Charles I

Charles I (1600-1649) was king of England, third son of James I, born at Dunfermline. Failing in his suit for the Infanta of Spain, married Henrietta Maria, a French princess, a devoted Catholic, who had great influence over him, but not for good. He had for public advisers Strafford and Laud, who cherished in him ideas of absolute power adverse to the liberty of the subject. Acting on these ideas brought him into collision with the Parliament, and provoked a civil war. Himself the first to throw down the gauntlet by raising the royal standard at Nottingham, in the end of which he surrendered himself to the Scots army at Newark, who delivered him to the Parliament. He was tried as a traitor to his country, condemned to death, and beheaded on January 30, 1649 at Whitehall.

Nearby pages
Charles II, Charles II the king of England, Charles III, Charles Isaac Elton, Charles IV