Editing Regicide (section)

==History==
In [[Western Christianity]], regicide was far more common prior to 1200/1300.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Bagge|first=Sverre|date=2019|title=The Decline of Regicide and the Rise of European Monarchy from the Carolingians to the Early Modern Period|url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/fmst-2019-005/html|journal=Frühmittelalterliche Studien|language=de|volume=53|issue=1|pages=151–189|doi=10.1515/fmst-2019-005|s2cid=203606658|issn=1613-0812}}</ref> Sverre Bagge counts 20 cases of regicide between 1200 and 1800, which means that 6% of monarchs were killed by their subjects.<ref name=":0" /> He counts 94 cases of regicide between 600 and 1200, which means that 21.8% of monarchs were killed by their subjects.<ref name=":0" /> He argues that the most likely reasons for the decline in regicide is that clear rules of succession were established, which made it hard to remove rightful heirs to the throne, and only made it so that the nearest heir (and their backers) had a motive to kill the monarch.<ref name=":0" />

There is evidence that regicide and the ability of states to keep or even expand their territories are negatively correlated: Firstly, elite violence hindered the development of territorial [[state capacity]], and the killing of rulers also directly resulted in a more likely loss of territory. And secondly, state capacity, reflected by territorial state capacity, could be hypothesized to have had a restraining effect on interpersonal [[violence]]. This would be consistent with Pinker's (2011)<ref>{{Cite book|last=Pinker|first=S.|title=The Better Angels of our Nature: The Decline of Violence in History and its Causes|publisher=Penguin UK|year=2011}}</ref> view that modern state capacity leads to a reduction in violence, both interpersonal and in terms of [[military conflict]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Baten|first1=Joerg|last2=Keywood|first2=Thomas|last3=Wamser|first3=Georg|title=Territorial State Capacity and Elite Violence from the 6th to the 19th century|journal=European Journal of Political Economy}}</ref>

=== Britain ===
Before the [[House of Tudor|Tudor]] period, [[Kingdom of England|English]] kings had been murdered while imprisoned (for example [[Edward II of England|Edward II]] and [[Edward V of England|Edward V]]) or killed in battle by their subjects (for example [[Richard III of England|Richard III]]); Scottish kings had also died in battle against rebels (such as [[James III of Scotland|James III]]) or been assassinated ([[Duncan II of Scotland|Duncan II]], [[James I of Scotland|James I]]); but none of these deaths is usually referred to as regicide.

====Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots====
{{See also|Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots}}
The word regicide seems to have come into popular use among continental [[Catholic Church|Catholics]] when [[Pope Sixtus V]] renewed the [[papal bull]] of [[excommunication]] against the "crowned regicide" Queen [[Elizabeth I of England|Elizabeth I]],<ref>{{cite book |last=da Magliano |first=Pamfilo |date=1867 |title=The Life of Saint Francis of Assisi and a Sketch of the Franciscan Order |location=New York |publisher=P. O'Shea |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=_Kk_AAAAYAAJ&dq=%22crowned+regicide%22&pg=PA631 631]}}</ref> for—among other things—executing [[Mary, Queen of Scots]], in 1587, although she had abdicated the Scottish crown some 20 years earlier.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Emma Goodey|date=2016-02-03|title=Mary, Queen of Scots (r. 1542–1567)|url=https://www.royal.uk/mary-queen-scots-r1542-1567|access-date=2020-08-25|website=The Royal Family|language=en}}</ref> Elizabeth had originally been excommunicated by [[Pope Pius V]], in {{lang|la|[[Regnans in Excelsis]]}}, for converting England to [[Protestantism]] after the reign of [[Mary I of England]].

====Execution of Charles I of England====
{{See also|Execution of Charles I|List of regicides of Charles I|High Court of Justice for the trial of Charles I}}

After the [[English Civil War#First English Civil War (1642–1646)|First English Civil War]], King [[Charles I of England|Charles I]] was a prisoner of the [[roundhead|Parliamentarian]]s. The Parliamentarians attempted to negotiate a compromise with him, but he stuck steadfastly to his view that he was King by [[Divine Right of Kings|divine right]] and attempted in secret to raise an army to fight against them. It became obvious to the leaders of the Parliamentarians that they could not negotiate a settlement with him and they could not trust him to refrain from raising an army against them; they reluctantly came to the conclusion that he would have to be put to death. On 13 December 1648, the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]] broke off negotiations with the King. Two days later, the [[Council of Officers]] of the [[New Model Army]] voted that the King be moved from the [[Isle of Wight]], where he was prisoner, to [[Windsor, Berkshire|Windsor]] "in order to the bringing of him speedily to justice".<ref>{{harvnb|Kirby|1999|p=8}} footnote 9, cites: {{harvnb|Wedgewood|1964|p=44}}</ref> In the middle of December, the King was moved from Windsor to [[St James's Palace]], [[City of Westminster|Westminster]]. The [[House of Commons of England|House of Commons]] of the [[Rump Parliament]] passed a Bill setting up a High Court of Justice in order to try Charles I for [[high treason]] "in the name of the people of England." From a Royalist and post-[[restoration (England)|restoration]] perspective, this Bill was not lawful, as the [[House of Lords]] refused to pass it and it predictably failed to receive the [[Royal Assent]]. However, the Parliamentary leaders and the Army pressed on with the trial regardless.

