WHY DID WAR BREAK OUT IN 1642?

DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS

Charles I (right) had a fractious relationship with Parliament from the beginning of his reign, in 1625, not helped by his zealous belief in the ‘divine right of kings’. Like his father James VI and I, Charles considered himself answerable only to God and so subject to no earthly authority. Such high ideals of royal power made him appear, at least, intransigent and arrogant and, at worse, autocratic.

Tensions mounted as monarch and MPs argued over foreign policy, finances and Charles’s marriage to the Catholic Henrietta Maria. He further angered Parliament when he imposed a tax without their consent to pay for his war with France; then imprisoned without trial those who refused to pay, and implemented martial law and the billeting of troops. In 1628, Parliament issued a Petition of Right, seeking redress to these grievances. The move demonstrates how concerned MPs had grown about the prospect of a king who believed he derived his authority