(Redirected from King Charles I of England)
'Charles I' (
19 November 1600 –
30 January 1649) was
King of England,
King of Scotland and
King of Ireland from
27 March 1625 until his
execution in 1649.
Charles famously engaged in a struggle for power with the
Parliament of England. As he was an advocate of the
Divine Right of Kings, many in England feared that he was attempting to gain
absolute power. There was widespread opposition to many of his actions, especially the levying of
taxes without Parliament's consent.
Religious conflicts permeated Charles's reign. He married a Catholic princess,
Henrietta Maria, over the objections of Parliament and public opinion. Charles further allied himself with controversial religious figures, including the
ecclesiastic Richard Montagu and
William Laud, whom Charles appointed
Archbishop of Canterbury. Laud did not bring changes to the liturgy of the
Church of England but did endorse a stricter enforcement of the English Prayerbook, which included ceremonies that many Englishmen chose to omit. Many of Charles's subjects felt this brought the Church of England too close to
Roman Catholicism. Charles's later attempts to force religious reforms upon
Scotland led to the
Bishops' Wars that weakened England and helped precipitate his downfall.
The last years were marked by the
English Civil War, in which he was opposed by the forces of Parliament, who challenged his attempts to augment his own power, and by
Puritans, who were hostile to his religious policies and apparent Catholic sympathy. The first Civil War (1642 - 1645) ended in defeat for Charles, after which the parliamentarians expected him to accept their demands for a constitutional monarchy. He instead remained defiant by attempting to forge an alliance with Scotland and escaping to the Isle of Man. This provoked a second Civil War (1648 - 1649). After another Royalist defeat, Charles was subsequently captured,
tried,
convicted, and executed for
high treason. The
monarchy was then abolished and a republic called the
Commonwealth of England was declared. Charles's son,
Charles II, became King after
the restoration of the monarchy in 1660.
Biography
Early life
The second son of
James VI, King of Scots and
Anne of Denmark, Charles was born at
Dunfermline Palace,
Fife, on
19 November 1600. He was an underdeveloped child who was still unable to walk or talk at the age of three. When
Elizabeth I died in March 1603 and James VI became King of England as James I, Charles was originally left in Scotland in the care of nurses and servants because it was feared that the journey would damage his fragile health. He did make the journey in July 1604 and was subsequently placed under the charge of Alletta (Hogenhove) Carey, the Dutch-born wife of courtier Sir
Robert Carey, who taught him how to walk and talk and insisted that he wear boots made of Spanish leather and brass to help strengthen his weak ankles. As an adult Charles was 5 feet 4 inches (162 cm) tall.
Charles was not as well-regarded as his elder brother,
Henry,
Prince of Wales; Charles himself adored Henry and tried to emulate him. In 1605, as was then customary in the case of the Sovereign's second son, he was created
Duke of York in England. Two years before, in 1603, he was created
Duke of Albany in Scotland. When his elder brother died at the age of 18 of
typhoid in 1612, two weeks before Charles's 12th birthday, Charles became
heir apparent and was subsequently created the Prince of Wales and
Earl of Chester in November 1616. His sister
Elizabeth married in 1613 to
Frederick V,
Elector Palatine and moved to
Heidelberg.
The new Prince of Wales was greatly influenced by his father's favourite courtier,
George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham. The two of them travelled incognito to
Spain in 1623 to reach agreement on the long-pending
Spanish Match between Charles and the daughter of the Spanish
King Philip III,
Infanta Maria Anna of Spain. The trip ended in disaster, however, as the Spanish demanded that Charles convert to Roman Catholicism and remain in Spain for a year after the wedding as a sort of hostage to ensure England's compliance with all the terms of the treaty. Charles was outraged, and upon their return in October, He and Buckingham demanded that James I declare war on Spain.
With the encouragement of his Protestant advisors, James summoned Parliament so that he could request subsidies for his war effort. James also requested that Parliament sanction the marriage between the Prince of Wales and
Princess Henrietta Maria of France, whom Charles met in
Paris whilst ''en route'' to Spain. It was a good match since she was a sister of
Louis XIII (their father,
Henry IV, had died during her childhood). Parliament agreed to the marriage, but was extremely critical of the prior attempt to arrange a marital alliance with Spain. James was growing senile and as a result was finding it extremely difficult to control Parliament—the same problem would later haunt Charles during his reign. During the last year of his reign, actual power was held not by him but by his son Charles and the Duke of Buckingham.
