1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:01,920 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:11,280 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, 3 00:00:11,280 --> 00:00:14,319 Speaker 1: a show that makes the case for history every day 4 00:00:14,320 --> 00:00:18,279 Speaker 1: of the week. I'm Gay Blusier and in this episode 5 00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:21,639 Speaker 1: we're talking about a shocking moment from the Stewart period 6 00:00:21,680 --> 00:00:25,159 Speaker 1: of British history, the time when a lawful king was 7 00:00:25,320 --> 00:00:34,000 Speaker 1: charged for crimes committed against his own people. The day 8 00:00:34,440 --> 00:00:40,680 Speaker 1: was January sixty nine. Following his defeat by Parliament in 9 00:00:40,720 --> 00:00:44,239 Speaker 1: the English Civil Wars, King Charles the First was put 10 00:00:44,320 --> 00:00:47,960 Speaker 1: on trial for high treason. He was brought before the 11 00:00:48,080 --> 00:00:51,600 Speaker 1: High Court of Justice at Westminster Hall, and after a 12 00:00:51,640 --> 00:00:55,200 Speaker 1: week long trial, was found guilty and sentenced to die. 13 00:00:56,000 --> 00:01:00,360 Speaker 1: His execution was carried out on January, making Charles the 14 00:01:00,440 --> 00:01:03,840 Speaker 1: First the only English monarch to be tried and put 15 00:01:03,880 --> 00:01:07,920 Speaker 1: to death while still in power. Charles the First was 16 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:11,400 Speaker 1: born in the Kingdom of Fife, Scotland, on November nineteen, 17 00:01:11,680 --> 00:01:15,600 Speaker 1: six hundred. He was the second son and youngest child 18 00:01:15,760 --> 00:01:18,800 Speaker 1: of James the First, the King of England and Scotland, 19 00:01:19,040 --> 00:01:23,160 Speaker 1: and his wife Anne of Denmark. Baby Charles, as he 20 00:01:23,200 --> 00:01:26,360 Speaker 1: came to be called, became heir apparent to his father's 21 00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:29,920 Speaker 1: throne when he was just twelve years old. It wasn't 22 00:01:29,959 --> 00:01:32,920 Speaker 1: meant to happen that way, but his older brother Henry 23 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:35,920 Speaker 1: passed away at age eighteen from what's believed to have 24 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:40,800 Speaker 1: been typhoid. Charles the First succeeded his father in sixteen 25 00:01:40,840 --> 00:01:44,959 Speaker 1: twenty five and immediately began budding heads with the English Parliament. 26 00:01:45,560 --> 00:01:48,640 Speaker 1: Like his father before him, Charles believed in the divine 27 00:01:48,760 --> 00:01:51,800 Speaker 1: right of kings, the idea that they were chosen by 28 00:01:51,840 --> 00:01:55,880 Speaker 1: God and were therefore above the laws of man. Once 29 00:01:55,960 --> 00:01:58,960 Speaker 1: on the throne, he dodged every attempt to check his 30 00:01:59,080 --> 00:02:02,720 Speaker 1: royal power, even going so far as to dissolve Parliament, 31 00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:07,120 Speaker 1: something he did on multiple occasions, including once for eleven years. 