Charles was executed because he could not be trusted to keep his word. In London, King Charles I is beheaded for treason on January 30, 1649. Yes! Why was Charles I executed? King Charles I executed for treason. For Macaulay, the fact that Charles was willing to do such things as attempt to arrest the Five Members – “in flagrant violation of the Great Charter” – meant that he put himself firmly at odds with the majority of the population and certainly his parliaments by not giving due deference to the ancient constitution which was supposedly “engraven on the hearts of Englishmen.” Charles was therefore an absolutist whose clash with Parliament and whose eventual downfall was inevitable. Next comes the Protectorate, leading up to ‘Why was Oliver offered the crown?’ (Question 7), which is more profitable than asking why he refused it. Why the king was defeated and executed has long been a central question in English history. For the most part, this was due to his poor skill at developing good political relationships, with Holmes arguing that Charles was untrustworthy and Durston arguing that he was a man of “chronic duplicity.” In January 1648 in a debate in the Commons, as Charles rejected yet another proposal, Sir Thomas Wroth exclaimed, “from Devils and Kings, Good Lord deliver me!” Eventually the Army – and even the Army had been willing to tolerate monarchy as late as November 1648 in their Remonstrance, even if as little more than a figurehead – lost their patience with him. Charles was offered a number of generous settlements by his captors and for much of the time he was conscious of the fact that he was needed alive. While the essentially cynical and factional view of conflict put forth by Sharpe may be too simplistic, that of Sommerville may at the same time be too idealistic. Blair Worden particularly stresses that the parliamentarians were most emphatically not republicans. The execution of Charles I in 1649, followed by the proclamation of a Commonwealth, was an extraordinary political event. By executing Charles thee Parliamentarian side were preserving their own necks. Holmes sees in the kinglings a burgeoning revival of ‘the spirit of the gentry’, encouraged by signs that the Protector was still ‘one of us’—a Dr Jekyll shaking off Mr Hyde. Certainly, the numbers of ‘gentry’ in the Commons increased by 10% in this period, but this means nothing; this class did not act uniformly, as the Cromwell family itself shows. Holmes carefully traces a course via the surge of the Second Civil War to Pride's Purge and the drama at the Banqueting House. It is a common event in England’s history and a contentious one. In such dire circumstances, negotiations cannot have been carried out with very much enthusiasm. To take the idea of the end of monarchy being inevitable because of long-term political strife first: The fact remains that while debate in the Commons was heated, it was never once suggested that the king should be executed. This was what gave Leveller views the room to make their way into the Army. ante, xcvii [1982], 909–10) was (deliberately?) This being said, there was certainly a growth in radical belief of the kind which Morrill explains which helped lead to the Civil Wars. Michael B. Illinois Wesleyan University. If Macaulay and Gardiner et al are sympathetic to parliament, then the Catholic apologist Hilaire Belloc is sympathetic to Charles. Young. Please give a clear answer and if you can, can you write something bout Oliver Cromwell and do you think he was villain or hero (and Reasons you think that) And why … Not without their faults Purge and the drama at the dates will prove this: Charles in. Of Tawney and Belloc et al are sympathetic to parliament, Charles ’ friend... 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