# 3rd Parliament of Charles I

Parliaments of England :
Predecessors   Witenagemot 7th – 11th centuries   Curia regis 1066 – c. 1215 :
Henry III   1st 1237   2nd 1242   3rd 1244   4th 1246   3rd 1247   4th 1248   Unnumbered 1251   5th 1252   6th 1253   7th 1254   8th 1255   9th 1258   10th "Oxford/Mad" 1258   11th "Simon de Montfort" 1265 :
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Henry V   "Fire and Faggot" 1414 :
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Henry VII :
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Mary I   1st 1553   2nd 1554   3rd 1554–1555   4th 1555   5th 1558 :
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James I  1st "Blessed" 1604  2nd "Addled" 1614  3rd 1621  4th 1624 :
Charles I  1st "Useless" 1625  2nd 1626  3rd 1628  4th "Short" Apr 1640  5th "Long (1) Nov 1640  Oxford/Mongrel 1644 :
Revolution and Commonwealth  1st "Long (2) 1645  2nd "Rump (1)" 1648  3rd "Barebone's/Little/Nominated Assembly/Saints" 1653 :
Protectorate  1st 1654  2nd 1656  3rd 1659  4th "Rump (2)" 1659 :
Commonwealth  1st "Rump (3)" 1659  2nd "Long (3)" 1660 :
Charles II  1st "Convention (1)" 1660  2nd "Cavalier" 1661  3rd "Habeas Corpus/First Exclusion" 1679  4th "Exclusion Bill/Second Exclusion" 1680  5th "Oxford/Third Exclusion" 1681 :
James II  "Loyal" 1685 :
William III and Mary II  1st "Convention (2)" 1689  2nd 1690  3rd 1695  4th 1698  5th Feb 1701  6th Dec 1701 :
Anne  1st 1702  2nd 1705 :
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The 3rd Parliament of King Charles I was summoned by King Charles I of England on 31 January 1628 and first assembled on 17 March 1628. The elected Speaker of the House of Commons was Sir John Finch, the Member of Parliament for Canterbury.

## Historical context and assembly

Following the debacle of the previous Parliament—when Parliament had refused to grant the King funds until their concerns about his favourite, George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, had been addressed—it had proved difficult to prosecute the war with Spain. When Charles's uncle, Christian IV of Denmark, was soundly defeated by Imperial forces at Lutter in August 1626, Charles needed funds urgently to go to Christian's aid. He therefore decided to bypass Parliament by levying a Forced Loan. This levying actually raised more money, some £243,000, than Parliament had been prepared to give him in exchange for Buckingham's impeachment. The money raised by the levy, the raising of which so alienated Parliament and its supporters, was spent on preparing to wage war on France after relations with that hitherto friendly country had deteriorated. When the Duke of Buckingham wanted to take a fleet to raise the siege at La Rochelle and was prevented by financial restraints, Charles reluctantly accepted the need to call this third Parliament.

## Parliament dealings with King Charles I

Once assembled, the Commons indicated that it would vote the King five subsidies in return for his acceptance of a Petition of Right, confirming the rights of the individual as against the divine right of the King. After much debate, prevarication and delay, the King finally backed down and gave his assent to the petition in such a way it could be considered law. The Subsidy Bill passed through its final stage in the House of Lords by 17 June 1628.
Parliament then turned its attention to tonnage and poundage, two onerous taxes on which the King was dependent, and which Parliament considered illegal. The King brought the session to a rapid close.
Over the summer the fleet to relieve La Rochelle was assembled, but the commander Buckingham was murdered by a disgruntled army officer. The fleet nevertheless sailed under a new commander, but achieved little success.

## Adjournment and dissolution

When Parliament reconvened in January 1629 it returned to the issue of tonnage and poundage, claiming that its continued imposition contradicted the aforementioned Petition of Right. Matters got so heated that Charles adjourned Parliament by proclamation on 2 March 1629 and had nine of the leading protagonists arrested, one of whom, Sir John Eliot, would die in the Tower of London three years later. Charles then dissolved Parliament in person on the 10 March and was so disillusioned that he did not recall it again until 1640.

## Notable acts passed by the Parliament

* Petition of Right
* Sunday Observance Act 1627