Charles I

(noun)

Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England. Charles's reign was also characterized by religious conflicts. His failure to successfully aid Protestant forces during the Thirty Years' War, coupled with the fact that he married a Roman Catholic princess, generated deep mistrust.

Related Terms

Examples of Charles I in the following topics:

  • Cromwell and the Roundheads

    • However, his son and successor, Charles I of England, did not share his father's personality and engaged in even more tense conflicts with Parliament.
    • Charles I avoided calling a Parliament for the next decade, a period known as the "personal rule" or the "eleven years' tyranny."
    • The first (1642–46) and second (1648–49) wars pitted the supporters of King Charles I against the supporters of the Long Parliament, while the third (1649–51) saw fighting between supporters of King Charles II (Charles I's son) and supporters of the Rump Parliament.
    • The overall outcome of the war was threefold: the trial and execution of Charles I, the exile of Charles II, and the replacement of English monarchy with, at first, the Commonwealth of England (1649–53) and then the Protectorate (1653–59) under Oliver Cromwell's personal rule.
    • Cromwell was one of the signatories of King Charles I's death warrant in 1649, and he dominated the short-lived Commonwealth of England as a member of the Rump Parliament (1649–53).

  • Restoration of the Stuarts

    • Over a decade after Charles I's 1649 execution and Charles II's 1651 escape to mainland Europe, the Stuarts were restored to the English throne by Royalists in the aftermath of the slow fall of the Protectorate.  
    • He tried to rekindle the civil war in favor of the Commonwealth but he was recaptured by Colonel Richard Ingoldsby, a participant in the regicide of Charles I who hoped to win a pardon by handing Lambert over to the new regime.
    • On May 8, it proclaimed that King Charles II had been the lawful monarch since the execution of Charles I on January 30, 1649.
    • Charles entered London on May 29, his birthday.
    • The Indemnity and Oblivion Act, which became law in August 1660, pardoned all past treason against the crown, but specifically excluded those involved in the trial and execution of Charles I. 31 of the 59 commissioners (judges) who had signed the death warrant in 1649 were living.

  • Charles I and the Power to Tax

    • Charles I's attempt to impose taxes not authorized by Parliament contributed to the ongoing conflict between the King and Parliament and eventually resulted in passing the 1628 Petition of Right.
    • In 1625, King James I of England died and was succeeded by his son, who became Charles I.
    • Because of this, the House of Lords rejected the bill, leaving Charles without any money to provide for the war effort.
    • By 1627, with England still at war, Charles decided to raise "forced loans" or taxes not authorized by Parliament.
    • On June 7, Charles capitulated and accepted the Petition.  

  • The First Stuarts and Catholicism

    • Believing that their power is God-given right, James I and his son and successor, Charles I of England, reigned England in the atmosphere of repeated escalating conflicts with the English Parliament.
    • He and his son and successor, Charles I of England, reigned England in the atmosphere of repeated escalating conflicts with the English Parliament.
    • The overall outcome of the war was threefold: the trial and execution of Charles I; the exile of his son, Charles II; and the replacement of English monarchy with, at first, the Commonwealth of England (1649–53) and then the Protectorate (1653–59) under Oliver Cromwell's personal rule.
    • Charles I of England, portrait from the studio of Anthony van Dyck, 1636.   
    • James I of England, Portrait attributed to John de Critz, c. 1605

  • The Spanish Habsburgs

    • When Spain's first Habsburg ruler Charles I became king of Spain in 1516, Spain became central to the dynastic struggles of Europe.
    • After becoming king of Spain, Charles also became Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and because of his widely scattered domains was not often in Spain.
    • Philip II became king on Charles I's abdication in 1556.
    • Charles' father and his mother Mariana were actually uncle and niece.
    • Europa Regina, associated with a Habsburg-dominated Europe under Holy Roman Emperor Charles V of Habsburg (Charles I of Spain).

  • Fragmentation of the Holy Roman Empire

    • In 1516, Ferdinand II of Aragon, grandfather of the future Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, died.
    • In 1519, already reigning in Spain as Charles I, he took up the imperial title as Charles V.
    • At this time, many local dukes saw it as a chance to oppose the hegemony of Emperor Charles V.
    • Charles V continued to battle the French and the Protestant princes in Germany for much of his reign.
    • The empire was dissolved in 1806, when the last Holy Roman Emperor Francis II (from 1804, Emperor Francis I of Austria) abdicated, following a military defeat by the French under Napoleon at Austerlitz.

  • The Pragmatic Sanction

    • The War of the Spanish Succession ensued, with Louis XIV of France claiming the crowns of Spain for his grandson Philip and Leopold I (Holy Roman Emperor) claiming them for his son Charles.
    • In 1705, Leopold I died and was succeeded by his elder son, Joseph I.
    • Six years later, Joseph I died leaving behind two daughters, Archduchesses Maria Josepha and Maria Amalia.
    • The elective office of Holy Roman Emperor was filled by Joseph I's son-in-law Charles Albert of Bavaria, marking the first time in several hundred years that the position was not held by a Habsburg.
    • Maria Theresa's husband was elected Holy Roman Emperor as Francis I in 1745.

  • The Question of Spanish Succession

    • In the late 1690s, the declining health of childless King Charles II of Spain deepened the ongoing dispute over his succession.
    • Ultimately, the main rivals for the Spanish inheritance were the heirs and descendants of the Bourbon King Louis XIV of France and the Austrian Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor, Leopold I.
    • In contrast, no renunciations tainted the claims of the Emperor Leopold I's son Charles, Archduke of Austria, who was a grandson of Philip III's youngest daughter Maria Anna.
    • The signatories, however, omitted to consult Charles II, who was passionately opposed to the dismemberment of his empire.
    • Louis eventually decided to accept Charles II's will and Philip, Duke of Anjou, became Philip V, King of Spain.

  • Rise of the Holy Roman Empire

    • After Charlemagne died in 814, the imperial crown was disputed among the Carolingian rulers of Western Francia and Eastern Francia, with first the western king (Charles the Bald) and then the eastern (Charles the Fat) attaining the prize.
    • After the death of Charles the Fat in 888, however, the Carolingian Empire broke apart, and was never restored.
    • After the death of Charles the Fat, those crowned emperor by the pope controlled only territories in Italy.
    • The last such emperor was Berengar I of Italy, who died in 924.
    • Upon Henry's death, Otto I, his son and designated successor, was elected King in Aachen in 936.

  • Charles X and the July Revolution