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List of regicides of Charles I facts for kids

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Death warrant of Charles I
The death warrant of King Charles I and the wax seals of the 59 commissioners.

Following the trial of King Charles I in January 1649, 59 commissioners (judges) signed his death warrant. They, along with several key associates and numerous court officials, were the subject of punishment following the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 with the coronation of Charles II. Charles I's trial and execution had followed the second English Civil War in which his supporters, Royalist "Cavaliers", were opposed by the Parliamentarian "Roundheads", led by Oliver Cromwell.

With the return of King Charles II, Parliament passed the Indemnity and Oblivion Act (1660), which granted amnesty to those guilty of most crimes committed during the Civil War and the Interregnum. Of those who had been involved in the trial and execution, 104 were specifically excluded from reprieve, although 24 had already died, including Cromwell, John Bradshaw (the judge who was president of the court), and Henry Ireton (a general in the Parliamentary army and Cromwell's son-in-law). Several others were executed, while 19 were imprisoned for life. Property was confiscated from many, and most were barred from holding public office or title again. Twenty-one of those under threat fled England, mostly settling in the Netherlands or Switzerland, although three settled in New England.

There is no agreed definition of who is included in the list of regicides. The Indemnity and Oblivion Act did not use the term either as a definition of the act, or as a label for those involved. "Regicide" has never been a specific crime in English law, and has never been defined in law. Historians have identified different groups of people as being suitable for the name, and some do not include the associates who also faced trial and punishment.

The list has been cited as an early blacklist: the state papers of Charles II (1681) state "If any innocent soul be found in this black list, let him not be offended at me, but consider whether some mistaken principle or interest may not have misled him to vote."

Background

Civil war, the execution of Charles I, the Interregnum and the Restoration

The English Civil War took place between 1642 and 1651. It was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians ("Roundheads", led by Oliver Cromwell) and Royalists ("Cavaliers", led by Charles I) over, principally, political power and authority. There were three main phases to the war: The first (1642–1646) and second (1648–1649) wars pitted the supporters of Charles I against the supporters of the Long Parliament, while the third (1649–1651) saw fighting between supporters of Charles's son—Charles II—and supporters of the Rump Parliament. The war ended with the Parliamentarian victory at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651.

At the end of the first war King Charles I was being held by the Scottish Presbyterian army, who handed him over to the parliamentary forces. In January 1649 a trial was arranged, comprising 135 commissioners. Some were informed beforehand of their summons, and refused to participate, but most were named without their consent being sought. Forty-seven of those named did not appear either in the preliminary closed sessions or the subsequent public trial. At the end of the four-day trial, 67 commissioners stood to signify that they judged Charles I had "traitorously and maliciously levied war against the present Parliament and the people therein represented". Fifty-seven of the commissioners present signed the death warrant; two further commissioners added their names subsequently. The following day, 30 January, Charles I was beheaded outside the Banqueting House in Whitehall; Charles II went into exile. The English monarchy was replaced with, at first, the Commonwealth of England (1649–1653) and then the Protectorate (1653–1659) under Cromwell's personal rule.

Charles II of England in Coronation robes
Charles II was crowned at Westminster Abbey on 23 April 1661, following the Restoration of the monarchy.
Aldersgate Hollar
An old illustration of the Aldersgate, c. 1650

Following the death of Cromwell in 1658 a power struggle ensued. General George Monck—who had fought for the King until his capture, but had joined Cromwell during the Interregnum—brought an army down from his base in Scotland and restored order; he arranged for elections to be held in early 1660. He began discussions with Charles II who made the Declaration of Breda—on Monck's advice—which offered reconciliation, forgiveness, and moderation in religious and political matters. Parliament sent an invitation to Charles to return, accepting the Restoration of the monarchy as the English political form. Charles arrived in Dover on 25 May 1660 and reached London on 29 May, his 30th birthday.

