Elizabeth I died without children. The throne went to James I, the son of Mary, Queen of Scots, who had been beheaded by Elizabeth for treason to the state and profound Catholic sympathies. The Stuart dynasty thereafter always had strong Catholic tendencies which were anathema to the gentry and burghers of England and a good number of the nobility. Puritans, in particular, detested the King and his family and their feelings were reciprocated.
Unlike today, Parliament met only when called into session by the King and could be dissolved by a simple royal decree. Basically, the King needed Parliament only when he wished to raise taxes. He only needed to raise taxes if he went to war. Parliaments tended to contain large numbers of people unsympathetic to an autocratic King and many of his basic policies. So, James I tried to solve the problem by avoiding wars and not calling Parliament into session. So, England stayed out of the 30 year war of religion on the continent. This was very unpopular in Protestant England. Also, he tried marry his son to a Spanish and Catholic princess. After that failed, he did marry his son to Marie, a daughter of the King of France and a Catholic. Again, much of the middle class of England objected but could do nothing since James I never called Parliament into session.
Finally, James I went to war with Spain just before his death in 1624. Parliament favored the war but hated and distrusted the King. Therefore, they did not fund the effort at an adequate level. So, the King resorted to extra-parliamentary measures such as forced loans from wealthy people. This violated the constitutional arrangement in which only Parliament had the power of the purse. As a result of the shortage of money, Charles I made peace with France and Spain. His ministers instituted a policy of minimizing costs in every way possible and thus were unable to reward supporters very much.
Charles I religious policies of favoring Catholicism finally forced a war with Scotland (his grandmother, remember, was Queen of Scots). This forced him to call Parliament. Parliament refused to fund the war without the King redressing a long list of grievances. Charles I dissolved parliament. The Scots defeated an English army at Newburn. This forced the king to reconvene Parliament. The Parliament arrested and had executed the chief ministers of the King. More importantly, Parliament abolished the courts that the King's ministers had used to raise money and also resolved that new Parliaments must be called within three years of the last one. The Scots rebelled again and again Charles I asked Parliament for funds to raise an army. The response was a very, very long list of demands called the Grand Remonstrance. The King left London and began to raise an army of his own. Parliament responded by raising its own army and put it under the leadership of Oliver Cromwell.
Civil War ensued and Cromwell won. The King was executed and the monarchy abolished. The Anglican church was abolished as well as the House of Lords and a Puritan Republic Declared. Cromwell's army conquered Ireland and Scotland and created a political unit call Great Britain. From 1649 to 1660, Cromwell became the dominant figure. In 1653, Parliament wanted to reduce the standing army of 50,000. Cromwell's reaction was to disband Parliament and rule as Lord Protector (in short, dictator). His rule became thoroughly hated and, when he died in 1658, the English decided to go back to a constitutionally limited Monarchy with a stronger Parliament than before.
When Charles II (son of Charles I) was restored to the throne so was the Anglican church with Charles II as head. However, Charles II had secret but strong Catholic sympathies. He favored religious toleration. Parliament disagreed and passed the Clarendon Acts which excluded Roman Catholics, Presbyterians and Independents. Charles II allied himself with France against Holland and secretly promised to convert to Catholicism after they won the war. Louis XIV promised to pay Charles II a big subsidy to have Charles II avoid having to ask Parliament for money. He issued a Declaration of Indulgence in 1672 suspended all laws excluding religious minorities from public life. Parliament refused to pay for the war against the Dutch and Charles II withdrew his declaration. He died in 1685 and was succeeded by his son James II.
The same problem appear in the regime of James II. Namely, the Stuart king was intent on returning England to Catholicism or at least to officially tolerating Catholicism and the Parliament insisted on an independent Anglican Church. Finally, Parliament lost patience with James II and invited William, Prince of the House of Orange and ruler of the Netherlands to invade England. This William readily did and was welcomed with open arms. William and his wife, Mary, recognized a Bill of Rights that limited the powers of the monarchy and guaranteed the civil liberties of the English privileged classes. William and Mary had no children and the Act of Settlement in 1701 provided that the throne would pass to the House of Hanover in the event that, Anne, daughter of James II died without heirs. William and Mary died in 1702 and Anne became Queen. Queen Anne died childless in 1714 and George I of Hanover, Germany became King of England. The House of Windsor is descended directly from the Havoverians because they changed their name to the name of the castle which they occupied in London during World War I.
England was actually governed by a minister, Walpole, who was appointed by George I. Walpole kind of acted as a prime minister but owed his appointment to the King. The King barely spoke English and was delighted to leave governance of the troublesome English to Walpole. Walpole ran a government built on patronage and paid off a majority of the members of Parliament. So, a stable government combining royal and parliamentary forces was created by compromise and corruption. Walpole resided over a very long (18 year) period of peace. This ended in 1739 when England fought a colonial war with Spain and France. Thereafter, England and France conducted a nearly continuous conflict for more than 75 years. It ended in English victory.
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