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List of regicides of Charles I

Large hand-written document, coloured yellow with age. There is a block of text at the top, and 59 signatures and red wax seals at the bottom
Execution warrant for Charles I of England, including the wax seals of the 59 commissioners[a]

The Regicides of Charles I were the people responsible for the execution of Charles I on 30 January 1649. The term generally refers to the fifty-nine commissioners who signed the execution warrant. This followed his conviction for treason by the High Court of Justice.

After the 1660 Stuart Restoration, the fifty-nine signatories were among a total of 104 individuals accused of direct involvement in the sentencing and execution. They were excluded from the Indemnity and Oblivion Act, which granted a general amnesty for acts committed during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms and subsequent Interregnum.

Regicide is not a term recognised in English law, and there is no agreed definition, with some historians including all 104 individuals. Twenty of the fifty-nine Commissioners died before the Restoration, including John Bradshaw, who presided over the trial, and Oliver Cromwell, its originator. Eight of the survivors were executed, sixteen died awaiting trial or later in prison, two were pardoned, and the remainder escaped into exile.

Background

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Engraving depicting the executioner holding the severed head of Charles I of England

The 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three Kingdoms were fought by Royalist supporters of Charles I, and an alliance between his Parliamentarian and Covenanter opponents in England and Scotland respectively. Although Royal authority in political and religious matters were key issues, fought primarily over political power and religious authority. Charles was defeated in the 1642 to 1646 First English Civil War [1]

In January 1649 a trial was arranged, comprising 135 commissioners. Some were informed beforehand of their summons, and refused to participate, but most were named without their consent being sought. Forty-seven of those named did not appear either in the preliminary closed sessions or the subsequent public trial.[2] At the end of the four-day trial, 67 commissioners stood to signify that they judged Charles I had "traitorously and maliciously levied war against the present Parliament and the people therein represented".[3][2] Fifty-seven of the commissioners present signed the death warrant; two further commissioners added their names subsequently. The following day, 30 January, Charles I was beheaded outside the Banqueting House in Whitehall;[2][4] Charles II went into exile.[2] The English monarchy was replaced with, at first, the Commonwealth of England (1649–1653) and then the Protectorate (1653–1659) under Cromwell's personal rule.[5][6]

Charles II wearing a crown and ermine-lined cape
Charles II was crowned at Westminster Abbey on 23 April 1661, following the Restoration of the monarchy.

Following the death of Cromwell in 1658 a power struggle ensued. General George Monck—who had fought for the King until his capture, but had joined Cromwell during the Interregnum—brought an army down from his base in Scotland and restored order; he arranged for elections to be held in early 1660. He began discussions with Charles II who made the Declaration of Breda—on Monck's advice—which offered reconciliation, forgiveness, and moderation in religious and political matters. Parliament sent an invitation to Charles to return, accepting the Restoration of the monarchy as the English political form.[7] Charles arrived in Dover on 25 May 1660 and reached London on 29 May, his 30th birthday.[8]

Treatment of the regicides

In 1660, Parliament passed the Indemnity and Oblivion Act,[b] which granted amnesty to many of those who had supported the Parliament during the Civil War and the Interregnum, although 104 people were specifically excluded. Of those, 49 named individuals and the two unknown executioners were to face a capital charge.[2][9] According to Howard Nenner, writing for the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Charles would probably have been content with a smaller number to be punished, but Parliament took a strong line.[2]

A gallows is in the centre of the image, to its left a large bonfire; a crowd watch.
The execution of the bodies of Cromwell, Bradshaw, and Ireton, from a contemporary print
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A drawing of Oliver Cromwell's head on a spike

Of those who were listed to receive punishment, 24 had already died, including Cromwell, John Bradshaw, the judge who was president of the court, and Henry Ireton.[2] They were given a posthumous execution: their remains were exhumed, and they were hanged, beheaded and their remains cast into a pit below the gallows. Their heads were placed on spikes above Westminster Hall, the building where the High Court of Justice for the trial of Charles I had sat.[10] In 1660, six of the commissioners and four others were found guilty of regicide and executed. One was hanged and nine were hanged, drawn and quartered.

On Monday 15 October 1660, Pepys records in his diary that "this morning Mr Carew was hanged and quartered at Charing Cross; but his quarters, by a great favour, are not to be hanged up." Five days later he writes, "I saw the limbs of some of our new traitors set upon Aldersgate, which was a sad sight to see; and a bloody week this and the last have been, there being ten hanged, drawn, and quartered."[11] In 1662, three more regicides were hanged, drawn and quartered. Some others were pardoned, while a further nineteen served life imprisonment.[12] Most had their property confiscated and many were banned from holding office or title again in the future.

