Charles I Dissolves Parliament: The Personal Rule Begins

Charles I of England dissolved Parliament on March 2, 1629, after a tumultuous session in which members physically held the Speaker in his chair to prevent adjournment while they passed three resolutions condemning the king's religious policies and unauthorized taxation. Charles was so furious that he refused to call another Parliament for eleven years, a period known as the Personal Rule. Without parliamentary approval, he raised revenue through revival of obscure feudal levies, monopoly grants, and most controversially, 'ship money,' a naval tax traditionally levied only on coastal counties that Charles extended to the entire kingdom. John Hampden's famous refusal to pay ship money in 1637 and the subsequent trial became a rallying point for opposition. The Personal Rule ended in 1640 when Charles desperately needed Parliament to fund a war against Scottish Covenanters. The Parliament he summoned immediately demanded redress of eleven years of grievances, setting the stage for the English Civil War.