Britain – September 2019

BRITAIN (^43)
HISTORY
n 30January1649,48-year-oldKingCharlesI
saidgoodbyeto hischildrenat St James’sPalace
andwasescortedtoBanquetingHouseon
London’sWhitehall.It wasa bitterlycold
dayandhefortiedhimselfwitha littlebreadandclaret.
Thenhesteppedthroughthewindowtoa specially
preparedpublicscaffoldoutside.Hewaswearingtwo
shirtsagainstthechill,lestheshouldshiverandonlookers
thinkhewasafraid.
“Igofroma corruptibletoanincorruptibleCrown,
wherenodisturbancecanbe,”Charlesdeclaredwith
dignityand,invokinghisvisionofabsolutekingship,
offeredhimselfas“themartyrofthepeople”.An
executionerstruckoffhishead.Amongthewatching
crowdtherearose,asoneeyewitnessrecorded,“agroan
asI haveneverheardbeforeanddesireI mayneverhear
again.”TheregicidesentshockwavesthroughoutEurope.
It washardtobelievewhathadhappenedandeven
hardertoimaginewhatwouldhappennextin a country
settoberuledwithoutroyalty.Aftera decadeshattered
bycivilwarsthankstoa KingandParliamentat
loggerheadsovernances,religionandpower,Charles
hadbeenputontrialbeforea HighCourtofJustice
accusedofhightreason“againsttherealmofEngland”;
in short,hehadbeenblamedforallthebloodshed.
Throughouttheweek-longtrial,Charleshaddeclined
toacknowledgethelegalityofthecourtandrefusedto
plead.“Ihavea trustcommittedtomebyGod,byold
andlawfuldescent,I willnotbetrayit,toanswera new
unlawful authority... I do stand more for the liberty of
my people, than any here that come to be my pretended
judges...” His death warrant was nevertheless signed
by 59 commissioners, many of them extremely reluctant.
The third signatory, Oliver Cromwell, was persuaded
to do so by “Providence and necessity”.
The deed done, the monarchy was abolished along with
the House of Lords, and a Commonwealth was established.
Cromwell, Commander-in-Chief of the army, pushed
home the new government’s military supremacy, with
campaigns in Ireland (1649–50) notorious for the bloody
massacres at Drogheda and Wexford, and campaigns
in Scotland (1650–51).
Attempts by the dead King’s son, Charles II, to recover
the Crown with a Scottish-Royalist army were ended at
the Battle of Worcester (1651); a story told in the city today
in The Commandery. Charles’s escape, of course, became
a staple of his subsequent romantic history – hiding up an
oak tree at Boscobel House, Shropshire, and eeing to the
Continent disguised as a servant.
But the question remained: what exactly was this new
world of the Commonwealth and its aims? In his 1652
sonnet to Cromwell, the poet John Milton, then a member
of Cromwell’s civil service, urged “our chief of men” to
resist proposals for a new national church and to uphold
individual religious freedoms that had emerged during
the years of war. Most pressingly, government needed to
restore social stability and there were calls for reform of
the legal system, for every adult male to be given the vote,
Left: The ceiling at
Banqueting House
was painted by
Rubens
Right: An engraving
of the execution of
Charles I at Whitehall
Previous page:
A portrait of
Oliver Cromwell
by Simon Folkes
IMAGES:
©
JOHN HAMMOND/NATIONAL TRUST IMAGES/MILES WILLIS/PICTORIAL PRESS/ALAMY