Speaker 1: Hello and Welcome to Western SIEV episode four hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty six, Charles the First. On March twenty seventh, sixteen
Speaker 1: twenty five, the Jacobean period of England came to a close.
Speaker 1: Charles Stewart had become the King of England at the
Speaker 1: age of twenty four. He was proclaimed on the same
Speaker 1: day as his father's death, and a contemporary at Cambridge
Speaker 1: wrote that, quote, we had thunder the same day presently
Speaker 1: on the proclamation, and twas a cold season, but all
Speaker 1: fears and sorrows are swallowed up in joy, hopeful of
Speaker 1: a successor end quote. What do we know about Charles's personality? Well,
Speaker 1: we're going to come to know a lot. You know.
Speaker 1: He was more severe and much more reserved than his father.
Speaker 1: He had a strong sense of formality and order. The
Speaker 1: change of tone at court was evident almost immediately. Charles
Speaker 1: announced that during the reign of his quote, most dear
Speaker 1: and royal father, idle and unnecessary people have thronged the court,
Speaker 1: bringing much dishonor to our house end quote. There were
Speaker 1: to be no more bawdery shows or displays. The new
Speaker 1: king had been impressed by his time in Spain by
Speaker 1: the decorum of the Spanish court. He appreciated the privacy
Speaker 1: by which the royal family was protected and the gravitas
Speaker 1: with which courtly affairs had been conducted. This moral tone
Speaker 1: appealed to the young man who had become dismayed by
Speaker 1: the laxness of his father's court. He began to dress
Speaker 1: all in black again, in a Spanish preference and a
Speaker 1: prefest to his orders for the royal household. He remarked
Speaker 1: that his purpose was to quote establish government and order
Speaker 1: in our court, which from thence may spread with more
Speaker 1: order throughout all parts of our kingdom. And quote this
Speaker 1: idea of control is going to be one that's going
Speaker 1: to dominate the turbulent reign of Charles the First. The
Speaker 1: Venetian ambassador noted that within days of Charles's ascension, quote,
Speaker 1: the king observes a rule of great decorum. The nobles
Speaker 1: do not enter his apartments in confusion, as heretofore, but
Speaker 1: each rank has its own appointed place end quote. The
Speaker 1: ambassador for the report that the king had drawn up
Speaker 1: a significant list of rules and regulations that divided up
Speaker 1: his day from first rising when he had time to pray,
Speaker 1: a time for exercising a time for business, and a
Speaker 1: time for audience and says, plus a time for eating
Speaker 1: and a time for sleeping. He didn't want to deviate
Speaker 1: from this schedule, nor did he want his subjects to
Speaker 1: ever be introduced to him without warning. They would only
Speaker 1: be sent for. Servants would offer him meals, now on
Speaker 1: their bended knees, again a Spanish custom. And such was
Speaker 1: the protocol around the royal dining that Charles hardly ever,
Speaker 1: if he ever ate a hot meal, his food took
Speaker 1: too long to serve, did it solitarily. Whenever he washed
Speaker 1: his hands, those part of the towel which he touched
Speaker 1: were raised above the head of the gentleman usher, who
Speaker 1: removed it from his royal presence. All was now decorum
Speaker 1: and grandeur. Gone were the easy days of James. The
Speaker 1: first people would be wishing for them before too long.
Speaker 1: Charles got to work really in earnest in the beginning
Speaker 1: of April, when he asked his favorite, the Duke of Buckingham,
Speaker 1: and other grandees to review all aspects of foreign policy.
Speaker 1: You wanted to examine the relationship with Spain, which was
Speaker 1: fraid to say the least. You wanted to know about
Speaker 1: a possible alliance with France, and these were to be
Speaker 1: considered in light of Charles's desire to recover the Palatinate
Speaker 1: for his brother in law Frederick. Remember, of course, the
Speaker 1: Thirty Years War is raging. A committee was established a
Speaker 1: few days later in order to supervise the nation's defenses
Speaker 1: in case of war. The new king then set up
Speaker 1: two further commissions to investigate financial fraud by the collectors
Speaker 1: of Customs and to examine the trade of the East
Speaker 1: India Company with Russia. It was a business like start,
Speaker 1: but as is generally the case with the work of
Speaker 1: committees and commissions, it accomplished very very little. Buckingham, of course,
Speaker 1: was still the principal counselor to the King. That's going
Speaker 1: to be our key flashpoint in these first few episodes,
Speaker 1: as King in Parliament begin their protracted struggle and then
Speaker 1: civil war or you. Buckingham, of course, had been the
Speaker 1: principal counselor at the end of the reign of James.
