January 30, 1649: Execution of Charles I, King of England, Scotland and Ireland

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Abolition of the Monarchy, Beheading, Charles I of England Scotland and Ireland, English Civil War, Execution, Oliver Cromwell, Pride's Purge

Charles’s beheading was scheduled for Tuesday, January 30, 1649. Two of his children remained in England under the control of the Parliamentarians: Elizabeth and Henry. They were permitted to visit him on January 29, and he bade them a tearful farewell. The following morning, he called for two shirts to prevent the cold weather causing any noticeable shivers that the crowd could have mistaken for fear: “the season is so sharp as probably may make me shake, which some observers may imagine proceeds from fear. I would have no such imputation.”

He walked under guard from St James’s Palace, where he had been confined, to the Palace of Whitehall, where an execution scaffold had been erected in front of the Banqueting House. Charles was separated from spectators by large ranks of soldiers, and his last speech reached only those with him on the scaffold. He blamed his fate on his failure to prevent the execution of his loyal servant Strafford: “An unjust sentence that I suffered to take effect, is punished now by an unjust sentence on me.”

He declared that he had desired the liberty and freedom of the people as much as any, “but I must tell you that their liberty and freedom consists in having government … It is not their having a share in the government; that is nothing appertaining unto them. A subject and a sovereign are clean different things.” He continued, “I shall go from a corruptible to an incorruptible Crown, where no disturbance can be.”

At about 2:00 p.m., Charles put his head on the block after saying a prayer and signalled the executioner when he was ready by stretching out his hands; he was then beheaded with one clean stroke. According to observer Philip Henry, a moan “as I never heard before and desire I may never hear again” rose from the assembled crowd,some of whom then dipped their handkerchiefs in the king’s blood as a memento.

The executioner was masked and disguised, and there is debate over his identity. The commissioners approached Richard Brandon, the common hangman of London, but he refused, at least at first, despite being offered £200.

It is possible he relented and undertook the commission after being threatened with death, but there are others who have been named as potential candidates, including George Joyce, William Hulet and Hugh Peterrs. The clean strike, confirmed by an examination of the king’s body at Windsor in 1813, suggests that the execution was carried out by an experienced headsman.

Created by Pride’s Purge when Colonel Thomas Pride forcibly removed from the Long Parliament all those members who supported the King and were not supporters of the Grandees in the New Model Army and the Independents. Many historians consider called it a coup d’état. This paved the way for the things to come.

Just before and the execution of King Charles I, the Rump Parliament passed a number of Acts of Parliament creating the legal basis for the republic. After the execution of Charles I, the House of Commons abolished the Monarchy, the Privy Council and the House of Lords, and declared the people of England “and of all the Dominions and Territories thereunto belonging” to be henceforth under the governance of a “Commonwealth”, effectively a republic.

The House of Commons now had unchecked executive and legislative power. The English Council of State, which replaced the Privy Council, took over many of the executive functions of the monarchy.

Was St. Edward’s Crown really destroyed by Oliver Cromwell?

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Alfred the Great, Charles II of England and Scotland, Edward the Confessor, English Civil War, Kingdom of England, Oliver Cromwell, Restoration, St. Edward's Crown

Edward the Confessor wore his crown at Easter, Whitsun, and Christmas. In 1161, he was made a saint, and objects connected with his reign became holy relics. The monks at his burial place of Westminster Abbey claimed that Edward had asked them to look after his regalia in perpetuity for the coronations of all future English kings.

Although the claim is likely to have been an exercise in self-promotion on the abbey’s part, and some of the regalia probably had been taken from Edward’s grave when he was reinterred there, it became accepted as fact, thereby establishing the first known set of hereditary coronation regalia in Europe. A crown referred to as St Edward’s Crown is first recorded as having been used for the coronation of Henry III in 1220, and it appears to be the same crown worn by Edward.

An early description of the crown is “King Alfred’s Crown of gold wire-work set with slight stones and two little bells”, weighing 79.5 ounces (2.25 kg) and valued at £248 in total. It was sometimes called King Alfred’s Crown because of an inscription on the lid of its box, which, translated from Latin, read: “This is the chief crown of the two, with which were crowned Kings Alfred, Edward and others”. However, there is no evidence to support the belief that it dated from Alfred’s time, and in the coronation order it always has been referred to as St Edward’s Crown.

St Edward’s Crown rarely left Westminster Abbey, but when Richard II was forced to abdicate in 1399, he had the crown brought to the Tower of London, where he symbolically handed it to Henry IV, saying “I present and give to you this crown with which I was crowned king of England and all the rights dependent on it”.

The monarchy was restored in 1660 after the English Civil War (1642-1649) and in preparation for the coronation of Charles II, who had been living in exile abroad, a new St Edward’s Crown was supplied by the Royal Goldsmith, Sir Robert Vyner. It was fashioned to closely resemble the medieval crown, with a heavy gold base and clusters of semi-precious stones, but the arches are decidedly Baroque.

