CHARLES I., King of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1625-49), was b. at Dunferm line, 19th Nov., 1600, and was the second son of James I. of England (VI. of Scotland). On the death of his elder brother, Henry, in 1612, he became prince of Wales, and heir apparent to his father s throne; to which he succeeded in 1625, but found both iu Eng land and Scotland a contest in progress between king and people. He had inherited from his father the most extreme notions of kingly prerogative, and he mistook the general movement in the public mind for an agitation amongst a few disaffected persons. He had deeply imbibed his father's notion, that an Episcopal church was the most con sistent with the proper authority of kings; and he adopted severe and persecuting measures against the Puritans in England and the Presbyterians in Scotland. He mar ried a Roman Catholic, Maria Henrietta of France, a marriage most displeasing to the nation; and even so far despised public opinion as to make his father's favorite, the duke of Buckingham, his prime minister and chief adviser. The English parliament, which he assembled in 1625, was resolved upon the vindication of the national liberties, and was therefore very sparing in its grants of subsidies, while that of 1626, instead of freely granting supplies, resolved upon the impeachment of Buckingham; whereupon the king threw into prison two of the boldest members, Elliot and Digges; dissolved parliament; and, to procure money, had recourse to the arbitrary measures of forced loans, and a tax upon the seaports (ship-9noney), imposed by the mere exercise of royal authority. By all this, public feeling was more and more embittered. In 1628, C. found it necessary again to summon a parliament; and the parliament, very resolute to maintain the liberties of the nation, presented the petition known in history as the Peti tion of Right (q.v). C. temporized. conceded, and finally, although the assassination of Buckingham had removed one cause of strife, assumed a threatening tone, and dissolved the parliament, 10th Mar., 1629. He even caused some of the leading members of the house of commons to be imprisoned. He now governed for 11 years without a parliament, hav ing Laud (q.v.) and Strafford (q.v.) for his chief advisers, and obtaining for his edicts the semblance of a legal sanction by means of the star chamber (q.v.). All this while, the storm was gathering, the love of liberty increased, and republican principles were developed and extended. The policy which C. adopted was that of more severe repres sion. At length, in 1638, Scotland assumed an attitude of determined resistance to the imposition of a liturgy and of Episcopal church-government. The national covenant (q.v.) was subscribed, Presbyterianism was completely restored; and in 1639, the king having assembled an army for the purpose of reducing Scotland to subjection, the Scot tish covenanters also took up arms, and advanced to the English border, many of the English regarding their approach with joy. Civil war was, however, prevented for the time, by concessions on the part of the king. Unable to do without supplies any longer, C. summoned an English parliament in 1640, which, instead of listening to his demands, began to draw up a statement of public grievances. C. soon dissolved the par liament, and assembled an army to resist the Scots, who had again taken up arms and entered England; but his army was defeated by them at Newburn-upon-Tync, and they advanced southward, with the sympathy and good wishes of no small part of the king's English subjects. Much against his will, C. was now compelled again to call a puha ment, whose memorable sittings began on 3d Nov.,.1640. Both houses were resolute in their opposition to his despotism. They began by the impeachment of the ministers and
high officers of state, and declared the decrees of the star chamber and court of high commission to be null and void. They passed a bill in favor of triennial parliaments; and the king, in trepidation, gave it his assent. He also consented, although against his own convictions, to the execution of Strafford; and even gave his assent to an act which provided that the present parliament should not be dissolved, prorogued, or adjourned, without its own consent. Hoping to win the favor of the Scots, he now visited Scot land; but whilst he was there, a rebellion broke out in Ireland, accompanied with a fearful massacre of Protestants. The prospect of a peaceful accommodation was now almost destroyed; the English parliament enlarged its demands; the king, after seeming to. yield, took the extraordinary step of suddenly, on 4th Jan., 1642, appearing in the house of commons, accusing five members—Pyin, Hampden, Hollis, Hazelrig, and Stroud—of high treason, and demanding that they should be delivered up to him. Both houses of parliament espoused their cause, and the city of Loudon showed a determina tion to defend them by arms. C. left London with his family, and the parliament declared the kingdom in danger. Civil war began; the royalists bad at first the advan tage, but the national feeling was with the parliament. Negotiations were from time to time opened or renewed, but always in vain. After the battle of Naseby, on 15th June, 1645, in which his army was almost annihilated by the parliamentary troops under Fairfax and Cromwell, C. was compelled to seek refuge in the Scottish camp. Nego tiations still proving fruitless, he was delivered up to the English parliamentary army. Negotiations were still attempted with C. in his captivity; but resulted in nothing. Finally, C. fled, was taken, refused the ultimatum of the army, and so enraged Crom well and the Independents, that parliament was obliged to pass an act declaring all negotiation with the king to be treason. The Presbyterians of England and the Scots, who were always haunted by the idea that there was something sacred and inviolable in monarchy, thought to rescue the king from the hands of the Independents, but were defeated, and all the Presbyterians were forcibly expelled from the English house of commons, which now consisting only of about 60 members—the Rump parliament— appointed a court composed of persons from the army, the house of commons, and the city of London, to try the king. The court was opened with great solemnity in West minster hall on 20th Jan., 1649. About 70 members took part in its proceedings. On the 27th of Jan., C. was condemned to death as a tyrant, murderer, and enemy of the nation. The Scots protested, the royal family entreated, and the court of France and states-general of the Netherlands interceded, but in vain. On 30th Jan., 1649, he was beheaded in front of the palace of Whitehall. In his last hours he showed great calmness and presence of mind. In his private character, C. was a man of cultivated mind, kind, and of irreproachable life; but in political affairs he was unscrupulous, and had recourse to dissimulation and falsehood for the accomplishment of his purposes. In the estimation of many who do not condemn it on moral grounds, his execution was a great political blunder. From the restoration of Charles II., the 30th of Jan. was observed in the church of England with special religious services, as the day of king Charles the martyr. This commemoration, offensive to great part of the community, and of the members of the established church itself, was abolished by act of parlia ment in 1859.