Charles I Executed
After losing the English Civil War to Parliament's New Model Army, Charles I was tried by a special High Court of Justice established by the Rump Parliament. He was charged with treason for waging war against his own people. 59 commissioners signed the death warrant. He was beheaded outside the Banqueting House in Whitehall at around 2pm on January 30, 1649. He was the first reigning European monarch to be publicly executed by his subjects after a legal trial. The precedent was unforgettable, even after the monarchy was restored in 1660.
Charles refused to recognize the court's authority to try him, arguing that no earthly body had jurisdiction over a king. The court recorded his refusal and proceeded anyway. The precedent mattered more than the verdict.
02 · The Sovereign Crown
As the Church's political grip weakened, kings claimed the mandate directly. 'Divine right of kings' held that monarchs were accountable only to God — not to popes, and certainly not to parliaments. It worked until it didn't.
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