WEBVTT 1 00:00:20.800 --> 00:00:24.039 Hello, and welcome to Western Sieve the English Civil War 2 00:00:24.280 --> 00:00:28.120 Part three. The Army was now in control, and it 3 00:00:28.160 --> 00:00:31.160 began to take stock of its power and its position. 4 00:00:32.119 --> 00:00:35.399 This was the period in which Oliver Cromwell openly broke 5 00:00:35.439 --> 00:00:38.320 with the King and spoke bitterly against him in the 6 00:00:38.439 --> 00:00:43.039 Army Council. On January the third, sixteen forty eight, the 7 00:00:43.039 --> 00:00:45.880 House of Commons passed the vote of no Address by 8 00:00:45.880 --> 00:00:49.719 a majority of fifty. It was agreed by this that 9 00:00:49.840 --> 00:00:53.560 no more communications or proposals could be put to the King. 10 00:00:54.520 --> 00:00:57.280 Cromwell fully supported the decision on the grounds that the 11 00:00:57.320 --> 00:01:01.719 people should quote not any law longer expect safety and 12 00:01:01.840 --> 00:01:05.599 government from an obstinate man whose heart God has hardened. 13 00:01:06.599 --> 00:01:09.319 The Council of the Army also pronounced that it would 14 00:01:09.359 --> 00:01:12.640 stand by the Kingdom and the Parliament without the King 15 00:01:13.439 --> 00:01:20.680 and against him were inching ever closer to the end. Now, 16 00:01:20.680 --> 00:01:24.519 of course, the King's incarceration for truly incarcerated. Now he 17 00:01:24.799 --> 00:01:30.000 was incensed all those who supported the Royalists. Riots occurred 18 00:01:30.040 --> 00:01:34.439 in old Royalist cities like Ipswich and Canterbury. At the 19 00:01:34.519 --> 00:01:38.200 beginning of April, the Lord Mayor of London sent several 20 00:01:38.239 --> 00:01:41.799 trained bands to disburse a crowd of apprentices and moors. Failed. 21 00:01:42.319 --> 00:01:45.319 The crowd turned on the bands, captured their weapons and 22 00:01:45.359 --> 00:01:49.959 marched off, shouting on behalf of King Charles. Petitioners seeking 23 00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:53.359 the rule of a king again flocked into London from Kent, 24 00:01:53.799 --> 00:01:57.599 Essex and Surrey. The cavaliers were jubilant for the moment, 25 00:01:58.120 --> 00:02:01.640 and Presbyterians once more quickly gained a hole over Parliament, 26 00:02:02.599 --> 00:02:05.920 and so in April the Commons now reversed course and 27 00:02:06.040 --> 00:02:08.280 passed a new motion calling for a treaty with the King. 28 00:02:09.439 --> 00:02:11.960 The signs of civil war were now once more apparent. 29 00:02:12.719 --> 00:02:15.240 The first acts came from Wales, where in April a 30 00:02:15.319 --> 00:02:18.960 Royalist commander occupied near be Tenby Castle, and soon the 31 00:02:18.960 --> 00:02:22.840 whole of South Wales declared itself in Charles's favor. The 32 00:02:23.000 --> 00:02:26.159 Army Council then ordered Cromwell to enter South Wales with 33 00:02:26.199 --> 00:02:29.520 two regiments of cavalry and three of infantry. It took 34 00:02:29.560 --> 00:02:33.240 him six weeks, but Cromwell decisively crushed the rebels. Other 35 00:02:33.280 --> 00:02:37.000 anti parliamentary forces had emerged throughout the country, guided not 36 00:02:37.080 --> 00:02:40.360 really by zeal for the King, as dismayed by the 37 00:02:40.439 --> 00:02:44.639 constant taxes that the parliamentarians were now raising, and the 38 00:02:44.639 --> 00:02:49.960 county committees imposed by Parliament Berrick and Carlisle were taken 39 00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:55.039 by the disaffected. Several received in a surprise attack. Scarborough 40 00:02:55.120 --> 00:02:59.120 declared for the King this represented a serious challenge now 41 00:02:59.240 --> 00:03:01.680 to the authority of Parliament. But this and now we 42 00:03:01.719 --> 00:03:04.960 really are in a second Civil War, as it became known, 43 00:03:05.240 --> 00:03:08.479 ded once more in victory for the New Model Army. 44 00:03:08.520 --> 00:03:10.560 This time the Scottish Army did not cross the border 45 00:03:10.639 --> 00:03:13.120 until