Speaker 1: He stayed in the company of the King all day
Speaker 1: and slept in a room next to the royal bedchamber.
Speaker 1: He possessed the golden key that allowed him entrance to
Speaker 1: all the apartments of the palace. Frankly, it seemed like
Speaker 1: Charles couldn't do anything without his favorite. He had an
Speaker 1: almost vice president like status and was in part able
Speaker 1: to compensate for the King's unskillfulness in persuasion and management. Charles,
Speaker 1: we do know, when it came to public speaking, had
Speaker 1: a stutter, which, together because he just wasn't very good
Speaker 1: at normal conversation, led him to convince once that quote,
Speaker 1: I know I am not good to speak much end quote.
Speaker 1: When he was a child, his doctors had tried to
Speaker 1: cure this problem by putting small stones in his mouth,
Speaker 1: but this obviously provided no benefit. He tried to complete
Speaker 1: sentences in his mind before uttering them, but the impediment remained.
Speaker 1: He was always shy, therefore and hesitant in speech, so
Speaker 1: he communicated with his household servants by means of gestures
Speaker 1: as much as he ever did by words. Charles's first
Speaker 1: public appearance was in April at the port of Blackwall,
Speaker 1: on the north of the Thames River, where he visited
Speaker 1: the royal fleet. He was a small man, just over
Speaker 1: five feet in height. It might be described as rather delicate.
Speaker 1: He had it disciplined himself in training and healthy exercise,
Speaker 1: so that his slight exterior was deceptive. His complexion was
Speaker 1: very pale, set off in his youth by curly chestnut hair,
Speaker 1: had a long face, gray eyes, and full lips. He
Speaker 1: was temperament in his habits. He preferred plain beer to
Speaker 1: spice wines, and was of apparently a cool and dispassionate nature,
Speaker 1: and he always always blushed if he heard any body jokes.
Speaker 1: The potentially dangerous matter of his marriage to the French
Speaker 1: Catholic Princess Henrietta Maria soon became the principal topic of
Speaker 1: London gossip, but Charles was not inclined to heed any warnings,
Speaker 1: and he went forward anyway. The marriage was celebrated first
Speaker 1: by proxy on May the first, sixteen twenty five, in
Speaker 1: front of the west door of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.
Speaker 1: In the middle of that month, Buckingham himself traveled to
Speaker 1: Paris in order to accompany Henrietta Maria across the Channel
Speaker 1: and to expedite the proposed alliance between England and France.
