CHAP. I - Origin of the Civil War

Summary

There is an important point of connexion between English and French history in the fact that the Queen of England was a daughter of Henry IV, and had her father ever in view as the ideal man and prince. She had grown up under the influence of those prevailing Catholic sentiments which her Florentine mother favoured, and in ideas of the unconditional supremacy of royalty and of the claims of birth, such as had come into favour under her brother: almost more than he she showed that the blood of Henry IV flowed in her veins.

We know how long it was before she could obtain any certain influence over her husband. He put an end, with a decision which no one would have expected in him, to the religious demonstrations of her household, of which she approved: he allowed no scope to her personal sympathies, which were directed across the Channel; he supported his ministers against her. For Charles I was fully conscious of his royal calling: he would not let his position be interfered with by foreign influences: only in cases of mercy was the Queen's intercession ever attended to. Hostility to Cardinal Richelieu, who had deeply offended both the Queen through her mother and the King by his connexion with the Scots gave the first occasion for an understanding between Charles and his consort which was of importance in public affairs; it formed as it were a common interest between them.