2nd Parliament of King Charles I

The Second Parliament of Charles I was summoned by Charles I of England on 26 December 1625 in another attempt to solve his growing monetary problems. Reaction to the First Parliament The King deliberately set out to secure a more docile body than his 1st Parliament by attempting to reduce the numerical strength of his opponents that were returned to the House of Commons. The main tactic he employed was to ensure that a number of the people who were potentially troublesome MPs were chosen to be sheriffs of their county. This prevented the MPs from being elected to parliament since a sheriff was expected to remain within his county during his period in office. Charles also raised some other potential trouble makers to aristocratic titles which again made them ineligible for the Commons. Of course, this tactic gave them an automatic place in the House of Lords, which at least one of the new lords used to continue his attacks on Charles’ policies.