Speaker 1: He hoped to persuade the French king to treat his
Speaker 1: Protestant subjects, the Huguenots, with the same tact that Charles
Speaker 1: was now displaying to the Catholics. He also wished to
Speaker 1: draw the French into open warfare against the Spanish. In
Speaker 1: both of these endeavors, Buckingham failed. The French King Louis
Speaker 1: the thirteenth had no interest in a war with Spain
Speaker 1: and did want to destroy the Huguenots. Henriette and Maria
Speaker 1: eventually arrived at Dover on the twelfth of June sixteen
Speaker 1: twenty five. Once Henria, to where Maria arrived in the
Speaker 1: friends aligne seemed secure, the attention was now turned to
Speaker 1: the king's finances. His plea for wartime expenditure was not
Speaker 1: taken very seriously on the grounds that he hadn't put
Speaker 1: forth any military plans or policies. Quite frankly, at all,
Speaker 1: the incompetence of Buckingham came up for the first, not
Speaker 1: the last time in his reign. You can recall he
Speaker 1: made it rather ill executed march toward Breda at the
Speaker 1: end of James's reign, and frankly, Parliament wondered why give
Speaker 1: money to an inept commander. One parliament member, Sir Robert
Speaker 1: felt Helps said, quote we know not yet of any
Speaker 1: war nor of any enemy end quote. I agree Parliament
Speaker 1: proposed to give the king only a tenth of the
Speaker 1: sum which we had anticipated, and to compound this offense
Speaker 1: from Charles's perspective, the customs duties of tonnage and poundage
Speaker 1: would be granted for only one year. All of Charles's predecessors,
Speaker 1: since the time of Henry the sixth back in the
Speaker 1: Wars of the Roses, had been awarded tonnage and poundage
Speaker 1: for the duration of their reign. It is likely that
Speaker 1: the duties of one year were in fact only a
Speaker 1: temporary measure until Parliament had the opportunity to debate a
Speaker 1: permanent settlement. Yet this initial session of Parliament had set
Speaker 1: a precedent. The resistance to increase taxation, the opposition to
Speaker 1: the king's marriage, and their for religious policy would be
Speaker 1: the prime movers of later discontent. Charles was absolutely indignant
Speaker 1: at this lack of early success, but he didn't have
Speaker 1: a strategy to deal with any parliamentary opposition. He had
Speaker 1: simply expected that his orders would be followed. Now, he
Speaker 1: didn't have an opportunity in early sixteen twenty five to
Speaker 1: push the matter, and that's because the plague intervened. The
Speaker 1: plague continued and I'm talking about the bubonic plague continued
Speaker 1: to come back all about every ten years or so
Speaker 1: in cyclical fashion, and every time it did, Parliament would close,
Speaker 1: the theaters would close, the taverns kind of would close,
Speaker 1: and those who could would leave the capitol. And that's
Speaker 1: what happened on this occasion in July of sixteen twenty five,
Speaker 1: and so Charles traveled instead to Woodstock and summoned the
Speaker 1: members of his court to meet him at the Hall
Speaker 1: of Christ Church. He wanted to talk about financial matters
Speaker 1: rather than religious matters, and that was going to be
Speaker 1: problematic because, as the members of his court kept telling him,
Speaker 1: that was the direction that Parliament wanted to go. Initially,
Speaker 1: we're going to be talking about a lot of these
Speaker 1: fault lines as they developed throughout the early reign of Charles,
Speaker 1: and all of them are going to be exacerbated by
Speaker 1: his personality. We keep in mind there are really two
Speaker 1: and they're just a set of priorities that both sides
Speaker 1: can't ever seem to get across. The one I'm going
Speaker 1: to sort of group into a big category called liberties.
Speaker 1: Of this the matter of religion is one, but also
Speaker 1: just personal liberties. This is what matters to Parliament. They
Speaker 1: want liberties and rights guaranteed to them in certain ways,
Speaker 1: and we'll see why that matters in future episodes. Charles's
Speaker 1: concern is always pretty clear. It's with his power and prerogative,
Speaker 1: and above all the money. Charles wants money and is
Speaker 1: willing to do some things to get it, but not
Speaker 1: bend over backwards. Now, at this point it's still not
Speaker 1: clear how much money was required and quite frankly, what
Speaker 1: it was supposed to be used for. Was there a
Speaker 1: naval war with Spain being contemplated that nobody knew about,
Speaker 1: or were they going to transport an army to the
Speaker 1: continent to aid Frederick to try to get back the
Speaker 1: Palatin eate. No one in the administration could speak up
Speaker 1: with a consistent or certain voice. Why then should members
Speaker 1: of the Commons, they would wonder, support a policy that
Speaker 1: they didn't understand and upon which they hadn't been consulted.
Speaker 1: One member of Parliament declared it would be better if
Speaker 1: they concentrated on domestic and financial affairs rather than getting
Speaker 1: involved with more foreign affairs. And it was now that
Speaker 1: Buckingham came under clear attack. It could be inferred from
Speaker 1: the early each against him, that he was incapable of
Speaker 1: controlling the government or organizing any credible war effort whatsoever.
