Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Western Sieve the English Civil War
Speaker 1: Part three. The Army was now in control, and it
Speaker 1: began to take stock of its power and its position.
Speaker 1: This was the period in which Oliver Cromwell openly broke
Speaker 1: with the King and spoke bitterly against him in the
Speaker 1: Army Council. On January the third, sixteen forty eight, the
Speaker 1: House of Commons passed the vote of no Address by
Speaker 1: a majority of fifty. It was agreed by this that
Speaker 1: no more communications or proposals could be put to the King.
Speaker 1: Cromwell fully supported the decision on the grounds that the
Speaker 1: people should quote not any law longer expect safety and
Speaker 1: government from an obstinate man whose heart God has hardened.
Speaker 1: The Council of the Army also pronounced that it would
Speaker 1: stand by the Kingdom and the Parliament without the King
Speaker 1: and against him were inching ever closer to the end. Now,
Speaker 1: of course, the King's incarceration for truly incarcerated. Now he
Speaker 1: was incensed all those who supported the Royalists. Riots occurred
Speaker 1: in old Royalist cities like Ipswich and Canterbury. At the
Speaker 1: beginning of April, the Lord Mayor of London sent several
Speaker 1: trained bands to disburse a crowd of apprentices and moors. Failed.
Speaker 1: The crowd turned on the bands, captured their weapons and
Speaker 1: marched off, shouting on behalf of King Charles. Petitioners seeking
Speaker 1: the rule of a king again flocked into London from Kent,
Speaker 1: Essex and Surrey. The cavaliers were jubilant for the moment,
Speaker 1: and Presbyterians once more quickly gained a hole over Parliament,
Speaker 1: and so in April the Commons now reversed course and
Speaker 1: passed a new motion calling for a treaty with the King.
Speaker 1: The signs of civil war were now once more apparent.
Speaker 1: The first acts came from Wales, where in April a
Speaker 1: Royalist commander occupied near be Tenby Castle, and soon the
Speaker 1: whole of South Wales declared itself in Charles's favor. The
Speaker 1: Army Council then ordered Cromwell to enter South Wales with
Speaker 1: two regiments of cavalry and three of infantry. It took
Speaker 1: him six weeks, but Cromwell decisively crushed the rebels. Other
Speaker 1: anti parliamentary forces had emerged throughout the country, guided not
Speaker 1: really by zeal for the King, as dismayed by the
Speaker 1: constant taxes that the parliamentarians were now raising, and the
Speaker 1: county committees imposed by Parliament Berrick and Carlisle were taken
Speaker 1: by the disaffected. Several received in a surprise attack. Scarborough
Speaker 1: declared for the King this represented a serious challenge now
Speaker 1: to the authority of Parliament. But this and now we
Speaker 1: really are in a second Civil War, as it became known,
Speaker 1: ded once more in victory for the New Model Army.