Treatment of the regicides

In 1660, Parliament passed the Indemnity and Oblivion Act which granted amnesty to many of those who had supported the Parliament during the Civil War and the Interregnum, although 104 people were specifically excluded; of these 49 named individuals and the two unknown executioners were to face a capital charge. Charles would probably have been content with a smaller number to be punished, but Parliament took a stronger line, according to Howard Nenner, writing for the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

Execution of Cromwell, Bradshaw and Ireton, 1661
The execution of the bodies of Cromwell, Bradshaw, and Ireton, from a contemporary print

Of those who were listed to receive punishment, 24 had already died, including Cromwell, John Bradshaw (the judge who was president of the court) and Henry Ireton. In 1660, six of the commissioners and four others were found guilty of regicide and executed. In 1662 three more regicides were executed. Some others were pardoned, while a further nineteen served life imprisonment. Most had their property confiscated and many were banned from holding office or title again in the future. Twenty-one of those under threat fled Britain, mostly settling in the Netherlands or Switzerland, although some were captured and returned to England, or murdered by Royalist sympathisers. Three of the regicides, John Dixwell, Edward Whalley and William Goffe, fled to New England, where they avoided capture, despite a search.

Nenner records that there is no agreed definition of who is included in the list of regicides. The Indemnity and Oblivion Act did not use the term either as a definition of the act, or as a label for those involved, and historians have identified different groups of people as being suitable for the name.

Shortly after the Restoration in Scotland the Scottish Parliament passed an Act of Indemnity and Oblivion. It was similar to the English Indemnity and Oblivion Act, but there were many more exceptions under the Scottish act than there were under the English act. Most of the Scottish exceptions were pecuniary, and only four men were executed (all for treason but none for regicide), of whom the Marquess of Argyll was the most prominent. He was found to be guilty of collaboration with Cromwell's government, and executed on 27 May 1661.

Regicides

Commissioners who signed the death warrant

Olever Cromwells Cabinet Councell Discoverd
Illustration in a satirical book from the 1660s. The devil sits with eleven men: nine regicides and two chaplains who supported the execution of Charles I. (Oliver Cromwell;John Bradshaw, Thomas Scott, Colonel Thomas Harrison, Colonel John Barkstead, Cornelius Holland, John Jones, John Lisle, William Say, Hugh Peters, John Goodwin).
't Moordadigh Trevrtoneel (The murderous tragedy); cropped for Cromwell
Anonymously printed Dutch pamphlet attacking the beheading of Charles I, showing Oliver Cromwell with a fox at his shoulder

In the order in which they signed the death warrant, the Commissioners were:

Commissioners whose signatures appeared on the death warrant
Order
Name At the Restoration Notes Ref.
1 John Bradshaw, President of the Court Dead Posthumous execution.
2 Lord Grey of Groby Dead Died in 1657
3 Oliver Cromwell Dead Posthumous execution.
4 Edward Whalley Alive Fled to the New Haven Colony with a co-commissioner, his son-in-law William Goffe, to avoid trial. He was alive but in poor health in 1674, where he was sought by the agents of Charles II but shielded by the sympathetic colonists. He probably died in 1675.
5 Sir Michael Livesey Alive Fled to the Netherlands. In June 1665, he was known to be at Rotterdam, and probably died there shortly afterwards.
6 John Okey Alive Fled to Germany, but was arrested by the English Ambassador to the Netherlands, Sir George Downing. He was tried, found guilty and executed in April 1662.
7 Sir John Danvers Dead Died in 1655
8 Sir John Bourchier Alive Too ill to be tried and died in 1660
9 Henry Ireton Dead Posthumous execution.
10 Sir Thomas Mauleverer Dead Died 1655, but was exempted from the Indemnity and Oblivion Act
11 Sir Hardress Waller Alive Fled to France; later returned and was found guilty. Sentenced to death, but the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. Died 1666 in prison on Jersey.
12 John Blakiston Dead Died 1649
13 John Hutchinson Alive Pardoned in 1660, but was implicated in the 1663 Farnley Wood Plot; he was imprisoned in Sandown Castle, Kent where he died on 11 September 1664.
14 William Goffe Alive Fled to the New Haven Colony with a co-commissioner, his father-in-law Edward Whalley; escaped from being arrested in 1678. Burke's Peerage reports that William Goffe died in New Haven, Ct in 1680.
15 Thomas Pride Dead Died 1658. Posthumous execution alongside Cromwell, Ireton and Bradshaw was ordered but not carried out
16 Peter Temple Alive Brought to trial, sentenced to death but sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. He died in the Tower of London in 1663
17 Thomas Harrison Alive First to be found guilty. Was executed at Charing Cross on 13 October 1660. He was a leader of the Fifth Monarchists, who still posed a threat to the Restoration.
18 John Hewson Alive Fled to Amsterdam, then possibly Rouen. He died in one of those cities in either 1662 or 1663.
19 Henry Smith Alive Brought to trial, sentenced to death but sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. He was held in the Tower of London until 1664 and was transported to Mont Orgueil castle in Jersey. Died 1668.
20 Sir Peregrine Pelham Dead Died in 1650.
21 Richard Deane Dead Died in 1653. Disinterred and buried in a communal pit.
22 Sir Robert Tichborne Alive Brought to trial, sentenced to death but was reprieved. He spent the rest of his life imprisoned in the Tower of London. Died 1682.
23 Humphrey Edwards Dead Died in 1658
24 Daniel Blagrave Alive Fled to Aachen — now in Germany — where he probably died in 1668
25 Owen Rowe Alive Brought to trial, sentenced to death, but died in the Tower of London in December 1661 while awaiting execution.
26 William Purefoy Dead Died in 1659
27 Adrian Scrope Alive Tried, found guilty: executed at Charing Cross on 17 October 1660
28 James Temple Alive Brought to trial, sentenced to life imprisonment on Jersey; he is reported to have died there on 17 February 1680.
29 Augustine Garland Alive Brought to trial, his death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. He died in or after 1677.
30 Edmund Ludlow Alive Surrendered to the Speaker of the House of Commons, and then escaped to Vevey in the Canton of Bern. Died 1692.
31 Henry Marten Alive Tried and found guilty. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and died in Chepstow Castle in 1680.
32 Vincent Potter Alive Brought to trial, he received the death sentence but it was not carried out; he died in the Tower of London, probably in 1661.
33 Sir William Constable, 1st Baronet Dead Died in 1655. His body was exhumed from Westminster Abbey and reburied in a communal burial pit.
34 Sir Richard Ingoldsby Alive Pardoned. Died 1685.
35 William Cawley Alive Escaped to Switzerland, where he died in 1667
36 John Barkstead Alive Arrested by the English ambassador to the Netherlands, Sir George Downing, extradited and executed in 1662
37 Isaac Ewer Dead Died in 1650 or 1651
38 John Dixwell Alive Believed dead in England, he fled to the New Haven Colony, where he died in 1689 under an assumed name.
39 Valentine Walton Alive Escaped to Germany after being condemned as a regicide. Died in 1661.
40 Simon Mayne Alive Tried and sentenced to death, he died in the Tower of London in 1661 before his appeal could be heard.
41 Thomas Horton Dead Died of dysentery in 1649 while serving with Cromwell during the conquest of Ireland
42 John Jones Maesygarnedd Alive Tried, found guilty: executed at Charing Cross on 17 October 1660
43 John Moore Dead In 1649, Moore fought in Ireland against the Marquess of Ormonde and became Governor of Dublin, dying of a fever there in 1650.
44 Gilbert Millington Alive Tried and sentenced to death, but sentence commuted to life imprisonment. Millington spent his final years in Jersey and died in 1666.
45 George Fleetwood Alive Brought to trial and sentenced to imprisonment in the Tower of London. He may have been transported to Tangier. Died c. 1672.
46 John Alured Dead Died in 1651
47 Robert Lilburne Alive Tried in October 1660 and sentenced to death, although this was later commuted to life imprisonment. Died in prison in August 1665.
48 William Say Alive Escaped to Switzerland. Died 1666.
49 Anthony Stapley Dead Died in 1655
50 Sir Gregory Norton, 1st Baronet Dead Died 1652
51 Thomas Chaloner Alive Excluded from pardon and escaped to the Continent. In 1661, he died at Middelburg in the Netherlands.
52 Thomas Wogan Alive Held at York Castle until 1664 when he escaped to the Netherlands; still alive in 1666
53 John Venn Dead Died in 1650
54 Gregory Clement Alive Went into hiding, he was captured, tried and found guilty. He was executed at Charing Cross on 17 October 1660.
55 John Downes Alive Tried, found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. Died 1666.
56 Thomas Waite Alive Tried, found guilty of regicide, and sentenced to life imprisonment. Died 1688 Jersey
57 Thomas Scot Alive Fled to Brussels, returned to England, was tried, found guilty; and executed at Charing Cross on 17 October 1660. Died unrepentant.
58 John Carew Alive Joined Fifth Monarchists. Tried, found guilty; and executed at Charing Cross on 15 October 1660.
59 Miles Corbet Alive Fled to the Netherlands; arrested by the English ambassador to the Netherlands Sir George Downing; extradited; tried; found guilty; and was executed on 19 April 1662.