In the late 20th century, it was assumed to incorporate gold from the original St Edward’s Crown, as they are almost identical in weight, and no invoice was produced for the materials in 1661. A crown was also displayed at the lying in state of Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England from 1653 until 1658. However, it is believed the crown at Cromwell’s lying in state was probably made of gilded base metal such as tin or copper, as was usual in 17th-century England; for example, a crown displayed at the funeral of James VI-I had cost only £5 and was decorated with fake jewels.

On the weight of this evidence, writer and historian Martin Holmes, in a 1959 paper for Archaeologia, concluded that in the time of the Interregnum St Edward’s Crown was saved from the melting pot and that its gold was used to make a new crown at the Restoration.

His theory became accepted wisdom, and many books, including official guidebooks for the Crown Jewels at the Tower of London, repeated his claim as fact. In 2008, new research found that a coronation crown and sceptre were made in 1660 in anticipation of an early coronation, which had to be delayed several times.

Last evening I watched a documentary on YouTube called, The History of the British Monarchy Crown Jewels. In the documentary it is said that it is possible that the bottom half of St. Edward’s Crown is the original crown. Evidently there is only a record of a bill for the arches, the monde and the cross and this was due to the fact that the bottom half of the crown already existed and was in fact the original St. Edward’s Crown that had been saved from Cromwell’s destruction.

My Favorite Crown #2. St. Edward’s Crown

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coronation, Crown Jewels, Edward the Confessor, English Civil War, King Charles II of England, King Edward VII of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, Oliver Cromwell, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Regalia, St. Edward's Crown

St Edward’s Crown is the centrepiece of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom. Named after Saint Edward the Confessor, it has been traditionally used to crown English and British monarchs at their coronations since the 13th century.

The original crown was a holy relic kept at Westminster Abbey, Edward’s burial place, until the regalia was either sold or melted down when Parliament abolished the monarchy in 1649, during the English Civil War.

The present version of St Edward’s Crown was made for Charles II in 1661. It is solid gold, 30 centimetres (12 in) tall, weighs 2.23 kilograms (4.9 lb), and is decorated with 444 precious and semi-precious stones. The crown is similar in weight and overall appearance to the original, but its arches are Baroque.

A stylised image of this crown is used on coats of arms, badges, logos and various other insignia in the Commonwealth realms to symbolise the royal authority of Queen Elizabeth II.

When not in use, St Edward’s Crown is on public display in the Jewel House at the Tower of London.

Description

St Edward’s Crown is 22-carat gold, with a circumference of 66 cm (26 in), measures 30 cm (12 in) tall, and weighs 2.23 kg (4.9 lb). It has four fleurs-de-lis and four crosses pattée, supporting two dipped arches topped by a monde and cross pattée, the arches and monde signifying an imperial crown. Its purple velvet cap is trimmed with ermine. It is set with 444 precious and semi-precious stones, including 345 rose-cut aquamarines, 37 white topazes, 27 tourmalines, 12 rubies, 7 amethysts, 6 sapphires, 2 jargoons, 1 garnet, 1 spinel and 1 carbuncle.

Usage

Although it is regarded as the official coronation crown, after 1689, it was not used to crown a monarch for over 200 years. In 1911, the tradition was revived by George V, and all subsequent monarchs (except Edward VIII who was not crowned at all) have been crowned using St Edward’s Crown.

Only six monarchs have been crowned with St Edward’s Crown since the Restoration: Charles II (1661), James II (1685), William III (1689), George V (1911), George VI (1937) and Elizabeth II (1953). Mary II and Anne were crowned with small diamond crowns of their own; George I, George II, George III and William IV with the State Crown of George I; George IV with a large new diamond crown made specially for the occasion; and Queen Victoria and Edward VII chose not to use St. Edward’s Crown because of its weight and instead used the lighter 1838 version of the Imperial State Crown. When not used to crown the monarch, St Edward’s Crown was placed on the altar during the coronation; however, it did not feature at all at the coronation of Queen Victoria.

In heraldry

St Edward’s Crown is widely used as a heraldic emblem of the United Kingdom, being incorporated into a multitude of emblems and insignia. As the United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy with responsible government, the crown can also symbolise “the sovereignty (or authority) of the monarch.” It can be found on, amongst others, the Royal Cypher; the Royal Arms of the United Kingdom; the Royal Badges of England; and the badges of the police forces of England and Wales, Her Majesty’s Coastguard, the British Army, the Royal Marines, the Royal Air Force and HM Revenue and Customs. It also forms the logo of Royal Mail, the United Kingdom’s postal service. (In Scotland, the Crown of Scotland may appear in place of St Edward’s Crown).
History

Edward the Confessor wore his crown at Easter, Whitsun, and Christmas. In 1161, he was made a saint, and objects connected with his reign became holy relics. The monks at his burial place of Westminster Abbey claimed that Edward had asked them to look after his regalia in perpetuity for the coronations of all future English kings.

Although the claim is likely to have been an exercise in self-promotion on the abbey’s part, and some of the regalia probably had been taken from Edward’s grave when he was reinterred there, it became accepted as fact, thereby establishing the first known set of hereditary coronation regalia in Europe. A crown referred to as St Edward’s Crown is first recorded as having been used for the coronation of Henry III in 1220, and it appears to be the same crown worn by Edward.

