How Important Were Disputes over Royal Finances in Worsening Relations Between Charles 1 and Parliaments in the Years 1625 to 1629

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How important were disputes over royal finances in worsening relations between Charles 1 and parliaments in the years 1625 to 1629? During Charles’s reign there were several disputes over finance such as the forced loan of 1626. It may be considered that finance was the most important reasons for the bad relationship between monarch and Parliament as it underpinned the other tensions such as foreign policy and Buckingham. For example Charles needed subsidies from Parliament with which to fight the war with Spain and France. Buckingham was also largely resented in Parliament due to his wealth and awful foreign policy. They called him ‘the cause of all our miseries’. Even though there were other reasons such as religion historians such as Conrad Russell agree that finance was the most prominent reason for the bad relationship. Finance was the cause to several problems during Charles’s reign. At the start of which his first Parliament of 1625 offered him two subsidies to demonstrate their loyalty however Charles asked for more which was unprecedented. This upset Parliament and so they turned to their grievances and made it clear that Charles would not have money until these were addressed. However Charles saw negotiating with Parliament beneath him as he believed they should unquestionably do what he wanted them to do. These grievances (which had arisen since 1624) were mainly about foreign policy: namely the doubts about the Mansfeld expedition to the Palatinate and the French marriage. They also complained that, as yet, England was not formally at war with anyone and so for this reason may have been disinclined to give money to Charles. Furthermore in the past Charles had not been very trustworthy, such as he promised to take a naval expedition to the Palatinate but instead went across the continent, wasted money and didn’t manage to get there.
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