July, by which time most of the risings in 46 00:03:13.159 --> 00:03:15.719 England and Wales had been put down by the army's 47 00:03:15.719 --> 00:03:20.000 superior military force. Cromwell dealt with the North and Fairfax 48 00:03:20.039 --> 00:03:22.680 the south. It had not really been a war, but 49 00:03:22.759 --> 00:03:26.599 a series of scattered risings and outbreaks of violence. There 50 00:03:26.639 --> 00:03:29.439 was never really a serious attempt to coordinate what could 51 00:03:29.479 --> 00:03:34.800 have actually been a successful rebellion. Still without any coherent strategy, 52 00:03:35.120 --> 00:03:37.680 these new Royalist rebels were simply no match for the 53 00:03:37.680 --> 00:03:41.120 New Model Army. They had waited vainly, it seemed, for 54 00:03:41.159 --> 00:03:45.319 the Scots until it became too late. The Second Civil 55 00:03:45.360 --> 00:03:48.560 War had a bloody ending on two principal fronts. The 56 00:03:48.599 --> 00:03:50.719 Scottish Army, under the command of the Duke of Hamilton 57 00:03:51.080 --> 00:03:53.639 made a slow progress southward through the rain and wind 58 00:03:53.919 --> 00:03:57.280 of an unseasonably cold summer. Ill trained and much smaller 59 00:03:57.319 --> 00:04:00.439 than the force was expected, It's sustained by no great cause, 60 00:04:00.680 --> 00:04:04.400 and as a consequence, at extremely low morale. The New 61 00:04:04.520 --> 00:04:07.080 Model Army was at least bolstered by the knowledge that 62 00:04:07.159 --> 00:04:10.599 it was fighting a foreign invader. The two sides encountered 63 00:04:10.599 --> 00:04:12.560 each other on a pitch battle near the walls of 64 00:04:12.599 --> 00:04:16.680 Preston on the seventeenth of August sixteen forty eight, in 65 00:04:16.720 --> 00:04:20.199 which the infantry of both sides pressed hard against each other, 66 00:04:21.040 --> 00:04:23.680 but the Scots were eventually pushed back by the superior 67 00:04:23.680 --> 00:04:25.920 discipline of the New Model Army and lost about a 68 00:04:25.959 --> 00:04:29.920 thousand men. Cromwell pursued the remainder of the Scottish Army, 69 00:04:29.959 --> 00:04:33.240 which battered and broken laid down its arms. It was 70 00:04:33.279 --> 00:04:37.759 the first victory in which he enjoyed overall command. All 71 00:04:37.800 --> 00:04:40.480 the remaining loyalists from the southeast had fled behind the 72 00:04:40.480 --> 00:04:43.240 walls of Colchester, where in the middle of June Sir 73 00:04:43.279 --> 00:04:46.680 Thomas Fairfax prepared for a long siege against them. It 74 00:04:46.720 --> 00:04:49.759 was the most inglorious event of the entire Civil War, 75 00:04:49.879 --> 00:04:52.199 as actually five or six historians who write that sentence, 76 00:04:53.879 --> 00:04:56.959 Fairfax had decided to starve the city into submission until 77 00:04:56.959 --> 00:04:59.639 there came a time when the inhabitants, having exhausted the 78 00:04:59.639 --> 00:05:02.839 provision of cats and dogs, were forced to devour soap 79 00:05:02.879 --> 00:05:06.120 and candles. It was reported that the Royalist soldiers had 80 00:05:06.160 --> 00:05:10.240 told the inhabitants to eat their children. The Royalist commander, 81 00:05:10.360 --> 00:05:12.839 the Earl of Norwich, then sent five hundred women and 82 00:05:12.920 --> 00:05:16.759 children out of town. Fairfax refused to receive them, and 83 00:05:16.759 --> 00:05:19.920 with threats, they were driven back behind the walls. By 84 00:05:19.959 --> 00:05:22.800 the end of August, Reduced, as it was said by 85 00:05:22.879 --> 00:05:27.279 Captain Storm without and by Captain Hunger within, the Royalists surrendered. 