32 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:13,120 Speaker 1: During those periods, he effectively ruled alone, forcing unpopular policies 33 00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:15,440 Speaker 1: on a public that quickly began to view him as 34 00:02:15,440 --> 00:02:20,480 Speaker 1: a tyrant. His actions outraged elected officials, religious groups, and 35 00:02:20,560 --> 00:02:23,920 Speaker 1: many of his subjects, eventually setting off not one but 36 00:02:24,160 --> 00:02:29,320 Speaker 1: two civil wars. Charles and his Royalist supporters battled Oliver 37 00:02:29,440 --> 00:02:35,680 Speaker 1: Cromwell's parliamentarians for seven long, bloody years. In sixteen forty seven, 38 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:38,800 Speaker 1: Charles was captured by the English Parliament and for a 39 00:02:38,800 --> 00:02:43,880 Speaker 1: While negotiations between the two parties went fairly well. However, 40 00:02:44,200 --> 00:02:47,960 Speaker 1: Oliver Cromwell and the Army opposed further talks with the king. 41 00:02:48,639 --> 00:02:51,840 Speaker 1: In December of sixteen forty eight, they staged what was 42 00:02:51,919 --> 00:02:55,640 Speaker 1: basically a military coup. Those who were against the idea 43 00:02:55,680 --> 00:02:58,720 Speaker 1: of putting a king on trial were either arrested or 44 00:02:58,880 --> 00:03:02,600 Speaker 1: persuaded a step to out. The remaining members formed a 45 00:03:02,680 --> 00:03:06,680 Speaker 1: new governing body called the Rump Parliament, and in early 46 00:03:06,760 --> 00:03:10,840 Speaker 1: January of sixteen forty nine they made the unprecedented move 47 00:03:11,160 --> 00:03:15,400 Speaker 1: of indicting their captive king for treason. The House of 48 00:03:15,480 --> 00:03:19,040 Speaker 1: Lords throughout the charge right away, claiming it was illegal 49 00:03:19,080 --> 00:03:24,000 Speaker 1: to indict a lawful king. However, the Rump Parliament was undeterred. 50 00:03:24,200 --> 00:03:27,560 Speaker 1: It passed a bill creating a brand new court specifically 51 00:03:27,560 --> 00:03:31,880 Speaker 1: to oversee Charles's trial. That's so called High Court of 52 00:03:31,960 --> 00:03:35,920 Speaker 1: Justice was composed of one hundred and thirty five commissioners, 53 00:03:35,960 --> 00:03:39,960 Speaker 1: though only sixty eight, all of whom were devout parliamentarians, 54 00:03:40,160 --> 00:03:44,840 Speaker 1: agreed to attend the King's trial. John Bradshaw served as 55 00:03:44,880 --> 00:03:48,040 Speaker 1: President of the Court, and the prosecution was led by 56 00:03:48,080 --> 00:03:51,840 Speaker 1: Solicitor General John Cook. In the weeks leading up to 57 00:03:51,880 --> 00:03:55,320 Speaker 1: the trial, brad Shaw and the commissioners readied the charges 58 00:03:55,400 --> 00:03:58,640 Speaker 1: against the King and made special preparations for his trial 59 00:03:58,680 --> 00:04:03,440 Speaker 1: at Westminster Hall, including the construction of temporary viewing galleries 60 00:04:03,480 --> 00:04:08,480 Speaker 1: for the public. Finally, on January eighteenth, Charles the First, 61 00:04:08,600 --> 00:04:12,040 Speaker 1: who was still under house arrest, was confronted with charges 62 00:04:12,080 --> 00:04:16,039 Speaker 1: of high treason and other crimes. Two days later, he 63 00:04:16,120 --> 00:04:19,000 Speaker 1: was brought before the court for the first of four times. 64 00:04:19,440 --> 00:04:23,440 Speaker 1: In each encounter, the King remained defiant, questioning the court's 65 00:04:23,440 --> 00:04:27,000 Speaker 1: authority to try him and refusing to enter a plea. 66 00:04:27,320 --> 00:04:31,080 Speaker 1: Charles was infamously shy and insecure in public due to 67 00:04:31,120 --> 00:04:35,320 Speaker 1: a lifelong speech impediment. However, with his back against the wall, 68 00:04:35,560 --> 00:04:38,359 Speaker 1: he managed to deliver the most stirring speech of his 69 00:04:38,440 --> 00:04:41,760 Speaker 1: whole career. When his accusers claimed to act for the 70 00:04:41,760 --> 00:04:44,920 Speaker 1: good of the English