6. The struggle for supremacy between Crown and Parliament (the 17th century).

The Stuart monarchs were less successful than the Tudors. The accession (1603) of the Stuart, James VI of Scotland, to the English throne as James I brought the personal union of the Scottish and English crowns. Although institutional union of the two kingdoms did not occur until 1707, the whole of Great Britain was now united under a Scottish dynasty. It proved almost impossible, however, to hold the kingdoms together on one course. They differed in religion, even within each country, and this exacerbated political differences and produced conflicts, civil war, and rebellions at intervals throughout the 17th century.

England was largely Anglican. Scotland had been won over to the Calvinist Reformation by John Knox and emerged predominantly Presbyterian. Ireland remained Catholic, except for the now-Scottish Presbyterian northeast. There were also religio-political divisions within each country. The most dynamic movement was that of the Puritans in England, who wanted a Presbyterian established church. They were a minority, but they continued to increase their strength in eastern England, among the growing urban middle class, and, above all, in London, whose commercial and financial resources held the key to the situation.

King Charles I (1600-1649) believed that the monarch was appointed by God to rule and had absolute power. The elected English Parliament disagreed. The result was the Civil War, leading to the execution of the king in 1649. For the next 11 years, England was a republic, though Oliver Cromwell, the parliamentary leader and most important man in England, took more and more power until he himself became a dictator. Cromwell’s army dictatorship could not last, however. It rested on a small minority in the country, strained the nation's resources, and was bound to end with Cromwell himself, who could neither find a civilian basis for his rule nor reconcile England - let alone Scotland or Ireland - to it. The restoration of both the monarchy and Parliament was the only hope for a permanent solution. After Cromwell’s death, Parliament asked the executed king’s son to return to England (1660). In spite of this, there was no return to the absolute rule of kings and no future monarch would ever seriously challenge the power of Parliament.

Another Stuart king (James II) was driven from the throne. James II, who succeeded Charles II in 1685, attempted to overturn the political and religious balance by his Catholicizing policy and his attempt to gain greater power for the monarchy. This united the governing classes of both the Whig and Tory parties – which had just developed – against him. They called in his son-in-law, the Dutch and Protestant William of Orange, to replace him as William III. This was the so-called Glorious Revolution of 1688. When the last Stuart, Queen Anne, died in 1714, the monarchy was no longer absolutely powerful as it had been in the Tudor times.

These important changes were the result of basic changes in society. During the 17^th century economic power moved into the hands of the merchant and landowning farmer classes. The Crown could no longer raise money or govern without their cooperation.