Speaker 1: So now Buckingham started to bend with the wind. The
Speaker 1: information was conveyed that he and his master Charles had
Speaker 1: never really believed in religious toleration for its own sake. Frankly,
Speaker 1: they let it slip that it was merely a device
Speaker 1: to woo the Spanish and then ultimately the French. Buckingham
Speaker 1: was supposed to believe that the religious treaty drawn up
Speaker 1: with Louis the thirteenth was merely for the sake of
Speaker 1: form a piece of paper to appease the Pope. The
Speaker 1: King was ready, quite frankly, to turn on the Catholics,
Speaker 1: and by doing so, to appease Commons. As a consequence,
Speaker 1: the official war against Spain was declared through the administration
Speaker 1: in early autumn sixteen twenty five, even though again they
Speaker 1: didn't have the money to fight it. In the same period,
Speaker 1: a treaty was established between England and the Dutch Republic,
Speaker 1: but of course the perennial problem of finances hadn't been solved,
Speaker 1: and as a desperate remedy, it was proposed that the
Speaker 1: Crown jewels should simply be sold to finance this expedition.
Speaker 1: That Charles and Buckingham wanted to fight, but that they
Speaker 1: didn't have the money to fight. Frankly, to be honest
Speaker 1: with you, they didn't have the soldiers or the ships either.
Speaker 1: But let's not put the cart before the horse here.
Speaker 1: The soldiers would be impressed into service, but they remained unpaid,
Speaker 1: and so they roamed about Plymouth, where the people of
Speaker 1: South Devon would not supply them with food. These hungry
Speaker 1: men ultimately killed the available sheep and oxen they could
Speaker 1: find and ate them, letting an already volatile situation boil over.
Speaker 1: The English fleet, which was at Plymouth, was under the
Speaker 1: command of Sir Edward Cecil, who had first seen service
Speaker 1: all the way back in their reign of Elizabeth. Finally
Speaker 1: he left the harbor at about the eighth of October,
Speaker 1: but unfortunately he left the harbor with the fleet and
Speaker 1: the men still without a war aim. The principal purpose
Speaker 1: of the fleet remained undecided even as it sailed out
Speaker 1: of Plymouth. In some way there was this vague idea
Speaker 1: that it should strike a blow against the Spanish coast.
Speaker 1: But where and how no one had given them any
Speaker 1: indication maybe they should assault Cadiz right, and so the
Speaker 1: Fort of Puntal, guarding the entrance to Cadiz Harbor, was taken.
Speaker 1: When the blockade of Cadiz was attempted, however, news reached
Speaker 1: Cecil and his commanders that a large Spanish force was
Speaker 1: on its way to save the town. As a consequence,
Speaker 1: the English soldiers were disembarked and hurried out to meet
Speaker 1: the threat. But it turned out all this information was false.
Speaker 1: No enemy was in sight, and their force march under
Speaker 1: a hot Spanish sun had left them without provisions. Casks
Speaker 1: of wine were taken from neighboring villages and dwellings, and
Speaker 1: the men gorged themselves until they were totally intoxicated. The
Speaker 1: Spanish de of Keddy's noticed this, fell upon them and
Speaker 1: engaged in a general slaughter. The siege of Kedys and
Speaker 1: the brief occupation of the Fort de Puntal were therefore abandoned,
Speaker 1: and yet another embarrassing failure. Now the English vessels had
Speaker 1: also been charged to intercept the Spanish silver fleet sailing
Speaker 1: from Mexico, but at this point they were in no
Speaker 1: condition to confront anything. Their hulks were rotten the tackle frail,
Speaker 1: whether through corruption or neglect, their supplies had been insufficient
Speaker 1: from the beginning. All the whole thing was yet another
Speaker 1: complete and humiliating fiasco. Now, if you're thinking to yourself, well,
Speaker 1: why would Parliament continue to pay for something that was
Speaker 1: obviously so inept, you'd be thinking the same thing I am.
Speaker 1: If Charles was going to attempt to do something here,
Speaker 1: he probably should have taken his time and do something. Well. Now,
Speaker 1: an attempt was made to avoid the wrath of the country.
Speaker 1: The basic story was going to continue to be well,
Speaker 1: let's deflect the attention from this disaster back towards Catholic Europe.
