
agree to articles of liberty
• In return, the barons pledged their fealty
Magna Carta
• The first attempt to limit the powers of the
monarchy and protect the liberties of the
individual. Many of its clauses were repealed but
three stand today:
– freedom of the English Church, whole rights and
liberties inviolable
– City of London will have its rights and customs
– No freeman will imprisoned or deprived of his
freedoms, liberties, customs or be exiled without due
process of the law and judgment of his peers
• Established principle King may not levy taxes
without consent of the council
Crown vs Parliament vs Church
• Parliament gradually evolved from the King’s
Great Council in thirteenth century
– consisted of archbishops, bishops, abbots, barons
and earls, pillars of the feudal system
• Thus began the uneasy balance of power
between the Crown, Parliament and the Church
• In the coming centuries, there would emerge on
ongoing struggle of each to assert its supremacy
Early form of Government
• Up until the late 17th century, England had no standing
army or police
• Monarchy relied upon the support of the nobility to
enforce laws
• Delicate balance of power between the Church, the
Crown and the Gentry (Aristocracy)
– Roman Catholic Church in power until 16th century
• Since the Norman conquest 1066, the king relied on the
Great Council to advise the king
– Consisted of clergy, barons and earls
– Evolved into parliament
Parliament
• First form of representation of people was Model
Parliament formed 1295 by King Edward I
– Unicameral
– Consisted of clergy, lords (aristocracy) and commons, (2 knights
from each county, 2 burgesses from each borough & 2 citizens
from each city)
• Limited legislative powers
– Primarily for levying taxes, projecting power locally
– Must be summoned by the King
– In summoning parliament, King Edward proclaimed,
“what touches all, should be approved of all, and it is also
clear that common dangers should be met by measures agreed
upon in common”
Parliament
• Under Edward I, parliament
became the forum of passing
grievances to the Crown
• As Parliament became more
powerful, the power of the
Crown became more limited.
• Parliament actually deposed
Edward II and approved his son
Edward III as successor
Parliament
• Bicameral in 1341
– House of Lords
• Senior clergy (archbishop, bishops, abbots) = “Lords
Spiritual”
• Gentry (Duke, Marquees, Earl, Viscount, Baron) = “Lords
Temporal”
– House of Commons (“of the community”)
• Grew in power under Edward III
– no law could be made, nor any tax levied, without
the consent of both Houses and the Sovereign
18th Century Government
• House of
Commons in
session c. 1710
Reformation of England
• Protestant reformation slow to take hold in England
– Strong ties of monarch families with Catholic Church
• since Norman Conquest 1066, English feudal system
unchanged for over 400 years
• 16th century Tudor dynasty ruled England as the most
assertive of monarchs
• Henry (Tudor) VII conquered usurper Richard III
– marriage to Elizabeth of York united rival factions of
England and Wales
– Strengthened trade thereby gaining support of merchant
factions in Parliament
Tudor Dynasty 1500’s
• Henry VII arranged for eldest son Arthur to marry
Catherine of Argon
– Daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain
– Solidify relations and put Henry w/ good graces of Pope
• Ironically, Arthur and Catherine came down with fever
– Arthur died, Catherine recovered as widow
– their marriage never consummated
• Catherine was remarried to the next son Henry VIII
Henry VIII
• Large man, bad temper,
subject to rage
• Fair, allowed dissenting
opinions
• Charles V of Spain
conquered southern Europe
and Vatican became Holy
Roman Emperor
• Parliament weak, did King’s
bidding
• With no standing army,
Henry VIII treaded the
tangled web of European
politics with great care
Henry VIII and His Six Wives
• Calculating and cunning
Henry VIII abided his time
• After a series of fateful
miscarriages, Catherine
finally had a girl, Mary
• Desperate for a son as
heir to the Crown, Henry
wished to avoid more
wars of succession
• His only solution was to
annul their marriage of 18
years
Henry VIII & His Six Wives
• He found a loophole: they were never legally
married
• The Pope & the English Cardinal (Thomas Woolsey)
refused to acquiesce
• Henry sought a second opinion in courts but failed
to get a favorable judgment
• Finally Henry’s case was referred to theological
universities of Europe which returned the verdict he
sought
– He immediately had his marriage to Catherine annulled
– Married Anne Boleyn 5 days later
The Church of
England Formed
• Have become repulsive to Pope, Henry sought to break
England from yoke of Catholicism
– Used Parliament to pass laws stripping authority of the Pope in
England and transferring it to the Crown
– declaring the king Supreme Governor of the Church of England
– Bishops Fisher and More were executed for taking a bold stand
against royal supremacy in the Church
• Queen Anne had a baby girl, the Princess Elizabeth,
– Henry erupted in a tirade. “I see that God does not mean me to
have male children.”
