Speaker 1: Hello and Welcome to Western SIEV Episode three hundred and twenty.
Speaker 1: King and Parliament. The treasury was bear. The officers of
Speaker 1: the ground were demanding their salaries, but but James had
Speaker 1: no money with which to pay them. Parliament did not
Speaker 1: want to vote taxes, and local officials in the counties
Speaker 1: were not zealous in collecting the proper revenues from their neighbors.
Speaker 1: Much of the money raised on customs duties was diverted
Speaker 1: into the pockets of the men who were collecting it.
Speaker 1: When Parliament reassembled in February sixteen ten, it was in
Speaker 1: not the best of moods. Robert Cecil outlined the financial
Speaker 1: problems of the nation, but the members of Parliament were
Speaker 1: more concerned to restrain the overspending of the court rather
Speaker 1: than to vote new taxes. One of them, Thomas Wentworth,
Speaker 1: argued that it would be worse than useless to grant
Speaker 1: new moneyes to the King if he refused to reduce
Speaker 1: his expenditure. Wentworth asked, quote, to what purpose is it
Speaker 1: to draw a silver stream into the Royal cistern if
Speaker 1: it shall daily run out, thence by private clocks end quote.
Speaker 1: Cecil was not impressed. It was his understanding that the
Speaker 1: Commons had a duty to supply the needs of the King,
Speaker 1: after which their grievances might be addressed. The Members, on
Speaker 1: the other hand, demanded that their complaints be answered before
Speaker 1: turning to the needs of the King, and so a
Speaker 1: conference was called, during which Robert Cecil put forward a
Speaker 1: long mediated plan, which became later known as as the
Speaker 1: Great Contract. The King would give up his feudal dues
Speaker 1: and ten years in exchange for a guaranteed annual sum.
Speaker 1: The commons offered one hundred thousand pounds, only half of
Speaker 1: the amount James required. Parliament still seemed to believe that
Speaker 1: he should and could be as economical as his predecessor.
Speaker 1: The negotiations therefore were suspended. On May the twenty first,
Speaker 1: the King summoned both houses of Parliament into his presence,
Speaker 1: and he castigated them for sitting for fourteen weeks without
Speaker 1: dealing with his necessities. He would listen to what they
Speaker 1: had to say about increased taxation, but he would not
Speaker 1: be bound by their opinions. They must not question the
Speaker 1: royal prerogative in such matters. The members answered that if
Speaker 1: this were the case, then the King might lawfully claim
Speaker 1: all they owned a deputation armed with a petition of right,
Speaker 1: met James at his palace in Greenwich. Realizing that he
Speaker 1: had probably gone too far, He welcomed them and explained
Speaker 1: that he had been misunderstood. He always knew when to
Speaker 1: draw back from confrontation, a lesson never learned by his
Speaker 1: two sons. The debate over the Great Contract continued on
Speaker 1: June the eleventh. Both sides made a series of concessions,
Speaker 1: but there remained no deal in sight, so James parogued
Speaker 1: Parliament in July, allowing the various members of Parliament to
Speaker 1: return to their constituencies and discuss the terms of the proposal.
Speaker 1: The towns and the counties were not, however, concerned with
Speaker 1: the King's financial state. They were concerned with their own
Speaker 1: lists of wrongs and grievances. All this whole episode proved
Speaker 1: was the growing gulf between the King and his kingdom.
Speaker 1: James looked increasingly out of touch with the needs and
Speaker 1: desires of a modernizing England, and this was all totally
Speaker 1: lost on James. In March of sixteen ten, he made
Speaker 1: the situation infinitely worse when he addressed the lords at Whitehall,
Speaker 1: declaring that kings were above all other men, and in
Speaker 1: fact that quote by God himself, they are called gods
Speaker 1: end quote. James went on to declare that kings have
Speaker 1: the power of raising up and casting down of life
Speaker 1: and death for all their subjects. It was, in other words,
Speaker 1: a declaration of the divine right of kings, of total absolutism,
Speaker 1: and it did not sit well with the men in
Speaker 1: the room listening. James did not understand common law at all,
Speaker 1: as his previous confrontations with Sir Edward Coke had suggested.
Speaker 1: It seemed to be unaware that the principle of absolute
Speaker 1: sovereignty was not one that the English would even remotely entertain.
