The Tragedy of Charles I
Page 1 of 1
The Tragedy of Charles I
Nearly 400 years after his execution, Charles I’s actions and legacy continue to divide scholarly opinion.
It has been a while since anyone has spoken up for Charles I. He has been memorably played in film (Alec Guinness), on television (Jeremy Clyde) and in the theatre (Mark Gatiss), but still he remains elusive. The Civil Wars in his three kingdoms, which culminated in his trial and subsequent execution on 30 January 1649, are now largely the preserve of battle re-enactors and specialists in the 17th century.
The period still struggles to compete with the Tudors, despite being the crucible of British history. The Stuarts are generally viewed as boring and the ferment of ideas that characterised their time on the throne too ‘difficult’ for a general readership. However, those who think otherwise are beginning to emerge, including female historians.
In an elegantly written new life of the king who lost his head, Leanda de Lisle makes the case for Charles I as a brave and radical king, who deserves respect and understanding, rather than the disapprobation, mixed with a rather maudlin sympathy, that he normally elicits. She also reconsiders Charles’ redoubtable wife, Henrietta Maria, the unpopular French consort, whose personality and Catholicism played into the hands of her husband’s opponents. The queen was the target of a ruthless, highly effective propaganda campaign, which undoubtedly played a part in the slide towards war.
Access to hitherto unseen correspondence of the Duke of Rutland amplifies our understanding of the bond between the couple, whose marriage, after a rocky start, was one of the closest of any royal union.
This new material also underlines the European dimension to the reign, often overlooked. Scholars of the period will be grateful that de Lisle has included full texts of many of these letters in her footnotes. For the general reader, the book proceeds at a cracking pace as the king’s tragedy unfolds.
The question remains whether one is ultimately convinced. The difficulty in espousing the royalist cause is the character of the king himself and his immovable views on how monarchy and government should function in his realms. In key areas, such as the relationship between a ruler and his subjects, he was a man out of time, a monarch who would have been more comfortable in the Tudor period. He would not give an inch, whereas his opponents tried repeatedly to reach some accommodation with him, almost until the moment of his trial. By then, after a conflict which had done enormous damage and produced 180,000 casualties in England alone, it was not surprising that his accusers called him ‘that man of blood’. Constantly hoping, but consistently failing, to capitalise on the splits among his opponents, Charles realised too late that they were in deadly earnest. He went to his execution with a quiet fortitude that, to some, made him a martyr, his philosophy succinctly stated in his view that ‘a subject and a sovereign are clean different things’.
For the next 11 years, England was a republic and Scotland and Ireland were occupied nations. However, if monarchy did not die with Charles, neither did the ideas that republicans held so dear disappear with the Restoration of 1660. Fleeing the new king’s retribution, a number of the regicides went to the American colonies, where their beliefs took root a century later. Leanda de Lisle’s splendid book is a timely reminder of the fascination of this turbulent period.
Linda Porter’s most recent book is Royal Renegades: the Children of Charles I and the English Civil Wars (Pan Macmillan, 2017).
http://www.historytoday.com/reviews/tragedy-charles-i
Charles I and Henrietta Maria, c.1630, by Daniel Mytens.
It has been a while since anyone has spoken up for Charles I. He has been memorably played in film (Alec Guinness), on television (Jeremy Clyde) and in the theatre (Mark Gatiss), but still he remains elusive. The Civil Wars in his three kingdoms, which culminated in his trial and subsequent execution on 30 January 1649, are now largely the preserve of battle re-enactors and specialists in the 17th century.
The period still struggles to compete with the Tudors, despite being the crucible of British history. The Stuarts are generally viewed as boring and the ferment of ideas that characterised their time on the throne too ‘difficult’ for a general readership. However, those who think otherwise are beginning to emerge, including female historians.
In an elegantly written new life of the king who lost his head, Leanda de Lisle makes the case for Charles I as a brave and radical king, who deserves respect and understanding, rather than the disapprobation, mixed with a rather maudlin sympathy, that he normally elicits. She also reconsiders Charles’ redoubtable wife, Henrietta Maria, the unpopular French consort, whose personality and Catholicism played into the hands of her husband’s opponents. The queen was the target of a ruthless, highly effective propaganda campaign, which undoubtedly played a part in the slide towards war.
Access to hitherto unseen correspondence of the Duke of Rutland amplifies our understanding of the bond between the couple, whose marriage, after a rocky start, was one of the closest of any royal union.
This new material also underlines the European dimension to the reign, often overlooked. Scholars of the period will be grateful that de Lisle has included full texts of many of these letters in her footnotes. For the general reader, the book proceeds at a cracking pace as the king’s tragedy unfolds.
