Useless Parliament

The Useless Parliament was the first Parliament of England of the reign of King Charles I, sitting only from June until August 1625. It gained its name because it transacted no significant business, making it 'useless' from the king's point of view. Parliament adjourned to Oxford on 1 August, and was dissolved on 12 August, having offended the king.

Charles acceded to the Throne upon the death of his father, James VI and I, on 27 March 1625. Parliament was summoned by the king on 2 April and convened at Westminster on 18 June, first meeting only a month after Charles's marriage to Henrietta Maria, a daughter of King Henry IV of France.

Thomas Crewe was again elected as Speaker of the House of Commons, having served in that office previously, but this led Sir John Eliot to refer to the position as "frequently filled by nullities, men selected for mere Court convenience".

Charles had asked the parliament to vote him the duties of tonnage and poundage for life, as had been customary at the beginning of each monarch's reign since 1414, but the House of Commons broke with tradition and voted to grant the king these important duties for one year only, together with £140,000 for war with Spain, apparently intending to force him to come back to ask them to vote him money in every future year. The king was greatly troubled and provoked by this, as tonnage and poundage had long provided the Crown's main source of income. Some parliamentarians were anxious about the king's wish to send forces to take part in the Thirty Years' War on the continent of Europe and also about his reputation for extravagance, but it is now argued that their collective intention was to review such duties generally, giving the king tonnage and poundage for a year pending negotiations on reform.

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