Speaker 1: One noted that quote the King speaks of France and
Speaker 1: Spain what they may do end quote. He didn't realize,
Speaker 1: or maybe he pretended not to realize, that the sovereigns
Speaker 1: of those two countries were in a position very different
Speaker 1: from his own. He maintained the theory of divine right
Speaker 1: without any clear understanding of how it would operate in
Speaker 1: the context of parliamentary authority and a common law. He
Speaker 1: may have adopted his positions for less theoretical reasons. His
Speaker 1: hatred of the Presbyterian elders of Scotland derived from the
Speaker 1: fact that they directly challenged his authority. The nobility of
Speaker 1: that country also had been inclined to talk to him
Speaker 1: and deal with him as if he were one among equals.
Speaker 1: So his statements about his own power are probably to
Speaker 1: have been in response to his difficult and sometimes dangerous
Speaker 1: position as King of Scotland. He had once observed that
Speaker 1: quote the highest bench is the slidriiest to sit upon.
Speaker 1: End quote. Now to be fair, also, James only said
Speaker 1: these things, he never acted on them. That was a
Speaker 1: key difference between James and his son. James was never
Speaker 1: arbitrary or erratic with his power. In return, Parliament never
Speaker 1: made any major move to question or undermine his sovereignty.
Speaker 1: For the moment, this was all a war of words.
Speaker 1: In June sixteen ten, James's eldest son, Henry, was formerly
Speaker 1: invested as the Prince of Wales. Henry was a serious
Speaker 1: young man with a pious military character. He was very
Speaker 1: much cut out of the mold of another famous Henry,
Speaker 1: Henry the Fifth, the Victor of Agincour. Everyone looked forward
Speaker 1: to the day when Henry might rule and perhaps even
Speaker 1: lead England to the successes enjoyed by his medieval predecessor.
Speaker 1: But Henry was not technically the only contender for the throne.
Speaker 1: There remained the king's cousin, Arabella Stuart. In Elizabeth's final days,
Speaker 1: she had considered her briefly a potential heir. Now Arabella
Speaker 1: was just kind of hanging around. Arabella Stuart was the
Speaker 1: cousin of James, and for the first six years of
Speaker 1: his reign she enjoyed all the comforts and considerations of court.
Speaker 1: She had even been considered as a replacement for James
Speaker 1: himself by Walter Raleigh and others. Though she had taken
Speaker 1: no part in the plot, it was still of the
Speaker 1: utmost importance that she married wisely and well. At the
Speaker 1: beginning of sixteen ten, however, she came to a pre
Speaker 1: contractual arrangement with William Seymour, who, by an extremely indirect route,
Speaker 1: had some small claim to the throne. This has always
Speaker 1: aroused the suspicion of James, as it always aroused the
Speaker 1: suspicion of every king. The couple agreed to renounce their plans,
Speaker 1: but in June they took part in a secret marriage
Speaker 1: ceremony at Greenwich. On hearing the news James was absolutely furious.
Speaker 1: Seymour was instantly confined to the tower while Arabella was
Speaker 1: taken to Lambeth, before was decided to send her north
Speaker 1: to Durham. En route at Barnett, she planned her escape.
Speaker 1: She disguised herself, according to a contemporary by quote, drawing
Speaker 1: a hair of great French fashioned hose over her petticoats,
Speaker 1: putting on a man's doublet a man like peruke with
Speaker 1: long locks over her hair, a black hat, black cloak,
Speaker 1: russet boots with red tops, and a rape here by
Speaker 1: her side. She took ship for France at Lee, but
Speaker 1: was overtaken by a vessel from Dover to apprehend her.
Speaker 1: From there she was taken to the tower, where her
Speaker 1: reason ultimately gave way and she died completely insane. About
Speaker 1: four years later. When a new session of Parliament opened
Speaker 1: in the fall of sixteen ten, it appeared that Robert Cecil,
Speaker 1: the Earl of Salisbury, was losing ground on this great
Speaker 1: contract idea. Parliament simply was not going to grant James
Speaker 1: the money he wanted. The King adjourned and then dissolved
Speaker 1: Parliament in a matter of weeks. Now, the economic problems
Speaker 1: that James was facing were not all of his own making.
Speaker 1: The The English economic system had been to a large
Speaker 1: extent formulated in the fourteenth century, and it simply couldn't
Speaker 1: deal with the problems of the seventeenth. It didn't work,
Speaker 1: especially in times of warfare. An all manner of fiscal
Speaker 1: expedients had to be found to essentially plug the gaps. Thus,
Speaker 1: in the spring of the following year, James offered to
Speaker 1: sell hereditary titles to any knights or esquires who wanted them.