Charles was a very different character to his father James I and had none of the latter's political skill. Both kings were advocates of
Divine Right monarchy, but James listened to the views of his subjects and favoured moderation, compromise and consensus. Charles I was shy and diffident, but also self-righteous, stubborn, opinionated, determined and confrontational. Charles believed he had no need to compromise or even explain his policies and that he was only answerable to God. He famously said: "Kings are not bound to give an account of their actions but to God alone", "I mean to show what I should speak in actions". Those actions were open to misinterpretation, and there were fears as early as 1626 that he was a potential tyrant. Charles I always maintained that his subjects misunderstood him.
Early reign
Charles ascended the throne on
27 March 1625 and on
13 June of that year was married to Henrietta Maria, nine years his junior, by
proxy. His first Parliament, which he opened in May, was opposed to his marriage to Henrietta Maria, a Roman Catholic, because it feared that Charles would lift restrictions on Roman Catholics and undermine the official establishment of Protestantism. Although he agreed with Parliament that he would not relax restrictions relating to
recusants, he promised to do exactly that in a secret marriage treaty with
Louis XIII. The couple were married on
13 June 1625, in
Canterbury. Charles was crowned on
2 February 1626 at
Westminster Abbey, but without his wife at his side due to the controversy. They had nine children, with three sons and three daughters surviving infancy.
Distrust of Charles's religious policies was increased by the controversy surrounding the ecclesiastic
Richard Montagu. In a pamphlet, Montagu argued against the teachings of
John Calvin, immediately bringing himself into disrepute amongst the Puritans. A Puritan member of the House of Commons,
John Pym, attacked Montagu's pamphlet during debate, prompting Montagu to request the aid of Charles I in a pamphlet entitled "
Appello Caesarem" (
Latin "I appeal to Caesar", a reference to an appeal against Jewish persecution made by
Saint Paul the Apostle).
[1] Charles I made the cleric one of his royal chaplains, increasing many Puritans' suspicions as to where he would lead the Church.
Charles's primary concern during his early reign was foreign policy. The
Thirty Years' War, originally confined to
Bohemia, was spiralling out of control into a wider war between Protestants and Catholics in Europe. In 1620,
Frederick V, Elector Palatine, the husband of Charles's sister Elizabeth, had lost his hereditary lands in the
Palatinate to the Holy Roman Emperor
Ferdinand II. Having agreed to help his brother-in-law regain the Palatinate, Charles declared war on Spain, hoping to force the Catholic Spanish King
Philip IV to intercede with the Emperor on Frederick's behalf.
Parliament preferred an inexpensive naval attack on Spanish colonies in the New World, hoping that the capture of the Spanish treasure fleets could finance the war. Charles, however, preferred more aggressive (and more expensive) action on the Continent. Parliament only voted to grant a subsidy of £140,000; an insufficient sum for Charles. Moreover, the House of Commons limited its authorization for royal collection of
tonnage and poundage (two varieties of customs duties) to a period of one year, although previous sovereigns since 1414 had been granted the right for life. In this manner, Parliament could keep a check on expenditures by forcing Charles to seek the renewal of the grant each year. Charles's allies in the House of Lords, led by the Duke of Buckingham, refused to pass the bill. Although no Parliamentary authority for the levy of tonnage and poundage was obtained, Charles continued to collect the duties anyway.
The war with Spain went badly, largely due to Buckingham's incompetent leadership. Despite Parliament's protests, however, Charles refused to dismiss him, dismissing Parliament instead. He then provoked further unrest by trying to raise money for the war through a "forced loan" -- a tax levied without Parliamentary consent. Although partially successful in collecting the tax, Charles let the money dribble away in yet another military fiasco led by Buckingham. Summoned again in 1628, Parliament adopted a
Petition of Right, calling upon the King to acknowledge that he could not levy taxes without Parliament's consent, impose martial law on civilians, imprison them without due process, or quarter troops in their homes. Charles assented to the petition, though he continued to claim the right to collect customs duties without authorization from Parliament. Then, on August 23, 1628, Buckingham was assassinated. Although the death of Buckingham effectively ended the war and eliminated his leadership as an issue, it did not end the conflicts between Charles and Parliament over taxation and religious matters.
