The reign of James I Essay Example for Free

The reign of James I Essay (a) Explain briefly the financial policies of James I (b) To what extent was finance the main problem in the reign of James I Finance was at the centre of James disputes with Parliament. After his move from king of Scotland, James overestimated Englands wealth. He spent a great deal of money on Elizabeths funeral and when the ambassador of Spain came to England, he was sure to highlight the countries riches. Parliament did not give James more money. Consequently, he was forced to resort to impositions. Salisbury came up with a great plan called the Great Contract. This meant that James would give up his feudal rights in return for à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½200,000 a year. However, parliament failed to disagree with this idea, if James had enough money to rule without Parliament, he would. This refusal may have led to major dispute. Luckily, James strayed from the idea himself as he feared that high inflation would leave à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½200,000 a small fee for his feudal rights. As was stated earlier, One of James most influential problems with Parliament was finance. However, this was not the only problem that he encountered with Parliament. Some of the most influential disagreements between the King and Parliament were the Divine Right of Kings and the right of Parliament to represent public opinion. James was very competitive and liked to win arguments, he often used his title to win battles with Parliament and matters often resulted in being matters of principle. However, Gentry became wealthier and more powerful and they became determined that Parliament would be protected and then maybe expanded. Real problems begin with foreign policy when the Thirty Year War broke out. This was a Europe wide war between Catholics and Protestants. James son in law was in the centre of the conflicts. He was a protestant King who lost his country due to self greed. Parliament wanted James to support his son and daughter in law and his country by supporting the protestant cause. This left James in a predicament. He wanted to receive the money he would need to fight the war against Spain and the holy Roman Emperor, whilst hoping to avoid war by marrying his son, Charles, with the Spanish Infanta. Thus resulting on added pressure on the Roman Empire to give the elector of Palatinate his land back. James handled the difficult issue of religion fairly well and it was not the cause of major disputes between himself and Parliament. The problem came when James inherited the Anglican Church. It contained Puritans that wanted the church to loose all traces of Catholicism and it also contained Armenians who favoured many of the Catholic ideas. James met with the Puritans at Hampton Court in 1604. James did not give way to their ideas and the meeting resulted in the issue of a new Bible. The puritans wanted to get rid of the Kings bishops so that the Church would not be under the Kings control. James refused and made them do things the way the church was already. At first James was lenient towards Catholics, maybe due to his mothers Catholic ways, suspending fines that punished Catholics for not attending the Anglican Church. However, Parliament interfered and the decision was reversed. This tougher line with the Catholics led to the Gunpowder plot, with included a plot on James life. This also resulted in armed revolution from overseas Catholics. This proves that finance was a major ingredient in the ever present boiling pot of disputes between James I and Parliament but it was not the only ingredient. James handled many issues with Parliament fairly well; however, finance was a particularly difficult matter in which to find a balance, with James wanting more money and Parliament not prepared to give it to him. Subsequently, along with help and ideas from close staff, he managed to bear with the mess of finance but without the reality that England did not the riches that James believed, he would never excel in the issue.