Commissioners who did not sign

Scutum Regale, The Royal Buckler
Frontispiece to Giles Duncombe's Scutum Regale, 1660, showing scenes representing the Restoration of the English monarchy

The following Commissioners sat on one or more days at the trial but did not sign the death warrant:

The commissioners who did not sign
Name At the Restoration Notes Ref.
Francis Allen Dead Attended several session including the 27 January when the sentence was agreed upon. His name was one of 24 dead regicides who were excepted from the Indemnity and Oblivion Act 1660 (section XXXVII of the act).
Sir Thomas Andrewes (or Andrews) Dead Attended three sessions, including 27 January when the sentence was agreed upon. His name was one of 24 dead regicides who were excepted from the Indemnity and Oblivion Act 1660 (section XXXVII of the act).
Thomas Hammond Dead Attended 14 sessions. He was excepted from the Indemnity and Oblivion Act, allowing the state to confiscate the property that had belonged to him (section XXXVII of the act).
Sir James Harington, 3rd Baronet Alive Escaped and died in exile on the European mainland in 1680. Due to an oversight in the Indemnity and Oblivion Act, although he lost his title, the baronetcy passed to the next in line on his death.
Edmund Harvey Alive He was tried in October 1660, and sentenced to life imprisonment. He died in Pendennis Castle, Cornwall, in June 1673.
William Heveningham Alive Found guilty of treason but successfully petitioned for mercy and was thereafter imprisoned in Windsor Castle until his death in 1678
Cornelius Holland Alive He fled to the Netherlands, then on to Lausanne and Vevey where he died, probably in 1671.
Sir John Lisle Alive Escaped to Lausanne, Switzerland but was killed by the Irish Royalist James Fitz Edmond Cotter (using the alias Thomas Macdonnell) in August 1664.
Nicholas Love Alive Escaped to Hamburg. Died in Vevey, Switzerland in 1682.
Isaac Penington Alive Sentenced to life imprisonment and died in the Tower of London in 1661
James Chaloner (or Challoner) Alive Brother of Thomas Chaloner. He died in July 1660 from an illness caught after being imprisoned the previous year for supporting General Monck.
John Dove Alive He took no part in the trial other than being present when the sentence was agreed. At the Restoration he was contrite and, after making an abject submission to Parliament, he was allowed to depart unpunished. Died 1664 or 1665.
John Fry Dead He was debarred from sitting on the High Court for heterodoxy on 26 January 1649, one day before the sentence was pronounced. His name was one of 24 dead regicides who were excepted from the Indemnity and Oblivion Act in 1660. Died 1657.
Sir Henry Mildmay Alive Tried, stripped of his knighthood and sentenced to life imprisonment. He died in Antwerp in 1664 while being exiled to Tangier.
William Mounson, 1st Viscount Monson Alive Tried, stripped of his titles and property and imprisoned for life in the Fleet Prison where he died in 1673.
Sir Gilbert Pickering, 1st Baronet Alive He only attended two sittings at the trial and he did not sign Charles's death warrant, so he was able to use the influence of his brother-in-law Earl of Sandwich, to secure his pardon, although he was banned for life from holding any office.
Robert Wallop Alive Sentenced to life imprisonment and died in the Tower of London in 1667