[2]
Tyranny or personal rule?
In January 1629, Charles opened the second session of the 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 their opposition in light of the Rolle case. Rolle was an MP who had his goods confiscated for not paying tonnage and poundage. This was seen by many MPs as a breach of the
Petition of Right, who argued that the freedom from arrest privilege extended to goods. When Charles ordered a parliamentary adjournment in March, members held the Speaker,
John Finch, down in his chair whilst three resolutions against Charles were read aloud. The last of these resolutions declared that anyone who paid tonnage or poundage not authorised by Parliament would "be reputed a betrayer of the liberties of England, and an enemy to the same". Though the resolution was not formally passed, many members declared their approval. The fact that a number of MPs had to be detained in Parliament is relevant in understanding that there was no universal opposition towards the King. Nevertheless, the provocation was too much for Charles, who dissolved parliament the same day.
[3]
Charles resolved not to be forced to rely on Parliament for further monetary aid. Immediately, he made peace with France and Spain. The following eleven years, during which Charles ruled without a Parliament, have been known as both the
Eleven Years Tyranny or simply as the
Personal Rule. (Charles's rule without Parliament constituted a valid but nevertheless exceptional exercise of the royal prerogative. In former times such rule would have been considered just but by the middle of the 17th century it was held by many to be an exercise of absolute power). Due to an unstable absolute power, assasination or capture was at risk for the king and many close nobles including instructors
Thomas Hobbes and
John Pym.
Sir Anthony van Dyck, Charles I's court painter, created the famous "Charles I, King of England, from Three Angles", commonly known as the "Triple Portrait". This oil painting, of around 1636, was created in order that the Italian sculptor, Bernini, could create a marble bust of Charles
Even without Parliament Charles still had to acquire funds in order to maintain his treasury. Thus, relying on an all but forgotten feudal statute called 'The Distraint of Knighthood' passed in 1278, requiring anyone who earned £40 or more each year to present himself at the King's coronation so that he may join the royal army as a knight, Charles fined all individuals who failed to attend his coronation in 1626. He also reintroduced the obsolete feudal tax known as
ship money, which was even more unpopular. A writ issued in 1634 ordered the collection of ship money in peacetime, notwithstanding statutes of
Edward I and
Edward III that had prohibited the levying of such a tax except during wars. This first writ of 1634, however, did not encourage much opposition on legal grounds, but a second writ of 1635 did. Charles's third writ demanding ship money, issued in 1636, made it clear that the ancient prohibition on collecting ship money during peacetime had been swept away. Many attempted to resist payment, but Charles's judges, whose tenure depended on his "good pleasure," declared that the tax was within the King's prerogative. This action of demanding ship money to be raised in peacetime was a major cause of concern among the ruling class; however, it must be noted that it was the attempted enforcement of the Anglican and increasingly Arminian styled prayer book under Laud that precipitated the rebellion in Scotland, which ended Personal Rule in 1640.
[4]
Religious conflicts
Charles wished to move the Church of England away from
Calvinism in a more traditional and sacramental direction. This goal was shared by his main political adviser, Archbishop
William Laud. Laud was appointed by Charles as the
Archbishop of Canterbury in 1633 and started a series of unpopular reforms in an attempt to impose order and authority on the church. Laud attempted to ensure religious uniformity by dismissing non-conformist clergymen and closing Puritan organizations. This was actively hostile to the
Reformist tendencies of many of his English and Scottish subjects. His policy was obnoxious to
Calvinist theology, and insisted that the Church of England's
liturgy be celebrated using the form prescribed in the
Book of Common Prayer. Laud was also an advocate of
Arminian theology, a view whose emphasis on the ability to reject salvation was viewed as heretical and virtually "Catholic" by strict Calvinists.
To punish those who refused to accept his reforms, Laud used the two most feared and most arbitrary courts in the land, the
Court of High Commission and the Court of
Star Chamber. The former could compel individuals to provide self-incriminating testimony, whilst the latter could inflict any punishment whatsoever (including torture), with the sole exception of death.
The lawlessness of the Court of Star Chamber under Charles far exceeded that under any of his predecessors. Under Charles's reign, defendants were regularly hauled before the Court without indictment, due process of the law, or right to confront witnesses, and their testimonies were routinely extracted by the King and his courtiers through extensive torture.