86 00:05:28.000 --> 00:05:29.759 Two of their commanders were then put in front of 87 00:05:29.759 --> 00:05:33.199 a firing squad. This second phase of the Civil War 88 00:05:33.519 --> 00:05:36.720 was more harsh and intense by the first. No longer 89 00:05:36.720 --> 00:05:40.480 did anybody care about the ideals of mercy. But the 90 00:05:40.519 --> 00:05:43.120 Battle of Preston effectively marked the end of the Second 91 00:05:43.120 --> 00:05:45.839 Civil War and of the turmoil that had just frankly 92 00:05:46.199 --> 00:05:48.920 mangled the kingdom since the king had first raised that 93 00:05:49.000 --> 00:05:52.519 manner almost six years ago. It was calculated that about 94 00:05:52.519 --> 00:05:55.199 one hundred thousand soldiers and civilians died in the course 95 00:05:55.240 --> 00:05:59.360 of the conflict, and that by simple proportion a larger 96 00:05:59.399 --> 00:06:02.160 share of the pow population died that in the Great 97 00:06:02.360 --> 00:06:06.759 First World War of nineteen fourteen to nineteen eighteen. It 98 00:06:06.800 --> 00:06:10.040 has therefore justly been described as the bloodiest war in 99 00:06:10.079 --> 00:06:14.439 England's history. One hundred and fifty towns, fifty villages all 100 00:06:14.480 --> 00:06:20.839 suffered significant advantages. Ten thousand houses were utterly destroyed, and 101 00:06:20.920 --> 00:06:24.600 the question on everybody's mind was a courus for what. 102 00:06:33.199 --> 00:06:36.279 Throughout the course of this Second Civil War, Charles made 103 00:06:36.399 --> 00:06:40.399 several attempts to escape from where he was being held, 104 00:06:41.000 --> 00:06:47.120 wh was Carlsbroke Castle. He never stopped conspiring, he never 105 00:06:47.279 --> 00:06:51.800 stopped trying to devise some means of turning his enemies 106 00:06:52.079 --> 00:06:57.040 against one another and somehow emerging from this victorious I 107 00:06:57.040 --> 00:07:01.720 think maybe if he would turn those same attentions towards 108 00:07:02.240 --> 00:07:07.399 pragmatic conciliation at the start of this whole thing, he 109 00:07:07.439 --> 00:07:13.240 wouldn't have been cooped up in carlsbrook Castle. Still, the 110 00:07:13.279 --> 00:07:17.560 majority of the members of the Houses of Lords and Commons, 111 00:07:17.600 --> 00:07:20.319 and of course, together with a large part of the population, 112 00:07:20.920 --> 00:07:25.519 simply wanted peace and peace at any price. The King 113 00:07:26.000 --> 00:07:29.319 was therefore taken out of confinement in the castle and 114 00:07:29.360 --> 00:07:32.279 put up with his friends and servants in Newport, to 115 00:07:32.360 --> 00:07:36.759 which town the parliamentary commissioners then came. He actually was 116 00:07:36.759 --> 00:07:39.600 put under a canopy of state with his advisors behind him, 117 00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:42.560 and the parliamentarians came to see him as though he 118 00:07:42.759 --> 00:07:48.079 was still the all powerful King of England. At this point, 119 00:07:48.240 --> 00:07:52.439 Charles was in a mood to make a deal, no doubt, 120 00:07:52.519 --> 00:07:56.160 because the victory of the New Model Army had effectively 121 00:07:56.199 --> 00:07:59.120 brought an end to any resistance that he might mount. 122 00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:02.879 He wished to come to an agreement with Parliament on 123 00:08:03.319 --> 00:08:06.519 the good grounds and the reality that he simply was 124 00:08:06.720 --> 00:08:10.439 more afraid at this point of the army than he 125 00:08:10.560 --> 00:08:15.279 was of the parliamentarians. So within a few days he 126 00:08:15.319 --> 00:08:19.959 began to concede proposal after proposal, and in return was 127 00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:23.839 granted a couple of his own. He submitted in a 128 00:08:23.920 --> 00:08:27.319 large part to the religious demands that the commissioners were making, 129 00:08:27.959 --> 00:08:31.160 and he agreed to give up control of all of 130 00:08:31.160 --> 00:08:35.559 the military for a period of two decades. The parliamentary 131 00:08:35.639 --> 00:08:39.440 negotiators were, of course, no doubt, aware that he could 132 00:08:39.679 --> 00:08:44.360 renege on these promises whenever he wanted to, but they, 133 00:08:45.399 --> 00:08:49.120 like the King, had now come to fear the new 134 00:08:49.200 --> 00:08:54.440 model Army more than anything else, and that was the problem. 