Holy relic

An early description of the crown is “King Alfred’s Crown of gold wire-work set with slight stones and two little bells”, weighing 79.5 ounces (2.25 kg) and valued at £248 in total. It was sometimes called King Alfred’s Crown because of an inscription on the lid of its box, which, translated from Latin, read: “This is the chief crown of the two, with which were crowned Kings Alfred, Edward and others”. However, there is no evidence to support the belief that it dated from Alfred’s time, and in the coronation order it always has been referred to as St Edward’s Crown.

St Edward’s Crown rarely left Westminster Abbey, but when Richard II was forced to abdicate in 1399, he had the crown brought to the Tower of London, where he symbolically handed it to Henry IV, saying “I present and give to you this crown with which I was crowned king of England and all the rights dependent on it”.

It was used in 1533 to crown the second wife of Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, which was unprecedented for a queen consort. In the Tudor period, three crowns were placed on the heads of monarchs at a coronation: St Edward’s Crown, the state crown, and a “rich crown” made specially for the king or queen. After the English Reformation, the new Church of England denounced the veneration of medieval relics and, starting with the coronation of Edward VI in 1547, the significance of St Edward’s Crown as a holy relic was played down in the ceremony.

During the English Civil War, Parliament sold the medieval St Edward’s Crown, regarded by Oliver Cromwell as symbolic of the “detestable rule of kings”.

Restoration

St. Edward’s Crown as it looked at the coronation of James II of England in 1685.

The monarchy was restored in 1660 and in preparation for the coronation of Charles II, who had been living in exile abroad, a new St Edward’s Crown was supplied by the Royal Goldsmith, Sir Robert Vyner. It was fashioned to closely resemble the medieval crown, with a heavy gold base and clusters of semi-precious stones, but the arches are decidedly Baroque.

In the late 20th century, it was assumed to incorporate gold from the original St Edward’s Crown, as they are almost identical in weight, and no invoice was produced for the materials in 1661. A crown was also displayed at the lying in state of Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England from 1653 until 1658. On the weight of this evidence, writer and historian Martin Holmes, in a 1959 paper for Archaeologia, concluded that in the time of the Interregnum St Edward’s Crown was saved from the melting pot and that its gold was used to make a new crown at the Restoration.

His theory became accepted wisdom, and many books, including official guidebooks for the Crown Jewels at the Tower of London, repeated his claim as fact. In 2008, new research found that a coronation crown and sceptre were made in 1660 in anticipation of an early coronation, which had to be delayed several times. His other regalia were commissioned in 1661 after Parliament increased the budget as a token of their appreciation for the king. The crown at Cromwell’s lying in state was probably made of gilded base metal such as tin or copper, as was usual in 17th-century England; for example, a crown displayed at the funeral of James VI and I had cost only £5 and was decorated with fake jewels.

In 1671, Thomas Blood briefly stole the crown from the Tower of London, flattening it with a mallet in an attempt to conceal it. A new monde was created for the coronation of James II, and for William III the base was changed from a circle to an oval. After the coronation of William III in 1689, monarchs chose to be crowned with a lighter, bespoke coronation crown (e.g., the Coronation Crown of George IV) or their state crown, while St Edward’s Crown usually rested on the high altar.

20th century to present day

Edward VII intended to revive the tradition of being crowned with St. Edward’s Crown in 1902, but on coronation day he was still recovering from an operation for appendicitis, and instead he wore the lighter Imperial State Crown.

Jewels were hired for use in the crown and removed after the coronation until 1911, when it was permanently set with 444 precious and semi-precious stones. Imitation pearls on the arches and base were replaced with gold beads which at the time were platinum-plated. Its band was also made smaller to fit George V, the first monarch to be crowned with St Edward’s Crown in over 200 years, reducing the crown’s overall weight from 82 troy ounces (2.6 kg) to 71 troy ounces (2.2 kg).

It was used to crown his successor George VI in 1937, and Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, who adopted a stylised image of the crown for use on coats of arms, badges, logos and various other insignia in the Commonwealth realms to symbolise her royal authority. In these contexts, it replaced the Tudor Crown, which had been instated by Edward VII in 1901. Use of the crown’s image in this way is by permission of the monarch.

On 4 June 2013, St Edward’s Crown was displayed on the high altar in Westminster Abbey at a service to mark the 60th anniversary of Elizabeth II’s coronation, which was the first time it had left the Jewel House at the Tower of London since 1953.

May 29, 1630: Birth and Restoration of King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland.

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Catherine of Braganza, Charles I of England, Exclusion Bill, John IV of Portugal, King Charles II of England, Oliver Cromwell, Parliament, Restoration, Roman Catholic Church

Charles II (May 29, 1630 – February 6, 1685) was king of England, Scotland, and Ireland. He was king of Scotland from 1649 until his deposition in 1651, and king of England, Scotland and Ireland from the 1660 Restoration of the monarchy until his death in 1685.

Charles II was the eldest surviving child of Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland and Henrietta-Maria de Bourbon of France, daughter of King Henri IV of France and Navarre and his second wife, Marie de Medici. After Charles I’s execution at Whitehall on January 30, 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War, the Parliament of Scotland proclaimed Charles II king of Scotland on February 5, 1649.

