Key individuals of 1625-29

King Charles I                     

• Shy, low intellect, bad temper, stubborn, disliked criticism, believed in Divine Right
• Armenian
• Strong believer in Divine Right and King of England
• Linked with Tonnage and Poundage, Cadiz, York House Conference, Forced Loan, La Rochelle, 5 Knight's case, Petition of Right, Three Resolutions and dissolution of Parliament in 1629

Duke of Buckingham            

• Capable, vain, arrogant, selfish, greedy and unpopular (because of relationship with King James I <3 and influence over Charles I
• Armenian
• Loyal supporter and favourite of Charles I (scape goat). He was assasinated by John Felton in 1628 which led to the dissolution of Parliament
• Tonnage and Poundage, Cadiz (led it), York Housed Conference (chaired it), La Rochelle, survives attempted impeachement, assasinated and dissolution of Parliament

Henrietta Maria            

• Loyal wife, French princess, cold to new acquaintances
• Catholic (led to suspicions of crypto-catholicism in Charles' court)
• Loyal supporter of the King but not favoured by the British public
• Not allowed to attend Charles' coronation, La Rochelle (double dealings- when Charles married her he promised to help the French Crown crush the Protestant rebels but at this time he defended the Huguenots), assasination of Buckingham (after this event her influence of Charles increased

Richard Montagu       

• Explosively confrontational
• Armenian (wrote a very biased anti-calvinist book which linked armenians with Catholics :-S)
• Charles I was criticised for supporting Montagu and for appointing him as Royal Chaplain
• York House Conference (based on his writing), dissolution of Parliament in 1626 (caused by criticism of him and Buckingham)

William Laud

• Ruthless, dogmatic
• Armenian (Bishop of London in 1628 --> Archbishop of Cantebury in Charles I's personal rule)
• Strong supporter of Charles I (preached opening sermon for the second Parliament in 1626 and stressed the importance of obedience to the King)
• York House Conference (Buckingham took a stance in support of him), Preached opening sermon for 1626 Parliament and became a member of the Privy council in 1626

Sir Edward Coke          

• Ambitious, opinionated
• Puritan
• Opposed Charles I frequently (picked as a Sheriff so was responsible for organising polls- Charles appointed his main opponents as Sherrifs so they could not stand for election), disliked Buckingham
• Tonnage and Poundage (he persuaded Parliament to only vote it for one year), drafted the Petition of Right, opposed the Forced Loan

Thomas Wentworth

• Clever, ambitious, ruthless, determined
• Armenian
• Opposed Charles I (at this time but later became one of Charles' biggest supporters) and very critical of Buckingham. He was picked as a Sheriff (see Sir Edward Coke)
• Opposed the Forced Loan

Sir John Eliot            

• 'Fiery Spirit', charismatic
• Devout Puritan
• Leading critic of Buckingham and one of Charles I's main opponents
• Attempted impeachment of Buckingham (led the attack in the House of Commons), involved in the presentation of the Petition of Right, Three Resolutions (held the speaker in his chair while they were read out and was therefore imprisoned in the Tower of London where he died and was seen as a Martyr to the Parliamentary cause)

Denzil Holles              

• Passionate
• Puritan
• Opposed Charles I
• Three Resolutions (held speaker in chair while they were read out and was therefore arrested for treason and exiled)

Benjamin Valentine

• Puritan
• Opposed Charles I
• Three Resolutions (held speaker in chair while they were read out which led to him being imprisoned until 1640)