Other regicides

Name Office At the Restoration Notes Ref.
Daniel Axtell Officer of the Guard Alive Tried, found guilty of participating in the regicide; executed at Tyburn in October 1660.
Andrew Broughton Clerk of the Court Alive Escaped to Switzerland in 1663. Died 1687.
John Cook Solicitor-General Alive Tried, found guilty of regicide; executed at Charing Cross in October 1660
Edward Dendy Serjeant-at-arms Alive Escaped to Switzerland in 1663; died 1674
Dr Isaac Dorislaus Assistant to the Solicitor-General Dead A distinguished scholar from the Netherlands, he was murdered in the Hague in 1649 by Royalist refugees.
Francis Hacker Officer of the Guard Alive Tried, found guilty of signing the execution order; executed at Tyburn in October 1660
William Hewlett Captain in the Guard Alive Found guilty of regicide at the same trial as Daniel Axtell, but not executed with him.
Cornelius Holland Member of Council of State Alive Escaped to Lausanne, Switzerland at Restoration. Died in 1671.
Hercules Huncks Officer of the Guard Alive Refused to sign the order to the executioners, which Francis Hacker did in his place. He testified against Daniel Axtell and Hacker, and was pardoned. Died in 1660.
Robert Phayre Officer of the Guard Alive Refused to sign the order to the executioners. He was arrested but not tried; released in 1662. Died in 1682.
John Phelps Clerk of the Court Alive Escaped to Switzerland. Died in 1666.
Matthew Thomlinson Officer of the Guard Alive Was appointed a commissioner but never sat in the court. He was pardoned for showing courtesy to the King and for testifying against Daniel Axtell and Francis Hacker. Died in 1681.
Hugh Peter Alive A radical preacher, he was tried and found guilty of inciting regicide; executed at Charing Cross in October 1660.
Anonymous Headsman and assistant Unknown Article XXXIV of the Act of Pardon and Oblivion listed by name 49 of the men mentioned here and also two others who were unnamed and identified as "those two persons, ... who being disguised by frocks and vizors, did appear upon the scaffold erected before Whitehall". This was the headsman and his assistant. Sidney Lee states in the Dictionary of National Biography (1866) that the headsman may have been Richard Brandon.

Others exempted from the general pardon and found guilty of treason

JohnLambert
John Lambert
Name At the Restoration Notes Ref.
John Lambert Alive Lambert was not in London for the trial of Charles I. At the Restoration, he was found guilty of high treason and remained in custody for the rest of his life, first in Guernsey and then on Drake's Island, where he died in 1683/84.
Sir Henry Vane the Younger Alive After much debate in Parliament, he was exempted from the Indemnity and Oblivion Act. He was tried for high treason, found guilty and executed on Tower Hill in June 1662.
Original site of the Mercat Cross, High Street - geograph.org.uk - 1367417
The executions in Scotland took place at the Mercat Cross in Edinburgh, now marked by these pavement setts.

Under the Scottish Act of indemnity and oblivion (9 September 1662), as with the English act most were pardoned and their crimes forgotten, however, a few members of the previous regime were tried and found guilty of treason (for more details see General pardon and exceptions in Scotland):

Actions under the Scottish Act of indemnity and oblivion
Name Fate Notes
Archibald Campbell (8th Earl of Argyll) Executed 27 May 1661. At his trial in Edinburgh Argyll was acquitted of complicity in the death of Charles I, and his escape from the whole charge seemed imminent, but the arrival of a packet of letters written by Argyll to Monck showed conclusively his collaboration with Cromwell's government, particularly in the suppression of Glencairn's Royalist rising in 1652. He was immediately sentenced to death.
James Guthrie Executed 1 June 1661. On 20 February 1661 Guthrie was arraigned for high treason before the parliament, with Earl of Middleton presiding as commissioner. The indictment had six counts; the contriving of the "Western Remonstrance" and the rejection of the king's ecclesiastical authority were, from a legal point of view, the most formidable charges. The trial was not concluded until 11 April. On 28 May parliament, having found him guilty of treason, ordered him to be executed.
Captain William Govan Executed 1 June 1661 (after Guthrie).
Archibald Johnston, Lord Warriston Executed 22 July 1663 At the Restoration Warriston fled to Holland and thence to Hamburg in Germany. He was condemned to death (and stripped of his properties and title) in absentia on 15 May 1661. In 1663, having ventured into France, he was discovered at Rouen, and with the consent of Louis XIV was brought to England and imprisoned in the Tower of London. In June he was taken to Edinburgh and confined in the Tolbooth, and was executed on 22 July 1663.
John Swinton (1621?–1679) Imprisoned Swinton was condemned to forfeiture and imprisonment in Edinburgh Castle, where he remained for some years before being released.
John Home of Kelloe Estates sequestrated In 1661, Home had his estates sequestrated for being with the English Parliamentary army against King Charles II's army at the Battle of Worcester in 1651. After the Glorious Revolution of 1688 the estates were restored to his son George.
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