J.P.Sommerville

The rule of the Howards

1. The rise of Carr

Robert Carr was the son of a minor Scottish noble who attracted James I's attention. James knighted Carr and he was given land taken from Sir Walter Raleigh. In 1611, he was made Viscount Rochester, and in 1613 Earl of Somerset. He became the King's personal assistant, with an influence on policy that made the leaders of the chief court factions (Henry Howard, George Abbot, Philip Herbert) compete for his support. Carr's close friend, Sir Thomas Overbury, sided against the Howards, but Carr decided in 1613 to marry Frances Howard.

 2. The Howards

In the years after Salisbury's death, the Howard family was the most important faction at court. It reached the height of its power with the marriage between Frances Howard and Robert Carr in 1613.

The Howard family had been very important from the reign of Henry VIII until Thomas Howard was executed in 1572 for plotting to marry Mary, Queen of Scots. The family's fortunes were partially restored under Charles Howard, Earl of Nottingham [left], who was Lord High Admiral of the Fleet that defeated the Spanish Armada. Henry Howard was made Earl of Northampton in 1604 and Lord Privy Seal in 1608 Thomas Howard (Earl of Suffolk, 1603)  was appointed Lord Chamberlain and then Lord Treasurer, while his namesake Thomas Howard (Earl of Arundel 1624) joined the Privy Council in 1616. The Howard faction's clients included William Knollys (Master of the Court of Wards) and Sir Thomas Lake (Secretary of state).

3. The Essex Divorce

In order to marry Carr, Francis had to divorce her husband, Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex. They had been married when they were both mere children,  and after their marriage lived separately. By the time the 18-year-old Essex returned from touring the Continent (1609), Frances had set her heart on Robert Carr. She alleged that Essex was impotent (which he denied) and Carr and the Howards persuaded James to support a divorce. He pressurized a commission of bishops to find in Frances' favor. In 1613 the divorce was granted, and Carr and Frances married.

4. The Addled Parliament

	James showered the happy couple with extravagant gifts, and the royal debt soared from £160,000 in 1610 to £680,000 in 1614.
	Sir Francis Bacon and Sir Henry Neville persuaded James to call Parliament, believing they would be able to manipulate it into granting James taxes. It assembled 5 April 1614.
	Some of the Howards feared what Parliament might do, and along with the Spanish Ambassador fomented rumors that led to an immediate clash over corrupt election practices. The House of Commons expelled a Privy Councilor (Sir Thomas Parry).
	Far from granting taxation, the House of Commons immediately began to complain about impositions. One Member (perhaps an agent of Henry Howard, Earl of Northampton) gave a violently inflammatory speech against the Scots, which provoked James into a immediate dissolution (7 June). [Because it had passed no Act and granted no supplies it became known as the "Addled" Parliament].

5. The fall of Coke

	James I believed that his power came directly from God, and that the king made law. He thought that the king had the authority and the duty to supervise the English legal system and intervene personally in the interests of justice. Sir Edward Coke (the greatest lawyer of 17th Century England) believed that English Common Law existed independently of the king and established and bounded his power. In his view Common Law was ancient custom - it had stood the test of time and was superior to any other form of law.
	Coke was related to the Cecil family and a bitter enemy of Sir Francis Bacon and the Lord Chancellor, Thomas Egerton, Baron Ellesmere. Coke angered James by insisting in his theoretical writings that the king was below the law, and by making legal decisions (prohibitions) that interfered with governmental control of important cases.
	In 1616, Bacon brought various charges against Coke, and the king dismissed him from the Bench. This acted as a clear warning to other judges that opposition to the King could cost them their jobs. [To regain influence, Coke married his fourteen-year-old daughter (entirely against her and her mother's will) to John Villiers, elder brother of George Villiers. She later deserted John and had a child by another man].

6. The fall of Carr

	The beautiful friendship between James and Carr began to sour from 1614 onwards. Suspecting what might happen, Carr persuaded the King to grant him a pardon for any offences he had committed in the past.
	Soon afterward, evidence emerged implicating Carr and his wife in the poisoning of Thomas Overbury. Both were arrested and tried. The evidence against Frances was overwhelming, but the case against Carr was weaker.
	Despite Carr threats to reveal damaging facts about James, the two were convicted and sentenced to death. James commuted the sentence and - after some years of imprisonment - both were allowed to retire quietly to the country.

7. Gondomar

	He was sent as Spain's ambassador to England in 1613. A skilled diplomat and witty conversationalist, he soon charmed James I entirely. By feeding James on a diet of flattery, he came to wield great influence.
	Gondomar promoted the idea of marrying Charles (James' heir since the death of Prince Henry in 1612) to the daughter of Philip IV of Spain. (It was unclear whether the Spanish ever intended the match, but they strung out the negotiations for ten years and helped prevent England taking an active policy in support of the German Protestants).

8. The execution of Raleigh

 

	The pro-Spanish policy adopted by James played a key part in the final execution of Sir Walter Raleigh.
	Already in 1603, Raleigh had been convicted of treason (on flimsy evidence) for plotting to prevent James' accession. He was imprisoned in the Tower until 1616, when the declining influence of the Howards and pressure from the anti-Spanish faction persuaded James to allow Raleigh to force Spain to conclude the marriage negotiations by seizing Spanish gold in the New World. However, James made Raleigh promise that he would not hurt any Spaniards in the process.
	In fact Raleigh not only sacked a Spanish settlement, but lost most of his crew to disease and - worst of all - returned empty-handed.
	Gondomar demanded Raleigh's execution and got it. [Raleigh's pessimistic view of politics was perhaps justified].

 9. The economy

	The early years of James reign saw an improvement in economic conditions - good harvests, less inflation, increased foreign trade.
	In 1614 a severe trade recession began. England's main export was cloth. Most of it was sent to the Netherlands where it was "finished" (i.e. dyed and dressed). Alderman William Cockayne suggested a scheme of exporting only finished cloth (cutting out the Dutch middle men and thereby increasing English profits and - most importantly to James - royal customs duties).
	James granted Cockayne a monopoly of cloth exports, but the Dutch simply refused to accept the finished cloth and sales slumped. In 1617, James reversed the monopoly to try and restore the previous state of affairs, but it took years for the cloth trade to recover, especially as the outbreak of the Thirty Years War (1618) depressed all European economic activity.

10. The rise of Buckingham

	George Villiers came to court in 1614 and was appointed cupbearer. At the request of George Abbot, Villiers' patron, Anne of Denmark pressed for the handsome young man to become a gentleman of the King's bedchamber.
	Villiers charmed James so much that he was knighted and in 1616 made Viscount, in 1617 Earl, and in 1618 Marquess of Buckingham.
	The fall of Carr weakened the Howards, and the rise of Buckingham finished them; within a few months of Buckingham becoming Marquess, the Howards were deprived of their positions of power.