King Charles I
1600 – 1649 · Generation XXVI · King of England, Scotland and Ireland (r. 1625–1649) · House of Stuart
Charles I Stuart (1600–1649). King of England, Scotland and Ireland (r. 1625–1649). Married Henrietta Maria of France in 1625. Lost the Civil War and was beheaded at Whitehall — the only English king executed by his own subjects. Heir only after his elder brother Henry Frederick died in 1612, he ruled convinced of the divine right of kings and answerable, as he saw it, to his own conscience. Taxes levied without Parliament’s consent, high-church policies and a Catholic queen turned Puritans and Scottish Covenanters against him, and his attempt to force Anglican practice on the Church of Scotland ignited the Bishops’ Wars that helped precipitate his fall. Beaten by the New Model Army in 1645, he surrendered to the Scots, was handed to Parliament, and refused every demand for a constitutional monarchy, allying with Scotland even from captivity. Convicted of high treason, he left an abolished monarchy and a republican Commonwealth behind him; the crown returned to his son eleven years on.
One of 14 people of House of Stuart (from 1371) in this archive. Scotland’s royal house for three centuries before James VI inherited England and wore both crowns.
Line of descent: Owen Tudor → Edmund Tudor → King Henry VII → Margaret Tudor → King James V of Scotland → Mary Queen of Scots → King James I → King Charles I.
Parents
- King James I (1566 – 1625)
- Anne of Denmark (1574 – 1619)
Siblings
- Henry Frederick Stuart (1594 – 1612)
- Elizabeth Stuart (1596 – 1662)
Partners
- Married Henrietta Maria of France (1609 – 1669) in 1625 — 3 children together
Children
- King Charles II (1630 – 1685)
- Mary Princess Royal (1631 – 1660)
- King James II (1633 – 1701)
Life
- 1600 — Born
- 1625 — Married Henrietta Maria of France
- 1625 — Charles I succeeds his father, James I.
- 1626 — Parliament attempts to impeach the Duke of Buckingham and is dissolved by Charles.
- 1628 — The Petition of Right a declaration of the “rights and liberties of the subject\" is presented to the King, who agrees to it under protest.
- 1629 — Charles dissolves Parliament and rules by himself until 1640.
- 1637 — Charles tries to force new prayer book on Scots, who resist by signing the National Covenant.
- 1640 — Charles summons the Short Parliament, which he dissolves three weeks later when it refuses to grant him money.
- 1642 — Charles fails in his attempt to arrest five MPs.
- 1642 — Outbreak of Civil War. Charles raises his standard at Nottingham. The Royalists win a tactical victory the Parliamentary army at the Battle of Edgehill but the outcome is inconclusive.
- 1646 — Charles surrenders to the Scots, who hand him over to Parliament.
- 1647 — Charles escapes to the Isle of Wight but is captured. He is tried by Parliament and found guilty of high treason.
- 1648 — A Scots army supporting Charles is defeated at Preston.
- 1649 — Died
- 1649 — Charles I is executed. There follows 11 years of rule by Parliament as the Commonwealth under Cromwell.