Editing Regicide (section)

====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.