However, England entered the period known as the English Interregnum or the English Commonwealth, and the country was a de facto republic led by Oliver Cromwell. Cromwell defeated Charles II at the Battle of Worcester on September 3, 1651, and Charles fled to mainland Europe. Cromwell became virtual dictator of England, Scotland and Ireland.

Charles spent the next nine years in exile in France, the Dutch Republic and the Spanish Netherlands. A political crisis that followed the death of Cromwell in 1658 resulted in the restoration of the monarchy, and Charles was invited to return to Britain. On May 29,:1660, his 30th birthday, he was received in London to public acclaim. After 1660, all legal documents stating a regnal year did so as if he had succeeded his father as king in 1649.

Charles II, King of England, Scotland and Ireland.

Charles’s English parliament enacted laws known as the Clarendon Code, designed to shore up the position of the re-established Church of England. Charles acquiesced to the Clarendon Code even though he favoured a policy of religious tolerance. The major foreign policy issue of his early reign was the Second Anglo-Dutch War.

Marriage

Infanta Catherine of Braganza (November 25, 1638 – December 31, 1705) was the second surviving daughter of João, 8th Duke of Braganza and his wife, Luisa de Guzmán. Following the Portuguese Restoration War, which overthrew 60 years of Habsburg rule, her father was acclaimed King João IV of Portugal, on December 1, 1640. With her father’s new position as one of Europe’s most important monarchs, Portugal then possessing a widespread colonial empire, Catherine became a prime choice for a wife for European royalty, and she was proposed as a bride for Johann of Austria, François de Vendôme, duc de Beaufort, Louis XIV and Charles II.

Catherine de Braganza, Infanta of Portugal

Negotiations with Portugal for Charles’s marriage to Catherine of Braganza began during his father’s reign and upon the restoration, Queen Luísa of Portugal, acting as regent, reopened negotiations with England that resulted in an alliance. On June 23, 1661, a marriage treaty was signed; England acquired Catherine’s dowry of Tangier (in North Africa) and the Seven islands of Bombay, the latter having a major influence on the development of the British Empire in India.

Under the terms of the treaty Portugal obtained military and naval support against Spain and liberty of worship for Catherine. Catherine journeyed from Portugal to Portsmouth on May 13–14 1662, but was not visited by Charles there until 20 May 20. The next day the couple were married at Portsmouth in two ceremonies—a Catholic one conducted in secret, followed by a public Anglican service.

In 1670, he entered into the Treaty of Dover, an alliance with his cousin King Louis XIV of France and Navarre. Louis agreed to aid him in the Third Anglo-Dutch War and pay him a pension, and Charles secretly promised to convert to Catholicism at an unspecified future date. Charles attempted to introduce religious freedom for Catholics and Protestant dissenters with his 1672 Royal Declaration of Indulgence, but the English Parliament forced him to withdraw it.

Charles II near the end of his reign.

In 1679, Titus Oates’s revelations of a supposed Popish Plot sparked the Exclusion Crisis when it was revealed that Charles’s brother and heir presumptive, James, Duke of York, was a Catholic. The crisis saw the birth of the Party Politics in England with the birth of pro-exclusion Whig and anti-exclusion Tory parties.

Fearing that the Exclusion Bill, which would exclude James, Duke of York from the throne due to his Catholicism, would be passed, and bolstered by some acquittals in the continuing Plot trials, which seemed to him to indicate a more favourable public mood towards Catholicism, Charles dissolved the English Parliament, for a second time that year, in mid-1679.

Charles II’s hopes for a more moderate Parliament were not fulfilled; within a few months he had dissolved Parliament yet again, after it sought to pass the Exclusion Bill. When a new Parliament assembled at Oxford in March 1681, Charles dissolved it for a fourth time after just a few days.

During the 1680s, however, popular support for the Exclusion Bill ebbed, and as Charles ruled as a virtual absolute monarch, he experienced a nationwide surge of loyalty. Lord Shaftesbury was prosecuted (albeit unsuccessfully) for treason in 1681 and later fled to Holland, where he died.

Charles’s opposition to the Exclusion Bill angered some Protestants. Protestant conspirators formulated the Rye House Plot, a plan to murder him and the Duke of York as they returned to London after horse races in Newmarket. A great fire, however, destroyed Charles’s lodgings at Newmarket, which forced him to leave the races early, thus inadvertently avoiding the planned attack. News of the failed plot was leaked.

During the exclusion crisis Charles sided with the Tories, and, following the discovery of the Rye House Plot to murder Charles and James in 1683, some Whig leaders were executed or forced into exile. Charles dissolved the English Parliament in 1681, and for the remainder of his reign, Charles ruled without Parliament.

Charles was always favorable toward the Catholic faith, his mother, Marie-Henrietta was a devout Catholic, and Charles II was received into the Catholic Church on his deathbed.

King Charles II was one of the most popular and beloved kings of England, known as the Merry Monarch, in reference to both the liveliness and hedonism of his court and the general relief at the return to normality after over a decade of rule by Cromwell and the Puritans.

Charles’s wife, Catherine of Braganza, bore no live children, but Charles acknowledged at least twelve illegitimate children by various mistresses. He was succeeded by his brother James who became James II-VII, King of England, Scotland and Ireland.