– Already he began to give his love to others and plot how to get
rid of Queen Anne
• When Queen Catherine died in 1536, the
opportunity came
– There would be no question of succession
– Anne was accused of unfaithfulness
– Alleged suitors were coerced to confess
under torture
– Anne Boleyn wore a scarlet dress to the
scaffold and chose to be executed with sword
rather than axe
• No more than ten days later, Henry
married Jane Seymour
– Gentle, proud, Queen Jane was the one wife
Henry adored, but after 18 months
– Giving birth to his only son, Edward, she died
at the age of 22
– Henry lamented her loss more than any
other
• Henry married three other wives before
his death but they had no children to
contend for the throne
“Good Christian people, I am come hither to die, for
according to the law, and by the law I am judged to die,
and therefore I will speak nothing against it. I am come
hither to accuse no man, nor to speak anything of that,
whereof I am accused and condemned to die, but I
pray God save the king and send him long to reign over
you, for a gentler nor a more merciful prince was there
never: and to me he was ever a good, a gentle and
sovereign lord. And if any person will meddle of my
cause, I require them to judge the best. And thus I take
my leave of the world and of you all, and I heartily
desire you all to pray for me. O Lord have mercy on
me, to God I commend my soul.”
Anne Boleyn May 18, 1536
The Struggle of Succession
• The struggle that followed was a religious roller
coaster in which the favored religion sought
absolute power and the destruction of all others.
• Prince Edward was sickly and Henry VIII last wife
lovingly nurtured him so that he adopted her
zealous Protestantism
– When Henry died in 1547, Edward succeeded him to the
throne at 10 years of age. But he was little more than a
figurehead. His uncle Duke of Sommerset seized control
– Despite this Edward succeeded in stirring Protestant
reform
Protestant Reform of Edward
• Protestant Prayer Book was
forced upon the people
• All Catholic vestiges were
stripped from the Anglican
churches
• His sister Mary Tudor was
coerced to renounce Catholicism
but she refused
• When Edward died of TB age 15,
his Lord Protectors tried in vain
to appoint Lady Jane Grey as his
successor to the throne to keep
the Protestant reign
Catholic Revival
• According to Henry VIII’s will, Mary Tudor
(daughter of Catherine) succeeded the throne in
1553
• Queen Mary I immediately worked to reestablish
the supremacy of Catholic Church
• Jane Grey and her husband were executed
• Mary had many Protestants burned at the stake
from 1555-1558, this only served to make her
unpopular; many of English people were
Protestant
Elizabeth I
• Mary died in 1558 and according to Henry’s will
his last child Elizabeth succeeded the crown
– Age 25, she was a moderate Protestant
– Affectionately known as “Good Queen Bess”
– Following her coronation, two important acts passed
Parliament: Act of Uniformity, Act of Supremacy
• made it compulsory to attend church services every Sunday
• imposed an oath on clergymen and statesmen to recognize
the Church of England
• Re-established the independence of the Church of England
from the Catholic Church
• and the authority of Elizabeth as Supreme Governor.
Good Queen Bess
• Elizabeth I had a popular reign, during
which
• The English navy was able to defeat
the Spanish armada
• A secret Catholic plot to assassinate
the Queen and replace her with Mary,
Queen of Scots was discovered.
• Queen Elizabeth I reluctantly had her
second cousin Mary executed
• Pope St. Pius V, issued Papal bull
excommunicating Elizabeth & relieving
her subjects of their allegiance to her
• Elizabeth never married and with her
death in 1603, the Tudor dynasty
ended
The Stuart Dynasty
• The Stuarts were royalty of Scotland ; connected to Tudor
lineage by marriage of Henry VIII’s elder sister, Margaret
Tudor, to James IV, King of Scots
• Their only surviving grandchild, Mary, became Queen of
Scots in 1542
– Because of her strong Catholic stance, she had a troubled reign
among the Scots, many of whom were Presbyterian Protestants.
– To relieve the conflict, her 1 yr old son James VI was made King of
Scots in her stead in 1567. She was a mere 24 yrs old
– She fled to England where she became the prisoner of her 2nd
cousin Elizabeth Tudor, Queen of England
– Catholics there, in conspiracy with France, sought to put Mary on
the throne, claiming illegitimacy of Elizabeth’s reign
– Elizabeth reluctantly had her executed in 1587 after 20 years of
imprisonment
The Stuart Dynasty
• When Queen Elizabeth
died, she had never
married and thus had no
successor to the Crown
• The right to English
throne fell to James VI
King of Scots as the heir
of Henry VII thru
Margaret Tudor
• He was crowned King
James I of England 1603
King James I
• Religious persuasion was Anglican although in order
to end costly war with Spain (started by Elizabeth)
James granted tolerance to Catholics
• James had good relationship with Parliament
although the latter was becoming more assertive.
