King Charles I and Protestan England

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If one were to examine England during the 1620’s and 1630’s, one would see an England writhe with religious anxieties. These worries permeated every aspect of English society from the wealthiest of gentry to the lay Englishman and woman. Having said that, it is difficult to pinpoint precisely what key event contributed to this level of worry; nevertheless, when English society is examined as a whole, a clear picture emerges of England as a nation plagued by a plethora of concerns, not just one solitary issue. However, all of these concerns have a tenuous connection to the actions of the monarchy.
Realistically, the monarchy of England during the 1620’s and 1630’s did little to stifle religious anxieties left over from the reign of King James I. Rather, King James’ son King Charles I only exacerbated already existing conditions. King Charles I inherited a largely Protestant England from his father that was still facing questions over church structure and doctrine. In particular, the question over episcopacy was still unpopular amongst Puritan reformers within the Church of England. This issue was further compounded during King Charles’s reign by the rise of the Arminians and their doctrine, which for Puritan minded reformers bared a strong resemblance to Roman Catholicism.
With this in mind, King Charles I angered the Puritan contingent in England by appointing Arminians to positions of power and prestige. In 1628, the king appointed William Laud Bishop of London, and then the king appointed Laud Archbishop of Canterbury in 1633. William Laud’s appointments to positions of power and his strong Arminian tendencies worried both Puritan reformers and more moderate English Calvinists. This anxiety was created because of several key ...

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...his fact did not abate concerns over religion. Realistically, the perception created by Charles played the largest role in the fuelling of religious anxieties. With this in mind, many Protestants in England perceived the king as a leader being undermined by a Catholic queen, a king who had abandoned the Protestant cause, and a monarch that supported a controversial theology. All of these perceptions, whether true or not, served to create a period of great religious tension.

Bibliography
Bucholz, Robert, and Newton Key. Early Modern England 1485-1714 A Narrative History. Chichester: Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 2009.
Reynolds, Mathew. "Predestination and Parochial Dispute in the 1630s: The Case of the Norwich Lectureships." The Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 59 (July 2008): 407-25.
Worden, Blair. The English Civil Wars 1640-1660. Phoenix: Orion Books Ltd., 2009.

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