135 00:08:55.840 --> 00:08:59.919 Now the army was growing increasingly impatient with the negotiations 136 00:09:00.480 --> 00:09:03.519 at Newport, and so in November they drew up what 137 00:09:03.559 --> 00:09:08.960 they called a remonstrance calling for exemplary justice for Charles. 138 00:09:09.720 --> 00:09:13.360 The leaders of the army had now begun openly advocating 139 00:09:13.759 --> 00:09:16.919 for the death of the king. They had also begun 140 00:09:17.320 --> 00:09:20.960 the march back to London after completing their business against 141 00:09:21.039 --> 00:09:24.720 the Scots in the North. Now, on the first day 142 00:09:24.799 --> 00:09:27.960 of December, the King was removed from the Isle of 143 00:09:28.000 --> 00:09:31.919 Wight and taken to Hurst Cancel on the coast of Hampshire. 144 00:09:32.879 --> 00:09:37.320 At this point he must have guessed, or maybe even known, 145 00:09:37.799 --> 00:09:41.240 that all hope was over. The army was now the 146 00:09:41.279 --> 00:09:45.559 effective master of the Kingdom, and almost surely now was 147 00:09:45.600 --> 00:09:50.120 going to seek his death. Yet, like Oliver Cromwell, to 148 00:09:50.159 --> 00:09:53.639 a large extent, he continued to believe that he had 149 00:09:54.039 --> 00:09:59.159 a destiny, a sense of higher purpose. He believed now 150 00:09:59.200 --> 00:10:03.240 that he could, if nothing else, become a martyr to 151 00:10:03.360 --> 00:10:06.399 his cause, and he still believed that this was very 152 00:10:06.440 --> 00:10:09.799 much a religious cause for him. He was, after all, 153 00:10:10.159 --> 00:10:17.120 God's anointed. On the nineteenth of December, Charles began the 154 00:10:17.240 --> 00:10:21.440 journey from Hurst Castle to Windsor, where by order of 155 00:10:21.480 --> 00:10:25.000 the army officers, he was to be quote secured in 156 00:10:25.120 --> 00:10:29.679 order to bring of him speedily to justice end quote. 157 00:10:30.080 --> 00:10:33.360 Yet the nature of what that justice was remained unclear. 158 00:10:34.399 --> 00:10:36.759 Many in the army didn't wish for Charles to be 159 00:10:36.840 --> 00:10:42.240 sentenced to death, despite his fierce words about this man 160 00:10:42.320 --> 00:10:45.679 of blood, this King of England. To this Charles. Oliver 161 00:10:45.799 --> 00:10:50.120 Cromwell seems to have bonne among those who actually didn't 162 00:10:50.159 --> 00:10:55.480 favor the death penalty. Charles might now have been so 163 00:10:55.879 --> 00:10:59.600 chastened and so desperate that he would yield to whatever 164 00:10:59.639 --> 00:11:02.080 the army He said. There was no reason to put 165 00:11:02.120 --> 00:11:05.519 him to death the army and I don't know, maybe 166 00:11:05.519 --> 00:11:10.759 a newly elected Parliament would therefore acquire legitimacy and authority 167 00:11:10.919 --> 00:11:14.320 if they held both with the agreement of appliant King. 168 00:11:15.639 --> 00:11:18.080 In the event that he was tried and found guilty, 169 00:11:18.440 --> 00:11:22.639 he could simply be deposed rather than executed. Charles's death 170 00:11:22.679 --> 00:11:26.120 at this point was by no means not a necessity, 171 00:11:27.639 --> 00:11:33.879 and there was another consideration that continued to bother. Oliver Cromwell. However, 172 00:11:35.159 --> 00:11:37.840 an envoy had been sent to Ireland by the King 173 00:11:38.360 --> 00:11:41.799 with the goal of raising an army. If Charles could 174 00:11:41.799 --> 00:11:46.679 be dissuaded from following through with that, then perhaps that 175 00:11:46.799 --> 00:11:51.120 threat would be eliminated. The prospect of a royalist Ireland 176 00:11:51.279 --> 00:11:55.200 was enough to persuade Oliver Cromwell to make at least 177 00:11:55.720 --> 00:11:59.440 one last effort to talk to Charles to see if 178 00:11:59.480 --> 00:12:03.519 he could bring them around, and so the army leaders 179 00:12:03.559 --> 00:12:06.919 then sent an envoy to Windsor in order to discuss 180 00:12:06.960 --> 00:12:10.799 the terms of a possible agreement, but the King refused 181 00:12:10.840 --> 00:12:13.440 to see him on