Speaker 1: This time the Scottish Army did not cross the border
Speaker 1: until July, by which time most of the risings in
Speaker 1: England and Wales had been put down by the army's
Speaker 1: superior military force. Cromwell dealt with the North and Fairfax
Speaker 1: the south. It had not really been a war, but
Speaker 1: a series of scattered risings and outbreaks of violence. There
Speaker 1: was never really a serious attempt to coordinate what could
Speaker 1: have actually been a successful rebellion. Still without any coherent strategy,
Speaker 1: these new Royalist rebels were simply no match for the
Speaker 1: New Model Army. They had waited vainly, it seemed, for
Speaker 1: the Scots until it became too late. The Second Civil
Speaker 1: War had a bloody ending on two principal fronts. The
Speaker 1: Scottish Army, under the command of the Duke of Hamilton
Speaker 1: made a slow progress southward through the rain and wind
Speaker 1: of an unseasonably cold summer. Ill trained and much smaller
Speaker 1: than the force was expected, It's sustained by no great cause,
Speaker 1: and as a consequence, at extremely low morale. The New
Speaker 1: Model Army was at least bolstered by the knowledge that
Speaker 1: it was fighting a foreign invader. The two sides encountered
Speaker 1: each other on a pitch battle near the walls of
Speaker 1: Preston on the seventeenth of August sixteen forty eight, in
Speaker 1: which the infantry of both sides pressed hard against each other,
Speaker 1: but the Scots were eventually pushed back by the superior
Speaker 1: discipline of the New Model Army and lost about a
Speaker 1: thousand men. Cromwell pursued the remainder of the Scottish Army,
Speaker 1: which battered and broken laid down its arms. It was
Speaker 1: the first victory in which he enjoyed overall command. All
Speaker 1: the remaining loyalists from the southeast had fled behind the
Speaker 1: walls of Colchester, where in the middle of June Sir
Speaker 1: Thomas Fairfax prepared for a long siege against them. It
Speaker 1: was the most inglorious event of the entire Civil War,
Speaker 1: as actually five or six historians who write that sentence,
Speaker 1: Fairfax had decided to starve the city into submission until
Speaker 1: there came a time when the inhabitants, having exhausted the
Speaker 1: provision of cats and dogs, were forced to devour soap
Speaker 1: and candles. It was reported that the Royalist soldiers had
Speaker 1: told the inhabitants to eat their children. The Royalist commander,
Speaker 1: the Earl of Norwich, then sent five hundred women and
Speaker 1: children out of town. Fairfax refused to receive them, and
Speaker 1: with threats, they were driven back behind the walls. By
Speaker 1: the end of August, Reduced, as it was said by
Speaker 1: Captain Storm without and by Captain Hunger within, the Royalists surrendered.
Speaker 1: Two of their commanders were then put in front of
Speaker 1: a firing squad. This second phase of the Civil War
Speaker 1: was more harsh and intense by the first. No longer
Speaker 1: did anybody care about the ideals of mercy. But the
Speaker 1: Battle of Preston effectively marked the end of the Second
Speaker 1: Civil War and of the turmoil that had just frankly
Speaker 1: mangled the kingdom since the king had first raised that
Speaker 1: manner almost six years ago. It was calculated that about
Speaker 1: one hundred thousand soldiers and civilians died in the course
Speaker 1: of the conflict, and that by simple proportion a larger
Speaker 1: share of the pow population died that in the Great
Speaker 1: First World War of nineteen fourteen to nineteen eighteen. It
Speaker 1: has therefore justly been described as the bloodiest war in
Speaker 1: England's history. One hundred and fifty towns, fifty villages all
Speaker 1: suffered significant advantages. Ten thousand houses were utterly destroyed, and
Speaker 1: the question on everybody's mind was a courus for what.
Speaker 1: Throughout the course of this Second Civil War, Charles made
Speaker 1: several attempts to escape from where he was being held,
Speaker 1: wh was Carlsbroke Castle. He never stopped conspiring, he never
Speaker 1: stopped trying to devise some means of turning his enemies
Speaker 1: against one another and somehow emerging from this victorious I
Speaker 1: think maybe if he would turn those same attentions towards
Speaker 1: pragmatic conciliation at the start of this whole thing, he
Speaker 1: wouldn't have been cooped up in carlsbrook Castle. Still, the
Speaker 1: majority of the members of the Houses of Lords and Commons,
Speaker 1: and of course, together with a large part of the population,
Speaker 1: simply wanted peace and peace at any price. The King
Speaker 1: was therefore taken out of confinement in the castle and
Speaker 1: put up with his friends and servants in Newport, to
Speaker 1: which town the parliamentary commissioners then came. He actually was
Speaker 1: put under a canopy of state with his advisors behind him,
Speaker 1: and the parliamentarians came to see him as though he
Speaker 1: was still the all powerful King of England. At this point,
Speaker 1: Charles was in a mood to make a deal, no doubt,
Speaker 1: because the victory of the New Model Army had effectively
Speaker 1: brought an end to any resistance that he might mount.
