The Kings of Carlisles England PT 1.

King Charles I (pt 1)

Born: November 19, 1600
Crowned: February 2, 1625
Died: January 30, 1649 by Execution

A cult of the "royal martyr" grew up after the beheading of a Charles I. To this day one the anniversary of his execution. wreaths are placed on his statue in Trafalgar Square, which looks down Whitehall to the site of his execution. Charles was remarkably unlike his father, which was to prove a fatal disadvantage. He was the finer clay altogether and his court was far more civilized, but unlike the garrulous James he was reserved and shy, with no sense of humor and very limited understanding of other people.

Born in Scotland, Charles was two when his father succeeded to his English throne and four when he was brought to England. A very sickly little boy, slow to walk and talk, he grew up with a stammer and in the shadow of his elder brother Henry, the heir to the throne, who was six years his senior. Henry was much admired, and Charles idolized him. He was 11 when Henry died. Charles was left with the impossible task of living up to his brother, in his own mind as well as in English opinion.

When Charles was in his early twenties, his father was still fondly calling him 'my baby'. Needing a guide, philosopher and friend, he attached himself to the most detested person in the country, George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, his fathers favorite. They went to Spain in 1623, incognito as Thomas and John Smith, to angle for a Spanish Princess as a bride for Charles. The Spanish court found the embarrassing. Charles decided that the Infanta Maria was for him and, seeing her walking in a garden one day, jumped over the wall to press his suit in person, at which she promptly ran away. Having acquired to Titians, but no infanta, Charles and Buckingham returned to England, where they began calling for war with Spain.

That went down nicely with Parliament at first, but Charles followed Buckingham along the wrong paths. A marriage was arranged for him with an attractive French Roman Catholic princess, Henrietta Maria, who was guaranteed free excercise of her religion and control of the children. She arrived with a small army of priests, and the wedding was held soon after Charles succeeded the throne, when he was 24 and she was 15. She did not seem to enjoy the wedding night and Parliament did not enjoy the prospect of a Catholic heir. Expensive wars with Spain and then with France led to humiliating English defeats, and Buckingham's assassination by an oddball naval officer in 1628 was greeted with rejoicing in London. Charles and Henrietta Maria began to get along much better after that and the following year their first child was born, though the little boy only lived for a few hours.

The relationship with Parliament, however, did not sweeten. Many of the country gentlemen, town businessmen and lawyers in the House of Commons disapproved of the Regime's high-handed measures to raise money, including taxation without parlimentary consent, forced loans and the imprisonment of people who refused to pay. In 1628, Parliament passed the Petition of Right against these practices. Needing money, Charles accepted it grudingly, but then there was trouble over religion. The King too the High Church attitude, broadly for Catholicism without the Pope, valuing continuity with the past. He had no time for the Puritans in the Commons, who in 1629 comdemned popish practices. Charles adjourned Parliment, but in an unprecedented scene the Speaker of the Commons was held down in his chair but force while the members passed resolutions condemning the kings behavior. At this point they had no idea whatever of the dethroning him, but it was ominous.

(end pt I)

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King Charles is quite interesting...