The first years of the Personal Rule were marked by peace in England, to some extent due to tighter central control. Several individuals opposed Charles's taxes and Laud's policies, however the overall trend of the early Personal Rule period is one of peace. When, however, Charles attempted to impose his religious policies in Scotland he faced numerous difficulties. The King ordered the use of a new Prayer Book modelled on the English ''
Book of Common Prayer'', which, although supported by the Scottish Bishops, was resisted by many Presbyterian Scots, who saw the new Prayer Book as a vehicle for introducing Anglicanism to Scotland. When the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland abolished Episcopalian government (that is, governance of the Church by Bishops) in 1638, replacing it with Presbyterian government (that is, governance by Elders and Deacons), Charles sought to put down what he saw as a rebellion against his authority.
In 1639, when the
First Bishops' War broke out, Charles sought to collect taxes from his subjects, who refused to yield any further. Charles's war ended in a humiliating truce in June of the same year. In the Pacification of Berwick, Charles agreed to grant his Scottish subjects civil and ecclesiastical freedoms.
Charles's military failure in the First Bishops' War in turn caused a financial and military crisis for Charles, which caused the end of Personal Rule. Due to his financial weakness, Charles was forced to call Parliament into session by 1640 in an attempt to raise funds. While the ruling class grievances with the changes to government and finance during the Personal Rule period were a contributing factor in the Scottish Rebellion, it was mainly due to the key issue of religion that Charles was forced to confront the ruling class in Parliament for the first time in eleven years. In essence, it was Charles's and Laud's confrontational religious modifications that ended what the Whig historians refer to as "The Eleven Years of Tyranny".
The "Short" and "Long" Parliaments
Disputes regarding the interpretation of the peace treaty between Charles and the Church of Scotland led to further conflict. To subdue the Scots, Charles needed more money; therefore, he took the fateful step of recalling Parliament in April 1640. Although Charles offered to repeal ship money, and the House of Commons agreed to allow Charles to raise the funds for war, an impasse was reached when Parliament demanded the discussion of various abuses of power during the Personal Rule. As both sides refused to give ground on this matter, Parliament was dissolved in May 1640, less than a month after it assembled; thus, the Parliament became known as the "
Short Parliament".
Sir Anthony van Dyck. Equestrian portrait of Charles I with Seignior de St Antoine
In the meantime, Charles attempted to defeat the Scots, but failed miserably. The humiliating
Treaty of Ripon, signed after the end of the
Second Bishops' War in October 1640, required the King to pay the expenses of the Scottish army he had just fought. Charles took the unusual step of summoning the ''
magnum concilium'', the ancient council of all the
Peers of the Realm, who were considered the King's hereditary counsellors. The ''magnum concilium'' had not been summoned for centuries. On the advice of the peers, Charles summoned another Parliament, which, in contrast with its predecessor, became known as the
Long Parliament.
The Long Parliament assembled in November 1640 under the leadership of
John Pym, and proved just as difficult for Charles as the Short Parliament. Although the members of the House of Commons thought of themselves as conservatives defending the King, Church and Parliamentary government against innovations in religion and the tyranny of Charles's advisors, Charles viewed many of them as dangerous rebels trying to undermine his rule.
To prevent the King from dissolving it at will, Parliament passed the
Triennial Act, to which the Royal Assent was granted in February 1641. The Act required that Parliament was to be summoned at least once every three years, and that when the King failed to issue proper summons, the members could assemble on their own. In May, he assented to an even more far-reaching Act, which provided that Parliament could not be dissolved without its own consent. Charles was forced into one concession after another. He agreed to
bills of attainder authorising the executions of
Thomas Wentworth and
William Laud. Ship money, fines in destraint of knighthood and forced loans were declared unlawful, and the hated Courts of
Star Chamber and
High Commission were abolished. Although he made several important concessions, Charles improved his own military position by securing the favour of the Scots. He finally agreed to the official establishment of Presbyterianism; in return, he was able to enlist considerable anti-parliamentary support.
Henrietta Maria (c. 1633) by Sir Anthony van Dyck
In November 1641, the House of Commons passed the
Grand Remonstrance, denouncing all the abuses of power Charles had committed since the beginning of his reign. The tension was heightened when the
Irish rebelled against Protestant English rule and rumours of Charles's complicity reached Parliament. An army was required to put down the rebellion but many members of the House of Commons feared that Charles might later use it against Parliament itself. The
Militia Bill was intended to wrest control of the army from the King, but Charles refused to agree to it. However, Parliament decreed
The Protestation as an attempt to lessen the conflict.
