(1603-1642)
King of England. Charles was determined to put into practice his father James’ theories about divine rights of kings. No law and no parliament would restrain him and to make matters worse in the eyes of the Puritans, his wife, Henrietta Maria, was a French Roman Catholic princess. Charles reintroduced stained glass windows, crosses, even crucifixes. They elevated the Communion table and called it an altar and they insisted that worship be conducted according tho the Prayer Book and no other. He eventually tried to force his high church brand of Anglican religion upon the Presbyterian Scots. When the Parliamentarians beheaded his Archbishop Laud, Charles tried to punish the leaders of this opposition and civil war erupted. By 1646 Oliver Cromwell’s Parliamentary army forced Charles to surrender. Eventually resentment against Charles broke out anew and in 1648 another war erupted. Finally in January of 1649 the king was tried and executed before an assembled throng in front of the royal palace of Whitehall in London.
[tags]BlogRodent, Charles-I, church-history, ChurchRodent, history, James, Oliver-Cromwell[/tags]
