Civil War person: Charles I

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Charles I ruled his kingdom without calling Parliament from 1629-40. During this period, called the Personal Rule, he brought in many changes. These included range of new customs duties which usually had to be approved by Parliament. As result, Charles managed to increase his income from £600,000 to £900,000 per year. 

Charles also sold monopolies and patents. These gave control of a particular trade to one individual or company. It meant that other traders either had to pay to take part in the trade or they might be forced out of it altogether. Charles I created a lot of bad feeling as a result.  

Ship money also provided the king with valuable revenue. This was a tax usually paid in counties that had coastlines. It was used to pay for ships to protect the coast. Charles forced people in inland counties to pay ship money too. An MP called John Hampden fought a high profile court case against ship money in 1637, but lost. 

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