March 19, 1649: Abolition of the House of Lords

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Abolition of the House of Lords, Charles I of England, Charles II of England and Scotland, Deceleration of Breda, English Civil War, English Parliament, House of Commons, House of Lords, Oliver Cromwell, Restoration

On March 19, 1649 the House of Commons abolished the House of Lords. This revolutionary action did not obtain the consent of either Lords or the King and so it was not recognised as a valid law after the restoration of the King.

The first part of the abolishing Act was as follows.

The Commons of England assembled in Parliament, finding by too long experience that the House of Lords is useless and dangerous to the people of England to be continued, have thought fit to ordain and enact, and be it ordained and enacted by this present Parliament, and by the authority of the same, that from henceforth the House of Lords in Parliament shall be and is hereby wholly abolished and taken away; and that the Lords shall not from henceforth meet or sit in the said House called the Lords’ House, or in any other house or place whatsoever …

The Convention Parliament (April 25, 1660 – December 29, 1660) followed the Long Parliament that had finally voted for its own dissolution on March 16, that year. Elected as a “free parliament”, i.e. with no oath of allegiance to the Commonwealth or to the monarchy, it was predominantly Royalist in its membership. It assembled for the first time on April 25, 1660.

After the Declaration of Breda had been received, the Convention Parliament proclaimed on May 8, 1660 that King Charles II had been the lawful monarch since the death of Charles I in January 1649. The Convention Parliament then proceeded to conduct the necessary preparation for the Restoration Settlement.

Re-establishment of the House of Lords, 1660

The Lords Temporal resumed meeting as the House of Lords, in the Convention Parliament after that body restored the monarchy.

Charles II: Anniversary of his birth and restoration.

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Charles I of England, Charles II, Charles II of England and Scotland, Declaration of Breda, English Civil War, Henri IV of France, Henrietta Maria de Bourbon, Kings and Queens of England, Kings and Queens of Ireland, kings and queens of Scotland, kings and queens of the United Kingdom, Louis XIII of France, Louis XIV, Oliver Cromwell

On this date in history: May 29, 1630. The birth of Charles II, King of England, Scotland and Ireland. On this date in history, May 29, 1660 the restoration of Charles II.


The future Charles II was born at St James’s Palace on May 29, 1630. His parents were Charles I, King of England, Scotland and Ireland) and Henrietta Maria de Bourbon of France, the youngest daughter of Henri IV, King of France and Navarre and Marie de’ Medici. This made Henrietta Maria the sister of the French king Louis XIII and aunt of Louis XIV. Charles was their second child. Their first son was Charles James, Duke of Cornwall born and died on March 13, 1629.


Charles was baptized in the Chapel Royal, on June 27, 1630 by the Anglican Bishop of London, William Laud. The three kingdoms were experiencing great religious diversity at this time. England was predominantly Anglican, while Scotland was staunchly Presbyterian and Ireland was dominantly Catholic. He was brought up in the care of the Protestant Countess of Dorset, though his godparents included his maternal uncle Louis XIII and his maternal grandmother, Marie de’ Medici, the Dowager Queen of France, both of whom were Catholics. With his mother being Catholic this would heavily influence Charles throughout his life.

Upon his birth Charles automatically became inherited the titles Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay. When he became eight he was designated Prince of Wales, though he was never formally invested. Despite never being formally vested with that title he was officially referred to as the Prince of Wales and is counted as one of the 21 heirs to the throne that borne that prestigious title.


At the end of the Second English Civil (1648–1649) his father, Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on January 30, 1649. Shortly thereafter the monarchy was officially abolished in England. Charles was publicly proclaimed King Charles II of Scotland on February 5, 1649 in Edinburgh. On the Isle of Jersey on February 17, 1649 in the Royal Square in St. Helier the former Prince of Wales was proclaimed King. Despite the Parliament of Scotland proclaiming Charles II king, England entered the period known as the English Interregnum or the English Commonwealth, and the country was a de facto republic, led by Oliver Cromwell.


The new king was still willing to fight for his crown. The Parliamentary Army proved to be the greater force and Cromwell defeated Charles II at the Battle of Worcester on September 3, 1651, and Charles fled to mainland Europe. Cromwell became virtual dictator of England, Scotland and Ireland. Charles spent the next nine years in exile in France, the Dutch Republic and the Spanish Netherlands. Life was difficult for the king-in-name-only as finances were slim and he relied on the good graces of others.


A political crisis followed the death of Cromwell in 1658. Cromwell’s son, Richard, ruled as Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland. Richard’s regime soon collapsed and as the three kingdoms teetered on the brink of anarchy, General George Monck, Governor of Scotland under the Cromwells, believed the only one that could restore order was the King. Monck marched south with his army from Scotland and communications with Charles began.

On April 4, 1660, Charles II released the Declaration of Breda, which made known the conditions of his acceptance of the Crown of England, Scotland and Ireland. Monck organised the Convention Parliament, which met for the first time on April 25, 1660. On May 8, 1660, the Convention Parliament declared that King Charles II had reigned as the lawful monarch since the execution of Charles I in January 1649. Charles returned from exile on May 23, 1660. On May 29, 1660, the populace in London acclaimed him as king. It was his 30th Birthday. A new era had begun.

