<P> Partly inspired by his visit to the Spanish court in 1623, Charles became a passionate and knowledgeable art collector, amassing one of the finest art collections ever assembled . In Spain, he sat for a sketch by Velázquez, and acquired works by Titian and Correggio, among others . In England, his commissions included the ceiling of the Banqueting House, Whitehall, by Rubens and paintings by other artists from the Low Countries such as van Honthorst, Mytens, and van Dyck . His close associates, including the Duke of Buckingham and the Earl of Arundel, shared his interest and have been dubbed the Whitehall Group . In 1627 and 1628, Charles purchased the entire collection of the Duke of Mantua, which included work by Titian, Correggio, Raphael, Caravaggio, del Sarto and Mantegna . His collection grew further to encompass Bernini, Bruegel, da Vinci, Holbein, Hollar, Tintoretto and Veronese, and self - portraits by both Dürer and Rembrandt . By Charles's death, there were an estimated 1760 paintings, most of which were sold and dispersed by Parliament . </P> <P> In January 1629, Charles opened the second session of the English Parliament, which had been prorogued in June 1628, with a moderate speech on the tonnage and poundage issue . Members of the House of Commons began to voice opposition to Charles's policies in light of the case of John Rolle, a Member of Parliament whose goods had been confiscated for failing to pay tonnage and poundage . Many MPs viewed the imposition of the tax as a breach of the Petition of Right . When Charles ordered a parliamentary adjournment on 2 March, members held the Speaker, Sir John Finch, down in his chair so that the ending of the session could be delayed long enough for resolutions against Catholicism, Arminianism and tonnage and poundage to be read out and acclaimed by the chamber . The provocation was too much for Charles, who dissolved Parliament and had nine parliamentary leaders, including Sir John Eliot, imprisoned over the matter, thereby turning the men into martyrs, and giving popular cause to their protest . </P> <P> Shortly after the prorogation, without the means in the foreseeable future to raise funds from Parliament for a European war, or the influence of Buckingham, Charles made peace with France and Spain . The following eleven years, during which Charles ruled England without a Parliament, are referred to as the personal rule or the "eleven years' tyranny". Ruling without Parliament was not exceptional, and was supported by precedent . Only Parliament, however, could legally raise taxes, and without it Charles's capacity to acquire funds for his treasury was limited to his customary rights and prerogatives . </P> <P> A large fiscal deficit had arisen in the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I. Notwithstanding Buckingham's short lived campaigns against both Spain and France, there was little financial capacity for Charles to wage wars overseas . Throughout his reign Charles was obliged to rely primarily on volunteer forces for defence and on diplomatic efforts to support his sister, Elizabeth, and his foreign policy objective for the restoration of the Palatinate . England was still the least taxed country in Europe, with no official excise and no regular direct taxation . To raise revenue without reconvening Parliament, Charles resurrected an all - but - forgotten law called the "Distraint of Knighthood", in abeyance for over a century, which required any man who earned £ 40 or more from land each year to present himself at the king's coronation to be knighted . Relying on this old statute, Charles fined individuals who had failed to attend his coronation in 1626 . </P>

What beliefs did the kings of england and the kings of france share