The Divine Right of Kings and the Stuart Ascendancy

The early Stuart period (1603–1649) marked England’s closest flirtation with absolute monarchy. James VI of Scotland, son of the Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots, ascended the English throne in 1603 as James I, uniting the crowns of England and Scotland. A firm believer in the divine right of kings, James viewed monarchy as God’s sacred institution, answerable only to divine—not parliamentary—authority. His reign saw escalating tensions as he sought to expand royal prerogatives while Parliament defended its traditional rights through impeachment proceedings against corrupt officials.

James’s son, Charles I, inherited these conflicts in 1625 but intensified them through disastrous policies. His marriage to the Catholic Henrietta Maria of France and his alliance with Archbishop William Laud, who pushed the Anglican Church toward Catholic-style rituals, alienated Puritan factions. The 1628 Petition of Right—a landmark constitutional document—challenged Charles’s arbitrary taxation and imprisonment powers. When Parliament moved to impeach his favorite, the Duke of Buckingham, Charles dissolved Parliament, ruling without it for 11 years (1629–1640).

The Road to Civil War: Religious and Political Fractures

Charles’s attempt to impose Anglican practices on Presbyterian Scotland in 1637 sparked the Bishops’ Wars. Needing funds to suppress the Scottish rebellion, Charles reluctantly recalled Parliament in 1640. The “Short Parliament” lasted three weeks before dissolution, but financial desperation forced him to convene the “Long Parliament” in November 1640. Dominated by Puritan gentry and merchants (later called Roundheads), it dismantled royal absolutism:

– Abolishing the Star Chamber (1641), a royal court used to suppress dissent.
– Executing Charles’s advisor, the Earl of Strafford, for treason.
– Passing the Grand Remonstrance (1641), a sweeping indictment of Charles’s misrule.

When Charles attempted to arrest five Puritan MPs in 1642, civil war erupted. The conflict pitted Royalist “Cavaliers” (supported by nobles and Anglicans) against Parliamentarian forces (backed by Puritans and Scots). Oliver Cromwell’s New Model Army secured decisive victories at Marston Moor (1644) and Naseby (1645), leading to Charles’s surrender in 1646.

The Puritan Republic and Cromwell’s Rule

After a failed peace settlement, radicals purged Parliament of moderates, creating the “Rump Parliament.” In 1649, Charles I was executed for tyranny—an unprecedented act—and England became a republic, the Commonwealth. Cromwell, now Lord Protector, ruled as a military dictator:

– Crushing Irish Catholic resistance (1649–1650) with brutal massacres, displacing landowners to consolidate Protestant control.
– Defeating Scottish Royalists (1650–1651) and imposing English dominance.
– Enforcing the Navigation Acts (1651) to undermine Dutch trade, sparking the First Anglo-Dutch War.

Despite his authoritarian rule, Cromwell promoted religious tolerance for Protestants (excluding Catholics) and expanded England’s global influence, seizing Jamaica from Spain. Yet his regime collapsed after his death in 1658, paving the way for the Stuart Restoration in 1660.

The Restoration and the Glorious Revolution

Charles II’s return in 1660 restored the monarchy but not absolutism. The Clarendon Code (1661–1665) enforced Anglican supremacy, marginalizing Puritans and Catholics. However, Charles’s secret Catholic sympathies and his brother James II’s overt Catholicism reignited crisis. James’s pro-Catholic policies—such as appointing Catholics to high office—alienated even Tory allies.

In 1688, fearing a Catholic dynasty, Whig and Tory leaders invited James’s Protestant son-in-law, William of Orange, to invade. James fled, and the Glorious Revolution (1688–1689) established constitutional monarchy:

– The Bill of Rights (1689) barred royal suspension of laws or taxation without Parliament’s consent.
– The Toleration Act (1689) granted limited religious freedom to non-Anglican Protestants.
– The Act of Settlement (1701) ensured Protestant succession, preventing future Catholic monarchs.

Legacy: The Birth of Constitutional Government

The Stuart era’s turbulence reshaped England’s political landscape:

1. Parliamentary Sovereignty: The Glorious Revolution cemented Parliament’s supremacy, laying the groundwork for modern democracy.
2. Religious Pluralism: While Anglicanism remained dominant, dissenters gained legal protections, influencing later secular governance.
3. Global Implications: Conflicts over monarchy and faith drove colonization (e.g., Puritan migration to America) and trade wars, shaping the British Empire.

As historian Kurt Kluxen noted, the Stuarts’ failures demonstrated that “absolute monarchy could not take root in England’s parliamentary soil.” Their struggles birthed a system where power was shared—a legacy enduring in today’s constitutional democracies.