Today in History: Charles I Tries to Go It Alone

On this day (March 10) in 1629, Charles I of England dissolved Parliament and began his period of Personal Rule, trying to find ways to govern without having to work with the representatives of his people. His effort to rule as an absolute monarch greatly irritated many of his subjects, but it was his efforts to force religious conformity on his three kingdoms that eventually drove them into rebellion starting with the Scots in the north.