Speaker 1: He wished to come to an agreement with Parliament on
Speaker 1: the good grounds and the reality that he simply was
Speaker 1: more afraid at this point of the army than he
Speaker 1: was of the parliamentarians. So within a few days he
Speaker 1: began to concede proposal after proposal, and in return was
Speaker 1: granted a couple of his own. He submitted in a
Speaker 1: large part to the religious demands that the commissioners were making,
Speaker 1: and he agreed to give up control of all of
Speaker 1: the military for a period of two decades. The parliamentary
Speaker 1: negotiators were, of course, no doubt, aware that he could
Speaker 1: renege on these promises whenever he wanted to, but they,
Speaker 1: like the King, had now come to fear the new
Speaker 1: model Army more than anything else, and that was the problem.
Speaker 1: Now the army was growing increasingly impatient with the negotiations
Speaker 1: at Newport, and so in November they drew up what
Speaker 1: they called a remonstrance calling for exemplary justice for Charles.
Speaker 1: The leaders of the army had now begun openly advocating
Speaker 1: for the death of the king. They had also begun
Speaker 1: the march back to London after completing their business against
Speaker 1: the Scots in the North. Now, on the first day
Speaker 1: of December, the King was removed from the Isle of
Speaker 1: Wight and taken to Hurst Cancel on the coast of Hampshire.
Speaker 1: At this point he must have guessed, or maybe even known,
Speaker 1: that all hope was over. The army was now the
Speaker 1: effective master of the Kingdom, and almost surely now was
Speaker 1: going to seek his death. Yet, like Oliver Cromwell, to
Speaker 1: a large extent, he continued to believe that he had
Speaker 1: a destiny, a sense of higher purpose. He believed now
Speaker 1: that he could, if nothing else, become a martyr to
Speaker 1: his cause, and he still believed that this was very
Speaker 1: much a religious cause for him. He was, after all,
Speaker 1: God's anointed. On the nineteenth of December, Charles began the
Speaker 1: journey from Hurst Castle to Windsor, where by order of
Speaker 1: the army officers, he was to be quote secured in
Speaker 1: order to bring of him speedily to justice end quote.
Speaker 1: Yet the nature of what that justice was remained unclear.
Speaker 1: Many in the army didn't wish for Charles to be
Speaker 1: sentenced to death, despite his fierce words about this man
Speaker 1: of blood, this King of England. To this Charles. Oliver
Speaker 1: Cromwell seems to have bonne among those who actually didn't
Speaker 1: favor the death penalty. Charles might now have been so
Speaker 1: chastened and so desperate that he would yield to whatever
Speaker 1: the army He said. There was no reason to put
Speaker 1: him to death the army and I don't know, maybe
Speaker 1: a newly elected Parliament would therefore acquire legitimacy and authority
Speaker 1: if they held both with the agreement of appliant King.
Speaker 1: In the event that he was tried and found guilty,
Speaker 1: he could simply be deposed rather than executed. Charles's death
Speaker 1: at this point was by no means not a necessity,
Speaker 1: and there was another consideration that continued to bother. Oliver Cromwell. However,
Speaker 1: an envoy had been sent to Ireland by the King
Speaker 1: with the goal of raising an army. If Charles could
Speaker 1: be dissuaded from following through with that, then perhaps that
Speaker 1: threat would be eliminated. The prospect of a royalist Ireland
Speaker 1: was enough to persuade Oliver Cromwell to make at least
Speaker 1: one last effort to talk to Charles to see if
Speaker 1: he could bring them around, and so the army leaders
Speaker 1: then sent an envoy to Windsor in order to discuss
Speaker 1: the terms of a possible agreement, but the King refused
Speaker 1: to see him on the ground that he had already
Speaker 1: quote conceded too much and even so had failed to
Speaker 1: give satisfaction, and he was resolved to die rather than
Speaker 1: lay any further burden on his conscience end quote. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: this last period of obstinacy, if that's what it was,
Speaker 1: this may have been a genuine feeling, of course on
Speaker 1: the part of Charles, But the fact of the matter
Speaker 1: is is the refusal of King Charles to make any
Speaker 1: further compromises persuaded Oliver Cromwell that there was no other option.
