Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Forced Loan and
Five Knights Case
- Charles was still in need of money after
the dissolution, and he resorted to
collection methods of dubious legality.
- First he raised a benevolence and then a
Forced Loan. (It was called a "loan" but the
chances of repayment were almost nonexistent)
- Netted around £250,000
- Charles also billeted his troops in civilian
homes near the South Coast of England.
- The infrequently-paid troops
were unruly and destructive
- Hard to try them as they could
only be tried in Military courts
- Billeting of troops was so unpopular that Charles used it
as a method of subduing and punishing his opponents
- Most of Charles' subjects felt they had no choice
but to pay the Forced Loan, but seventy-six
gentlemen and the Earl of Lincoln, refused to pay
- Charles imprisoned them, but did not
charge them with any crime, for fear the
judges might decide against him
- Five of the imprisoned knights, including Sir
Thomas Darnell, applied to the Court of King's
Bench for a writ of Habeas Corpus
- The Court did not free the knights,
thus effectively siding with the King
- 5 Knights Case
- The attorney general replied that they
were being held "by the special
command of his majesty."
- The Petition of Right of 1628 clarified this situation
and limited the monarch's absolute prerogatives