When rumours reached Charles that Parliament intended to impeach his Catholic Queen,
Henrietta Maria, he took drastic action. It was possibly Henrietta who persuaded him to arrest the five members of the House of Commons who were perceived to be the most troublesome on charges of high treason, but the MPs had already slipped away by the time Charles arrived. Charles entered the House of Commons with an armed force on
4 January,
1642, but found that his opponents had already escaped. He asked the Speaker,
William Lenthall, where the MPs had fled, and Lenthall famously replied, "May it please your Majesty, I have neither eyes to see nor tongue to speak in this place but as the House is pleased to direct me, whose servant I am here." This move was politically disastrous for Charles. It caused acute embarrassment for the monarch and essentially triggered the total breakdown of government in England. Afterwards, Charles could no longer feel safe in London and he began travelling north to raise an army against Parliament; the Queen, at the same time, went abroad to raise money to pay for it.
English Civil war
The
English Civil War had not yet started, but both sides began to arm. Following futile negotiations, Charles raised the royal standard (an anachronistic mediæval gesture) in
Nottingham on
22 August 1642. He then set up his court at
Oxford, when his government controlled roughly the north and west of England, Parliament remaining in control of London and the south and east. Charles raised an army using the archaic method of the
Commission of Array. The Civil War started on
25 October 1642 with the inconclusive
Battle of Edgehill and continued indecisively through 1643 and 1644, until the
Battle of Naseby tipped the military balance decisively in favour of Parliament. There followed a great number of defeats for the Royalists, and then the
Siege of Oxford, from which Charles escaped in April 1646. He put himself into the hands of the Scottish Presbyterian army at
Newark, and was taken to nearby
Southwell while his "hosts" decided what to do with him. The Presbyterians finally arrived at an agreement with Parliament and delivered Charles to them in 1647. He was imprisoned at
Holdenby House in
Northamptonshire, until cornet
George Joyce took him by force to
Newmarket in the name of the
New Model Army. At this time, mutual suspicion had developed between the New Model Army and Parliament, and Charles was eager to exploit it.
He was then transferred first to
Oatlands and then to
Hampton Court, where more involved but fruitless negotiations took place. He was persuaded that it would be in his best interests to escape — perhaps abroad, perhaps to France, or perhaps to the custody of Colonel
Robert Hammond, Parliamentary Governor of the
Isle of Wight. He decided on the last course, believing Hammond to be sympathetic, and fled on
11 November.
[5] Hammond, however, was opposed to Charles, whom he confined in
Carisbrooke Castle.
[5]
From Carisbrooke, Charles continued to try to bargain with the various parties, eventually coming to terms with the Scottish Presbyterians that he would allow the establishment of
Presbyterianism in England as well as Scotland for a trial period. The Royalists rose in July 1648 igniting the
Second Civil War, and as agreed with Charles the Scots invaded England. Most of the uprisings in England were put down by forces loyal to Parliament after little more than skirmishes, but uprisings in
Kent,
Essex and
Cumberland, the rebellion in
Wales and the Scottish invasion involved the fighting of pitched battles and prolonged sieges. But with the defeat of the Scots at the
Battle of Preston, the Royalists lost any chance of winning the war.
Trial and execution
Charles was moved to
Hurst Castle at the end of 1648, and there after to
Windsor Castle. In January 1649, in response to Charles's defiance of Parliament even after defeat, and his encouraging the second Civil War while in captivity, the House of Commons passed an Act of Parliament creating a court for Charles's trial. After the first Civil War, the parliamentarians still accepted the premise that the King, although wrong, had been able to justify his fight, and that he would still be entitled to limited powers as King under a new constitutional settlement. It was now felt that by provoking the second Civil War even while defeated and in captivity, Charles showed himself incorrigible, dishonourable, and responsible for unjustifiable bloodshed.
The idea of trying a king was a novel one; previous monarchs had been deposed, but had never been brought to trial as monarchs. The High Court of Justice established by the Act consisted of 135 Commissioners (all firm Parliamentarians); the
prosecution was led by
Solicitor General John Cook.
