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The Men Who Dared to Execute Charles I
Bloomsbury Press
January 2015
On Sale: January 20, 2015
352 pages ISBN: 1620409127 EAN: 9781620409121 Kindle: 1620409127 Hardcover / e-Book
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Non-Fiction History
January, 1649. After seven years of fighting in the
bloodiest war in Britain's history, Parliament had
overpowered King Charles I and now faced a problem: what to
do with a defeated king, a king who refused to surrender? Parliamentarians resolved to do the unthinkable, to
disregard the Divine Right of Kings and hold Charles I to
account for the appalling suffering and slaughter endured by
his people. A tribunal of 135 men was hastily gathered in
London, and although Charles refused to acknowledge the
power of his subjects to try him, the death sentence was
unanimously passed. On an icy winter's day on a scaffold
outside Whitehall, in an event unique in English history,
the King of England was executed. When the dead king's son, Charles II, was restored to the
throne, he set about enacting a deadly wave of retribution
against all those – the lawyers, the judges, the officers on
the scaffold – responsible for his father's death. Some of
the 'regicides' – the killers of the king – pleaded for
mercy, while others stoically awaited their sentence. Many
went into hiding in England, or fled to Europe or America.
Those who were caught and condemned suffered agonising and
degrading ends, while others saw out their days in hellish
captivity. Bestselling historian Charles Spencer explores this violent
clash of ideals through the individuals whose fates were
determined by that one, momentous decision. A powerful tale
of revenge from the dark heart of royal history and a
fascinating insight into the dangers of political and
religious allegiance in Stuart England, these are the
shocking stories of the men who dared to kill a king.
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