Speaker 1: You could get the title of baronet for only one
Speaker 1: thousand and eighty pounds in three annual payments, but the
Speaker 1: overall gain to the exchequer of approximately ninety thousand pounds
Speaker 1: was not enough to balance the profusion of the king's expenditure,
Speaker 1: so peerages were put on the market four years later,
Speaker 1: when in sixteen sixteen Sir John Roper made the sum
Speaker 1: of ten thousand pounds to become Lord Tenningham, he was
Speaker 1: given the name the nickname, I should say of Lord
Speaker 1: ten million. A seventeenth century historian, Arthur Williams remarked of
Speaker 1: the maulsiplicity of titles that quote made them cheap and invalid.
Speaker 1: In vulgar opinion, for nothing is more destructive to monarchy
Speaker 1: than lessening of the nobility. Upon their decline. The comments
Speaker 1: rise and anarchy increases. End quote. But the king had
Speaker 1: another scheme to raise money. It was proposed to him
Speaker 1: that his oldest son might be married to the hand
Speaker 1: of the Infanta Maria Anna, the daughter of Philip the
Speaker 1: third of Spain, and James's son Henry wasn't the only
Speaker 1: potential heir available. He still had his daughter Elizabeth, so
Speaker 1: in the spring of sixteen eleven, James joined the Protestant Union,
Speaker 1: which by and large consisted of England and various other
Speaker 1: German principalities. I'm going to get a lot more into
Speaker 1: the Protestant Union, by the way, when we pivot to
Speaker 1: start to discuss the Thirty Years War. More importantly, he
Speaker 1: decided to marry his daughter Elizabeth to Frederick of the Palatinate.
Speaker 1: The Palatinate included large swaths of modern Germany and several
Speaker 1: key towns, including Heidelberg. James appeared to be positioning himself
Speaker 1: as a champion of Protestantism. He had the credentials. By
Speaker 1: sixteen eleven, his King James Bible had supplanted both the
Speaker 1: Geneva Bible and the Bishop's Bible. It had also become
Speaker 1: the model for seventeenth century British prose. Its mere existence
Speaker 1: prompted a new wave of Protestant religious publications throughout Europe.
Speaker 1: At home, James continued to consolidate Protestantism. When Archship Bancroft
Speaker 1: died in sixteen eleven, James appointed George Abbott as the
Speaker 1: Archbishop of Canterbury. His main qualification for the post was
Speaker 1: his ardent opposition to Catholicism. Yet James was never a
Speaker 1: purest in this regard, because, as I mentioned, he was
Speaker 1: while he was marrying his daughter to one of the
Speaker 1: leading Protestants in Europe, trying to seek the hand of
Speaker 1: the daughter of the most arch Catholic king in all
Speaker 1: of Europe for his son. He was a pragmatist before
Speaker 1: a theologian. In the summer of sixteen twelve, Kit and
Speaker 1: James went on a progress of a monst duration taking
Speaker 1: in Leicester, Nottingham and Newark. All around him he could
Speaker 1: see evidence of a prosperous and tranquil nation. A piece
Speaker 1: with Spain and a commercial treaty with France had encouraged trade,
Speaker 1: while a series of finally good harvests maintained a happy condition.
Speaker 1: Dairy produce flowed into London from Essex, Wiltshire and Yorkshire.
Speaker 1: Wool for export arrived at ports from Wiltshire and North Hampshire.
Speaker 1: Cattle from North Wales and Scotland, and sheep from Cotswolds
Speaker 1: were herded into the Great Market at Smithfield. Other trades
Speaker 1: were also rising. Coal was rapidly becoming plentiful and as
Speaker 1: valuable as silver. Its production was rising rapidly each year.
Speaker 1: In the one hundred years from fifteen forty. The production
Speaker 1: of iron had also increased fivefold. Norwich was a safe
Speaker 1: haven for exiled weavers from France or Germany, while Chester
Speaker 1: dominated trade with Ireland. The struggle against monopolies, which had
Speaker 1: began late in the reign of Elizabeth, played its part
Speaker 1: in the increasing economic power of the country. Overall, the
Speaker 1: economic conditions throughout England we could say had been improving
Speaker 1: since the late sixteenth century. That is not to say
Speaker 1: that there were not pockets of abject poverty. There were,
Speaker 1: and hundreds were still looking to the New World as
Speaker 1: a means of escape, but in general things were finally
Speaker 1: starting to get better. In a material sense. Yeomen were
Speaker 1: building larger houses, now with separate kitchens and divided rooms.