the ground that he had already 182 00:12:13.519 --> 00:12:17.639 quote conceded too much and even so had failed to 183 00:12:17.679 --> 00:12:22.399 give satisfaction, and he was resolved to die rather than 184 00:12:22.480 --> 00:12:29.039 lay any further burden on his conscience end quote. Unfortunately, 185 00:12:29.679 --> 00:12:34.279 this last period of obstinacy, if that's what it was, 186 00:12:34.360 --> 00:12:37.279 this may have been a genuine feeling, of course on 187 00:12:37.360 --> 00:12:40.519 the part of Charles, But the fact of the matter 188 00:12:40.639 --> 00:12:44.399 is is the refusal of King Charles to make any 189 00:12:44.440 --> 00:12:50.120 further compromises persuaded Oliver Cromwell that there was no other option. 190 00:12:51.159 --> 00:12:55.360 Charles had to be tried and he had to be executed, 191 00:12:57.440 --> 00:13:01.000 and so on New Year's Day sixteen forty nine, the 192 00:13:01.080 --> 00:13:05.000 rump Parliament passed without any opposition an ordinance for the 193 00:13:05.080 --> 00:13:08.759 King's trial, on the grounds that he had contrived quote 194 00:13:09.360 --> 00:13:14.120 a wicked design totally to subvert the ancient and fundamental 195 00:13:14.200 --> 00:13:19.320 laws and liberties of this nation, and quote they argued 196 00:13:19.360 --> 00:13:22.000 that he had tried to make himself a tyrant, that 197 00:13:22.080 --> 00:13:25.879 it was he who had prosecuted this bloody civil war 198 00:13:26.159 --> 00:13:31.039 for his own purposes. The Lords rejected the ordinance, however, 199 00:13:31.600 --> 00:13:36.039 whereupon the Commons simply passed a resolution that the people 200 00:13:36.519 --> 00:13:39.159 are under God, the original and all just power, and 201 00:13:39.200 --> 00:13:44.600 that the Commons represents the people. The Commons therefore declared 202 00:13:44.639 --> 00:13:48.200 themselves to be the supreme power in the state, effectively 203 00:13:48.240 --> 00:13:51.759 overriding the House of Lords veto and moving forward with 204 00:13:51.799 --> 00:13:56.759 the trial. Charles was to be brought from Windsor to 205 00:13:56.840 --> 00:14:01.360 Saint James's Palace on the nineteenth of genuine wary. The 206 00:14:01.480 --> 00:14:04.799 King was conducted into Westminster Hall and sat down in 207 00:14:04.840 --> 00:14:07.720 the place provided without the least sign of unease at all. 208 00:14:08.720 --> 00:14:13.200 All the judges, according to one scribe, were quote fixing 209 00:14:13.240 --> 00:14:16.399 their eyes upon him, without the least show of respect 210 00:14:17.200 --> 00:14:20.960 end quote. The Solicitor General then read out the charges. 211 00:14:21.480 --> 00:14:24.279 Charles actually attempted to stop him, tapping him on the 212 00:14:24.279 --> 00:14:27.240 shoulder and saying, hold a little. He tapped him with 213 00:14:27.320 --> 00:14:30.519 a silver tipped cane, but the official didn't pay any attention. 214 00:14:31.120 --> 00:14:33.600 He tapped him twice more, and when the silver tip 215 00:14:33.679 --> 00:14:37.600 accidentally came off and rolled across the floor, no one 216 00:14:37.639 --> 00:14:41.399 picked it up. In fact, a few days later, Charles 217 00:14:41.399 --> 00:14:44.279 reflected that this was an omen. It was an omen 218 00:14:44.279 --> 00:14:46.480 of his beheading. It was as though the tip of 219 00:14:46.480 --> 00:14:51.039 the cane was his very head rolling across the scaffold. 220 00:14:51.279 --> 00:14:54.679 When the same official later called him a tyrant and trader, 221 00:14:55.080 --> 00:15:00.679 Charles laughed aloud. He would argue consistently this was illegally possibility. 222 00:15:01.200 --> 00:15:04.440 A sovereign can't be accused of treason because the meaning 223 00:15:04.440 --> 00:15:07.440 of treason was to commit a crime against the sovereign. 