Twenty-one of those under threat fled Britain, mostly settling in the Netherlands or Switzerland, although some were captured and returned to England, or murdered by Royalist sympathisers. Three of the regicides, John Dixwell, Edward Whalley and William Goffe, fled to New England, where they avoided capture, despite a search.[2][c]

Nenner records that there is no agreed definition of who is included in the list of regicides. The Indemnity and Oblivion Act did not use the term either as a definition of the act, or as a label for those involved,[d] and historians have identified different groups of people as being appropriate for the name.[2]

Shortly after the Restoration in Scotland, the Scottish Parliament passed an Act of Indemnity and Oblivion. It was similar to the English Indemnity and Oblivion Act, but there were many more exceptions under the Scottish act than there were under the English one. Most of the Scottish exceptions were pecuniary, and only four men were executed, all for treason but none for regicide, of whom the Marquess of Argyll was the most prominent. He was found to be guilty of collaboration with Cromwell's government, and beheaded on 27 May 1661.[13][14]

Regicides

Commissioners who signed the death warrant

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Illustration in a satirical book from the 1660s. The devil sits with eleven men: nine regicides and two chaplains who supported the execution of Charles I. (Oliver Cromwell;John Bradshaw, Thomas Scott, Colonel Thomas Harrison, Colonel John Barkstead, Cornelius Holland, John Jones, John Lisle, William Say, Hugh Peters, John Goodwin).
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Anonymous illustration comparing the execution of Charles I with that of the regicides
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Anonymously printed Dutch pamphlet attacking the beheading of Charles I, showing Oliver Cromwell with a fox at his shoulder

In the order in which they signed the death warrant, the Commissioners were:

Commissioners who did not sign

Five images showing scenes from 1. The House of Lords; 2. The House of Commons; 3. The bishops looking at the book of common prayer; 4. The traitors being executed; 5. Their associates being dismissed
Frontispiece to Giles Duncombe's Scutum Regale, 1660, showing scenes representing the Restoration of the English monarchy

The following Commissioners sat on one or more days at the trial but did not sign the death warrant:

Other regicides

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A 1698 etching showing the fate for those convicted of High Treason. The executed were hanged, drawn and quartered, as was the case for Rye House Plotter Thomas Armstrong in 1664.

Others exempted from the general pardon and found guilty of treason

John Lambert
The executions in Scotland took place at the Mercat Cross in Edinburgh, now marked by these pavement setts.

Under the Scottish Act of indemnity and oblivion (9 September 1662), as with the English act most were pardoned and their crimes forgotten, however, a few members of the previous regime were tried and found guilty of treason (for more details see General pardon and exceptions in Scotland):

