Charles I, 1625-49; his character.Charles I, the ‘Martyr King’, was a very different man from his father; he was shy, proud, cold, ignorant of the world, obstinate and mistrustful. He did not mean to lie, but he hardly ever told the whole truth; and so neither his enemies nor his friends could trust him. James would have liked to be good friends with his people, and was at bottom what we call ‘a good fellow’, with a strong sense of fun. Charles never made a joke in his life, and did not care twopence for public opinion, or for being friends with any one except his bishops. His wife, moreover, was a Catholic and a Frenchwoman and cared nothing for England. Though a firm Protestant, Charles was much more ‘High Church’ than James, and wanted to give the bishops more power. He did once interfere (1627) on behalf of the French Protestants, who were (rather mildly) illtreated at that time by their kings, but he made a complete mess of the task. His quarrels with three Parliaments, 1625–9.That was at the beginning of his reign, and, as in his first four years he quarrelled openly with his first three Parliaments, he could hardly get money enough to help him to live and govern England, and none to defend the honour of England abroad. Eleven years without Parliament, 1629-40.Then for eleven years, 1629–40, he called no Parliament at all. This was the longest interval without a Parliament since the reign of Henry III, and to all Englishmen, whose tempers were now boiling over, it seemed intolerable.
Prosperity of English trade.During this period Charles took the Customs’ duties at the ports, though Parliament had never granted them to him, and they proved to be his main source of income, for, of course, the long peace since 1605 had greatly increased English trade, not only with all European countries (especially Turkey, Russia, Portugal and