Charles I

Charles I (1600-49), King of England, b. Dunfermline, Scotland.

Charles was the second son of James I and he succeeded his father as king in 1625.

He quarrelled with Parliament because they would not grant all his demands for money, and he ruled for eleven years without a Parliament.

But in 1640, he needed to raise an army to fight the Scots, and he had to form a new Parliament. A new quarrel followed and he sent that Parliament away and formed yet another one.

Two years later war broke out between Charles and his supporters (called Royalists) and the forces of Parliament (called Roundheads) led by Oliver Cromwell. This was the English Civil War.

Charles was finally defeated at the Battle of Naseby in 1645. After a long time in prison, he was sentenced to death, and was beheaded in front of Whitehall Palace on 30 January, 1649.

See C. V. Wedgwood A coffin for King Charles