Speaker 1: Chairs replaced benches, cutlery replaced the dagger as the principal
Speaker 1: means of consuming one's meals. Life was beginning to at
Speaker 1: least look a little modern. In sixteen twelve, Robert Cecil died.
Speaker 1: He had been the second most important person in England
Speaker 1: for decades, but his death came as a relief to James,
Speaker 1: now effectively rule as he wished. Two men took Cecil's place.
Speaker 1: Robert Carr, chief favorite, became the Viscount Rochester. Henry Howard
Speaker 1: became the King's chief administrator in addition to Robert Cecil.
Speaker 1: It was around this time that another death occurred at court,
Speaker 1: this one much more consequential. All had seemed well with
Speaker 1: the heir to the throne. Prince Henry was an assertive
Speaker 1: and athletic youth. He excelled in masks as well as
Speaker 1: Marshall sports, but at the end of October in sixteen twelve,
Speaker 1: he fell ill. He was playing cards with his younger
Speaker 1: brother Charles and a bystander, Sir Charles Cornwallace. Cornwallis noticed
Speaker 1: that quote His Highness for all this looked ill and pale,
Speaker 1: spoke hollow and somewhat strangely, with dead sunken eyes end quote.
Speaker 1: A doctor was called, but over the next eleven days,
Speaker 1: the doctor could do nothing to stop the slow spread
Speaker 1: of a disease that has been tentatively diagnosed as more
Speaker 1: likely than not toyphoid fever, but there's still a lot
Speaker 1: of debate over that amongst historians. He died raving to
Speaker 1: the authentic dismay and dejection of the court. He had
Speaker 1: been the emblem of England's future destiny and had promised
Speaker 1: an age of heroic adventure, but this time in the
Speaker 1: Protestant cause. Queen Anne wept, and a year later it
Speaker 1: still wasn't safe to mention her son to her James
Speaker 1: mourned aloud, crying out, Henry is dead. Henry is dead.
Speaker 1: The crown was now destined for Charles, a silent, shy
Speaker 1: and reserved prince very much unlike his brother. Despite his
Speaker 1: beloved son's death, James hated a gloomy court and insisted
Speaker 1: that everyone needed to move on. When his daughter wed
Speaker 1: Frederick in February sixteen thirteen, James put on a lavish
Speaker 1: and celebratory ceremony and party weddings are, after all, objectively
Speaker 1: more fun than funerals. As an interesting aside, it has
Speaker 1: long been argued that Shakespeare added the mask in the
Speaker 1: fourth act of The Tempest as a means of celebrating
Speaker 1: the couple. And then it was time once more to
Speaker 1: summon a new parliament. There really wasn't much of a plan.
Speaker 1: B The government was now barely functioning, the ambassadors had
Speaker 1: not been paid, sailors were ready to mutiny, and frankly,
Speaker 1: the defenses of the kingdom were in a sorry state,
Speaker 1: to say the least. But the elections did not bode
Speaker 1: well for the king. Two thirds of the new members
Speaker 1: of Parliament had never before held office. These were reform
Speaker 1: minded new men. That was the last thing that James needed.
Speaker 1: He opened Parliament on April fourth, sixteen fourteen. It was
Speaker 1: a disaster from the word go. The King gave a
Speaker 1: conciliatory speech promising reform while still requesting money. The commons
Speaker 1: responded with wave after wave of debate on the King's
Speaker 1: ability or lack thereof, to issue these impositions, or special
Speaker 1: taxes as they liked to call them. The King gave
Speaker 1: another speech a few days later, asking for a Parliament
Speaker 1: of love. In response, he was jeered to the point
Speaker 1: that he nearly did not finish his comments. It was
Speaker 1: an angry, raucous House of Commons. James opened the proceedings
Speaker 1: on the fifth of April sixteen fourteen with a conciliatory
Speaker 1: speech and promised reform while requesting more revenue. The Commons
Speaker 1: chose to ignore the message and instead complained that the
Speaker 1: quote unquote undertakers had violated the freedom of election and
Speaker 1: privileges of parliament. They didn't want to vote supplies to
Speaker 1: the king. Instead, they wanted to challenge the King's right
Speaker 1: to levy these impositions and special taxes. When the members
Speaker 1: refused James's order to debate supplies alone, he quickly dissolved
Speaker 1: parliament and committed five members to the Tower of London.
