|
CHARLES I. |
1625 -1649 | |
 |
DOMINIONS England, Scotland, Ireland.
|
|
| Charles was born at Dunfermline, Scotland in the year 1600, and was the third son of James VI. and Anne of Denmark. | Married Henrietta Maria of France. | |
| Began to reign, 1625 - Reigned 24 years - Beheaded 1649. | Daughter of Henry IV. of France, by whom he had four sons and four daughters. |
PRINCIPAL EVENTS
Charles abruptly dissolves his parliament, 1625. A second parliament suddenly dissolved, and money raised by forced
loans and arbitrary taxation. War with France, 1626. A third parliament protests against illegal taxation: Selden
and other members imprisoned, 1629. Peace with France and Spain, 1630. Trial of Hampden for refusing to pay ship
money, 1637. Meeting of the Long Parliament, 1640. The star chamber, and ship money, and other arbitrary imposts,
abolished, 1641. Commencement of the civil war, 1642. Battle of Edge Hill, 1642; of Chalgrove Field and Newbury,
1643; of Marston Moor, and again at Newbury, 1644; and of Naseby, 1645. Charles seeks refuge with the Scottish
army, 1646; is surrendered to the English, imprisoned in Carisbrook castle, 1647, and finally brought to trial
in 1649, when he was condemned and beheaded at Whitehall
Charles had many good qualities. Possessed of a highly-cultivated mind, with a fine judgment in arts and letters, he was also temperate, chaste, and religious, and, although somewhat cold in his manner, kind and affectionate. But these merit. were counterbalanced and all but neutralized by a want of sell-reliance and a habit of indecisiveness, which in his position came near being, if it was not altogether, a kind of insincerity.
He married Henrietta Maria, daughter of Henry IV. of France, and in 1625 succeeded to the throne, receiving the kingdom embroiled in a Spanish war.
The first parliament which he summoned, being more disposed to state grievances than grant supplies, was dissolved. Next year (1626) a new parliament was summoned but the House proved no more dutiful than before, and was soon dissolved. In 1628 the king was obliged to call a new parliament, which showed itself as much opposed to arbitrary measures as its predecessor, and after voting the supplies prepared the Petition of Right, which Charles was constrained to pass into a law. But the determined spirit with which the parliament resisted the king's claim to levy tonnage and poundage on his own authority, led to a rupture, and Charles again dissolved the parliament, resolving to try and reign without one.
In this endeavour he was supported by Strafford and Laud as his chief counsellors. With their help Charles continued eleven years without summoning a parliament, using the arbitrary courts of High Commission and Star-chamber as a kind of cover for pure absolutism, and raising money by unconstitutional or doubtful means.
In 1637 John Hampden began the career of resistance to the kings arbitrary measures by refusing to pay ship-money, the right to levy which, without authority of parliament, he was determined to bring before a court of law. His cause was argued for twelve days in the Court of Exchequer; and although he lost it by the decision of eight of the judges out of twelve, the discussion of the question produced a very powerful impression on the public mind. It was in Scotland, however, that formal warlike opposition was destined to commence. The attempts of Charles to introduce an Anglican liturgy into that country produced violent tumults, and gave origin to the famous Covenant in 1638, to oppose the kings design. An English army was sent north, but was defeated by the army of the Covenanters, and in 1640 a parliament was again summoned, which proved to be the famous Long Parliament.
The struggle between king and parliament, the trial and execution of Strafford resulted in both king and parliament preparing for civil war. The king had on his side the great bulk of the gentry, while nearly all the Puritans and the inhabitants of the great trading towns sided with the parliament. The first action, the battle of Edgehill (23d Oct. 1642), gave the king a slight advantage; but nothing decisive happened till the battle of Marston Moor, in 1644, where Cromwell routed the royalists.
The loss of the battle of Naseby, the year following, completed the ruin of the king's cause. Charles at length gave him-sell up to the Scottish army at Newark (5th May, 1646). After some negotiations he was surrendered to the commissioners of the parliament.
The extreme sect of the Independents, largely represented in the army and headed by Cromwell, now got the upper hand, and, coercing the parliament and the more hesitating of the Presbyterians, brought Charles to trial for high treason against the people, and had sentence of death pronounced against him. All interposition being vain, he was beheaded before the Banqueting House, Whitehall, on 30th Jan. 1649, meeting his fate with great dignity and composure.