At his trial in the High Court of Justice on Saturday 20 January 1649 in [[Westminster Hall]], Charles asked "I would know by what power I am called hither. I would know by what authority, I mean lawful".<ref>{{harvnb|Kirby|1999|pp=10,13}} footnotes 12 and 17. "The record of the Trial also appears in Cobbett's  ''Complete Collection of State Trials'',  Vol IV, covering 1640–1649 published in London in 1809. p. 995".</ref> In view of the historic issues involved, both sides based themselves on surprisingly technical legal grounds. Charles did not dispute that Parliament as a whole did have some judicial powers, but he maintained that the House of Commons on its own could not try anybody, and so he refused to plead. At that time under [[English law]], if a prisoner refused to plead, they would be treated identically to one who had pleaded guilty. This has since changed; a refusal to plead is now interpreted as a not-guilty plea.{{sfn|Kirby|1999|p=14}}

Charles was found guilty on Saturday 27 January 1649, and his death warrant was signed by [[List of regicides of Charles I|fifty-nine commissioners]]. To show their agreement with the sentence of death, all of the Commissioners who were present rose to their feet.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Spencer |first1=Charles |title=Killers of the King: The Men Who Dared to Execute Charles I |date=11 September 2014 |publisher=A&C Black |isbn=978-1-4088-5171-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YoVgAwAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref>

[[File:The Execution of Charles I of England.jpg|thumb|A contemporary print depicting Charles I's beheading]]

On the day of his execution, 30 January 1649, Charles dressed in two shirts so that he would not shiver from the cold, lest it be said that he was shivering from fear. His execution was delayed by several hours so that the House of Commons could pass an emergency bill to make it an offence to proclaim a new King, and to declare the representatives of the people, the House of Commons, as the source of all just power. Charles was then escorted through a window of the [[Banqueting House]] in the [[Palace of Whitehall]] to an outdoor scaffold where he would be beheaded.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Pestana|first1=Carla Gardina|title=The English Atlantic in an Age of Revolution, 1640–1661|date=2004|publisher=Harvard University Press|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts and London, England|page=88}}</ref> He forgave those who had passed sentence on him and gave instructions to his enemies that they should learn to "know their duty to God, the King – that is, my successors – and the people".<ref name="kirby-Att-4">{{harvnb|Kirby|1999|p=21}} § "After the trial" ¶ 4</ref> He then gave a brief speech outlining his unchanged views of the relationship between the monarchy and the monarch's subjects, ending with the words "I am the martyr of the people".<ref name="kirby-36">{{harvnb|Kirby|1999|p=21}} footnotes 12 and 35. "The record of the Trial also appears in Cobbett's ''Complete Collection of State Trials'', Vol IV, covering 1640–1649 published in London in 1809. p. 1132."</ref> His head was severed from his body with one blow.

One week later, the Rump, sitting in the House of Commons, passed a bill abolishing the monarchy. Ardent Royalists refused to accept it on the basis that there could never be a vacancy of the Crown. Others refused because, as the bill had not passed the [[House of Lords]] and did not have [[Royal assent|Royal Assent]], it could not become an Act of Parliament.

The [[Declaration of Breda]] 11 years later paved the way for the restoration of the monarchy in 1660. At the time of the [[English Restoration|restoration]], thirty-one of the fifty-nine Commissioners who had signed the death warrant were living. Parliament, with the assent of the new king, [[Charles II of England|Charles II]], enacted the [[Indemnity and Oblivion Act]], giving a general pardon to those who had committed crimes during the civil war and interregnum, but the regicides were among those excluded from it. A number fled. Some, such as [[Daniel Blagrave]], fled to continental Europe, while others like [[John Dixwell]], [[Edward Whalley]], and [[William Goffe]] fled to [[New Haven, Connecticut]]. Those regicides who could be found and arrested were put on trial. Six were found guilty and suffered the fate of being [[hanged, drawn and quartered]]: [[Thomas Harrison (soldier)|Thomas Harrison]], [[John Jones Maesygarnedd|John Jones]], [[Adrian Scrope]], [[John Carew (regicide)|John Carew]], [[Thomas Scot]], and [[Gregory Clement]]. The captain of the guard at the trial, [[Daniel Axtell]], who encouraged his men to [[wikt:barrack#Etymology 2|barrack]] the King when he tried to speak in his own defence, an influential preacher, [[Hugh Peters]], and the leading prosecutor at the trial, [[John Cook (regicide)|John Cook]], were executed in a similar manner. Colonel [[Francis Hacker]], who signed the order to the executioner of the king and commanded the guard around the scaffold and at the trial, was hanged. Concern amongst the royal ministers over the negative impact on popular sentiment of these public tortures and executions led to jail sentences being substituted for the remaining regicides.<ref>page 19 "History Today", February 2014</ref>