February 5…1649, 1685, 1952 & 1981.

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Charles II, Charles II of England and Scotland, English Civil War, February 5 1952, Frederica of Greece, James VII King of Scots, King George VI of the United Kingdom, King James II of England, King James II-VII of England and Scotland, Kingdom of the Hellenes, Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell, Queen Elizabeth II, Scotland

On this Date in History. February 5. This date has some significant events throughout European Royal History.

1. On the morning of February 6, 1952 King George VI of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland was found dead in bed at Sandringham House in Norfolk. He had died from a coronary thrombosis in his sleep at the age of 56. His eldest daughter succeeds as Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Her Majesty The Queen has been on the British throne for 66 years. This is a day she does not celebrate.

2. On this date February 5, 1649, the the Covenanter Parliament of Scotland proclaimed Charles II “King of Great Britain, France and Ireland” at the Mercat Cross, Edinburgh, but the Scottish Parliament also refused to allow Charles to enter Scotland unless he accepted the imposition of Presbyterianism throughout Britain and Ireland. This event occurred a week after his father, King Charles I, was beheaded for treason by the English Parliament at the end of the Civil War.

At this time England, Scotland and Ireland were not politically united (the title of “King of Great Britain” was not recognized even when the monarchy was extant) and though the monarchy had been abolished in England it had not been abolished in Scotland. The Scots had a difficult relationship with their potential king and in spite being independent from England, in spirit only, England fought against Charles II mounting the Scottish throne. This conflict culminated with the Instrument of Government passed by Parliament, December 1653, where Oliver Cromwell, as Head of State, was appointed The Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland, effectively placing the British Isles under military rule. The creation of Cromwell as Lord Protector replaced the First Council of State which held executive power. Charles II was exiled to the Netherlands.

3. On May 29, 1660 Charles II was formally restored to the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland. Charles II passed away on February 5, 1685 at the age of 54 after a reign of 24 years, 253 days. Charles suffered a sudden apoplectic fit on the morning of February 2, 1685, and died aged 54 at 11:45 am four days later at Whitehall Palace. The suddenness of his illness and death led to suspicion of poison in the minds of many, including one of the royal doctors; however, a more modern medical analysis has held that the symptoms of his final illness are similar to those of uraemia (a clinical syndrome due to kidney dysfunction). In the days between his collapse and his death, Charles endured a variety of torturous treatments including bloodletting, purging and cupping in hopes of effecting a recovery.

On his deathbed Charles asked his brother, James, to look after his mistresses: “be well to Portsmouth, and let not poor Nelly starve”. He told his courtiers, “I am sorry, gentlemen, for being such a time a-dying”, and expressed regret at his treatment of his wife. On the last evening of his life he was received into the Catholic Church, though the extent to which he was fully conscious or committed, and with whom the idea originated, is unclear. He was buried in Westminster Abbey “without any manner of pomp” on 14 February. Charles II did not have any legitimate issue with his wife, the Portuguese Princess Catherine of Braganza and there for Charles was succeeded by his brother, who became James II of England and reland and James VII of Scotland.

4. February 5, 1981. The death of Queen Frederica of the Hellenes age 63. She was the wife of King Pavlos of the Hellenes (1901-1964).

Born Her Royal Highness Princess Frederica of Hanover, of Great Britain and Ireland, and of Brunswick-Lüneburg on April 18, 1917 in Blankenburg am Harz, in the German Duchy of Brunswick, she was the only daughter of Ernest Augustus, then reigning Duke of Brunswick, and his wife Princess Viktoria Luise of Prussia, herself the only daughter of the German Emperor Wilhelm II, King of Prussia. Both her father and maternal grandfather would abdicate their crowns in November 1918 following Germany’s defeat in World War I, and her paternal grandfather would be stripped of his British royal dukedom the following year. As a descendant of Queen Victoria, she was, at birth, 34th in the line of succession to the British throne.

Marriage

Prince Pavlos of Greece, her mother’s paternal first cousin, proposed to her during the summer of 1936, while he was in Berlin attending the 1936 Summer Olympics. Pavlos was a son of King Constantine I and Frederica’s grand-aunt Sophia. Their engagement was announced officially on September 28, 1937, and Britain’s King George VI gave his consent pursuant to the Royal Marriages Act 1772 on December 26, 1937. They married in Athens on January 9, 1938. Frederica became Hereditary Princess of Greece, her husband being heir presumptive to his childless elder brother, King George II.

Frederica died on February 6, 1981 in exile in Madrid during ophthalmic surgery. In its obituary of the former Queen, The New York Times reported that she died during “eyelid surgery,” which led to frequent but unsubstantiated rumours that she died while undergoing cosmetic surgery. Other sources state that her cause of death was a heart attack while undergoing the removal of cataracts. She was interred at Tatoi (the Royal family’s palace and burial ground in Greece). Her son, exiled King Constantine II of the Hellenes, and his family were allowed to attend the service but had to leave immediately afterwards. Queen Frederica was also the mother of Queen Sofia of Spain wife of King Juan-Carlos and mother of Spain’s current king, Felipe VI.

