charles execution

7/31/2019 Charles Execution

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The Execution of King Charles I

This Dutch print showing the execution of Charles I is not accurate in itsdetails but was one of many similar engravings produced at the time.

On a cold January morning in 1649, upon a high scaffold beside the Banqueting House in

Whitehall, King Charles I met his death under the headsmans axe. The event itself is well

recorded, although Clarendon in hisHistory of the Great Rebellion could not bring himself to

include any details the memory was clearly too painful. Eyewitness accounts tell that the

fall of the axe was followed by a loud groan from the crowd, almost as if they had believed

that the execution would not actually be carried out. The day was undoubtedly one of high

drama. Even in an age well used to public executions this was an exceptional event. No

English monarch before or since has died in such circumstances. The execution can be

interpreted as a supreme example of power politics, the due process of law, a saintlymartyrdom or the inevitable consequence of the Kings intransigence. It is clear that the

Kings own attitude towards the verdict and sentence of Justice Bradshaws court was

fatalistic perhaps he felt he was being punished for his weakness over permitting the

execution of the Earl of Strafford, his chief advisor, some eight years before in 1641. We

could argue about the jurisdiction of the court and the legal meaning of the charges laid

before King Charles, as he himself did most eloquently, but the process took its course and

the outcome was one of the most infamous and dramatic events of English history.

The trial of King Charles I, an extraordinary political and legal process of a kind

unprecedented in English history, is well recorded in text and film. C. V. Wedgwoods The

Trial of Charles I is unmatched in print, and the scenes of the scenes of the trial involving

Alec Guinness and Stratford Johns in Ken Hughes film Cromwell are highly convincing.


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The view that the trial was a clear case of judicial murder is difficult to refute. It was

probably the first historical example since Roman times of the show trial of a head of state

and it was certainly a most difficult event to stage. Although the power of Parliament

prevailed, the public relations aspect of the trial was, at best, a draw. Many who witnessed the

proceedings were unconvinced of the prosecution case and the issue caused great unease in

the country at large. The Kings performance in his own defence was impressive. On the

battlefield Charles had regularly demonstrated a quiet courage and it did not desert him hereor on the scaffold.

Charles showed various signs of fatalism about the manner of his death. As a deeply religious

man with a keen sense of divine providence, he blamed himself for episodes of weakness

before the civil war. In particular, the death of Strafford weighed heavily on his conscience,

rather more than the greater violence of the civil war itself, for which he felt no personal

responsibility. One can debate the cruel necessity of the execution but given the way the

day progressed, there can be no doubt about the mental cruelty that Charles was forced to

endure.

Charles had spent the days of the trial at the house of Sir Robert Cotton in Whitehall but had

been moved back to St James Palace (out of earshot) on 28th January while the scaffold wasconstructed. The following day was marked by a most difficult last meeting with his two

younger children. Princess Elizabeth and Prince Henry had been in the hands of Parliament

since the beginning of the conflict and Charles had not seen them for fifteen months. The

thirteen year old princess was extremely distressed but Charles wished to impress upon her

his instruction to her brother James to offer his full support to the Prince of Wales during

their exile. Charles messages to the younger Henry were naturally in simpler terms but he

wished to ensure that the prince would resist any attempt to be crowned king ahead of his

elder brothers. The pain of this parting can be well imagined. Observers expected the

princess to die of grief within the week.

Charles would have reached the Banqueting House well before eleven oclock but there was

clearly some delay. His mental anguish was to be extended by two critical pieces of legal

bureaucracy that had been neglected until that very morning.

The first concerned the death warrant. There had been trouble immediately after the trial in

persuading enough members of Parliament to sign the death warrant and much coercion had

been necessary. Now the three officers presiding over the execution also needed to sign the

warrant and Hercules Hunks refused. Despite a protracted argument, this technicality was

never completed and the omission was subsequently concealed.

Secondly, it had dawned on someone that there was nothing to prevent the immediate

succession of the Prince of Wales on the death of the king. It was even suspected that

Abraham Reynardson, the Lord Mayor of London, would give this declaration official

blessing. Hence the morning in Westminster was occupied by the reading of a bill making

the proclamation of a new king illegal.

It was just before two in the afternoon when the King was finally summoned to the scaffold.

He was conveyed through a window onto the platform and immediately noted two things

which dismayed him. There were so many soldiers surrounding the scaffold that his planned

address to the assembled crowd would not be heard. Also, the beheading block was a mere

eight inches high, so that he would have to lie prostrate at the feet of the executioner, and

staples had been hammered in nearby so that he might be tied if he refused to submit to his

death.

Even so, the King made his short speech to those gathered on the scaffold. He expressed hisinnocence of the charges and of causing the conflict but also prayed that God would forgive


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those who had brought him to his death. Charles framed his testament in terms of his

understanding of the duties of kingship. Hence he felt that he could have conducted his affairs

in no other way and would become the Martyr of the people. He concluded by professing

himself as a Christian of the Church of England. He made some final remarks to Bishop

Juxon saying, I go from a corruptible to an incorruptible crown and his final word to the

Bishop was Remember, presumably so that his words could be accurately conveyed to the

Prince of Wales and others.

... in that very hour when he was thus wickedly

murdered in the sight of the sun, he had as great a share

in hearts and affections of his subjects in general, was as

much beloved, esteemed and longed for by the people ...

as any of his predecessors had ever been.

(From Clarendons History of the Great Rebellion)

The King made a last silent prayer, removed his cloak and lay down prone on the block.

After a few seconds, he made a sign and the executioner performed his duty with a singleblow. An observer said that the crowds reaction was such a groan as I never heard before,

and desire l may never hear again. Even hostile witnesses were deeply moved by Charles

bearing on the scaffold. The event was recorded the following year by poet Andrew Marvel

in An Horatian Ode on Cromwells Return from Ireland, Lines 57-64:

He nothing common did or mean

Upon that memorable scene,

As with his keener eye

The axes edge did try;

Nor called the gods with vulgar spite,To vindicate his helpless right,

But bowed his comely head

Down, as upon a bed.

From an article by Adrian Richardson

charles execution

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