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The divine right to rule as a King was at the centre of the English Civil war. In the early Seventeenth century, first King James I and then his son King Charles I had many run ins with Parliament. Both Kings were of the opinion that a King was a supreme power and that they had a divine right to rule. They both needed Parliament, however, for funds and resented having to go cap in hand for money, particularly as Parliament often opposed the requests.

In the 1630s Parliament were locked out of the Houses of Parliament and King Charles I set up his own fund raising court, called the Court of Star Chamber. The King would raise money by setting hefty fines on those brought before the chamber or through selling titles to the rich. You could of course refuse to buy a title, but then you would be fined that same amount of money in any event.

This sustained King Charles I until he started a war with the Scots. The King had set a number of different taxes in order to remain solvent. However, the Scots revolted at a being required to use a new prayer book and in 1639 they invaded England. The following year the King had to recall Parliament in order to raise funds to fight the Scots. Parliament realised that they now had the upper hand and would only bankroll the King on condition that one of his close advisers, the Earl of Strafford, was executed. This duly came to pass in 1641, but angered the King greatly.

Over the next year relations between the King and Parliament became worse. Parliament wielded its power safe in the knowledge the King needed their money and Charles became more and more enraged that he was being treated in this manner. It came to a head in 1642 when the King turned up at the Houses of Parliament with a troop of soldiers to arrest five of his greatest critics. They had been tipped off and escaped capture but now Parliament were feeling vulnerable.

Within a week, Charles went to Oxford and raised an army to fight Parliament for control of England. This was the start of the English Civil War.

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