AQA A-level History · 1D

Stuart Britain and the Crisis of Monarchy, 1603–1702

Exam-style questions with answers for 1D Stuart Britain and the Crisis of Monarchy, 1603–1702 in AQA A-level History (spec 7042). Practise with flashcards, a topic quiz, a random quiz across the course, 5 crosswords, or read every question and answer below.

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Question 1 · Spec 1D, Part one
Define the term ‘Political Nation’. [1 mark]
Answer:
The landowning and wealthy classes who took part in government and politics.
Question 2 · Spec 1D, Part one
State two of James I’s views on monarchy. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: kings rule by Divine Right (1); kings are answerable to God, not Parliament (1); set out in The Trew Law of Free Monarchies (1).
Question 3 · Spec 1D, Part one
Name two favourites of James I. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: Robert Carr (1); George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham (1).
Question 4 · Spec 1D, Part one
What was the Great Contract (1610)? [2 marks]
Answer:
Salisbury’s proposal to give up feudal dues in return for a fixed annual grant from Parliament (1); it failed in 1610 (1).
Question 5 · Spec 1D, Part one
Define the term ‘impositions’. [1 mark]
Answer:
Extra customs duties imposed by the Crown without Parliament’s consent.
Question 6 · Spec 1D, Part one
What was the Gunpowder Plot (1605)? [1 mark]
Answer:
A Catholic plot to blow up Parliament and kill James I.
Question 7 · Spec 1D, Part one
Define the term ‘Arminianism’. [1 mark]
Answer:
A movement in the Church of England stressing free will, ceremony and the beauty of holiness, which Puritans saw as close to Catholicism.
Question 8 · Spec 1D, Part one
Explain why Buckingham was unpopular. [2 marks]
Answer:
He monopolised royal patronage (1); he led failed expeditions to Cadiz (1625) and La Rochelle (1627) (1).
Question 9 · Spec 1D, Part one
What was the Petition of Right (1628)? [1 mark]
Answer:
A parliamentary statement against arbitrary imprisonment, forced loans and taxation without consent.
Question 10 · Spec 1D, Part one
What happened in Parliament in 1629? [2 marks]
Answer:
MPs held the Speaker in his chair and passed the Three Resolutions (1); Charles dissolved Parliament and began Personal Rule (1).
Question 11 · Spec 1D, Part one
What was Personal Rule (1629–1640)? [1 mark]
Answer:
The period when Charles I ruled without calling Parliament.
Question 12 · Spec 1D, Part one
What was Ship Money? [2 marks]
Answer:
A tax traditionally raised from coastal areas for the navy (1); Charles extended it to the whole country from 1635 (1).
Question 13 · Spec 1D, Part one
Explain why the Hampden case (1637) was significant. [1 mark]
Answer:
The judges ruled for the King only narrowly, by 7 to 5, showing doubts about the legality of Ship Money.
Question 14 · Spec 1D, Part one
Who was Archbishop Laud? [2 marks]
Answer:
Archbishop of Canterbury from 1633 (1); he enforced Arminian ceremony and punished Puritan critics (1).
Question 15 · Spec 1D, Part one
Explain why the Prayer Book of 1637 caused the Bishops’ Wars. [2 marks]
Answer:
Charles imposed an English-style Prayer Book on Presbyterian Scotland (1); Scots signed the National Covenant (1638) and rebelled (1).
Question 16 · Spec 1D, Part one
What was the Short Parliament (1640)? [1 mark]
Answer:
A parliament called to fund war against Scotland, dissolved after three weeks when it raised grievances.
Question 17 · Spec 1D, Part one
Who was John Pym? [1 mark]
Answer:
The leader of the opposition in the Long Parliament.
Question 18 · Spec 1D, Part one
State two achievements of the Long Parliament in 1641. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: execution of Strafford (1); abolition of Ship Money (1); the Triennial Act (1); abolition of Star Chamber (1).
Question 19 · Spec 1D, Part one
What was the Grand Remonstrance (1641)? [1 mark]
Answer:
A list of grievances against Charles’s rule, passed by only 11 votes, which divided Parliament.
Question 20 · Spec 1D, Part one
What triggered the outbreak of Civil War in 1642? [2 marks]
Answer:
Charles’s attempted arrest of the Five Members in January 1642 (1); disputes over control of the militia, and Charles raised his standard at Nottingham in August (1).
Question 21 · Spec 1D, Part one
Define the term ‘Millenarianism’. [1 mark]
Answer:
The belief that Christ’s Second Coming and thousand-year rule were imminent.
Question 22 · Spec 1D, Part one
State two reasons for royalist defeat in the First Civil War. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: Parliament controlled London and the navy (1); the Solemn League and Covenant with the Scots (1); the New Model Army (1); victories at Marston Moor (1644) and Naseby (1645) (1).
Question 23 · Spec 1D, Part one
State two demands of the Levellers. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: votes for most men (1); religious toleration (1); equality before the law (1); set out in the Agreement of the People (1).
Question 24 · Spec 1D, Part one
What were the Putney Debates (1647)? [1 mark]
Answer:
Debates in the New Model Army’s General Council about the Levellers’ Agreement of the People and the right to vote.
Question 25 · Spec 1D, Part one
What was the Second Civil War (1648)? [1 mark]
Answer:
Royalist risings and a Scottish invasion after Charles’s Engagement with the Scots, defeated at Preston.