His trial on charges of high treason and "other high crimes" began on
20 January 1649, but Charles refused to enter a plea, claiming that no court had jurisdiction over a monarch. He believed that his own authority to rule had been given to him by God when he was crowned and anointed, and that the power wielded by those trying him was simply that which grew out of a barrel of gunpowder. The court, by contrast, proposed that no man is above the law. Over a period of a week, when Charles was asked to plead three times, he refused. It was then normal practice to take a refusal to plead as ''
pro confesso'': an admission of guilt, which meant that the prosecution could not call witnesses to its case. However, the trial did hear witnesses.
Fifty-nine of the Commissioners signed Charles's death warrant, on
29 January 1649. After the ruling, he was led from
St. James's Palace, where he was confined, to the
Palace of Whitehall, where an execution scaffold had been erected in front of the
Banqueting House.
This contemporary German print depicts Charles I's decapitation
When Charles was
beheaded on
30 January 1649, it is reputed that he wore a heavy cotton shirt as to prevent the cold January weather causing any noticeable shivers that the crowd could have been mistaken for fear or weakness. He put his head on the block after saying a prayer and signalled the executioner when he was ready; he was then beheaded with one clean stroke.
Philip Henry records that moments after the execution, a moan was heard from the assembled crowd, some of whom then dipped their handkerchiefs in his blood, thus starting the cult of the
Martyr King. However no other eyewitness source including
Samuel Pepys records this. Henry's account was written during the
Restoration, some 12 years after the event. Henry was 19 when the King was executed and he and his family were Royalist propaganda writers.
[7]
There is some debate over the identity of the man who beheaded the King, who was masked at the scene. It is known that the Commissioners approached
Richard Brandon, the common Hangman of London, but that he refused, and contemporary sources do not generally identify him as the King's headsman. ''Ellis's Historical Inquiries'', however, names him as the executioner, contending that he stated so before dying. It is possible he relented and agreed to undertake the commission, but there are others who have been identified. An Irishman named Gunning is widely believed to have beheaded Charles, and a plaque naming him as the executioner is on show in
Galway,
Ireland.
William Hewlett was convicted of
regicide after the
Restoration.
[8] In 1661, two people identified as "Dayborne and Bickerstaffe" were arrested but then discharged. Henry Walker, a revolutionary journalist, or his brother William, were suspected but never charged. Various local legends around England name local worthies. An examination performed in 1813 at Windsor suggests that the execution was done by an experienced headsman.
It was common practice for the head of a traitor to be held up and exhibited to the crowd with the words "Behold the head of a traitor!"; although Charles's head was exhibited, the words were not used. In an unprecedented gesture, one of the revolutionary leaders,
Oliver Cromwell, allowed the King's head to be sewn back on his body so the family could pay its respects. Charles was buried in private and at night on
7 February 1649, in the Henry VIII vault inside
St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle. The King's son,
King Charles II, later planned an elaborate royal mausoleum, but it was never built.
Ten days after Charles's execution, a
memoir purporting to be from Charles's hand appeared for sale. This book, the ''
Eikon Basilike'' (Greek: the "Royal Portrait"), contained an ''apologia'' for royal policies, and proved an effective piece of royalist propaganda. William Levett, Charles's groom of the bedchamber, who had accompanied Charles on the day of his execution, would later swear in a statement that he had witnessed the King writing the ''Eikon Basilike''.
John Cooke published the speech he would have delivered if Charles had entered a plea, while Parliament commissioned
John Milton to write a rejoinder, the ''
Eikonoklastes'' ("The Iconoclast"), but the response made little headway against the pathos of the royalist book.
Various prodigies were recorded in the contemporary popular press in relation to the execution - a beached whale at
Dover died within an hour of the King; a falling star appeared that night over Whitehall; a man who had said that the King deserved to die had his eyes pecked out by crows.
Legacy
With the monarchy overthrown, power was assumed by a Council of State, which included
Oliver Cromwell, then Lord General of the Parliamentary Army. The Long Parliament (known by then as the
Rump Parliament) which had been called by Charles I in 1640 continued to exist until Cromwell forcibly disbanded it in 1653. Cromwell then became
Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland; a monarch in all but name: he was even "invested" on the royal coronation chair. Upon his death in 1658, Cromwell was briefly succeeded by his son,
Richard Cromwell. Richard Cromwell was an ineffective ruler, and the Long Parliament was reinstated in 1659. The Long Parliament dissolved itself in 1660, and the first elections in twenty years led to the election of a
Convention Parliament which restored Charles I's eldest son to the monarchy as
Charles II.
