ABSTRACT
The revival of the forest laws was initiated by a common lawyer, William Noy, who was Charles I’s attorney-general. The most notorious of all the financial devices of the Personal Rule was ship money. In terms of their effect on public opinion the financial expedients of Personal Rule were disastrous, but they did at least expand the royal revenue. A deal might have been worked out over ship money and prerogative taxation, despite clear apprehensions about huge cost of war against the Scots, but religion proved to be a more intractable issue. Since Charles had abandoned Arminianism and consented to the abolition of prerogative monarchy they saw no need for any further measures. Charles had hoped that a unanimous verdict in his support would stifle opposition to ship money, but as it turned out the views of the dissenting judges carried more weight with public opinion than those of the supportive majority.
