M4Parliament and TaxesParliamentarism in England (Year 8)

Text:

How Parliament tried to control charles I

The great struggle between the Crown and Parliament happened under Charles I. MPs refused to raise taxes for his expensive wars against France and Spain. Charles I got some MPs arrested. So Parliament forced Charles to sign the Petition of Right in 1628:

But very soon there were new arguments with the Parliament, mostly about religion and money. In 1629, Charles decided that he had enough. He sent the Member of Parliament home and ruled without them for the next 11 years. (rule=Herrschaft)

The biggest argument came when Charles tried to make everyone pay ship money. This was a special tax to help pay for the navy. One man who refused to pay was John Hampden, a former Member of Parliament. He said that Charles could only ask for a tax if the Parliament agreed. (to agree=zustimmen)

But 1639 a Scottish army invaded England. Now, Charles desperately (=verzweifelt) needed money. He had to call Parliament, but the MPs said ‘no’ because of what Charles had done before.

Parliament demanded that Charles’s most important advisor, Strafford, was executed. Because he didn’t want more trouble with Parliament, Charles agreed. (advisor=Berater; to agree=zustimmen)


But the Parliament still wanted more. They wrote a list of complaints and sent it to the king. Now Charles had enough. He got together over 300 soldiers and went to the Parliament to arrest five of the most important MPs. But they were not there. Charles looked around and said, ‘I see that all the birds have flown’. (complaint =Beschwerde)

(text and drawings adapted from J.F.Aylett, In Search of History 1485-1714, Hodder Education, pp. 54-55)

1

M4Parliament and TaxesParliamentarism in England (Year 8)

Activity 1:

Fill in thetimeline. Use a greenpenforactionsthattheParliamentliked and a red oneforactionsthatmadeParliamentangry.

1

M4Activities 2Parliamentarism in England (Year 8)

Activity 2:

In the Petition of Rights Charles made some promises. HOW and WHEN did he break them?

Fill in the grid below:

Promises in the Petition of Rights / Promisebroken HOW?/WHEN?
______/ ______
______/ ______

Activity 3:

Fill the grid below with…

  1. three things King Charles did that made Parliament angry and
  2. two concessions (Zugeständnisse) he made to the Parliament to make them less angry.

Things thatmadeParliamentangry: / Charles’ concessions to Parliament:
______/ ______
______/ ______
______

3