Upon the
Restoration, Charles II added a commemoration of his father—to be observed on
30 January, the date of the execution—to the ''Book of Common Prayer''. In the time of Queen
Victoria this was however removed due to popular discontent with the commemorating of a dead monarch with a major feast day of the Church; now,
30 January is only listed as a "Lesser Festival". There are several Anglican/Episcopal churches dedicated to Charles I as "King and Martyr", in England,
Canada,
Australia and the
United States. The
Society of King Charles the Martyr was established in 1894 by one Mrs. Greville-Negent, assisted by Fr. James Fish, rector of
St Margaret Pattens, London. The objectives of the SKCM include prayer for the Church of England and the Anglican Communion, promoting a wider observance of
30 January in commemoration of Charles's "martyrdom", and the reinstatement of his feast day in the Book of Common Prayer. King Charles is regarded as a
martyr by some Anglicans for his notion of "Christian
Kingship", and as a "defender of the Anglican faith".
The
Colony of Carolina in
North America was named for Charles I. Carolina later separated into
North Carolina and
South Carolina, which eventually declared independence from England during the formation of the United States. To the north in the
Virginia Colony,
Cape Charles, the
Charles River,
Charles River Shire and
Charles City Shire were named for him. Charles City Shire survives almost 400 years later as
Charles City County, Virginia. The Virginia Colony is now the
Commonwealth of Virginia (one of the four
U.S. states that are called
commonwealths), and retains its official nickname of "The Old Dominion" bestowed by Charles II because it had remained loyal to Charles I during the English Civil War.
English
furniture produced during the reign of Charles I is distinctive and is commonly characterised as ''Charles I'' as to period.
Titles, styles, honours and arms
Titles
★ '
19 November 1600 –
27 March 1625': Prince ''(or Lord)'' Charles
★ '
23 December 1600 –
27 March 1625': The Duke of Albany (Marquess of Ormond, Earl of Ross, Lord Ardmannoch)
★ '
6 January 1605 –
27 March 1625': The Duke of York
★ '
6 November 1612 –
27 March 1625': The Duke of Cornwall
★ '
6 November 1612 –
27 March 1625': The Duke of Rothesay
★ '
4 November 1616 –
27 March 1625': The Prince of Wales (Earl of Chester)
★ '
27 March 1625 –
30 January 1649': ''His Majesty'' The King
Styles
The official
style of Charles I was "Charles, by the Grace of God,
King of England,
Scotland,
France and
Ireland,
Defender of the Faith, etc." (The claim to
France was only nominal, and was asserted by every English King from
Edward III to
George III, regardless of the amount of French territory actually controlled.) The authors of his death warrant, however, did not wish to use the religious portions of his title. It only referred to him as "Charles Stuart, King of England".
Honours
★ 'KG':
Knight of the Garter, ''
24 April 1611 –
27 March 1625''
Arms
Whilst he was King, Charles I's
arms were: ''Quarterly, I and IV Grandquarterly, Azure three fleurs-de-lis Or (for France) and Gules three lions passant guardant in pale Or (for England); II Or a lion rampant within a tressure flory-counter-flory Gules (for Scotland); III Azure a harp Or stringed Argent (for Ireland)''.
Ancestry and descent
Ancestors
Marriage and Issue
Painting of Charles I's children. The future
Charles II is depicted at centre, stroking the dog
Charles was father to a total of nine legitimate children, two of whom would eventually succeed him as king. Several other children died in childhood.
Charles is also believed to have had a daughter, prior to his marriage with Henrietta Maria. Her name was Joanna Brydges, born 1619-20, the daughter of a Miss Brydges ("a member of a younger branch of the ancient Kentish family of that name"), possibly from the line of Brydges of Chandos and Sudeley. Joanna Brydges who was provided for by the estate of Mandinam, Carmarthenshire, was brought up in secrecy at Glamorgan, Wales. She went on to become second wife to Bishop
Jeremy Taylor, author of ''Holy Living'' and ''Holy Dying'' and chaplain to both Archbishop Laud and Charles I. The Bishop and his wife Joanna Brydges left for Ireland, where Jeremy Taylor became
Bishop of Down, Connor and Dromore in 1660. Joanna Brydges and Jeremy Taylor had several children, including two daughters, Joanna Taylor(Harrison) and Mary Taylor (Marsh).
