Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford

Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford (April 13, 1593 – May 12, 1641) was an English statesman, a major figure in the period leading up to the English Civil War. His relation, another Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Cleveland, fought during the Civil War.

The Petition of Right and its aftermath

In the following year, Wentworth was one of the more vocal supporters of the Petition of Right, which curbed the power of the king. Once Charles I had (grudgingly) accepted the Petition, Wentworth felt it appropriate to support the crown, saying "The authority of a king is the keystone which closeth up the arch of order and government." He was consequently branded a turncoat. Following the assassination of Buckingham, in 1628, Wentworth was finally made Lord President of the Council of the North, the duties of which were to administer the supreme Law Court of northern England. On July 22, 1628, he was created Baron Wentworth. From this position, he acted as one of two principal members (the other being Archbishop William Laud) in a team of key advisors to the king during an 11-year period of total monarchical rule without parliament (known as "Thorough").

Related Topics:
Petition of Right - Charles I - Buckingham - 1628 - July 22 - William Laud

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In the parliament of 1628, Wentworth joined the popular leaders in resistance to arbitrary taxation and imprisonment, but tried to obtain his goal without offending the Crown. He led the movement for a bill which would have secured the liberties of the subject as completely as the Petition of Right afterwards did, but in a manner less offensive to the king. The proposal failed because of the uncompromising demands of the parliamentary party and Charles's refusal to make concessions, and the leadership was snatched from Wentworth's hands by John Eliot and John Coke. Later in the session he quarrelled with Eliot, because he wanted to come to a compromise with the Lords, so as to leave room to the king to act unchecked in special emergencies.

Related Topics:
John Eliot - John Coke

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

As yet Wentworth was not directly involved in the government of the country. In December, 1628, he became Viscount Wentworth and president of the Council of the North. In the speech delivered at York on taking office, he announced his intention, almost in the words of Francis Bacon, of doing his utmost to bind up the prerogative of the Crown and the liberties of the subject in indistinguishable union. "Whoever," he said, "ravels forth into questions the right of a king and of a people shall never be able to wrap them, up again into the comeliness and order he found them." His tactics were the same as those he later practised in Ireland, leading to the accusation that he planned to centralize all power with the executive at the expense of the individual in defiance of constitutional liberties.

Related Topics:
Council of the North - York - Francis Bacon

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The parliamentary session of 1629 ended in a breach between the king and parliament which made the task of a moderator hopeless. Wentworth had to choose between helping a Puritan House of Commons to dominate the king and helping the king to dominate a Puritan House of Commons. He chose the latter course, throwing himself into the work of repression with characteristic energy, as if the establishment of the royal power was the one thing needful. Yet even when he was most resolute in crushing resistance he held that he was maintaining the old constitution, which his opponents had attempted to alter by claiming supremacy for parliament.

Related Topics:
1629 - Puritan - House of Commons

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~