Speaker 1: Charles had to be tried and he had to be executed,
Speaker 1: and so on New Year's Day sixteen forty nine, the
Speaker 1: rump Parliament passed without any opposition an ordinance for the
Speaker 1: King's trial, on the grounds that he had contrived quote
Speaker 1: a wicked design totally to subvert the ancient and fundamental
Speaker 1: laws and liberties of this nation, and quote they argued
Speaker 1: that he had tried to make himself a tyrant, that
Speaker 1: it was he who had prosecuted this bloody civil war
Speaker 1: for his own purposes. The Lords rejected the ordinance, however,
Speaker 1: whereupon the Commons simply passed a resolution that the people
Speaker 1: are under God, the original and all just power, and
Speaker 1: that the Commons represents the people. The Commons therefore declared
Speaker 1: themselves to be the supreme power in the state, effectively
Speaker 1: overriding the House of Lords veto and moving forward with
Speaker 1: the trial. Charles was to be brought from Windsor to
Speaker 1: Saint James's Palace on the nineteenth of genuine wary. The
Speaker 1: King was conducted into Westminster Hall and sat down in
Speaker 1: the place provided without the least sign of unease at all.
Speaker 1: All the judges, according to one scribe, were quote fixing
Speaker 1: their eyes upon him, without the least show of respect
Speaker 1: end quote. The Solicitor General then read out the charges.
Speaker 1: Charles actually attempted to stop him, tapping him on the
Speaker 1: shoulder and saying, hold a little. He tapped him with
Speaker 1: a silver tipped cane, but the official didn't pay any attention.
Speaker 1: He tapped him twice more, and when the silver tip
Speaker 1: accidentally came off and rolled across the floor, no one
Speaker 1: picked it up. In fact, a few days later, Charles
Speaker 1: reflected that this was an omen. It was an omen
Speaker 1: of his beheading. It was as though the tip of
Speaker 1: the cane was his very head rolling across the scaffold.
Speaker 1: When the same official later called him a tyrant and trader,
Speaker 1: Charles laughed aloud. He would argue consistently this was illegally possibility.
Speaker 1: A sovereign can't be accused of treason because the meaning
Speaker 1: of treason was to commit a crime against the sovereign.
Speaker 1: Charles had committed no crime against himself. Therefore, how could
Speaker 1: he be guilty of treason? He didn't understand that the
Speaker 1: word now denoted a trespass not against a sovereign in
Speaker 1: terms of a king, but against the new meaning, the
Speaker 1: sovereign power of the country and the sovereign power of
Speaker 1: the country had become Parliament, not Charles. The king's state,
Speaker 1: preserved in all honor and authority, had now actually just
Speaker 1: been turned into the state sans king. After all these recitals,
Speaker 1: the President of the Court asked for an answer to
Speaker 1: the impeachment against him. Charles responded, quote, I would know
Speaker 1: by what power I am called hither end quote. This
Speaker 1: was of course the biggest question, and he added that,
Speaker 1: quote there are many lawful authorities in the world. There
Speaker 1: are robbers and highwaymen end quote. He was questioning the
Speaker 1: legitimacy of the court. We've seen this time and time again.
Speaker 1: We saw it with the death of Mary Stuart, Queen
Speaker 1: of Scott's We've seen it over and over again, and
Speaker 1: we're going to continue to see it actually throughout the
Speaker 1: tumultuous eighteenth century and beyond that. Oftentimes, monarchs, when they're
Speaker 1: called to task, simply respond by calling into question the
Speaker 1: tribunal or whatever the proceedings are. So this isn't anything new.
