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Born 1600, died 1649
Ruled from 1625
Charles I, son of James VI & I, inherited his father's belief in the divinity of kings, but not his intelligence or political sophistication. This lack would prove fatal.
Charles espoused policies directly opposed to his father's. He was pro-war; he even, despite his own Catholic leanings, flirted with the Puritans' party. But Parliament was never prepared to vote enough tax to make war a serious option. Frustrated, Charles decided to adopt a policy of peace. To this end, he decided on an alliance with France and married the French princess Henrietta Maria in 1626. But since she was a Catholic, this was unpopular with Parliament.
Charles, without tax revenue and with a disliked Catholic wife, was increasingly irritated by what he saw as Parliament's sullen obstructiveness. His worst fears were confirmed when the Parliament of 1628 drew up a statement of liberties: the Petition of Right. After that, the king decided that, in future, he would rule without them.
As only Parliament could legislate new taxes, Charles had to squeeze more revenue out of his customary rights and prerogatives. Fortunately, his lawyers came up with ship money, a traditional levy imposed on port towns to raise navy vessels in time of war. They said that the king could extend ship money into the inland counties and impose it during peacetime as well as during war.
Within a year, the extended ship money, first imposed in 1634, was yielding £200,000 annually. However, taxing without parliamentary consent was bound to be controversial, and then the king exacerbated matters.
Charles decided that a version of the English Book of Common Prayer should be used throughout Scotland. On Sunday, 28 July 1637, there was a riot as the new prayer book was employed for the first time in St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh, and this violence was repeated throughout Scotland wherever the prayer book was introduced.
On 13 April 1640, Parliament met for the first time in 11 years, reluctantly summoned by the king. Scottish rebels threatened his crown and he needed money to raise an army to fight back. But if Charles had hoped that simple patriotism would make his critics come to their sovereign's aid, he was disappointed. But instead of defying him outright, Parliament prevaricated, preferring to discuss ship money. After three weeks, Charles's patience snapped and he dissolved what came to be known as the 'Short Parliament'. He would fight the Scots without parliamentary subsidy.
It was a catastrophic decision. By the end of August, the Scots army had outflanked Charles's forces and entered Newcastle in triumph. In November, with a foreign army camped on English soil, Charles was forced to call Parliament again. What came to be called the 'Long Parliament' decided that, from now on, it could not be dissolved without its own consent, and it put an end to non-parliamentary taxation.
Thwarted by Parliament, Charles decided to come to terms with the Scots. In summer 1641, he journeyed to Edinburgh and, in an astonishing turn-around, accepted the Scots' religious and political revolution.
In November, the House of Commons passed the Grand Remonstrance, which claimed that Charles's policies amounted to a Catholic conspiracy to subvert the religion and freedoms of England. Convinced that among the MPs were traitors who had colluded with the invading Scots, Charles – egged on by Henrietta Maria – decided to bring five MPs to trial for treason. On 4 January 1642, he strode into the House of Commons to arrest them, but the five had left by the back door. By trying to seize the MPs by force, Charles had shown himself to be a violent tyrant; by failing, he had revealed himself to be impotent.
He fled London and, at Nottingham on 22 August 1642, raised his standard in a war against his Parliament and half his people ...
For Charles's actions during the English Civil Wars, see War.
On 20 January 1649, Charles – having been in Parliament's hands since January 1647 – was brought to Westminster Hall in London. This was a political show trial, and the outcome was never in doubt.
The day of execution, 30 January, was bitterly cold. Charles put on two shirts so people wouldn't think his shivering was a sign of fear. He was escorted through the Banqueting House at Whitehall and stepped through a window to the scaffold. Despite all he had been through, he never really understood what most people of his kingdom wanted. Before he calmly laid his neck on the block and was beheaded, he justified himself to the crowd, concluding with the statement: 'I am the martyr of the people.'
King Charles I, 1600-1649
www.british-civil-wars.co.uk/biog/charle
s1.htm
Part of the British Civil Wars, Commonwealth and Protectorate 1638-60 website, this has just about everything you could want to know about Charles I and the men who signed his death warrant.
Kings and Queens of the United Kingdom: Charles I
www.royal.gov.uk/output/Page76.asp
On this UK government site, you can read, in pdf format, some of Charles' defence at the trial before his execution in 1649.
The Personal Rule of Charles I by Kevin Sharpe (Yale University Press, 1995)
Aims to present an entirely fresh picture of Charles I and his annexation of power. Sharpe analyses the personality, principles and policies of a monarch who, after summoning more Parliaments in his first year of rule than his predecessors had for a century, determined to govern without them.
Get this book
Childerley Hall
Dry Drayton
Cambridge CB3 8BB
Tel: 01954 210 271
Fax: 01954 210 866
In June 1647, Charles I was captured by Parliamentarian troops and taken to London. On the way, he was held for three days at Childerley Hall and came face to face with Cromwell for the first time. Today that meeting is commemorated with the royal coat of arms in what is called the 'Charles Room'. The house is private but often opened to the public.
Banqueting House
Whitehall
London SW1A 2ER
Information line: 0870 751 5178
Website: www.hrp.org.uk/BanquetingHouse/
The Banqueting House is all that remains of Whitehall Palace, the sovereign's principal residence from 1530 until 1698 when it was destroyed by fire. Renowned for its architecture and painting, the building is also famous for being the scene of Charles I's execution.
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