Charles I is an interesting figure because of his stubbornness. He did not take any BS from those he disagreed with. This led to a story of a leader versus his country. We can learn a lot about power by listening to his story.
Charles was born on November 19, 1600 in Dunfurmline Palace, Fife. Charles was a very sick and weak child at first. He was so weak his family left him behind when his father, James I, became the king of England. He went through a Rocky training montage and became a very athletic young man and joined his family in England. This was partly due to his admiration of his better Henry Federick, Prince of Whales, whom was Charles’ more attractive, stronger, more awesome, better at everything, had a standard Charles could never achieve, probably would have been a much better king than Charles, older brother. Aren’t older brothers always the best? However, Henry died and Charles became the heir to the throne.
(Portrait of Charles as a kid wearing ridiculous clothing.)
On February 2, 1626, Charles became the King of England after his father died a year earlier. Charles had married a French princess named Henrietta Maria. He had fallen in love with her, but more specifically he fell in love with her so he could create an alliance with France. Many Catholics were afraid that Charles would enact religious restrictions. Charles said he would not, but his support of the anti-Calvinist, Richard Montagu, did not help calm them down.
He ran into more controversy when he planned a naval attack on Spanish fleets, hoping to steal some treasure. Parliament was taking forever to approve a plan and was not providing him with the funds he wanted. Charles put his BFF, the Duke of Buckingham, in charge of a naval expedition. The expedition failed. Parliament and the commoners demanded for Buckingham’s dismal. So Charles did dismiss…..Parliament. Charles was like, “Screw you guys,” and dissolved Parliament.
As you might imagine, taking away power from the people that are supposed to represent the voice of the commoners was not a popular move.
This only got worse for Charles. His boyfriend, Buckingham led a failed attack on the French, his wife was constantly bothering him, and he tried to tax people for the war effort, but could not without parliament which he had dissolved. On August 23, 1628, Buckingham was assassinated to the pleasure of the commoners and to the despair of Charles.
On January 1629, Charles reopened Parliament due to his low popularity. However, Parliament was not allowing him to get away with what he wanted, so he said, “You know what? Screw you guys,” and dissolved Parliament again for eleven years. I bet Barack Obama wishes he could do that with Congress. To raise money for war plans, Charles taxed hard and claimed people owed money for anything he could get away with.
Then Charles had to mess around with religion. If you thought people were overly strict about religion today then you should be glad you were not born in the 1600s. Back then everyone responded to the slightest change in religion with outrage. Just imagine everyone had the mind set of Fox News. When Charles tried to impose his religious policies in Scotland, the response led to he First Bishops’ War of 1639. Charles attempted to fight the rebellion himself and got his ass kicked. He made a treaty with Scotland while he prepared to raise money for another military campaign. To do so he reopened Parliament. However, Charles were not seeing things eye to eye, so he said, “Screw you guys,” and dissolved Parliament. Doesn’t this sound familiar? However, due to a universal call for Parliament Charles reopened it in November. This was after Charles signed a humiliating treaty with the Scots in October. This began the period known as “Long Parliament”.
First thing Parliament did was have Charles sign a the Triennial Act, that stated Parliament had to meet at least once every three years. Then in May, they had him sign an act that stated the king could not dissolve Parliament without Parliament’s approval. Those guys knew history repeats itself. Parliament began to clean up Charles’ mess and indirectly boosted Charles popularity. However, that did not last long.
In October 1641, Irish Catholics tried to overthrow Charles’ English administration in Ireland. When Charles asked for money to fund a war campaign, Parliament became suspicious and suspected that Charles was actually aligned with the rebels. They thought he planned to attack Parliament. When Charles heard Parliament was going after his wife because they thought she was a spy for the enemy, he demanded that Parliament hand over five members he had suspected of high treason. Then the tension snapped. Charles attempted to arrest the members by force, but Parliament had sent them away. Worried for his family’s safety, he and his families fled the kingdom. Cities and people began to chose sides between Parliament and Charles. This sparked the English Civil War.
The first act of the war began in mid-1642 as both sides prepared their armies. It was the Parliamentarians versus the Royalists. Both sides invented humiliating nicknames for each other such as “Roundheads” and “Cavaliers”. Actually those nicknames are lame. Seriously, did three year olds come up with those? Never had the world seen a more epic battle since the War of the Ring. In April 1646, the Royalists were defeated in the Siege of Oxford. Charles escaped and fled to Scotland. However, nine months later the Scots literally sold Charles out for money and put him in the custody of Parliament. Later, Charles was able to get the Scots back on his side. In May 1648 the second act of the war began when the Royalists regrouped along with the Scots and attacked England. The Royalists got destroyed more humiliatingly than the Denver Broncos at the Super Bowl.
(Charles out on the battlefield.)
In January 1649, Charles was put on trial by Parliament having been accused of treason. Charles refused to cooperate with the trial, claiming it was his divine right as king to rule as he pleased. If this was Florida, Charles might have gotten away with his crimes, but since this was not Florida, he was giving the death sentence on January 26.
(Charles’ attire during his trial. Looking like a pimp.)
Charles’ execution by decapitation took place on January 30. He wore two shirts, so people would not mistake shivers from the cold as shivers from fear. This man wanted to go out as a boss. In his last words he stated he wanted to give liberty and freedom to his people, “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. I shall go from a corruptible to an incorruptible Crown, where no disturbance can be.”
Charles is a figure that should be studied by all countries. Why? His story raises important questions such as: What can a leader get away with? When should a leader be overthrown? How should power be split between a leader and the government? Can one person lead a nation? Famous philosopher, John Loche, once stated that if the government of a country failed to satisfy its people, it was the duty of the people to overthrow it. That’s what Parliament did to Charles. I have always been interested in Charles because of his stubborn personality. He believed in the divine right of the kings. I don’t think he would have any regrets. Charles’ story should be a cautionary tale for leaders around the world. Parliament’s rise against Charles should be an inspirational tale for the commoners around the world.
This has been the seventh installment of my Interesting Biographies series. Follow my blog for more biographies in the future. Also read some of my previous biographies. Leave a comment if there is a person you want to do a biography on.
Blake Bradford 