Speaker 1: Charles is just pulling from an old playbook here. Now
Speaker 1: in this instance, the men at the bench had an answer.
Speaker 1: He was told that he had been brought to trial
Speaker 1: in the name of the people of England in which
Speaker 1: he was and here's the keyword, elected king and from
Speaker 1: that point he would have to answer. Now. Of course,
Speaker 1: Charles responded very quickly to this, stating England was never
Speaker 1: an elected kingdom, but an hereditary kingdom for near these
Speaker 1: thousand years. To an extent. That's true. To an extent.
Speaker 1: That's a little bit of a misleading statement, but you
Speaker 1: get the point. This dialogue, this back and forth continued
Speaker 1: a little bit longer until the parliamentarian simply adjourned the proceedings.
Speaker 1: As the King passed the great sort of justice on
Speaker 1: the clerk's table, he was heard to say, quote, I
Speaker 1: have no fear of that he'd be tested very soon.
Speaker 1: On the second day of the trial, the King once
Speaker 1: more refused to plead guilty or not guilty. He said
Speaker 1: he didn't recognize the authority of the court, and so
Speaker 1: he was ordered to be taken away. As he attempted
Speaker 1: to leave, he said, I do require to give my reasons,
Speaker 1: but was told sir, tis not for prisoners to require.
Speaker 1: This made Charles Goe positively apoplectic, and he called out, sir,
Speaker 1: I am not an ordinary prisoner, which is of course true,
Speaker 1: but these are not ordinary times. On the third day,
Speaker 1: Charles was asked again to plead, and again he refused.
Speaker 1: He said, now it was he, not Parliament, who was
Speaker 1: standing up for the liberties of the kingdom. In fact,
Speaker 1: he was asked to plead forty three times altogether, but
Speaker 1: he would not because he did not accept the authority
Speaker 1: of Parliament over him. On the twenty seventh of January,
Speaker 1: the judges, sitting in the Painted Chamber at Westminster declared
Speaker 1: that the King was a quote traitor, tyrant, murderer and
Speaker 1: public enemy who deserves death by the severing of his
Speaker 1: head from his body end quote. Before the sentence was
Speaker 1: passed upon him in court, Charles argued that the case
Speaker 1: was so serious that it had to be put before
Speaker 1: a joint session of Parliament. Remember the lords weren't there.
Speaker 1: Some of the judges, anxious to be relieved of the
Speaker 1: responsibility of regicide, favored the idea. However, this was when
Speaker 1: Oliver Cromwell, who had been watching the whole proceedings, spoke up,
Speaker 1: shouting out, art thou mad, canst thou not sit still
Speaker 1: and be quiet? The King's proposal was not accepted. After
Speaker 1: the sentence of death was read out. Charles asked permission
Speaker 1: to speak, but was told no, he would have to leave.
Speaker 1: He tried anyway, He said, I may speak after the
Speaker 1: sentence by your favors, or I may speak after the sentence. Ever,
Speaker 1: but at this point he was grabbed rather roughly and
Speaker 1: held away as he was pulled out of the room,
Speaker 1: repeatedly screaming justice, Justice, Justice. Now, of course, in reality,
Speaker 1: the trial and death of King Charles were contrived by
Speaker 1: a small, if committed minority who in no way represented
Speaker 1: the wishes of the nation. In fact, there were some
Speaker 1: foreign ambassaries present to just Dutch ambassadors, for example, who
Speaker 1: pleaded for his life. Sir Thomas Fairfax made a similar
Speaker 1: supplication to the Councilor of the Army. The Prince of
Speaker 1: Wales sent a blank sheet of paper, signed and sealed,
Speaker 1: so that the Parliament could simply write down whatever conditions
Speaker 1: it wanted. He would agree to them to save his father,
Speaker 1: But the pleas were not enough. Cromwell was absolutely convinced
Speaker 1: at this point that the king had to die, otherwise
Speaker 1: there would simply be no safety for themselves or for
Speaker 1: this new Commonwealth. And Cromwell, at this point in the
Speaker 1: Army were completely driving the boat. The last days of
Speaker 1: the King of England, for those around him, were sorrowful.
