The Century of Political Unrest and Scientific Progress (p 180)

Elizabeth I died in 1603.

James I came to the throne; his reign only exacerbated the difficulties that were already present during the 1590s. The last period of Elizabeth's reign was characterized by an incresing tension caused by problems she had not solved, but which her political skills had contributed to keep under control. The most important problems were: the Crown's financial position, the conflict between Parliament and monarch and between Puritans and religious conservatives.

During James's reign the court still had a central position in society, but the king's belief in absolutism replaced Elizabeth's more diplomatic relationship with Parliament.

James was a peace-loving and scholarly king who loved hunting and art, but compared with Elizabeth's, his court was disorderly, indecorous and in costant financial crisis.

He also wanted to be considered a new August. He supported an immensely popular English translation of the Bible, this decision mounted the religious tensions during his reign. The cloumsy handling of Parliament, the accumulation of debt are some of the most important reasons thet caused the downfall of the reign.

Charles I succeeded to the throne. He was temperate, chaste and serious. His court was better ordered than his father's, althought he spent a lot of money on works of art.

Like his father Charles believed in the divine right of the king. For this reason started the struggles between parliament and monarch. In 1642 the conflict arrived at a crisis and began the first warbetween king and Parliament house.

Charles I insisted on the absolute prerogatives of the king, while his adversaries placed supremacy in the people's representatives, the Parliament. These two theories clashed at the trial of the king who was beheaded on a scaffold erected in front his own Banqueting Hall.

After the king execution, a different climate reigned in England. Oliver Cromwell having emerged as the leader of the Parliamentarians, took office as Lord Protector in 1653, but when he died the Protectorate began to collapse. In 1660 the Parliament voted to restore Charles II to the throne. For many years the Commonwealth, the republican period of government from the king's execution to the Restoration, was seen as a black period of Puritan extremism and austerity.