The question remains whether one is ultimately convinced. The difficulty in espousing the royalist cause is the character of the king himself and his immovable views on how monarchy and government should function in his realms. In key areas, such as the relationship between a ruler and his subjects, he was a man out of time, a monarch who would have been more comfortable in the Tudor period. He would not give an inch, whereas his opponents tried repeatedly to reach some accommodation with him, almost until the moment of his trial. By then, after a conflict which had done enormous damage and produced 180,000 casualties in England alone, it was not surprising that his accusers called him ‘that man of blood’. Constantly hoping, but consistently failing, to capitalise on the splits among his opponents, Charles realised too late that they were in deadly earnest. He went to his execution with a quiet fortitude that, to some, made him a martyr, his philosophy succinctly stated in his view that ‘a subject and a sovereign are clean different things’.
For the next 11 years, England was a republic and Scotland and Ireland were occupied nations. However, if monarchy did not die with Charles, neither did the ideas that republicans held so dear disappear with the Restoration of 1660. Fleeing the new king’s retribution, a number of the regicides went to the American colonies, where their beliefs took root a century later. Leanda de Lisle’s splendid book is a timely reminder of the fascination of this turbulent period.
Linda Porter’s most recent book is Royal Renegades: the Children of Charles I and the English Civil Wars (Pan Macmillan, 2017).
http://www.historytoday.com/reviews/tragedy-charles-i
Guest- Guest
Re: The Tragedy of Charles I
I’ve always viewed him as a stubborn absolutist who realized too late that he could still be king albeit with some limited powers. The age of The Tudors had passed and they needed to modernize. Plus he never could quite overcome the overwhelming anti-catholic hatred that was so prevalent.
Will try and get a hold of this book. I will admit that the Stuarts and early Hanoverians have always been among my least favorite subjects. Time to take another look.
Will try and get a hold of this book. I will admit that the Stuarts and early Hanoverians have always been among my least favorite subjects. Time to take another look.
Cass- the Nerd Queen of Nerds, the Lover of Books who Cooks
- Posts : 6617
Join date : 2014-01-19
Age : 56
Similar topics
» Prince Charles On Syria
» ANOTHER GREEK TRAGEDY :
» Another Socialist Tragedy
» Why Does It Take A Tragedy For People To Act?
» Um...Charles Koch backs Hillary?
» ANOTHER GREEK TRAGEDY :
» Another Socialist Tragedy
» Why Does It Take A Tragedy For People To Act?
» Um...Charles Koch backs Hillary?
Page 1 of 1
Permissions in this forum:
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
Sat Mar 18, 2023 12:28 pm by Ben Reilly
» TOTAL MADNESS Great British Railway Journeys among shows flagged by counter terror scheme ‘for encouraging far-right sympathies
Wed Feb 22, 2023 5:14 pm by Tommy Monk
» Interesting COVID figures
Tue Feb 21, 2023 5:00 am by Tommy Monk
» HAPPY CHRISTMAS.
Sun Jan 01, 2023 7:33 pm by Tommy Monk
» The Fight Over Climate Change is Over (The Greenies Won!)
Thu Dec 15, 2022 3:59 pm by Tommy Monk
» Trump supporter murders wife, kills family dog, shoots daughter
Mon Dec 12, 2022 1:21 am by 'Wolfie
» Quill
Thu Oct 20, 2022 10:28 pm by Tommy Monk
» Algerian Woman under investigation for torture and murder of French girl, 12, whose body was found in plastic case in Paris
Thu Oct 20, 2022 10:04 pm by Tommy Monk
» Wind turbines cool down the Earth (edited with better video link)
Sun Oct 16, 2022 9:19 am by Ben Reilly
» Saying goodbye to our Queen.
Sun Sep 25, 2022 9:02 pm by Maddog
» PHEW.
Sat Sep 17, 2022 6:33 pm by Syl
» And here's some more enrichment...
Thu Sep 15, 2022 3:46 pm by Ben Reilly
» John F Kennedy Assassination
Thu Sep 15, 2022 3:40 pm by Ben Reilly
» Where is everyone lately...?
Thu Sep 15, 2022 3:33 pm by Ben Reilly
» London violence over the weekend...
Mon Sep 05, 2022 2:19 pm by Tommy Monk
» Why should anyone believe anything that Mo Farah says...!?
Wed Jul 13, 2022 1:44 am by Tommy Monk
» Liverpool Labour defends mayor role poll after turnout was only 3% and they say they will push ahead with the option that was least preferred!!!
Mon Jul 11, 2022 1:11 pm by Tommy Monk
» Labour leader Keir Stammer can't answer the simple question of whether a woman has a penis or not...
Mon Jul 11, 2022 3:58 am by Tommy Monk
» More evidence of remoaners still trying to overturn Brexit... and this is a conservative MP who should be drummed out of the party and out of parliament!
Sun Jul 10, 2022 10:50 pm by Tommy Monk
» R Kelly 30 years, Ghislaine Maxwell 20 years... but here in UK...
Fri Jul 08, 2022 5:31 pm by Original Quill