Charles I of England
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Charles I of England (19 November 1600 - 30 January 1649) was the King of England and Scotland, of the House of Stuart, from 27 March 1625. He was a son of James I of England. He was married to Henrietta Maria of France.
This king decided that he did not like sharing the work of government with the people who were elected to Parliament. So his answer for this problem was to rule by himself for eleven years, without calling a Parliament. From 1629 to 1640, there was no Parliament. This made him very unpopular with the people, who did not like the different taxes they had to pay directly to the king, since Parliament could not vote to give him any budget. Many also did not like the King's closest advisor, William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, who was trying to force everyone in England to use the same Anglican Prayer Book and stop the many other Protestant denominations that were becoming popular at that time.
When the king and the Archbishop then tried to force a Prayer Book on Scotland, which was even more Protestant, armed rebellion broke out there. Now that the king was at war, he needed more money than he actually had, so he had no choice but to call Parliament again in 1640. The members of Parliament, angry about being left out for 11 years, did not want to vote for giving him money to fight his war, as much as they wanted to talk about what a terrible king he was. So after only three weeks, Charles shut down Parliament again. For this reason, it was known as the Short Parliament.
Without enough money, Charles lost the war badly, and had to pay the Scots even more money that he did not have. This meant that once again he had to call a Parliament, much as he hated to do so. One of the first things they did was vote that the King had to call Parliament, and could not shut them down again. Charles had no choice but to agree. This Parliament is known as the Long Parliament, because it ended up lasting for twenty years, until 1660.
The Parliament and the King then began to quarrel about who was in control of the army. Each side ended up with their own army, and this led to the English Civil War that started in 1642. The army of Parliament got the upper hand in this war, and Charles, after a crushing defeat in 1646, went to the Scots for protection. But they decided to turn him over to Parliament in 1647. Charles escaped at one point and went to the governor of the Isle of Wight for protection, but this was also a bad move because he too was on the side of Parliament and only captured the king again. While he was being held in the castle, Charles made an agreement with the Scots who joined his side, and the fighting started again in 1648. Because he was still making trouble for them even while he was captured, Parliament voted to put the king on trial. This had never been done to a king of England before.
At the trial he was found guilty and was finally put to death by beheading in January 1649. Some of the members of Parliament who were opposed to killing king Charles were purged, and from this time on, what was left of the Long Parliament became known as the Rump Parliament. This Parliament took complete power in England, and there was no new king at all until 1660.
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| Kings of Scots | Kenneth I • Donald I • Constantine I • Áed • Giric • Donald II • Constantine II • Malcolm I • Indulf • Dub • Cuilén • Amlaíb • Kenneth II • Constantine III • Kenneth III • Malcolm II • Duncan I • Macbeth • Lulach • Malcolm III • Donald III • Duncan II • Edgar • Alexander I • David I • Malcolm IV • William I the Lion • Alexander II • Alexander III • Margaret, Maid of Norway |  |
| Guardians of Scotland | William Fraser • Duncan Macduff • Alexander Comyn • Robert Wishart • James Stewart • John Comyn | |
| King of Scots | John | |
| Guardians of Scotland | Andrew de Moray • William Wallace • Robert the Bruce • John Comyn • William Lamberton • Sir Ingram de Umfraville • John de Soules • John Comyn | |
| Kings of Scots | Robert I the Bruce • David II • Robert II • Robert III • James I • James II • James III • James IV • James V • Mary I, Queen of Scots • James VI • Charles I • Charles II • James VII • Mary II with William III until 1694 • William III • Anne | |