[9][10][11]
See also
Descendants of Charles I of England which, eventually leads to
Prince William of Wales, future King of Great Britain.
| Name | Birth | Death | Notes |
|---|
| Charles James, Duke of Cornwall | 13 March 1629 | 13 March 1629 | Stillbirth. |
| Charles II, King of England | 29 May 1630 | 6 February 1685 | Married Catherine of Braganza (1638 - 1705) in 1663. No legitimate issue. Believed to have fathered such illegitimate children as James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, who later rose against James II. |
| Mary, Princess Royal | 4 November 1631 | 24 December 1660 | Married William II, Prince of Orange (1626 - 1650) in 1648. Had issue. |
| James II, King of England | 14 October 1633 | 16 September 1701 | Married (1) Anne Hyde (1637 - 1671) in 1659. Had issue;
Married (2) Mary of Modena (1658 - 1718) in 1673. Had issue. |
| Elizabeth, Princess of England | 29 December 1635 | 8 September 1650 | No issue. |
| Anne, Princess of England | 17 March 1637 | 8 December 1640 | Died young. No issue. |
| Catherine, Princess of England | 29 January 1639 | 29 January 1639 | Stillbirth |
| Henry, Duke of Gloucester | 8 July 1640 | 18 September 1660 | No issue. |
| Henrietta Anne, Princess of England | 16 June 1644 | 30 June 1670 | Married Philip I, Duke of Orléans (1640 - 1701) in 1661. Had issue |
See also
★
List of regicides of Charles I
★
Society of King Charles the Martyr
Notes
1. See Acts 25:10-12 (NRSV translation), "Paul said, 'I am appealing to the emperor's tribunal; this is where I should be tried. I have done no wrong to the Jews, as you very well know. 11Now if I am in the wrong and have committed something for which I deserve to die, I am not trying to escape death; but if there is nothing to their charges against me, no one can turn me over to them. I appeal to the emperor.' 12Then Festus, after he had conferred with his council, replied, 'You have appealed to the emperor; to the emperor you will go.'"
2. J.P. Kenyon, ''Stuart England'', pp. 96-97, 101-05 (Harmondsworth, England, Penguin Books, 1978); Simon Schama, ''A History of England'', Vol. II, pp. 69-74 (New York, Simon and Schuster, 2001).
3. Kenyon, pp. 105-06.
4. Murphy, Derrick, ed. (2002) ''Britain 1558-1689'' 1st Edition. London: HarperCollins Publishers. pp.211-235
5.
6.
7. Rushworth, J. in Lockyer, R., ed. (1959) ''The Trial of King Charles I'' pp.133-4
8. Selections from the Trial and Execution of Col. Daniel Axtell in October 1660"
9. "The Family of Pollock of Newry and Descendants"
10. "A Sketch of the Life and Times of Bishop Taylor"
11. "Jeremy Taylor, Bishop and Theologian (13 August 1667)"
References
★ ''Ellis's Historical Inquiries''
★ Gardiner, Samuel Rawson, ed. (1906). ''The Constitutional Documents of the Puritan Revolution 1625–1660'' 3rd Revised Edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
★ Kishlansky, Mark A. "Charles I: A Case of Mistaken Identity", ''Past and Present'', no. 189 (Nov. 2005), pp. 41–80
★ Williamson, D. (1998) ''The Kings and Queens of England''. London: National Portrait Gallery ISBN 1-85514-228-7
★ Robertson, Geoffrey (2005) ''The Tyrannicide Brief: The Man Who Sent Charles I to the Scaffold''. Chatto & Windus ISBN 0-7011-7602-4
★ Murphy, Derrick, ed. (2002) ''Britain 1558-1689'' 1st Edition. London: HarperCollins Publishers pp. 211-235 ISBN 0-00-713850-4
External links
★
Chronology Charles I World History Database
★
The Royal Household. (2004). "Charles I." Official Web Site of the British Monarchy
★
The Parliamentary Archives holds the original of Charles I's death warrant
★
The Society of King Charles the Martyr
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