Notes

  1. ^ In 2011 the death warrant for Charles I was added by UNESCO to the UK Memory of the World Register (UKP: Warrant; UNESCO: Register)
  2. ^ The long title of the Act is "An act of free and generall pardon indemnity and oblivion",(Raithby 1819, p. 226).
  3. ^ The three are commemorated by three intersecting major avenues in New Haven (Dixwell Avenue, Whalley Avenue, and Goffe Street), and by place names in other Connecticut towns (Major 2013, p. 153).
  4. ^ Nenner writes that "Regicide was a sin, but it was not a crime. In English law it never had been. The government therefore eschewed the word, abandoning the debate over its use to the arena of popular discourse, where the allegations of regicide were trumpeted from the pulpit and elaborated in the press" (Nenner 2004).
  1. ^ Parker 2001, pp. 22–23.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Nenner 2004.
  3. ^ Articles of Impeachment of King Charles I, Wikisource
  4. ^ Spencer 2014, pp. 52–54.
  5. ^ Leniham 2008, pp. 135–7.
  6. ^ UKP: Civ War.
  7. ^ Parker 2001, p. 27.
  8. ^ Fraser 2002, p. 235.
  9. ^ Raithby 1819, pp. 226–33.
  10. ^ a b c d Spencer 2014, pp. 203–04.
  11. ^ Pepys & October 1660.
  12. ^ Kirby 1999.
  13. ^ Macinnes 2007, p. 82.
  14. ^ RPS, NAS. PA2/28, f.47–48..
  15. ^ Jordan & Walsh 2013, pp. 329–34.
  16. ^ McIntosh 1981.
  17. ^ Kelsey 2008.
  18. ^ Bradley 2008.
  19. ^ Durston 2008a.
  20. ^ Noble 1798b, pp. 328–29.
  21. ^ Spencer 2014, p. 290.
  22. ^ Peacey 2008a.
  23. ^ Durston 2015.
  24. ^ Spencer 2014, p. 223.
  25. ^ Kelsey 2009.
  26. ^ Scott 2008.
  27. ^ Spencer 2014, pp. 197–98.
  28. ^ Gentles 2004a.
  29. ^ Hopper 2011.
  30. ^ Little 2004.
  31. ^ Peacey 2008b.
  32. ^ Jordan & Walsh 2013, p. 330.
  33. ^ Burke's Peerage p.855
  34. ^ Durston 2008b.
  35. ^ Gentles 2004b.
  36. ^ a b Jordan & Walsh 2013, p. 323.
  37. ^ Jordan & Walsh 2013, pp. 221–22, 235.
  38. ^ Durston 2004a.
  39. ^ Hopper 2004a.
  40. ^ Jordan & Walsh 2013, p. 331.
  41. ^ Lindley 2004a.
  42. ^ Goodwin 2004.
  43. ^ Peacey 2004a.
  44. ^ Jarvis 2004.
  45. ^ Hughes 2004.
  46. ^ Wroughton 2004.
  47. ^ Syvert & Stevens 1981, p. 148.
  48. ^ Peacey 2004b.
  49. ^ Firth & Kelsey 2004a.
  50. ^ Firth & Worden 2004.
  51. ^ Barber 2004a.
  52. ^ Hopper 2004b.
  53. ^ Scott 2004a.
  54. ^ Venning 2004a.
  55. ^ Spencer 2014, p. 298.
  56. ^ Durston 2004b.
  57. ^ Noble 1798a, pp. 204–05.
  58. ^ Peacey 2004c.
  59. ^ Firth 2007.
  60. ^ Spencer 2014, p. 242.
  61. ^ Denton 2010.
  62. ^ Roberts 2004.
  63. ^ Gratton 2004.
  64. ^ Greaves 2008.
  65. ^ Durston 2004c.
  66. ^ Scott 2004c.
  67. ^ Coward 2004.
  68. ^ Peacey 2004d.
  69. ^ Porter 2004.
  70. ^ Peacey 2004e.
  71. ^ Scott 2004b.
  72. ^ Peacey 2004f.
  73. ^ Lindley 2004b.
  74. ^ Peacey 2004g.
  75. ^ Peacey & Roots 2004.
  76. ^ Hopper 2004c.
  77. ^ Firth & Kelsey 2004b.
  78. ^ Peacey 2004h.
  79. ^ Barber 2004b.
  80. ^ a b Jordan & Walsh 2013, pp. 334–35.
  81. ^ a b Raithby 1819, pp. 226–34.
  82. ^ McIntosh 2004a.
  83. ^ McIntosh 2004b.
  84. ^ Aylmer 2004.
  85. ^ Kelsey 2004a.
  86. ^ Roots & Wynne 2013.
  87. ^ Hollis 2004.
  88. ^ Peacey 2004i.
  89. ^ Venning 2004b.
  90. ^ Kelsey 2004b.
  91. ^ Lindley 2004c.
  92. ^ Scott 2004d.
  93. ^ Goodwin & Warmington 2004.
  94. ^ Pfanner 2004.
  95. ^ Spencer 2014, pp. 245–46.
  96. ^ Spencer 2014, pp. 245–246.
  97. ^ a b Jordan & Walsh 2013, p. 280.
  98. ^ Venning 2004c.
  99. ^ Jordan & Walsh 2013, pp. 230–31, 240.
  100. ^ a b Jordan & Walsh 2013, pp. 289, 322.
  101. ^ Jordan & Walsh 2013, pp. 174–75.
  102. ^ Spencer 2014, p. 230.
  103. ^ Spencer 2014, pp. 63–65.
  104. ^ Spencer 2014, pp. 183–85.
  105. ^ Spencer 2014, p. 211.
  106. ^ Jordan & Walsh 2013, p. 234.
  107. ^ Spencer 2014, p. 103.
  108. ^ Jordan & Walsh 2013, pp. 231–32.
  109. ^ Spencer 2014, pp. 231, 293–94.
  110. ^ Barnard 2004.
  111. ^ Jordan & Walsh 2013, pp. 233, 234.
  112. ^ Jordan & Walsh 2013, pp. 236–37.
  113. ^ Lee 1886, p. 223.
  114. ^ Raithby 1819, pp. 226–234.
  115. ^ Jordan & Walsh 2013, pp. 335–36.
  116. ^ Jordan & Walsh 2013, pp. 283–84.
  117. ^ Spencer 2014, p. 99.
  118. ^ Jordan & Walsh 2013, p. 291.
  119. ^ a b c Harris 2005, p. 111; Aikman 1842, pp. 50–51Howie & M'Gavin 1830, pp. 73–75; and Crooks.
  120. ^ Yorke & Chisholm 1911, p. 484.
  121. ^ Gordon 1890, p. 378.
  122. ^ Lawson 1844, p. 713.
  123. ^ Chisholm 1911, p. 333.
  124. ^ Swinton 1898, pp. 237–239.
  125. ^ Brown 2012.
  126. ^ Morison 1803, p. 42.
  127. ^ Edinburgh Magazine staff 1819, p. 582.

References

Further reading

Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Death warrant of King Charles I
Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article "Regicide".