224 00:15:08.360 --> 00:15:12.799 Charles had committed no crime against himself. Therefore, how could 225 00:15:12.840 --> 00:15:16.919 he be guilty of treason? He didn't understand that the 226 00:15:16.919 --> 00:15:21.399 word now denoted a trespass not against a sovereign in 227 00:15:21.480 --> 00:15:24.559 terms of a king, but against the new meaning, the 228 00:15:24.600 --> 00:15:28.960 sovereign power of the country and the sovereign power of 229 00:15:29.000 --> 00:15:35.519 the country had become Parliament, not Charles. The king's state, 230 00:15:36.159 --> 00:15:39.360 preserved in all honor and authority, had now actually just 231 00:15:39.440 --> 00:15:47.360 been turned into the state sans king. After all these recitals, 232 00:15:47.759 --> 00:15:50.799 the President of the Court asked for an answer to 233 00:15:50.840 --> 00:15:55.480 the impeachment against him. Charles responded, quote, I would know 234 00:15:55.519 --> 00:15:59.240 by what power I am called hither end quote. This 235 00:15:59.360 --> 00:16:02.600 was of course the biggest question, and he added that, 236 00:16:02.720 --> 00:16:06.639 quote there are many lawful authorities in the world. There 237 00:16:06.679 --> 00:16:11.720 are robbers and highwaymen end quote. He was questioning the 238 00:16:11.759 --> 00:16:15.919 legitimacy of the court. We've seen this time and time again. 239 00:16:16.000 --> 00:16:18.879 We saw it with the death of Mary Stuart, Queen 240 00:16:18.919 --> 00:16:21.080 of Scott's We've seen it over and over again, and 241 00:16:21.080 --> 00:16:22.879 we're going to continue to see it actually throughout the 242 00:16:22.919 --> 00:16:28.519 tumultuous eighteenth century and beyond that. Oftentimes, monarchs, when they're 243 00:16:28.519 --> 00:16:33.360 called to task, simply respond by calling into question the 244 00:16:33.399 --> 00:16:36.799 tribunal or whatever the proceedings are. So this isn't anything new. 245 00:16:37.159 --> 00:16:40.840 Charles is just pulling from an old playbook here. Now 246 00:16:41.399 --> 00:16:45.200 in this instance, the men at the bench had an answer. 247 00:16:45.320 --> 00:16:47.399 He was told that he had been brought to trial 248 00:16:47.440 --> 00:16:50.200 in the name of the people of England in which 249 00:16:50.240 --> 00:16:55.000 he was and here's the keyword, elected king and from 250 00:16:55.000 --> 00:16:58.279 that point he would have to answer. Now. Of course, 251 00:16:58.559 --> 00:17:02.559 Charles responded very quickly to this, stating England was never 252 00:17:02.960 --> 00:17:07.920 an elected kingdom, but an hereditary kingdom for near these 253 00:17:07.960 --> 00:17:10.519 thousand years. To an extent. That's true. To an extent. 254 00:17:10.519 --> 00:17:12.960 That's a little bit of a misleading statement, but you 255 00:17:13.000 --> 00:17:16.160 get the point. This dialogue, this back and forth continued 256 00:17:16.160 --> 00:17:20.240 a little bit longer until the parliamentarian simply adjourned the proceedings. 257 00:17:21.200 --> 00:17:23.240 As the King passed the great sort of justice on 258 00:17:23.279 --> 00:17:25.359 the clerk's table, he was heard to say, quote, I 259 00:17:25.400 --> 00:17:28.799 have no fear of that he'd be tested very soon. 260 00:17:30.200 --> 00:17:32.400 On the second day of the trial, the King once 261 00:17:32.440 --> 00:17:35.960 more refused to plead guilty or not guilty. He said 262 00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:38.880 he didn't recognize the authority of the court, and so 263 00:17:39.000 --> 00:17:41.720 he was ordered to be taken away. As he attempted 264 00:17:41.759 --> 00:17:44.200 to leave, he said, I do require to give my reasons, 265 00:17:44.640 --> 00:17:48.279 but was told sir, tis not for prisoners to require. 266 00:17:49.440 --> 00:17:54.680 This made Charles Goe positively apoplectic, and he called out, sir, 267 00:17:54.759 --> 00:17:58.920 I am not an ordinary prisoner, which is of course true, 268 00:17:59.200 --> 00:18:03.960 but these are not ordinary times. On the third day, 269 00:18:04.319 --> 00:18:08.000 Charles was asked again to plead, and again he refused. 