public, Charles took them to task, 71 00:04:45,279 --> 00:04:49,200 Speaker 1: famously declaring quote, I stand more for the liberty of 72 00:04:49,240 --> 00:04:52,200 Speaker 1: my subjects than any that come here to be my 73 00:04:52,360 --> 00:04:56,359 Speaker 1: pretended judges. The court was caught off guard by the 74 00:04:56,440 --> 00:04:59,640 Speaker 1: King's tenacity, but by that point a guilty verdict was 75 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:04,760 Speaker 1: already assured. On January, the judges made it official and 76 00:05:04,839 --> 00:05:09,159 Speaker 1: passed the following sentence. This Court doth a judge that 77 00:05:09,320 --> 00:05:14,279 Speaker 1: he the said Charles Stewart is a tyrant, trader, murderer, 78 00:05:14,279 --> 00:05:16,960 Speaker 1: and public enemy to the good people of this nation, 79 00:05:17,320 --> 00:05:19,880 Speaker 1: and shall be put to death by the severing of 80 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:23,880 Speaker 1: his head from his body. Over the next three days, 81 00:05:24,160 --> 00:05:28,799 Speaker 1: fifty nine commissioners signed his death warrant. Meanwhile, the rump 82 00:05:28,880 --> 00:05:32,040 Speaker 1: Parliament drew up plans for legislation that would keep the 83 00:05:32,120 --> 00:05:36,279 Speaker 1: king's son, Charles Jr. Later Charles the Second, from assuming 84 00:05:36,320 --> 00:05:39,960 Speaker 1: the throne. On the twenty nine, the king was permitted 85 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:42,840 Speaker 1: a chance to say goodbye to his two youngest children, 86 00:05:42,880 --> 00:05:48,000 Speaker 1: Elizabeth and Henry. Unfortunately, his wife, Queen Henrietta Maria, and 87 00:05:48,040 --> 00:05:52,120 Speaker 1: their two eldest sons had already gone into exile. The 88 00:05:52,240 --> 00:05:55,960 Speaker 1: following morning, King Charles the First was taken from Saint 89 00:05:56,040 --> 00:05:59,799 Speaker 1: James's Palace and marched by soldiers to the palace of Whitehall. 90 00:06:00,520 --> 00:06:03,920 Speaker 1: It was bitterly cold that morning, so Charles requested an 91 00:06:03,920 --> 00:06:07,240 Speaker 1: extra shirt, not for his comfort, but to make sure 92 00:06:07,279 --> 00:06:10,680 Speaker 1: he could appear resolute until his last breath. As he 93 00:06:10,760 --> 00:06:14,640 Speaker 1: told his captors quote, the season is so sharp it 94 00:06:14,680 --> 00:06:18,320 Speaker 1: will probably make me shake, which some observers may imagine 95 00:06:18,320 --> 00:06:23,279 Speaker 1: proceeds from fear. I would have no such imputation. The 96 00:06:23,360 --> 00:06:27,400 Speaker 1: request was granted, and at two o'clock that afternoon, Charles 97 00:06:27,480 --> 00:06:31,039 Speaker 1: was led inside the banqueting House in Whitehall. He was 98 00:06:31,080 --> 00:06:33,520 Speaker 1: then taken to an upper floor and led out of 99 00:06:33,560 --> 00:06:37,400 Speaker 1: a window onto a newly erected scaffold draped in black cloth. 100 00:06:38,279 --> 00:06:41,640 Speaker 1: There the king found a coffin covered in black velvet 101 00:06:41,720 --> 00:06:46,240 Speaker 1: waiting just for him. With two hooded executioners at his side, 102 00:06:46,520 --> 00:06:49,279 Speaker 1: Charles prayed with the Bishop of London and then turned 103 00:06:49,279 --> 00:06:52,800 Speaker 1: to address the crowd. I go from a corruptible to 104 00:06:52,920 --> 00:06:57,200 Speaker 1: an incorruptible crown, he said, where no disturbance can be 105 00:06:57,960 --> 00:07:02,520 Speaker 1: no disturbance in the world. With that, the king laid 106 00:07:02,560 --> 00:07:05,279 Speaker 1: his neck on the chopping block and signaled the axe 107 00:07:05,279 --> 00:07:09,960 Speaker 1: men to swing. Parliament had won the war against the monarchy, 108 00:07:10,320 --> 00:07:14,280 Speaker 1: and one week later the office of king was formally abolished. 