On 30 January 1649, Charles I was beheaded.
Charles I ascended the throne at the age of 25, after a sickly childhood. He became an excellent cavalryman and acted decisively as king. Poor governance (a tradition inherited from his father) was the basis of the conflict with Parliament, the future Civil War and the execution of Charles.
Charles inherited his father's ongoing economic problems. Parliament refused to grant subsidies to the king after he ignored the complaints of the nobles. The enormous and negative influence of George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, which was not approved by the nation, led to great discontent. The murder of the Duke of Buckingham in 1628 caused satisfaction among the upper aristocracy. Between 1625 and 1629, Parliament was summoned and dissolved three times, but then it was not summoned for 11 years, and the king ruled alone. Charles financed his rule by selling trade monopolies and by levying a fee on maritime cities for allowing warships into their ports. Charles's marriage to the Catholic French princess Henrietta angered the Puritan nobles, as the queen imposed her own protégés on the government. Henrietta was more interested in her own interests than those of the country.
The Troubles in Scotland ended Charles's 11 years of personal rule and opened the way for the Civil War. Charles attempted to impose the Book of Common Prayer on the Scots, who rebelled. Charles's troops were poorly trained and equipped due to lack of money. This prompted Charles, after an 11-year hiatus, to reconvene Parliament in 1640. However, at the first meeting, irreconcilable differences between the members of Parliament and the king became clear, and Charles dissolved Parliament again. This meeting went down in history as the "Short Parliament". A few months later, the king was forced to reconvene Parliament, but this time Parliament prevailed.
Important decisions were made at the first meeting:
(1) the king was forbidden to dissolve Parliament; (2) the royal ministers came under the control of Parliament; (3) only Parliament could collect taxes.
This Parliament continued to meet until 1660, which is why it was called the "Long Parliament". Charles did not accept the decisions proposed by Parliament, and the conflict escalated. In January 1642, the king tried to arrest some members of Parliament, but failed. The confrontation led to the English Revolution (also known as the English Civil War). Charles led his army against the Parliamentarian forces in 1642 after retreating to Nottingham.
Economic and religious issues divided the two camps. The upper aristocracy faced the peasantry and the petty aristocracy, who supported the rapidly rising middle class and merchants, mainly Puritans. The northern and western counties sided with the aristocracy, while the more densely populated and economically developed southern and eastern counties supported the Parliamentarian forces. It was the greater demographic and financial resources that predetermined the victory of the Parliamentarian troops. The first major battle was in 1642 at Edgehill - both sides claimed victory. Two years later, the Battle of Marston Moor took place, where the Royalist forces were defeated by the Parliamentarians. After this battle, Oliver Cromwell created the so-called New Model Army (the first rear service was organized, through which combat efficiency was increased, troops were more quickly supplied with ammunition and faster assistance was provided to the wounded).
As a result, in 1645, the royal forces were finally defeated at the Battle of Naseby. A year later, Charles allied with the Scots, but they handed him over to Parliament. In 1649, Charles was tried for treason and found guilty with the signatures of 58 of the judges (the special tribunal consisted of 135 judges, of whom only 68 participated in the sessions). On January 30, 1649, by decision of the tribunal, Charles was executed.