Survival of Monarchies: England, Part II

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Charles II of England and Scotland, English Civil War, Exclusion Bill, James I of England, King James II-VII of England and Scotland, Oliver Cromwell, Parliament

James VI, King of Scots came to the English throne in 1603 and he had been on the Scottish throne since 1567, a few months after his birth. As stated last week, often a strong monarch was able to gain control of Parliament and even rule without them. However, was the problems James had with Parliament due to him being a weak monarch or was the showdown between Crown and Parliament inevitable? My personal theory is that the two would eventually come into conflict. Society is always in a flux of growth and change and as has happened in all monarchies eventually the people rise up and desire a say in government.

For centuries the Crown held the majority of power and although the Tudor monarchs only used the Parliament to stamp its approval on what the king or queen desires, usually it had to do with raising taxes, Parliament, mostly the Commons, began to realize it had a more important role in the process of governing and this begun to be realized under the Stuarts. James had an attitude toward Parliament where he thought it was a body that held opinions and enacted laws that he did not have to abide by as he saw himself as the ultimate authority on Laws and legislation. Parliament, for its part, saw themselves as having an equal say in the legislative process of enacting and Laws. With such a contrast in views of their respective roles conflict was inevitable.

James died in 1625 never having resolved his differences with Parliament. Things came to a head under the reign of his son, King Charles I (1625-1649). Charles ruled for 11 years without Parliament and often would raise taxes without the consent of Parliament. One example was when he forced inland towns and villages to pay a maritime related tax meant only for coastal towns that were associated with the shipping industry. When Charles needed Parliament once again for a war with Spain and the Bishop’s War over religion in Scotland. All of this eventually to Civil War where the Parliamentary forces fought the forces of the Crown. In the end Charles I lost his head and the monarchy was abolished.

Oliver Cromwell became the head of state and although technically England was Republic between the years 1649-1660, in truth, it was a military dictatorship with Cromwell, as Lord Protector, wielding as much power as any king, if not more. He was followed in that office in 1658 by his son who was ill-suited for the position and soon left that office leaving England under the control of the military. Chaos and almost anarchy ensued until General Monck saw the wisdom in restoring the monarchy under Charles II (1660-1685).

Charles II had as much power as his predecessors therefore the conflict between Crown and Parliament was not resolved during the Civil War. The Parliament that sat at the beginning of Charles’ reign was called the Cavalier Parliament due to the number of loyal royalists sitting in the Parliament. Despite a honeymoon period between the two bodies they eventually clashed over a number of issues. There were times when Charles ruled without Parliament sitting and there were moments when it was thought that Civil War would once again erupt. One prominent issue concerned the succession to the throne. Charles II had a brood of bastards but not one legitimate child to inherit the throne. This left the king’s brother, Prince James, Duke of York, as the heir to the throne. The problem with this was the fact that James was Catholic and the country was staunchly Protestant.

In 1679 Parliament proposed the Exclusion Bill to officially remove the Duke of York from his place in the succession. Charles was angered by this bill and Protestants in Parliament were angered at the king for supporting his brother. Amid rumors of a Catholic plot to place James on the throne the bill was eventually dropped when Charles dismissed Parliament and ruled for the last 4 years of his reign without them. The unpopular James succeeded as King James II-VII of England and Scotland and was acceptable to Parliament as long as his heir was his Protestant daughter Princess Mary who was married to her cousin (who also had a claim to the English throne) the Protestant defender, Prince Willem III of Orange. In 1688 the King had a son, Prince James Francis, who would be raised Catholic and this lead to the kings down fall.

Next week will feature the Glorious Revolution and the transition of power from the Crown to Parliament.

Legal Succession: The House of Stuart, Part II

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Anglican, Catherine of Braganza, Exclusion Bill, General Monck, James Scott, Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell, The 1st Duke of Monmouth, Titus Oates

The Commonweath period ended after the death of Oliver Cromwell as Lord Protector in 1658 and the brief stint of his son, Richard Cromwell, in the same position which lasted until May 12, 1659. There followed a period of virtual anrachy as the great ship of state was left without a captain. In steps George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle, General of the Army in Scotland. Fearing the country would fall further into disarray he marched his army south into London and forced the Rump Parliament to reinstate the Long Parliament which had the monarchist members ejected during Pride’s Purge toward the end of the Civil War. This new pro-Monarchist Parliament restored Charles II to his throne in May of 1660.

Charles II was now the rightful King of England and Scotland having been legally called to the throne by Parliamanet. At the time of his restoration Charles was 30 years old, unmarried and his brothers, Prince James, Duke of York and Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester were the male hiers to the throne. Prince Henry did not live long with his brother as king, he died, unmarried, from smallpox in September of 1660 at the age of 20. This left his bother, the Duke of York, as hier to the throne. One of the responsibilities of kingship is to provide for the succession. Although Charles had a string of mistresses and many natural children he needed to find a wife. His choice of bride was the Catholic Princess, Catherine of Braganza, the daughter of King João IV of Portugal and Luisa de Guzmán. The queen was not popular in England due to her belonging to the Catholic faith. It is difficult to say whether this was a love match or not. Chalres always dealt with his wife with kindness and consideration but it did not stop him from bringing a consistent flow of mistresses to his bed.