Speaker 1: On the twenty ninth of January, Charles burned his papers
Speaker 1: and ciphered correspondents. Two of his younger children, Elizabeth and Henry,
Speaker 1: still in the hands of his enemies, were permitted to
Speaker 1: visit him. When they caught sight of their father, they
Speaker 1: both burst into tears. He told his thirteen year old
Speaker 1: daughter that he was about to die a glorious death
Speaker 1: for the liberty of the land and for the maintenance
Speaker 1: of the true religion. He told his ten year old
Speaker 1: son that the boy must not permit the army to
Speaker 1: place a crown on his head. Well his older brothers
Speaker 1: were still alive. The brother replied, quote, I would sooner
Speaker 1: be torn to pieces first. The guards reportedly wept. On
Speaker 1: the last night of his life, which was January the
Speaker 1: twenty ninth, sixteen forty nine, the king reportedly slept soundly
Speaker 1: for about four hours. When he awoke, he told his
Speaker 1: personal servant that, quote, this is my second marriage day.
Speaker 1: He asked for two shirts because he didn't want his
Speaker 1: enemies to think that he was shaking for fear when
Speaker 1: he was cold. When he left Saint James Pallace. Several
Speaker 1: companies of infantry were waiting to escort him to White Home.
Speaker 1: The noise of their drums was so loud that anything
Speaker 1: that the King said could not be heard. He was
Speaker 1: taken to his bed Tramber, where he waited until Parliament
Speaker 1: had passed a resolution prohibiting the announcement of any successor
Speaker 1: to the throne. He refused dinner, but took a piece
Speaker 1: of bread and a final glass of wine, and finally,
Speaker 1: at the appointed time he was escorted to the Great
Speaker 1: Banqueting House. Now this was during the Little Ice Age,
Speaker 1: and it was so cold that the Thames had frozen.
Speaker 1: When Charles stepped out from a window under the first floor,
Speaker 1: the low scaffold was before him. It was draped in black,
Speaker 1: and two executioners were heavily disguised. In fact, still to
Speaker 1: this day, hundreds of years later, no one knows their identities.
Speaker 1: The cavalry stood at either end of the street, and
Speaker 1: arm guards kept back the people. Spectators thronged the rooftops
Speaker 1: in the houses and in the street itself. The king
Speaker 1: tried to speak to them, but they were way too
Speaker 1: far off, so he dictated his last words to a
Speaker 1: shorthand writer and to attendance. Among them was his declaration
Speaker 1: that quote, A subject and a sovereign are clear different things.
Speaker 1: I die a martyr to the people. Then he laid
Speaker 1: down his head upon the scaffold. The Bishop of London
Speaker 1: was there with him, and they had the following exchange.
Speaker 1: There was but one stage more. It is turbulent and troublesome,
Speaker 1: but a short one. You will carry you from earth
Speaker 1: to heaven, and there you will find joy and comfort.
Speaker 1: Charles responded, I go from a corruptible to an incorruptible crown.
Speaker 1: The Bishop had the final word, saying, only you exchange
Speaker 1: and earthly for an eternal crown, a good exchange. One
Speaker 1: blow separated Charles's head from his shoulders. The head was
Speaker 1: held up and then announced in the traditional fashion, the
Speaker 1: head of a traitor. At that moment, according to an eyewitness,
Speaker 1: Philip Henry quote, there was such a groan by the
Speaker 1: thousands and thousands then present as never heard before, and
Speaker 1: desire I may never hear again.