There Was A Man . . .

Who thought he was above the law. The people thought otherwise.

~King Charles I of England~

19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649

Charles I was King of England, from March 27, 1625 until his execution on January 30, 1649 at the age of forty-nine.

He is famous for engaging in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England. He was an advocate of the Divine Right of Kings and was constantly attempting to gain absolute power. Many of his actions, particularly the levying of taxes without Parliament's consent, caused widespread opposition.

Religious conflicts also permeated King Charles's reign. He married a princess, Henrietta Maria of France, over the objections of Parliament and public opinion aligning himself with Rome which the English people were against because of their tyrannical form of government.

Charles strove for absolute power without any limits causing two civil wars to erupt and chaos reigned until he was captured and brought to trial.

The idea of trying a king for crimes was a new one; previous kings had been deposed before, but had never been brought to trial as a king.

Charles I was tried by the High Court of Justice consisting of 135 Commissioners of which only about half of that number ever sat in judgment. All of the Commissioners were firm Parliamentarians;

O n 20 January 1649 Charles I trial began on charges of high treason and "other high crimes" . Solicitor General John Cooke led the prosecution.

At his trial King Charles refused to enter a plea, claiming that no court had jurisdiction over a king.

He believed that his own authority to rule had been given to him by God when he was crowned and anointed, and that the power wielded by those trying him was simply that which grew out of a barrel of gunpowder. In fact, when urged to enter a plea he stated his objection to entering a plea saying, "I would know by what power I am called hither, by what lawful authority...?"

The High Court, however, by contrast, proposed that no man is above the law. Over a period of a week, when Charles was asked to plead he refused to three times.

When Prosecutor John Cooke began to read the indictment, Charles I tried to stop him using the poke of his cane. The ornate silver tip of the cane fell off and Cooke refused to pick it up. After a long pause, King Charles I stooped to retrieve it.

This is considered a legendary moment symbolizing that all men including the divine earthly king bowed before the law of the people: the Common Law.

After the ruling of guilty, he was led from St. James's Palace, where he was confined, to the Palace of Whitehall, to an execution scaffold that had been erected in front of the Banqueting House and beheaded.