One of the sad aspects of the marriage between Charles and Catherine is that the union did not produce any legitimate hiers. Catherine became pregnant and miscarried three times during the course of her marriage. By the late 1670s many people began to fear that the Duke of York would succeed his brother. The problem with this is that at this time James, Duke of York had openly converted to Catholicism and as a Protestant Nation there were many that did not want another Catholic King sitting on the throne. One of the positive apsect of the possible accession of James as King of England and the Scots was the fact that he had two Protestant duaghters who could succeed him, Princesses Mary and Anne. In 1677 Princess Mary of York married the Protestant Prince Willem III of Orange who was also her first cousin, being the son of Princess Mary, The Princess Royal, sister to both Charles II and the Duke of York. At the time of their marriage Willem was fourth in line to the English and Scottish thrones.

There was such anti-Catholic feeling in the air at this time when a rumor was started by a defrocked Anglican clergyman, Titus Oates, that a “Popish Plot” to assassinate Charles II and to put the Duke of York on the throne, it eventually lead to a bill being propposed in Parilament to exclude the Duke of York from the Succession. There were some members of Parliament that wanted to replace the Duke of York with James Scott, The 1st Duke of Monmouth and eldest illigitimate son of Charles II and his mistress Lucy Walter. In 1679, with the Exclusion Bill one the verge of passing into law, Charles had Parliament dissolved four times that year. During the 1680s the popularity of the Exclusion Bill fadded and when Charles II died he was legally and lawfully succeeded by his brother who became James II-VII, King of England and King of Scots.

There was a brief attempt to usurp the the throne from James when his nephew, James Scott, The 1st Duke of Monmouth tried to depose his uncle. Feeling that his Protestantism would outweigh his illegitimacy the Mounmouth Rebellion tried to depose King James II-VII. The rebellion failed and despite please for mercy from the Duke of Monmouth to his uncle, the Duke was executed July 1685, on Tower Hill. Reports range from anywhere from 5-8 blows to sever his head.

Legal Succession: The House of Stuart, Part I

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Anne of Denmark, Charles II, English Civil War, English Commonwealth, Henrietta Maria de Bourbon of France, King Frederik II of Denmark and Norway, King Henri IV of France and Navarre, King James II-VII, Marie de' Medici, Oliver Cromwell, Prince Henry Frederick, Sophie of Mecklenburg-Güstrow

We have reached an interesting point in this series. Although, as we shall see, the House of Stuart will have its difficult times on and off the thrones of England and Scotland, we have reached a period of relative stability as far as legal successions are concerned. There will be a few more crises for the throne but we will not see civil wars and usurpations like we have had in the past. In the next section of this topic we will see the rise of Parliament and the battle with the Crown over the power within the government. I will examine how this conflict actually helped stabilize the Crown and the succession to the throne.

James I-VI, King of England and King of Scots (when still only King of Scots) married Princess Anne of Denmark in 1589, the daughter of King Frederik II of Denmark and Norway and his wife, Sophie of Mecklenburg-Güstrow. They would have seven children, three sons and four daughters, and only three of them surviving childhood. The eldest son, Prince Henry Frederick, was created The Duke of Rothesay as heir to the Scottish throne in 1594. Upon his father’s accession of the English throne in 1603 Henry Frederick automatically became Duke of Cornwall. In 1610 his father created him The Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester. Although young, Henry Frederick displayed great promise in leadership and his sudden death from Typhoid at the age of 18 dashed the hopes of many.

This left his rather sickly brother, Charles, Duke of Albany, as heir to his fathers kingdoms. In the due corse of time Charles became King of England and King of Scots when his father passed away on March 27, 1605. The same year of his succession King Charles married Henrietta Maria de Bourbon of France, daughter of King Henri IV of France and Navarre and his second wife, Marie de’ Medici. This marriage returned England to the problems between Protestants and Catholics.  Henrietta Maria was a Catholic and for that reason she was distrusted at court. Her Catholicism influenced both her two eldest sons, the future King Charles II and King James II-VII. These conflicts over religion would have implications on the legal succession.

Charles I had a difficult reign. He ruled for 11 years without Parliament and only reluctantly called Parliament because he needed to raise money for war. I will not focus on the English Civil Wars for that is a complex topic for another day. However, the Civil War did lead to Charles I being arrested, tried and convicted of treason and on January 30, 1649 he was beheaded and the monarchy was abolished. England was declared a Commonwealth and power was assumed by a Council of State, which included Lord Fairfax, then Lord General of the Parliamentary Army, and Oliver Cromwell.

As noted other places in when there is a war the victor gets to rewrite the laws and rules. In reality at that moment in time the throne was gone and the Commonwealth was the successor to the Kingdom of England. To his supporters Charles, Prince of Wales, was now the pretender to the extinct throne. He was a man with a high price tag on his head and spent many years on the run. He was crowned King of Scots in 1651 but with Cromwell’s army on his heels his stay in Scotland was brief. The next part will examine how Charles II became the legal King of England and King of Scots. I will also examine how his childless marriage and his brother’s Catholicism created a conflict for the throne.