Speaker 1: The session had lasted less than three months and not
Speaker 1: one bill had received royal assent. Thus it became known
Speaker 1: as the Adult or the Adult Parliament. No Assembly at
Speaker 1: all met again for the next seven years, but James
Speaker 1: still badly needed money, so he renewed marriage negotiations with
Speaker 1: France and Spain, hoping a foreign dowry would solve his
Speaker 1: financial woes, but that would take time, and James needed
Speaker 1: money now. As a result, he asked London the City
Speaker 1: Magistrates for a loan, but it refused, responding that James's
Speaker 1: credit was too poor, which it was. The King appointed
Speaker 1: Thomas Howard, the Lord Treasurer, and he immediately set himself
Speaker 1: to the task of raising money by any means necessary.
Speaker 1: He issued fines against any new building built within seven
Speaker 1: miles of London, for example. These were never popular options,
Speaker 1: but the king had little other recourse in the absence
Speaker 1: of a parliament. The government was now the King and
Speaker 1: his council, dominated by Somerset, his favorite. All royal patronage
Speaker 1: flowed through him. As an aside, and I mentioned this previously,
Speaker 1: we are again entering a period wherein royal favorites dominate
Speaker 1: the crown, much to its detriment. The names might change,
Speaker 1: but the problems they will not, and many around James
Speaker 1: had decided it was time for him to get a
Speaker 1: new favorite. In the summer of sixteen four fourteen, a
Speaker 1: young man of twenty two was presented to James. George Villiers,
Speaker 1: the son of a knight, had already been trained as
Speaker 1: a courtier. He had become practiced in the arts of
Speaker 1: dancing and offensing. He had spent three years in France,
Speaker 1: where he had acquired a good manner to adorn what
Speaker 1: was called quote, the handsomest bodied man in all of
Speaker 1: England end quote. He also had very powerful allies, among
Speaker 1: them Archbishop Abbot and the Queen. Abbot supported him in
Speaker 1: the hope of diminishing the influence of Somerset and the Howards,
Speaker 1: who favored Catholic Spain. The Queen, influenced by Abbot, pressed
Speaker 1: her husband to show favor to the young man. Villiers
Speaker 1: was accordingly appointed to be the royal cupbearer in constant
Speaker 1: attendance upon his sovereign in the spring of sixteen fifteen,
Speaker 1: and was knighted as a gentleman of the bedchamber. Somerset,
Speaker 1: sensing arrival, decided he would try to alienate Villiers. It backfired.
Speaker 1: The King liked Villiers, and he criticized Somerset for his
Speaker 1: constant complaining. With numerous plots lining up against him, Somerset
Speaker 1: tried to take proactive measures. He had a writ drawn
Speaker 1: up for the King's signature. It was essentially a blanket
Speaker 1: and proactive pardon for him and his wife Somerset was
Speaker 1: pardoning himself for any in all crimes he may or
Speaker 1: may not have committed. It was an audacious move, to
Speaker 1: say the least. James was about to sign it, but
Speaker 1: the Queen and several other counselors talked him out of it.
Speaker 1: Then a bombshell hit in sixteen fifteen, a certain Thomas Overbye,
Speaker 1: who was then staying in the Tower of London, was poisoned.
Speaker 1: The assassins had done a sloppy job of covering it up,
Speaker 1: and it didn't take authorities very long to follow the
Speaker 1: trail of evidence back to missus Carr and ultimately to
Speaker 1: her husband, Lord Somerset. Both husband and wife were charged
Speaker 1: and found guilty of murder. Both were sentenced to death.
Speaker 1: The King commuted their sentences to one of imprisonment, and
Speaker 1: they remained in the Tower of London for six long years.
Speaker 1: So one favorite was gone. Sadly, George Villiers was about
Speaker 1: to take his place. And more, as we are going
Speaker 1: to see, Villiers was about to become the most important
Speaker 1: and powerful royal favored in England since the High Middle Ages.
Speaker 1: And I hope I do not need to tell you this,
Speaker 1: but that's not a good thing. War