270 00:18:08.839 --> 00:18:12.119 He said, now it was he, not Parliament, who was 271 00:18:12.160 --> 00:18:15.960 standing up for the liberties of the kingdom. In fact, 272 00:18:16.000 --> 00:18:19.440 he was asked to plead forty three times altogether, but 273 00:18:19.559 --> 00:18:22.319 he would not because he did not accept the authority 274 00:18:22.359 --> 00:18:26.480 of Parliament over him. On the twenty seventh of January, 275 00:18:26.559 --> 00:18:30.519 the judges, sitting in the Painted Chamber at Westminster declared 276 00:18:30.559 --> 00:18:36.960 that the King was a quote traitor, tyrant, murderer and 277 00:18:37.079 --> 00:18:41.559 public enemy who deserves death by the severing of his 278 00:18:41.680 --> 00:18:47.240 head from his body end quote. Before the sentence was 279 00:18:47.279 --> 00:18:50.640 passed upon him in court, Charles argued that the case 280 00:18:50.680 --> 00:18:52.559 was so serious that it had to be put before 281 00:18:52.759 --> 00:18:55.599 a joint session of Parliament. Remember the lords weren't there. 282 00:18:56.640 --> 00:18:59.200 Some of the judges, anxious to be relieved of the 283 00:18:59.240 --> 00:19:04.000 responsibility of regicide, favored the idea. However, this was when 284 00:19:04.079 --> 00:19:07.200 Oliver Cromwell, who had been watching the whole proceedings, spoke up, 285 00:19:08.000 --> 00:19:13.079 shouting out, art thou mad, canst thou not sit still 286 00:19:13.720 --> 00:19:20.960 and be quiet? The King's proposal was not accepted. After 287 00:19:21.200 --> 00:19:24.640 the sentence of death was read out. Charles asked permission 288 00:19:24.960 --> 00:19:27.759 to speak, but was told no, he would have to leave. 289 00:19:28.839 --> 00:19:31.279 He tried anyway, He said, I may speak after the 290 00:19:31.359 --> 00:19:35.279 sentence by your favors, or I may speak after the sentence. Ever, 291 00:19:36.000 --> 00:19:39.359 but at this point he was grabbed rather roughly and 292 00:19:39.400 --> 00:19:42.240 held away as he was pulled out of the room, 293 00:19:42.279 --> 00:19:49.839 repeatedly screaming justice, Justice, Justice. Now, of course, in reality, 294 00:19:50.119 --> 00:19:53.000 the trial and death of King Charles were contrived by 295 00:19:53.000 --> 00:19:56.720 a small, if committed minority who in no way represented 296 00:19:56.720 --> 00:19:59.799 the wishes of the nation. In fact, there were some 297 00:20:00.240 --> 00:20:05.279 foreign ambassaries present to just Dutch ambassadors, for example, who 298 00:20:05.400 --> 00:20:09.759 pleaded for his life. Sir Thomas Fairfax made a similar 299 00:20:09.920 --> 00:20:12.960 supplication to the Councilor of the Army. The Prince of 300 00:20:12.960 --> 00:20:15.920 Wales sent a blank sheet of paper, signed and sealed, 301 00:20:16.319 --> 00:20:19.119 so that the Parliament could simply write down whatever conditions 302 00:20:19.119 --> 00:20:22.319 it wanted. He would agree to them to save his father, 303 00:20:23.720 --> 00:20:28.480 But the pleas were not enough. Cromwell was absolutely convinced 304 00:20:28.480 --> 00:20:31.759 at this point that the king had to die, otherwise 305 00:20:31.759 --> 00:20:34.680 there would simply be no safety for themselves or for 306 00:20:34.759 --> 00:20:37.839 this new Commonwealth. And Cromwell, at this point in the 307 00:20:37.960 --> 00:20:43.839 Army were completely driving the boat. The last days of 308 00:20:44.119 --> 00:20:47.599 the King of England, for those around him, were sorrowful. 309 00:20:48.480 --> 00:20:52.000 On the twenty ninth of January, Charles burned his papers 310 00:20:52.240 --> 00:20:57.559 and ciphered correspondents. Two of his younger children, Elizabeth and Henry, 311 00:20:57.920 --> 00:21:00.200 still in the hands of his enemies, were permitted to 312 00:21:00.279 --> 00:21:03.839 visit him. When they caught sight of their father, they 313 00:21:03.880 --> 00:21:07.599 both burst into tears. He told his thirteen year old 314 00:21:07.680 --> 00:21:10.200 daughter that he was about to die a glorious death 315 00:21:10.599 --> 00:21:13.680 for the liberty of the land and for the maintenance 316 00:21:13.799 --> 00:21:16.759 of the true religion. He told his ten year old 317 00:21:16.799 --> 00:21:19.000 son that the boy must not