King Charles the Martyr

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King Charles the Martyr
St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, England
Feast30 January
PatronageSociety of King Charles the Martyr

King Charles the Martyr, or Charles, King and Martyr, is a title of

Anglo-Catholic societies, including the Society of King Charles the Martyr founded in 1894 and the Royal Martyr Church Union
founded in 1906.

Reign

Main article: Charles I of England

Charles I, head of the

Roman Catholicism. The Parliament of England objected both to Charles's religious policies and to his Personal Rule from 1629 to 1640, during which he never summoned Parliament. These disputes contributed to the English Civil War
.

Trial and execution

See also:
High Court of Justice for the trial of Charles I and Execution of Charles I

After the royalists were defeated by the Parliamentarians, Charles was

absolute monarch rather than in combination with Parliament; with fighting against his people; with continuing the war after the defeat of his forces (the Second English Civil War); with conspiring after defeat to promote yet another continuation; and with encouraging his troops to kill prisoners of war.[2]
He was sentenced to death.

There is some historical debate over the identity of the man who beheaded the King, who was masked at the scene. It is known the regicides approached Richard Brandon, the common Hangman of London, but that he refused, and contemporary sources do not generally identify him as the King's headsman. Ellis's Historical Inquiries, however, name him as the executioner, reporting that he stated so before dying.[citation needed] It is possible he relented and agreed to do the deed, but there are others who have been identified. William Hewlett was tried for the murder after the Restoration and convicted. In 1661, two people identified as "Dayborne and Bickerstaffe" were arrested but then discharged. Henry Walker, a revolutionary journalist, or his brother William, were suspected but never charged. Various local legends around England name local figures.

According to

Philip Henry, the decapitation was greeted by a moan from the assembled crowd, some of whom then dipped their handkerchiefs in Charles' blood, thus starting the cult of the Martyr King. Henry was a royalist propagandist; neither Samuel Pepys nor any other eyewitness source corroborates him.[3]

It was common practice for the head of a traitor to be held up and exhibited to the crowd with the words "Behold the head of a traitor!" Although Charles's head was exhibited, the words were not used. In an unprecedented gesture, one of the prominent leaders of the revolutionaries,

St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle. The King's son, King Charles II
, later planned an elaborate royal mausoleum which was never built.

Martyrdom

The Eikon Basilike, a purported spiritual autobiography attributed to Charles I, published days after his execution

Charles is regarded by many members of the Church of England as a

episcopacy in the Church of England. It is said he refused, however, believing that the Church of England was truly "Catholic" and should maintain the Catholic episcopate. His designation in the Church of England's calendar is "Charles, King and Martyr, 1649".[1] Mandell Creighton, Bishop of London, wrote "Had Charles been willing to abandon the Church and give up episcopacy, he might have saved his throne and his life. But on this point Charles stood firm: for this he died, and by dying saved it for the future." In fact, Charles had already made an Engagement with the Scots to introduce Presbyterianism in England for three years in return for the aid of Scots forces in the Second English Civil War.[5]

Both high church Anglicans and royalists fashioned an image of martyrdom,

Restoration of the monarchy the Church of England's Convocations of Canterbury and York added the date of Charles's martyrdom to its liturgical calendar[7] (Lesser Festival).[8]

Observance

The Calendar of the Book of Common Prayer included among the

Victoria annexed special services for these days to the Prayer Book by royal mandate (approved unanimously by Convocation
). Special sermons were preached, and hundreds of sermons on King Charles the Martyr were printed from the 1660s until the late eighteenth century. The title of the service for 30 January was:

A FORM OF PRAYER WITH FASTING,
To be used yearly on the Thirtieth of January,
Being the Day of the Martyrdom of the Blessed King CHARLES the First;
to implore the mercy of God, that neither the Guilt of that sacred and innocent Blood, nor those other sins, by which God was provoked to deliver up both us and our King into the hands of cruel and unreasonable men, may at any time hereafter be visited upon us or our posterity.

In 1859 the State Services were omitted from the Prayer Book by royal and parliamentary authority but without the consent of Convocation. Vernon Staley in 1907 described the deletion as ultra vires and "a distinct violation of the compact between Church and Realm, as set forth in the Act of Uniformity which imposed the Book of Common Prayer in 1662".[9] Of the three commemorations, only that of King Charles I has been restored in the calendar in the Alternative Service Book of 1980 – although not as a Red Letter Day – and a new collect composed for Common Worship in 2000.[10] The Society of King Charles the Martyr campaigns for restoration in England of the observance to the Book of Common Prayer. It is included in some of the calendars of other Churches of the Anglican Communion.

Dedications

Grace and St. Peter's Church (Baltimore, Maryland)

There are Anglican churches and chapels dedicated to Charles King and Martyr in England, Scotland, Ireland, the United States, Australia, and South Africa.[11] The six in England are:[12]

Other churches include:

  • Charles Church, Plymouth – not dedicated to Charles as martyr; Charles himself demanded it be named for himself for his financial support. Destroyed in the Blitz; only ruins remain.
  • Chapel of the
    Royal Hospital, Kilmainham
    , Dublin, Ireland
  • St Charles, King and Martyr Anglican Church, Huntsville, Alabama, US

Former dedications include the Tangier Garrison chapel in 17th-century English Tangier,[11] and a missionary chapel in Wakkanai established by United States Forces Japan personnel.[11][13]

See also

References

Citations

  1. ^ a b "Worship > Common Worship > The Calendar > Holy Days". Prayer & Worship. Church of England. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
  2. ^ Robertson, Geoffrey (2005). The Tyrannicide Brief. London: Random House. chapter 10.
  3. ^ Rushworth, J. Lockyer, R (ed.). The Trial of King Charles I. pp. 133–4.
  4. ^ Episcopal Church. Diocese of Eau Claire (1978). "annual convention". Journal of the Diocese of EAU Claire. The Diocese. Whereas, as Bishop Creighton in 1895 said, 'Had Charles been willing to abandon the Church and give up the episcopacy, he might have saved his throne and his life, but on this point he stood firm. For this dying, saved it for the future'
  5. ^ "76. The Engagement between the King and the Scots". 26 December 1647. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
  6. ISBN 0-582-07034-1
  7. ISBN 9780191642449
    . In 1660 the convocations of Canterbury and York canonized King Charles.
  8. ^ "The Calendar". The Church of England. Retrieved 2021-04-10.
  9. ^ Staley 1907, pp. 76–77
  10. ISBN 9780715121122.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
    )
  11. ^ a b c "Cult; Churches and Chapels of S.Charles, King and Martyr". SKCM. 2 December 2011. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  12. ^ "Suffolk Churches". www.suffolkchurches.co.uk. Retrieved 2021-02-22.
  13. ^ Hubble, H. Robert (27 September 1959). "Wakkanai Mission". The Living Church. 139 (13). Morehouse-Gorham: 11. Retrieved 15 February 2020.; Hubble, H. Robert (3 January 1960). "Letters; Thoughtful Readers". The Living Church. 140 (1). Morehouse-Gorham: 4. Retrieved 15 February 2020.

Sources

Primary
Secondary

External links

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