Speaker 1: We'll just claim that it's going to be okay, Buckingham
Speaker 1: is going to lead a Protestant league against the Spanish
Speaker 1: and imperial pretensions. The problem with all of this was that, remember,
Speaker 1: the Queen of England is now Catholic. Now, while we
Speaker 1: do have some evidence that Charles was doing his best
Speaker 1: to reign in the Catholic tendencies of Henrietta Maria, the
Speaker 1: bottom line is, even though Charles might be able to
Speaker 1: be master of his own house, he was far from
Speaker 1: master of his own kingdom. As we'll continue to see.
Speaker 1: Right after this. Charles's formal coronation came on the second
Speaker 1: of February fifteen twenty six, a little under a year
Speaker 1: since his actual ascension to the throne. Henrietta Maria refused
Speaker 1: to accompany her husband to what she considered to a
Speaker 1: heretical service to its lack of Catholic elements, so he
Speaker 1: proceeded alone. Frankly, there was little rejoicing at the service itself.
Speaker 1: When the newly crowned king was presented to the people,
Speaker 1: the crowds remained largely silent. Charles wore a cloak of
Speaker 1: white rather than a robe of regal scarlet, which was
Speaker 1: considered by many to be an unfortunate innovation in what
Speaker 1: was otherwise an ancient ceremony. The coronation oath was also
Speaker 1: carefully changed by William Laud, the Bishop of Saint David's,
Speaker 1: with a prayer that the king might have quote Peter's
Speaker 1: Key of Discipline and Paul's Doctrine end quote. This was
Speaker 1: not at the time considered any big deal, but at
Speaker 1: a later date Lud was accused of conferring absolute power
Speaker 1: upon the king to the injury of all the people.
Speaker 1: Any will or resentment was at this time, however, largely
Speaker 1: redirected against Buckingham rather than the sovereign himself. Parliament met
Speaker 1: four days later in a state of absolute seething discontent.
Speaker 1: Buckingham's mismanagement of the expedition to Cadiz was all that
Speaker 1: anyone could talk about. The King opened the proceedings with
Speaker 1: a customary short and blunt speech quote I mean to
Speaker 1: show you what I should speak in actions end quote.
Speaker 1: He offered no apologies or explanations for what it transpired.
Speaker 1: He simply asked for more money. When PM Elliot rose
Speaker 1: to speak, he demanded that no further supply should be
Speaker 1: granted until an account had been given of all the
Speaker 1: previous sums that Parliament had previously granted to the King.
Speaker 1: He called for an inspection of the Admiralty ledgers, which
Speaker 1: as Vice Admiral of Devon he was uniquely well placed
Speaker 1: to examine. But he then he made a wider plea
Speaker 1: to the King, not a demand, a plea, saying quote, Sir,
Speaker 1: I beseech you cast your eyes about view the state
Speaker 1: we are in, consider the loss we have received way
Speaker 1: the wrecked and ruined honor of our nation end quote. Now,
Speaker 1: member of parliament. Elliott might be described as one of
Speaker 1: the first great parliamentarians in English history, ready to curb
Speaker 1: the abuses of the royal prerogative. He went on to
Speaker 1: say that their honor was ruined, their ships sunk, their
Speaker 1: men perished, quite frankly, not because of the enemy, not
Speaker 1: by chance, but because, from the m Eliot's perspective, God
Speaker 1: had preordained it. God was angry, was now punishing the
Speaker 1: English people. The Catholic forces of the Holy Roman Empire
Speaker 1: were advancing through Bohemia and Germany. The Protestants of France
Speaker 1: were being threatened, even destroyed, by the French king. And
Speaker 1: here were the English, supposed to be the greatest Protestant
Speaker 1: nation in all of Europe, unable or perhaps unwilling to
Speaker 1: do anything now. At this point nothing came of Elliot's speeches,
Speaker 1: but they were definitely a precursor of future conflicts and events.
Speaker 1: On March tenth, Charles let it be known that he
Speaker 1: wished for an immediate supply of what he called the
Speaker 1: necessities of state, without any further questions of his past
Speaker 1: conduct or otherwise. Keep in mind we're barely a year
Speaker 1: into Charles's reign. Here an accounting of his past would
Speaker 1: be an accounting of the last three hundred and sixty
Speaker 1: some days at most. It was now generally believed that
Speaker 1: the cause of all the grievances was the Duke of Buckingham.
