King James had ruled until 1621 without parliament, employing officials such as the businessman Lionel Cranfield, who were astute at raising and saving money for the crown, and sold earldoms and other dignities, many created for the purpose, as an alternative source of income.

Another potential source of income is the prospect of a Spanish dowry from a marriage between Charles, Prince of Wales, and the Spanish Infanta, Maria.

The policy of the Spanish Match, as it is called, is also attractive to James as a way to maintain peace with Spain and avoid the additional costs of a war.

Peace could be maintained as effectively by keeping the negotiations alive as by consummating the match—which may explain why James will protract the negotiations for almost a decade.

The policy is supported by the Howards and other Catholic-leaning ministers and diplomats—together known as the Spanish Party—but deeply distrusted in Protestant England.

James's policy had been further jeopardized by the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War, especially after his son-in-law, Frederick V, Elector Palatine, had been ousted from Bohemia by Emperor Ferdinand II in 1620, and Spanish troops had simultaneously invaded Frederick's Rhineland home territory.

Matters had come to a head when James finally called a parliament in 1621 to fund a military expedition in support of his son-in-law.

The Commons on the one hand had granted subsidies inadequate to finance serious military operations in aid of Frederick, and on the other—remembering the profits gained under Elizabeth by naval attacks on Spanish gold shipments—had called for a war directly against Spain.

In November 1621, led by Sir Edward Coke, they had framed a petition asking not only for war with Spain but also for Prince Charles to marry a Protestant, and for enforcement of the anti-Catholic laws.

James had flatly told them not to interfere in matters of royal prerogative or they would risk punishment, which had provoked them into issuing a statement protesting their rights, including freedom of speech.

Urged on by the Duke of Buckingham and the Spanish ambassador Gondomar, James had ripped the protest out of the record book and dissolved Parliament.

Prince Charles, now twenty-three, and Buckingham had decided in 1623 to seize the initiative and travel to Spain incognito, to win the Infanta directly, but the mission had proved a desperate mistake.

The Infanta detests Charles, and the Spanish had confronted them with terms that included his conversion to Catholicism and a one-year stay in Spain as, in essence, a diplomatic hostage.

Though a treaty had been signed, the prince and duke return to England in October without the Infanta and immediately renounce the treaty, much to the delight of the British people.