The political and religious problems of James I to 1614 (A level History)
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Background
James the 1st was invited to be King of England in 1603 following the death of Elizabeth the 1st. However the throne he inherited was far from secure. He found himself embroiled in a longstanding conflict with Spain. The country was religiously divided, loosely held together under the Anglican Church. He was also in possesion of a dire financial situtation, with debts totaling £100,000. In the intitial years of his reign he faced a number of political and religious issues. The King himself was Presbytarian, a form of Scottish Protestant which was cruical to him being invited.
Religious Issues
Challenge of the Puritans
A Puritan is an extreme Protestant who believed that the Elizabethan Settlement and the Anglican Church retained too many elements of Catholicism. For example, the services were too ceremonious and ministers should dress more appropriately. Many Puritans felt they could assert their authority on the new monarch. Puritans beliefs included hard work, which made it popular amongst the gentry classes, which included MP's.
The Milenary Petition 1603
The Milenary Petition's name derives from the fact that it was supposedly signed by 1,000 Puritan Ministers. The idea was to persuade the King into adopting a more Puritan approach to religion. The King felt sympathetic to the Puritans and agreed to a conference, to be held the next year to discuss the issues raised.
Hampton Court Conference 1604
This was held as a result of the Milenary Petition of 1603. Originally, the King had been sympathetic but that had changed. He had recieved numerous other petitions in the time between the original and the conference and had lost patience with the Puritans. The conference amounted to little in the end, with James only agreeing to minor reforms in the end and leaving the bigger issues (like the treatment of Catholics) alone. Many Puritans left the church as a result of this, the most famous of these leaving for America on the Mayflower.
Challenge of the Catholics
Even after Henry the 8th passed the Act of Sepeparation officially making England a Protestant country, many remained loyal to the Pope. This was the main worry of the Protestants, that they were not loyal to King nor to their country but to the Pope in Rome. Under the law of England, Catholics were fined every week if they did not attend church on a Sunday, known as recusancy laws. Whilst technically James should collect them every week, but he was aware of the delicate religious balance of the country, and under the terms of the Treaty of London 1604 he rarely levied them.
The Gunpowder Plot 1605
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--Tomato jr. 21:49, 14 May 2008 (UTC)