Speaker 1: He had appointed incompetent officers and was responsible for the
Speaker 1: calamity at Cadiz. He had taken crowned land for his
Speaker 1: friends and family. He had sold many of the offices
Speaker 1: of state and acquired others just for his own enrichment.
Speaker 1: His mother and father in laws were both Catholic recusants
Speaker 1: and might be considered enemies of the state. He not Charles,
Speaker 1: for the moment, was the sole source of enmity for Parliament,
Speaker 1: and the King replied to all this at Whitehall five
Speaker 1: days later, in a speech in which he declared that
Speaker 1: quote I would not have the house to question my servants,
Speaker 1: much less one that is so near me. I would
Speaker 1: you hasten for my supply, or else it will be
Speaker 1: worse for yourselves. For if any ill happen, I think
Speaker 1: it shall be the last that feel it end quote.
Speaker 1: But the Commons was now in no mood to retreat,
Speaker 1: and simply pursued the Duke ever more forcefully. The nobility,
Speaker 1: in fact, had also had too much of this favorite.
Speaker 1: The Earl of Bristol charged Buckingham with attempt to change
Speaker 1: the Prince's religion. He accused him of kneeling to the
Speaker 1: sacrament to quote give the Spaniards a hope of the
Speaker 1: Prince's conversion end quote. This was under English law, in
Speaker 1: effect accusing Buckingham of treason. On May tenth, a deputation
Speaker 1: was drawn up to prepare articles of impeachment against the Duke.
Speaker 1: When members of the deputation then presented themselves to Buckingham, however,
Speaker 1: it was reported that he only laughed in their faces.
Speaker 1: The Duke knew the law, loyalty and rigidity of the King,
Speaker 1: and was aware that Charles would never abandon him, know
Speaker 1: what anyone else said. On May the eleventh, now the
Speaker 1: King visited the House of Lords, where he tried to
Speaker 1: exonerate bucking Him from all the charges attached to him
Speaker 1: by the Commons. He said, I can bear witness to
Speaker 1: clear him in every one of them end quote. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: this was the very day that the House was informed
Speaker 1: that the member of Parliament I mentioned before, Sir John Elliot,
Speaker 1: and another Sir Dudley Diggs, had been arrested and taken
Speaker 1: to the tower without any due process. It seems Charles
Speaker 1: and Buckingham had decided that they were the problem and
Speaker 1: to remove them would resolve all of their issues. How
Speaker 1: wrong they were. However, the Commons erupted into turmoil when
Speaker 1: they got the news of the two arrested MP's and
Speaker 1: the entire house broke up in utter turmoil. When the
Speaker 1: Speaker rose on the twelfth of May to commence business,
Speaker 1: he was told to sit down. There was no business
Speaker 1: to be had, so the members of marvelament until they
Speaker 1: were righted in their liberties. The French ambassador warned the
Speaker 1: King personally at this time that if his power did
Speaker 1: not prevail, he would become as impotent as the Doge
Speaker 1: of Venice, who could do nothing without the approval of
Speaker 1: his Senate. All the horror, Parliament stood firm and eventually
Speaker 1: it was able to prevail. Within a week, both Diggs
Speaker 1: and Elliott were set free. It was not a good
Speaker 1: precedent for the King, who appeared resolute, but in truth
Speaker 1: he had prevaricated behind the scenes. He then compounded this
Speaker 1: offense by immediately appointing Buckingham to be the Chancellor of
Speaker 1: the University at Cambridge, a post for which he was
Speaker 1: by no means qualified. Such was the displeasure of the
Speaker 1: Commons at hearing this latest offense that they drew up
Speaker 1: a general remonstrance for Buckingham's dismissal from public life entirely.
