Birth of Charles I ~ King of England

Birth of Charles I ~ King of England

? Charles I was born in Fife on 19th November 1600, the second son of James VI of Scotland (from 1603 also James I of England) and Anne of Denmark.
He became heir to the throne on the death of his brother, Prince Henry, in 1612.
He succeeded, as the second Stuart King of Great Britain, in 1625.

? Controversy and disputes dogged Charles throughout his reign.
This eventually led to civil wars, first with the Scots from 1637, in Ireland from 1641, and then England (1642-46 and 1648).
The wars deeply divided people at the time.

? Charles was reserved, he had a residual stammer, was self-righteous and had a high concept of royal authority, believing in the divine right of kings.
He was a sensitive man and had refined tastes.
His expenditure on his court, greatly increased the crown’s debts.

? Charles found himself ever more in disagreement on religious matters.
Having broken an engagement to the Spanish infanta, he then married a Roman Catholic, Henrietta Maria of France.
This only made matters worse.
Charles’s marriage was seen as ominous, at a time when plots against Elizabeth I and the Gunpowder Plot in James I’s reign were still fresh in peoples memory.

? The Irish uprising of October 1641 raised tensions between the King and Parliament, over the command of the Army.
Parliament issued a Grand Remonstrance repeating their grievances, impeached 12 bishops and attempted to impeach The Queen.
The second Civil War of 1648, ended with Cromwell’s victory at Preston in August.
The Army, concluding that permanent peace was impossible whilst Charles lived, decided that the King must be put on trial and exEcuted.

? Charles I is the first and only English king to be exEcuted.
ExEcuting a king was a big deal, and maybe some people were still a little uncomfortable about it afterwards, because Charles’ head was then sewn back onto his body for burial!!!

? Tuesday 30th January 1649 was a cold day, and Charles awoke early.
He began dressing at 5 am in his finest clothes.
He instructed his Gentleman of the Bedchamber, Thomas Herbert, on what would be done with the few possessions he had left.
He requested one extra shirt from Herbert, so that the crowd gathered would not see him shiver from the cold, and mistake it for cowardice.
Charles was allowed to go for a last walk in St James’s park, with his pet dog.

? Charles was given the Blessed Sacrament, so that he would not faint out of hunger on the scaffold.
At 10 am, Charles was instructed to go to Whitehall, ready for his execution.
At noon, Charles drank a glass of claret wine, and ate a piece of bread.

? A large crowd had amassed outside the Banqueting House, where the platform for Charles’ exEcution was set up.
The platform was draped in black and staples had been driven into the wood for ropes to be run through, if Charles needed to be restrained.

? The exEcution block was so low that the king would have had to lower himself to place his head on the block ~ submissive pose as compared to kneeling before the block.
The exEcutioners of Charles were hidden behind face masks and wigs, to prevent identification.

? Just before 2 pm, Charles was called to the scaffold.
Charles came through the window of the Banqueting Hall, to the scaffold, in what has been described as “the saddest sight England ever saw”
Charles declared his innocence from the crimes parliament accused him of, his faithfulness to Christianity and that Parliament had been the cause of all the wars before him.
He called himself “a martyr of the people” ~ claiming he would be killed for their rights.

? Charles asked for his silk nightcap to be put on, so that the exEcutioner would not be troubled by his hair.
He then turned and said~
“I would go from a corruptible crown to an incorruptible crown” claiming his perceived righteous place in Heaven.
Charles gave his loyal gentleman, his George sash and cloak, uttering one cryptic word:
“remember”

? Charles laid his neck out on the block, and asked the exEcutioner to wait for his signal to b~head him.
A moment passed and Charles gave the signal; the exEcutioner deftly b~headed the king, in one clean blow.
The exEcutioner silently held up Charles’ head to the spectators.
He did not utter the customary cry of “Behold the head of a traitor!” either from inexperience, or fear of identification.

? The identity of the exEcutioner, or his assistants, was never revealed to the public, with crude face masks and wigs hiding them at the exEcution, their identities were probably only ever known to Oliver Cromwell, and a few of his colleagues.
The clean cut on Charles’ head and the fact the exEcutioner held up Charles’ head after the exEcution suggests the exEcutioner was experienced in the use of an axe.

? Shortly after Charles’ death, relics of Charles’ exEcution were reported to perform miracles, with handkerchiefs dipped in Charles’ blood, supposedly curing ailments among peasants.

? Charles was denied a funeral at Westminster Abbey, and is buried alongside King Henry VIII, and Jane Seymour, in St. George’s Chapel, Windsor.

? King Charles I wearing the Order of the Garter c. 1637
Anthony van Dyck

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