permit the army to 318 00:21:19.000 --> 00:21:21.440 place a crown on his head. Well his older brothers 319 00:21:21.440 --> 00:21:25.880 were still alive. The brother replied, quote, I would sooner 320 00:21:25.920 --> 00:21:31.640 be torn to pieces first. The guards reportedly wept. On 321 00:21:31.680 --> 00:21:34.359 the last night of his life, which was January the 322 00:21:34.400 --> 00:21:40.200 twenty ninth, sixteen forty nine, the king reportedly slept soundly 323 00:21:40.319 --> 00:21:43.440 for about four hours. When he awoke, he told his 324 00:21:43.480 --> 00:21:48.119 personal servant that, quote, this is my second marriage day. 325 00:21:48.200 --> 00:21:51.319 He asked for two shirts because he didn't want his 326 00:21:51.440 --> 00:21:53.799 enemies to think that he was shaking for fear when 327 00:21:53.799 --> 00:21:57.319 he was cold. When he left Saint James Pallace. Several 328 00:21:57.319 --> 00:22:00.359 companies of infantry were waiting to escort him to White Home. 329 00:22:00.920 --> 00:22:03.480 The noise of their drums was so loud that anything 330 00:22:03.480 --> 00:22:07.240 that the King said could not be heard. He was 331 00:22:07.279 --> 00:22:10.599 taken to his bed Tramber, where he waited until Parliament 332 00:22:10.599 --> 00:22:14.039 had passed a resolution prohibiting the announcement of any successor 333 00:22:14.079 --> 00:22:17.519 to the throne. He refused dinner, but took a piece 334 00:22:17.559 --> 00:22:20.720 of bread and a final glass of wine, and finally, 335 00:22:21.039 --> 00:22:23.640 at the appointed time he was escorted to the Great 336 00:22:23.640 --> 00:22:27.519 Banqueting House. Now this was during the Little Ice Age, 337 00:22:27.599 --> 00:22:30.200 and it was so cold that the Thames had frozen. 338 00:22:31.440 --> 00:22:34.119 When Charles stepped out from a window under the first floor, 339 00:22:34.400 --> 00:22:37.799 the low scaffold was before him. It was draped in black, 340 00:22:37.839 --> 00:22:42.319 and two executioners were heavily disguised. In fact, still to 341 00:22:42.400 --> 00:22:45.880 this day, hundreds of years later, no one knows their identities. 342 00:22:46.839 --> 00:22:48.920 The cavalry stood at either end of the street, and 343 00:22:49.079 --> 00:22:53.400 arm guards kept back the people. Spectators thronged the rooftops 344 00:22:53.640 --> 00:22:56.759 in the houses and in the street itself. The king 345 00:22:56.839 --> 00:22:58.240 tried to speak to them, but they were way too 346 00:22:58.240 --> 00:23:02.160 far off, so he dictated his last words to a 347 00:23:02.200 --> 00:23:06.480 shorthand writer and to attendance. Among them was his declaration 348 00:23:07.200 --> 00:23:11.359 that quote, A subject and a sovereign are clear different things. 349 00:23:12.400 --> 00:23:16.960 I die a martyr to the people. Then he laid 350 00:23:17.000 --> 00:23:20.799 down his head upon the scaffold. The Bishop of London 351 00:23:20.839 --> 00:23:24.440 was there with him, and they had the following exchange. 352 00:23:24.759 --> 00:23:29.039 There was but one stage more. It is turbulent and troublesome, 353 00:23:29.039 --> 00:23:31.680 but a short one. You will carry you from earth 354 00:23:31.720 --> 00:23:35.000 to heaven, and there you will find joy and comfort. 355 00:23:36.160 --> 00:23:40.720 Charles responded, I go from a corruptible to an incorruptible crown. 356 00:23:41.960 --> 00:23:45.839 The Bishop had the final word, saying, only you exchange 357 00:23:45.880 --> 00:23:51.319 and earthly for an eternal crown, a good exchange. One 358 00:23:51.359 --> 00:23:56.279 blow separated Charles's head from his shoulders. The head was 359 00:23:56.319 --> 00:24:00.240 held up and then announced in the traditional fashion, the 360 00:24:00.279 --> 00:24:04.920 head of a traitor. At that moment, according to an eyewitness, 361 00:24:05.119 --> 00:24:09.400 Philip Henry quote, there was such a groan by the 362 00:24:09.440 --> 00:24:14.039 thousands and thousands then present as never heard before, and 363 00:24:14.119 --> 00:24:17.359 desire I may never hear again.