Speaker 1: The war of words now began to intensify. Charles responded
Speaker 1: with the demand that Parliament should immediately proceed to pass
Speaker 1: him a subsidy bill. Now was one of the biggest
Speaker 1: conflicts of early Charles's reign, and it was again going
Speaker 1: to be this question between who was going to come
Speaker 1: out on top, Parliament or the King. For centuries, English
Speaker 1: kings had consulted Parliament on matters but never been driven
Speaker 1: by it. Now the question was would that state of
Speaker 1: affairs continue. If Parliament were forced to yield and to
Speaker 1: grant Charles' supply without the redress of grievances, it would
Speaker 1: set an unfortunate president from their perspective, in which the
Speaker 1: King might continue to be the permanent victor in this
Speaker 1: tug of war. The Members did not, in the current
Speaker 1: phase wish to give any reason for a civil war,
Speaker 1: but that was what was barreling towards them. Court and Parliament,
Speaker 1: at now cross purposes with one another had reached a
Speaker 1: deadly impass. A conversation between the King and Buckingham was
Speaker 1: overheard and later widely reported that when as follows quote,
Speaker 1: I have lost in a manner the love of my subjects,
Speaker 1: Charles is supposed to have told the Duke, what would
Speaker 1: thou hast me do? Now? On June the fourteenth, we've
Speaker 1: learned the answer to that question. The King was determined
Speaker 1: to dissolve Parliament. The lords begged for two more days
Speaker 1: to try to resolve the impass between the two great powers.
Speaker 1: The King replied almost immediately quote not a minute end quote.
Speaker 1: Charles had decided that die was cast. The day before
Speaker 1: the disillusion of what would be called quote this great
Speaker 1: to warm ruffling Parliament. A storm, a tremendous storm of thunder, lightning,
Speaker 1: and even hail fell upon the Thames at Westminster and
Speaker 1: created a phenomenon that's called a whirlwater or water pillar.
Speaker 1: The water was dissolved into a mist and formed a
Speaker 1: great revolving funnel about thirty yards across and ten feet high.
Speaker 1: The interior was hollow and the white with froth. This
Speaker 1: was a crazy, sort of insane thing that happens from occasion,
Speaker 1: but it's interesting that it happened at this time, because
Speaker 1: it crossed the Thames and then began to beat upon
Speaker 1: the walls of the York House, the Residency of You
Speaker 1: guessed it the Duke of Buckingham. As it struck against
Speaker 1: the bricks, it broke into a thick smoke, as if
Speaker 1: it came from a chimney, and then rose high into
Speaker 1: the air. It then vanished out of sight from whence
Speaker 1: it came with two or three loud claps of thunder.
Speaker 1: Of course, for everyone at the time, it is incredibly
Speaker 1: bizarre weather phenomenon was considered to be an omen and
Speaker 1: not a good one. At that Handbills were seeing printed
Speaker 1: throughout clandestine presses and distributed throughout the streets of London.
Speaker 1: They read as follows who rules the kingdom? The King,
Speaker 1: who rules the King, the Duke, who rules the Duke
Speaker 1: the devil. Three days after the disillusion, the King ordered
Speaker 1: that all copies of the parliamentary remonstrance against Buckingham should
Speaker 1: be destroyed. By continuing to favor the Duke of Buckingham,
Speaker 1: Charles had provoked a determined and vocal opposition in Parliament.
Speaker 1: Had he simply backed down, had he given them some space,
Speaker 1: had he stopped rewarding Buckingham with posts that Buckingham didn't deserve,
Speaker 1: there might have been an off ramp here. Charles didn't
Speaker 1: take it. The antagonism did not yet directly address the
Speaker 1: King at all, but there were those who were looking
Speaker 1: ahead to a change in this in the future. A
Speaker 1: great constitutional historian, Leopard von Rink, once suggested that the
Speaker 1: coming conflict between the King and Parliament was the product
Speaker 1: of quote unquote historical necessity. I'm not sure that I
Speaker 1: agree with that. At this point. It seems like the
Speaker 1: conflict between King and Parliament could have more than easily
Speaker 1: been resolved if Charles had only been willing to compromise
Speaker 1: a teen C tiny bit. But the bottom line was
Speaker 1: he wasn't, And so next week will continue to watch
Speaker 1: as Charles, the First in Parliament, hurdle towards the inevitability
Speaker 1: of civil war.