ABSTRACT
Buckingham’s sudden murder was both a terrible shock for Charles and a turning point in his reign. He heard the news at morning prayer at Southwick, but rather then stopping divine service to give vent to his anguish, he signalled to the minister to continue. Only after the office had been fully observed, and he settled the most urgent matters, did the king retire to his chamber to collapse in a paroxysm of grief. When, days later, he reappeared he tried to continue the duke’s policies, perhaps as a tribute to his dead friend, for he was deeply hurt by the ensuing public jubilation. Following the ignominious defeat of the fleet that Buckingham would have led to La Rochelle, relations between Charles and parliament continued to deteriorate. They reached a crisis on 2 March 1629 when the Commons defied the king’s order to adjourn by forcibly holding the speaker in his throne so they could pass an intemperate motion condemning Arminians, papists, and all who paid taxes that they had not voted. In reaction Charles dissolved parliament, and tried to rule without them.
