BBC History - The Life & Times Of The Stuarts 2016_

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SELLING OFF

THE CROWN

JEWELS

Charles I / Crown jewels

O

ne of the many

characteristics of any

political revolution is

its desire to dispose

of the relics of the

defeated regime.

Both France in 1789

and Russia in 1918 witnessed the wholesale

dismantling and redistribution of the

objects and symbols of monarchy, from

royal estates to paintings and porcelain and

china.

But it is often forgotten that the first

historical attempt to seize a royal regime’s

assets and redistribute them amongst the

people happened under the English

Commonwealth in the years immediately

following the Civil War. Following King

Charles I’s execution in January 1649,

the Rump parliament began passing

legislation to sell off what it called “the

late king’s goods” in the most remarkable

act of public redistribution of wealth

England had ever seen. The legislation

did run into bureaucratic gridlock and

suffered from corruption and political

opportunism. However, its aspirations

only ended with the political Restoration of

monarchy in 1660, and King Charles II’s

subsequent ruthless policy of repossession

of royal goods.

Within days of Charles I’s execution,

the Rump parliament was debating the

fate of the dead king’s goods. The

Commonwealth’s political isolation

With the king executed, parliament needed

to raise some funds. Jerry Brotton tells

the story of the biggest-ever closing-down

sale – that of the King Charles I’s goods

in Europe meant that it needed money

to combat military threats from the

royalist factions abroad led by the future

Charles II. Oliver Cromwell was one of

the first to voice concern about precious

royal possessions being spirited out of

the country and used to fund the royalists.

The army was also clamouring for the

settlement of salaries and recompense

for those who lost loved ones, possessions

and jobs during the seven years of civil

war. The more ideological members of

the new regime were also eager to see

the destruction of the fabric of majesty.

King Charles had cultivated the aura of

absolutist monarchy by refurbishing the

royal palaces and marking his possessions

with the royal brand – CR, Carolus Rex.

His lavishness also drew the attention of

Puritan leaders. Since the 1630s, they had

railed against the Catholic queen,

Henrietta Maria, and her chapel at

Somerset House where she practised her

religious faith. Many regarded Charles as

guilty through association – his art

collection also contained hundreds of

pictures by Catholic artists – and the

Commonwealth saw the opportunity to

dispose of many of the more hated symbols

of Charles’s reign.

Just six months after Charles I’s

execution, the Rump parliament passed

“An Act for sale of the goods and personal

estate of the late King, Queen and Prince”.

The act claimed that the royal family’s

goods were “justly forfeited by them for

their several delinquencies” against the

Commonwealth, and that they “shall be

inventoried and apprized, and shall also be

sold, except such parcels thereof as shall be

found necessary to be reserved for the uses

of the state”. The first £26,500 from the sale

would be loaned to the Navy, the rest

would go towards those owed money from

the royal regime or who had suffered great

losses during the wars. A team of pro-

republican trustees, contractors and

treasurers was appointed to oversee the

huge logistical task of inventorying the

royal palaces and preparing the goods for

public sale.

Fetching a fair price

By the end of July 1649, teams of trustees

were swarming through the royal palaces

of Whitehall, St James’s, Somerset House,

Charles I commissioned and collected

many major works of art – including

this portrait by Anthony van Dyck,

his court painter from 1632