Question 26 · Spec 1D, Part one
What was Pride’s Purge (December 1648)? [1 mark]
Answer:
Colonel Pride expelled MPs who wanted to negotiate with the King, leaving the Rump Parliament.
Question 27 · Spec 1D, Part one
How did Charles I respond to his trial in 1649? [2 marks]
Answer:
He refused to recognise the court’s authority (1); he presented himself as defending the people’s liberties and the law (1).
Question 28 · Spec 1D, Part one
What was the Hampton Court Conference (1604)? [1 mark]
Answer:
James I’s meeting with bishops and Puritans, which led to the King James Bible (1611).
Question 29 · Spec 1D, Part one
What was the Addled Parliament (1614)? [1 mark]
Answer:
A parliament that passed no legislation and granted no taxes, dissolved after two months.
Question 30 · Spec 1D, Part two
What happened at Dunbar (1650) and Worcester (1651)? [2 marks]
Answer:
Cromwell defeated the Scots at Dunbar (1); he defeated Charles II’s invasion at Worcester, and Charles escaped abroad (1).
Question 31 · Spec 1D, Part two
What did Cromwell’s campaign in Ireland (1649) involve? [1 mark]
Answer:
The capture of Drogheda and Wexford with massacres of garrisons and civilians.
Question 32 · Spec 1D, Part two
Why was the Rump Parliament dissolved in 1653? [1 mark]
Answer:
Cromwell believed it was corrupt and slow to reform and dissolved it by force.
Question 33 · Spec 1D, Part two
What was the Parliament of Saints (Barebone’s Parliament)? [1 mark]
Answer:
A nominated assembly of godly men in 1653, which was split by radical millenarians and dissolved itself.
Question 34 · Spec 1D, Part two
What was the Instrument of Government (1653)? [1 mark]
Answer:
The written constitution making Cromwell Lord Protector.
Question 35 · Spec 1D, Part two
Who were the Major-Generals? [2 marks]
Answer:
Army officers who governed 11 regions of England and Wales from 1655 (1); they enforced security and moral reform and were very unpopular (1).
Question 36 · Spec 1D, Part two
Who was Clarendon? [1 mark]
Answer:
Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, Charles II’s chief minister until 1667.
Question 37 · Spec 1D, Part two
Who was Danby? [1 mark]
Answer:
Charles II’s chief minister 1673–1679, who built a Court ‘party’ supporting the Church of England.
Question 38 · Spec 1D, Part two
Define the terms ‘Court’ and ‘Country’. [2 marks]
Answer:
Court supporters backed the King’s ministers and patronage (1); Country members distrusted royal power, corruption and standing armies (1).
Question 39 · Spec 1D, Part two
What did the Restoration religious settlement do? [1 mark]
Answer:
It restored the Church of England with bishops and the Prayer Book, and excluded Dissenters through the Clarendon Code.
Question 40 · Spec 1D, Part two
What was the aim of the Exclusion Bills (1679–1681)? [1 mark]
Answer:
To prevent James, Duke of York, a Catholic, from succeeding to the throne.
Question 41 · Spec 1D, Part two
Why did Exclusion fail? [2 marks]
Answer:
Charles II dissolved Parliaments and the Lords rejected the bill (1); fear of renewed civil war helped the Tories rally behind him (1).
Question 42 · Spec 1D, Part two
State two attempts by James II to restore Catholicism. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: appointing Catholics as army officers (1); the Declarations of Indulgence (1687, 1688) (1); the trial of the Seven Bishops (1688) (1).
Question 43 · Spec 1D, Part two
State two causes of the Glorious Revolution (1688). [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: the birth of a Catholic son to James II (1); the trial of the Seven Bishops (1); the invitation to William of Orange (1); fear of absolutism (1).
Question 44 · Spec 1D, Part two
What did the Bill of Rights (1689) establish? [2 marks]
Answer:
The monarch could not suspend laws or raise taxes without Parliament (1); no standing army in peacetime without Parliament’s consent (1).
Question 45 · Spec 1D, Part two
What did the Toleration Act (1689) do? [1 mark]
Answer:
It allowed Protestant Dissenters to worship freely, but not Catholics.
Question 46 · Spec 1D, Part two
State two ways the revolution was consolidated outside England. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: Scottish Presbyterianism restored (1); Jacobite defeat at Dunkeld (1689) (1); William’s victory at the Boyne (1690) (1); Treaty of Limerick (1691) (1).
Question 47 · Spec 1D, Part two
What did the Triennial Act (1694) require? [1 mark]
Answer:
A general election at least every three years.
Question 48 · Spec 1D, Part two
Explain why war increased Parliament’s power under William III. [2 marks]
Answer:
The Nine Years’ War needed huge sums only Parliament could grant (1); annual Mutiny Acts and grants meant Parliament had to meet every year (1).
Question 49 · Spec 1D, Part two
What did the Act of Settlement (1701) do? [2 marks]
Answer:
It settled the succession on the Protestant House of Hanover (1); it barred Catholics from the throne and limited royal powers, eg over judges (1).
Question 50 · Spec 1D, Part two
What was the Declaration of Breda (1660)? [1 mark]
Answer:
Charles II’s promise of pardon, religious toleration and a settlement by Parliament before his return.

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Stuart Britain and the Crisis of Monarchy, 1603–1702

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