Some regicides, such as [[Richard Ingoldsby]] and [[Philip Nye]], were conditionally pardoned, while a further 19 served life imprisonment. The bodies of the regicides [[Oliver Cromwell|Cromwell]], [[John Bradshaw (Judge)|Bradshaw]], and [[Henry Ireton|Ireton]], which had been buried in [[Westminster Abbey]], were disinterred and hanged, drawn and quartered in [[posthumous execution]]s. In 1662, three more regicides, [[John Okey]], [[John Barkstead]] and [[Miles Corbet]], were also hanged, drawn and quartered. The officers of the court that tried Charles I, those who prosecuted him, and those who signed his [[Execution warrant|death warrant]], have been known ever since the restoration as regicides.

The [[Parliamentary Archives]] in the Palace of Westminster, London, holds the original death warrant for Charles I.

==== Britain, 1760–1850 ====
Some people throughout in the 1760–1850 period in England and Great Britain who have been suspected, arrested, and perhaps punished for trying to lethally harm the reigning monarch, which has sometimes been understood to be attempted "regicide", do not appear to have had the intention of actually killing the king or queen.{{sfn|Poole|2000|p=212}} According to Poole (2000), the actions and utterances of English figures such as Nicholson, Firth, Sutherland, Hadfield, Collins, Oxford, Francis and Bean, all of whom tried to get the monarch's attention for some matter, "point more often to physical remonstance after experiences of extreme frustration with an ineffectual petitioning process."{{sfn|Poole|2000|p=212}} Others who did try to kill the ruler did so not in order to replace the monarchy with a republic, but because they hoped that their successor would be a better ruler, and able to address certain issues which, in the would-be assassins' views, the current sovereign failed to properly act on.{{sfn|Poole|2000|p=212}} According to British radical orator [[John Thelwall]] (1764–1834), regicide was simply a means of replacing an unacceptable monarch with a better one.{{sfn|Poole|2000|p=14}}

=== France ===
On 25 June 1836, a Frenchman named Alibaud attempted to assassinate the "[[July Monarchy|July Monarch]]" [[Louis Philippe I]] by shooting him.{{sfn|Poole|2000|p=15}} At trial, Alibaud held the king responsible for the economic ruin of his family, compared himself to [[Marcus Junius Brutus]] (most well known amongst the [[Assassination of Julius Caesar|assassins of Julius Caesar]]), and stated: "Regicide is the right of all men who are debarred from any justice but that which they take into their own hands."{{sfn|Poole|2000|pp=15–16}} He was executed by guillotine.{{sfn|Poole|2000|p=16}}

=== Mexico ===
The separate 19th century executions of two of [[Emperor of Mexico|Mexico's emperors]] were carried out by Republicans.

After the abolishment of the [[First Mexican Empire]], [[Agustín de Iturbide|Agustín I]] was first exiled and on 11 May 1823, the ex-emperor boarded the British ship Rawlins en route to [[Livorno]], Italy (then part of the [[Grand Duchy of Tuscany]]), accompanied by his wife, children, and some servants. After Conservative political factions in Mexico finally convinced Agustin I to return, and unaware of the consequences of a law aimed solely at him, he was taken prisoner by a general he had himself pardoned as emperor. He was executed by firing squad on 19 July 1824. The aftermath of his execution was met with indignation by [[Monarchism in Mexico|Mexican royalists]]. The sentiment of those horrified by the execution was compiled by novelist {{ill|Enrique de Olavarría y Ferrari|es}} in "El cadalso de Padilla:" "Done is the dark crime, for which we will doubtlessly be called [[Parricide]]s."

Later, after the [[Maximilian I of Mexico#Fall of the Empire|downfall]] of the [[Second Mexican Empire]], which saw the reign of [[Maximilian I of Mexico]]—a member of the [[House of Habsburg]], which had previously ruled Mexico as [[New Spain]] from the 16th to 18th century—the Republican forces of [[Benito Juárez]], with aid from the U.S. and sabotage by Colonel Miguel López, captured and executed him on 19 June 1867. Emperor Maximilian's last words were "…May my blood which is about to be spilled end the bloodshed which has been experienced in my new motherland. Long live Mexico! Long live its independence!".

=== Portugal ===
{{Excerpt|Lisbon Regicide}}

=== Iraq ===
{{See also|14 July Revolution}}

On 14 July 1958, at least four members of the ruling Hashemite family (including the King and the Crown Prince) of the [[Kingdom of Iraq]] were killed by revolutionaries of the [[Nationalist Officers' Organization]] under the command of [[Abdul Salam Arif]].

=== Italy ===
King [[Umberto I]] was assassinated<ref>{{Cite book |title=A History of Terrorism |last=Laqueur |first=Walter |publisher=Transaction Publishers |year=1977}}</ref> by Italian-American [[anarchist]] [[Gaetano Bresci]] on the evening of 29 July 1900 in [[Monza]].  Bresci claimed he wanted to avenge the people killed in Milan in the course of the [[Bava Beccaris massacre]].