List of regicides of Charles I

Regicides of Charles I are considered to be the fifty-nine Commissioners (Judges) who sat in judgement at the trial of King Charles I of England and signed his death warrant in 1649, along with other officials who participated in his trial or execution, and Hugh Peters an influential republican preacher.

The tribunal was composed of three hereditary peers, four aldermen of the City of London, twenty-two baronets and knights, three generals, thirty-four colonels, the twelve judges of the High Court (who all declined to serve), three sergeants-at-law and representative members of various principalities and the House of Commons. [http://www.hcourt.gov.au/speeches/kirbyj/kirbyj_charle88.htm The Trial of King Charles I - Defining moment for our constitutional liberties: FOOTNOTE_14] : J de Morgan, "The Most Notable Trial in Modern History" in H W Fuller (ed) The Green Bag, vol xi, 1899, Boston, 307 at 308.]

At the English Restoration in 1660, six Commissioners and four others were found guilty of regicide and executed; one was hanged and nine were hanged, drawn and quartered. In 1662 three more regicides were hanged, drawn and quartered. Some others were pardoned, while a further nineteen served life imprisonment and three already dead at the time of the restoration had their bodies desecrated. [http://www.hcourt.gov.au/speeches/kirbyj/kirbyj_charle88.htm The tral of King Charles I – defining moment for our constitutional liberties] by The Hon Justice Michael Kirby AC CMG, to the Anglo-Australasian Lawyers' association, on January 22 1999.]

Three commissioners, John Dixwell, Edward Whalley, and William Goffe reunited in New Haven, Connecticut in 1661 where the political climate was more congenial. The three died natural deaths in the 1670s. The three regicides are commemorated by three intersecting major avenues in New Haven (Dixwell Avenue, Whalley Avenue, and Goffe Street), and by place names in other Connecticut towns.

Commissioners

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

Others

*Marquess of Argyll Found not guilty of regicide, but guilty of collaboration with Cromwell's government and beheaded 27 May, 1661.
*John 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 in Guernsey for the rest of his life.
*Sir Henry Vane the Younger He served on the Council of State during the Interregnum even though he refused to take the oath which expressed approbation (approval) of the king's execution. At the restoration after much debate in Parliament, he was exempted from the Indemnity and Oblivion Act. In 1662 he was tried for high treason, found guilty, and beheaded on Tower Hill on 14 June 1662

ee also

* Regicide
* Indemnity and Oblivion Act passed by the Cavalier Parliament
* Posthumous execution

References

* [http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld199899/ldparlac/ldrpt66.htm House of Lords Record Office: The Death Warrant of King Charles I]
* [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=13968#s13 Proclamation for apprehending the late King's Judges] (4 June 1660)
*John Raithby (ed. 1819), Statutes of the Realm: volume 5: 1628-80 (1819), pp. 226-234. [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=47259 Charles II, 1660: An Act of Free and Generall Pardon Indempnity and Oblivion] , [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=47259#s34 XXXIV. Persons excepted by Name who were concerned in the Murder of King Charles I] , Date accessed: 18 February 2008.
* " [http://www.hcourt.gov.au/speeches/kirbyj/kirbyj_charle88.htm The Trial of King Charles I - Defining moment for our constitutional liberties] " by the Hon Justice Michael Kirby AC CMG, to the Anglo-Australasian Lawyers' association, on January 22 1999.
* [http://www.british-civil-wars.co.uk/biog/regicides.htm Complete list of the regicides of Charles I] (www.British-civil-wars.co.uk)

Further reading

* [http://www.axtellfamily.org/axfamous/regicide/RegicideNumber.htm How many Regicides?]
*Regicides Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

Footnotes