109 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:19,040 Speaker 1: In the end, though parliamentary rule would only last eleven years. 110 00:07:19,560 --> 00:07:23,800 Speaker 1: In sixteen sixty the monarchy came roaring back, with Charles's 111 00:07:23,840 --> 00:07:28,600 Speaker 1: son Charles the Second, claiming his rightful throne. Under his rule, 112 00:07:28,920 --> 00:07:31,840 Speaker 1: many of the surviving members of the rump Parliament were 113 00:07:31,840 --> 00:07:35,120 Speaker 1: put on trial themselves, and ten of them were condemned 114 00:07:35,120 --> 00:07:39,600 Speaker 1: and executed. Charles the Second's vengeance wasn't limited to the 115 00:07:39,640 --> 00:07:42,920 Speaker 1: living either. The bodies of several men who had called 116 00:07:42,960 --> 00:07:46,200 Speaker 1: for his father's death were exhumed and their heads were 117 00:07:46,200 --> 00:07:49,480 Speaker 1: placed on poles on top of a tower. Among the 118 00:07:49,520 --> 00:07:54,320 Speaker 1: desecrated corpses were those of John Bradshaw and Oliver Cromwell, 119 00:07:54,600 --> 00:07:57,920 Speaker 1: whose head would remain on display for more than two decades. 120 00:07:58,960 --> 00:08:02,800 Speaker 1: Charles the First was and still is a polarizing figure, 121 00:08:03,240 --> 00:08:05,800 Speaker 1: but over time many have started to see him as 122 00:08:05,840 --> 00:08:08,520 Speaker 1: what he had ultimately claimed to be, a martyr for 123 00:08:08,600 --> 00:08:12,440 Speaker 1: his people. That's why to this day his supporters pay 124 00:08:12,480 --> 00:08:15,480 Speaker 1: their respects on the anniversary of his death by leaving 125 00:08:15,520 --> 00:08:19,960 Speaker 1: wreaths of remembrance at his famous statue. That bronze depiction 126 00:08:20,040 --> 00:08:23,040 Speaker 1: of Charles on horseback was installed in the center of 127 00:08:23,120 --> 00:08:27,400 Speaker 1: London in sixteen seventy five. In a solemn nod to history. 128 00:08:27,640 --> 00:08:31,200 Speaker 1: The statue faces down Whitehall toward the banqueting house where 129 00:08:31,280 --> 00:08:35,120 Speaker 1: Charles was executed. In that way, the king is still 130 00:08:35,280 --> 00:08:39,040 Speaker 1: facing down his own inevitable death, and while he's dressed 131 00:08:39,040 --> 00:08:41,760 Speaker 1: in a suit of armor, now instead of in two shirts. 132 00:08:42,200 --> 00:08:48,080 Speaker 1: He's still looking defiant as ever. I'm Gay Lucier and 133 00:08:48,200 --> 00:08:51,719 Speaker 1: hopefully you now know a little more about history today 134 00:08:51,840 --> 00:08:56,040 Speaker 1: than you did yesterday. If you enjoyed today's episode, consider 135 00:08:56,120 --> 00:08:59,440 Speaker 1: keeping up with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. You 136 00:08:59,440 --> 00:09:03,199 Speaker 1: can find usaid T D I h C show. You 137 00:09:03,280 --> 00:09:06,040 Speaker 1: can also rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, 138 00:09:06,240 --> 00:09:08,640 Speaker 1: or you can get in touch directly by writing to 139 00:09:08,760 --> 00:09:12,640 Speaker 1: This Day at iHeart media dot com. Thanks to Chandler 140 00:09:12,720 --> 00:09:15,240 Speaker 1: Mays for producing the show, and thank you for listening. 141 00:09:15,520 --> 00:09:18,280 Speaker 1: I'll see you back here again soon for another day 142 00:09:18,640 --> 00:09:19,640 Speaker 1: in History class.