Charles I
(19 November 1600 ? 30 January 1649),
[1]
was the king of
England
,
Scotland
, and
Ireland
from 27 March 1625 until his
execution
in 1649.
[2]
He was a son of
James VI and I
. He was married to
Henrietta Maria of France
. He was executed during the
English Civil War
.
Painting of Charles I
Charles was
born
at
Dunfermline Palace
in
Fife
, Scotland, before his father
James VI and I
came to the
throne
of England.
Charles came to England in 1604. When Charles's older brother
Henry Frederick
died in 1612, Charles became the
Prince of Wales
and the
heir apparent
to his father's
kingdoms
.
[3]
He had an elder brother,
Henry
, who was clever, handsome, popular, and rich, and next in line for the throne. Henry died suddenly in 1612, and then his brother Charles was made
Prince of Wales
in his place, showing that he was now the heir to the throne. Charles was less suited to be king than Henry had been, because he was small and weak and not as clever.
After his brother died, the person Charles was closest to was
George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham
, who was also his father's best friend. The Duke of Buckingham was very powerful and rich, but was not popular with most common people. He took Charles to Spain in the hope of finding him a Spanish princess as a bride, but they had a lot of problems on the journey and could not persuade the Spanish king to give them his daughter as a wife for Charles.
Charles sat in the
Parliament of England
's
House of Lords
in 1621. King James wanted Charles to
marry
Maria Anna of Spain
because she was the sister of
Philip IV of Spain
. Charles travelled to Spain to meet Maria in 1623, but the journey was a disaster, the two did not marry, and Charles became an enemy of Spain.
[3]
On the way home, Charles went through France again, and there Charles met the French royal family.
Charles married
Henrietta Maria of France
because she was the sister of the
French king
,
Louis XIII
, and planned to fight Spain. The Parliament of England
convened
in 1624 because of Charles's plans. King James did not want a war, but he died in 1625.
[3]
His religious policies, and his marriage to a
Roman Catholic
, made him mistrusted by Reformed groups such as the English
Puritans
and Scottish
Covenanters
, who thought his views were too
Catholic
. He supported "high church" Anglican ecclesiastics, and failed to help Protestant forces enough in the
Thirty Years' War
. His attempts to force the
Church of Scotland
to adopt high Anglican practices strengthened the position of the English and Scottish
parliaments
and were a cause of his downfall.
Charles, now the king,
convened
the
parliament
again in 1625. The parliament did not give the king what the king wanted. The men in parliament did not like Charles's friend
George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham
. Buckingham had gone with Charles to Spain and later helped him to marry Henrietta Maria. When Buckingham led the
Royal Navy
to attack
Cadiz
in Spain, the
campaign
was a failure, and the Parliament of England
impeached
him. Because of this, Charles stopped (
dissolved
) the parliament. He also wanted to send soldiers to help
Protestants
in the
Kingdom of France
, and made demands for more money as payment for the army. This campaign was also a failure, and the king had to agree to the
Petition of Right
in 1628. An army officer assassinated Buckingham that summer.
[3]
The Parliament of England
convened
again in 1629. There were many disagreements about
religion
and the organization of the
Church of England
. Charles gave support to the "High Church" group, but the parliament gave their support to the "Low Church" group. Charles supported
Arminianism
, but the parliament's
House of Commons
tried to make Arminianism
illegal
. To stop the House of Commons, the king again
dissolved
the parliament. Some
members of parliament
in the House of Commons tried to continue their
session
, but the king put them in
prison
. Charles continued to support
Arminians
in the Church of England, with the inclusion of
William Laud
, the
Archbishop of Canterbury
(
the chief
bishop
of all England
). The population disliked Laud and the Arminians, and disliked Charles's
taxes
. Between 1629 and 1640, the king controlled the government alone. There was no parliament. This time has the name "Personal Rule" or the "Eleven Years'
Tyranny
".
[3]
This made Charles very unpopular with the people, who did not like the different
taxes
they had to pay directly to the king, since Parliament could not vote to give him any
budget
. Many also did not like the King's closest adviser, William Laud, who was trying to force the Church of England to use the same
Anglican
Prayer
Book and stop the many other
Protestant
denominations that were becoming popular at that time.
