‘His Own Direction and Commandment'

On 22 February 1629 Charles heard that the Commons had called some of his customs officers to the bar of their House to question them about levying tonnage and poundage. Immediately the king summoned the privy council to tell them that the collectors had acted ‘by his own direction and commandment’. ¹ As usual Charles reacted to rather than initiated policies. In much the same way three days later he dissolved parliament in reaction to the Commons’ outrageous behaviour on 2 March, and not as part of a carefully contrived scheme to become an absolute monarch. Charles believed he had no alternative: his precipitous style of rule being such that he rarely left himself options.