– Growing national debt and incompetence of James’
ministers let to uncontrolled inflation
– Parliament saw the opportunity to gain concessions in
exchange for providing needed financial support
– Parliament had strong Puritan faction at odds with James
– James sought Spanish dowry as another source of income.
Marriage of his son Charles to Maria of Spain was
attractive also in reducing risk of war with Spain.
King James I
• Parliament countered with petition to engage Spain with war
and have Charles marry Protestant
• Angered, James ripped up petition and dismissed Parliament in
1621
• James sought to unify Great Britain under the Anglican church
which ousted Puritans from clergy
• Authorized King James Version of Bible was completed in 1611, a
masterpiece which resolved issues with earlier English
translations
• With the loss of his Prime Minister Earl of Salisbury in 1612,
James’ government became factioned and disreputable.
Scandals undermined credibility of his court ministers.
• James had never completely lost the affection of his people, who
had enjoyed uninterrupted peace and comparatively low
taxation.
• He died in 1625 of dysentery
• James instilled in Charles a
distrust for Parliament,
unwavering belief in “divine
right of kings” and enjoyment
of leisure pastimes
• Parliament sought to curb
royal prerogative, Charles
engaged them in power
struggle.
– They feared his marriage to
French Roman Catholic Princess
Henrietta Maria might lead to a
Catholic successor
– Parliament forced him to
concede to Petition of Right
Charles I
Petition of Right 1628
• The Petition is most notable for its
confirmation of the principles that
– taxes can be levied only by Parliament,
– martial law may not be imposed in time of
peace,
– prisoners must be able to challenge the legitimacy
of their detentions through the writ of habeas
corpus.
– ban on the billeting of troops
• As Parliament became more critical of Charles I
and his prime minister the Duke of
Buckingham, impeachment proceedings were
moved against the Duke.
• In his defense Charles dissolved Parliament for
11 years
• During this time, the only English government
was that of the King and his ministers
• Charles and Henrietta Maria have three
children: Charles, James and Mary
Henrietta Maria of France
• Mother of
– Charles II
– James II
– Mary
• Marries William II
• Mother of William III
(of Orange)
Charles I
• During his 11 year rule of tyranny, Charles
aroused widespread antagonism two ways:
– Illegal means of raising money
– Religious reform of High Anglicanism
• His appointment of William Laud as archbishop
of Church of England in 1633 was unpopular
• Laud considered Puritanism a threat to
episcopacy and imposed total uniformity in the
Church; Puritans were ousted from their posts
• Puritans perceived this as “Catholicization” of the
Church of England
Charles I
• Scottish uprising against imposed High
Anglicanism on mostly Presbyterians forced
Charles to summon Parliament in 1640 to fund his
army
• Puritan-dominated Parliament took the
opportunity and passed laws
– against Catholicism
– forbidding the king to dissolve Parliament without its
consent
– limiting the dissolution of Parliament to 3 years max
– making it illegal to tax w/o consent of Parliament
English Civil War
• The new Parliament was
more hostile against the
King than before
• England was divided:
– Royalists supported the King
– Parliamentarians opposed
him
• War broke out in 1642 and
ended in 1649 with a
Parliamentary victory
• As Puritans, the Ironsides often attributed their
glory in battle to God. Their religious beliefs
extended to the field where they adhered to strict
ethical codes: they did not drink or gamble or
partake in the traditional spoils of war and did not
rape, or pillage defeated opponents
Oliver Cromwell
• Rising to a position of
prominence during the
Civil War
• Puritan Cavalry General
• He believed that
suppressing vice and
encouraging virtue
constituted the chief
end of government.
• His methods
controversial
The Interregnum
• Charles I was charged with treason, tried in court found
guilty and executed 1649-first English monarch to be
tried
• In 1649 Parliament established Commonwealth of
England with executive power in Council of State
• the Puritan views of the majority of Parliament and its
supporters began to be imposed on the rest of the
country. The Puritans advocated an austere lifestyle and
restricted what they saw as the excesses
– Dominated a small Parliament and passed many restrictive
moral laws to regulate people's behavior
– Suppressed Christmas & Easter, theater and gambling
banned
– Antagonized gentry
The Interregnum
• Royalists regrouped in Ireland, enlisting the Catholics to help
them
• Cromwell lead Roundheads on a bloody campaign to destroy
them in 1649-1650
– 400,000 or 41% of population killed in Ireland
– Massacre at Drogheda involved killing of women and children
because the town would not surrender
– To this day, Cromwell is subject of contention between Catholic
Ireland and Protestant England
• Cromwell alienated the Scots, allies in Civil War in 1650
– Scots declared Charles II as their King prompted Cromwell to invade
– At first campaign did not go well, but Cromwell's forces destroyed
the last major Scottish Royalist army.