When the king and the Archbishop then tried to force a Prayer Book on
Scotland
, which was even more Protestant (
Calvinist
), armed rebellion broke out there. The
Wars of the Three Kingdoms
started in 1639 with the
Bishops' Wars
.
[3]
The members of Parliament, angry at the things that had been going on for 11 years, did not want to give him money to fight his war. Instead, they spent the session complaining about what had been going on in the country for the last 11 years. So after only three weeks, Charles dissolved Parliament again. For this reason, it was known as the
Short Parliament
. Without enough money, Charles lost the war badly, and had to pay the Scots even more money that he did not have.
These wars were a failure for the king, and his position forced Charles to
convene
the Parliament of England in 1640.
[3]
Parliament
voted
that the King had to call Parliament, and could not shut them down again. Charles had no choice but to agree. This Parliament is known as the
Long Parliament
, because it ended up lasting for twenty years, until 1660.
Charles was in a weak position, and he had to agree to
acts of parliament
that took away many of his royal powers.
[3]
Laud and
Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford
were both
impeached
and later were
executed
. Parliament also tried to take control of the army away from the king. Many political
conservatives
were not pleased with this plan. Acting on the advice of his wife Queen Maria Henrietta, the king went with soldiers to the House of Commons in 1642 and tried to arrest his political enemies. They had gone. After this failure, the king left
London
and went to travel the country to look for help. With a collection of his political friends, Charles began the
English Civil War
with an army at
Nottingham
, and then moved to
Oxford
.
[3]
The army of Parliament got the upper hand in this war, and Charles, after a crushing defeat in 1646, went to the Scots for protection. They decided to hand him over to the Parliament of England in 1647.
The war was a failure for the king, and Charles was made a
prisoner
.
[3]
The king got out of
Hampton Court Palace
in 1647 and ran away to
Carisbrooke Castle
, on the
Isle of Wight
.
[3]
The governor of the
Isle of Wight
was on the side of Parliament and made the king a prisoner again. While he was being held at Carisbrooke Castle, Charles made an agreement with the Scots who joined his side, and the fighting started again in 1648.
Charles's many enemies then fought among themselves in spring 1648.
[3]
Because he was still making trouble for them even while he was captured, Parliament voted to put the king on
trial
.
The army then removed the
conservatives
from parliament in a political
purge
in December as an insurance against more fighting. The men left in parliament then formed a
court
in order to hold a
trial
of the king. The court gave the king the
death penalty
.
[3]
This had never been done to a king of England before.
Name
|
Birth
|
Death
|
Notes
|
Charles James, Duke of Cornwall
|
13 March 1627
|
13 March 1627
|
Stillborn; unknown burial site.
|
Charles II
|
29 May 1630
|
6 February 1685
|
Married
Catherine of Braganza
(1638?1705) in 1663. No legitimate children.
|
Mary, Princess Royal
|
4 November 1631
|
24 December 1660
|
Married
William II, Prince of Orange
(1626?1650) in 1641. Had children.
|
James II, King of England
|
14 October 1633
|
16 September 1701
|
Married (1)
Anne Hyde
(1637?1671) in 1659; had children
(2)
Mary of Modena
(1658?1718) in 1673; had children
|
Elizabeth, Princess of England
|
29 December 1635
|
8 September 1650
|
Died young; no children. Buried
Newport, Isle of Wight
|
Anne, Princess of England
|
17 March 1637
|
8 December 1640
|
Died young; no children. Buried
Westminster Abbey
|
Catherine, Princess of England
|
29 January 1639
|
29 January 1639
|
Stillborn; buried
Westminster Abbey
.
|
Henry, Duke of Gloucester
|
8 July 1640
|
18 September 1660
|
Died unmarried; no children. Buried
Westminster Abbey
|
Henrietta, Princess of England
|
16 June 1644
|
30 June 1670
|
Married
Philippe de France
,
Duke of Orleans
(1640?1701) in 1662; had children
|
At the trial he was found guilty. He was
decapitated
in a public execution outside the
Banqueting House
of the
palace
at
Whitehall
.
[3]
Some of the members of Parliament who were opposed to killing king Charles were
purged
, and from this time on, what was left of the Long Parliament became known as the
Rump Parliament
. This Parliament took complete power in England, and there was not a new king at all until 1660.