– Charles II barely escaped capture, and subsequently fled to exile in
France and the Netherlands, where he would remain until 1660
Lord Protectorate
• In 1653 Cromwell dissolved
Parliament and established
Protectorate, with himself as Lord
Protectorate until his death in
1659.
– Cromwell had 2 key objectives:
first was "healing and settling" the
nation
– second was spiritual and moral
reform
• suppressing vice and encouraging
virtue constituted the chief end of
government.
– His death left power vacuum, his
son Richard could not fill…lasted
eight months
Charles II & Restoration
• George Monck, Commander of
Scotland under Cromwell saw that
anarchy loomed and Richard was
incompetent, marched his troops to
London
• Restored Parliament and through
secret correspondence with Charles
II secured his promise to
– Pardon those involved in Civil War
– Promote religious toleration
• Parliament invited Charles II to
return as the English monarch
• Charles was popularly known as the Merrie
Monarch, in reference to both the liveliness and
hedonism of his court and the general public relief
at the return to normality after over a decade of
rule by Oliver Cromwell and the Puritans.
• Although previously favourable to the Crown, the
Cavalier Parliament was alienated by the king's
wars and religious policies during the 1670s:
– Supported French Catholic cause by involving England
in wars against Protestant Dutch
– Suspended all penal laws against Catholics and
dissenters
– Rumors spread concerning Charles II conversion to
Catholicism
Problem of Succession, again
• Charles II had no successor
• His brother James II was Catholic which was of grave concern to
Parliament
• James II took throne 1685, he was too Catholic, too pro-France,
too arbitrary
– He maintained a large standing army against the English tradition
– Although he spoke of tolerance, his actions favored Catholics
– He married Catholic wives (Anne, who died then Mary of Modena)
• Anne had 8 children by James II but only 2 survive: Mary and Anne
• Mary and Anne have PROTESTANT upbringing and Mary marries the
Protestant Stadtholder Prince William of Orange (Netherlands)
• William is son of Mary, the oldest daughter of Charles I and Wiliam II of
Nassau
– From Mary of Modena, James II has boy, James Francis Edward Stuart,
CATHOLIC by upbringing
• After 3 years of this, Parliament once again asserted its power
and deposed James II
Glorious Revolution 1688
• James II had a standing army, Parliament had none
• Seven protestant nobles invited William III of Orange to invade England
hoping to “save the Protestant religion”
• By September, it had become clear that William sought to invade. Believing
that his own army would be adequate, James II refused the assistance of
Louis XIV, fearing that the English would oppose French intervention
• When William arrived on 5 November 1688, many Protestant officers,
including Churchill, defected and joined William, as did James's own
daughter, Princess Anne
• James lost his nerve and declined to attack the invading army, despite his
army's numerical superiority. On 11 December, James tried to flee to
France, first throwing the Great Seal of the Realm into the River Thames.
• James was captured in Kent; later, he was released and placed under Dutch
protective guard. Having no desire to make James a martyr, the Prince of
Orange let him escape on 23 December.
• James was received by his cousin and ally, King Louis XIV of France, who
offered him a palace and a pension.
William and Mary
The irony: James is defeated by his own son-in-law who is his also his nephew. William and
Mary are co-regents and rule as peers with Queen Mary having direct succession of her father
James II and King William III indirectly through his mother, James’ sister.
• William and Mary signed the English Bill of
Rights and began a new co-operation between
the Parliament and the monarchs, leading to a
greater measure of personal liberty and
democracy in Britain.
• This signaled the end of several centuries of
tension and conflict between the English crown
and parliament, and the end of the idea that
England would be restored to Catholicism, King
William being a Protestant leader.
• Founded the College of William and Mary in 1693
– Second oldest institution of higher learning in US
– Location Williamsburg, VA
– Intended for both colonists and native Americans
– "make, found and establish a certain Place of
Universal Study, a perpetual College of Divinity,
Philosophy, Languages, and the good arts and
sciences...to be supported and maintained, in all time
coming.“ (original charter)
– Graduates of the College of Divinity were ordained as
clergy of the Church of England