The extraordinary event of 30 January 1649 - a king having his head
severed from his body - was witnessed by thousands of cheering subjects.
News of the king's death on the block at Whitehall was distributed
throughout the realm in reports, ballads and woodcut engravings.
The new
age of commonwealth lasted barely a dozen years. In 1660, Parliament
invited the son of the king they had executed to sit on the throne.
In one
of the great revisionist reversals of history, the republican heroes
of
1649 who had put their names and seals to the king's death warrant
were
regarded in 1660 as regicides. The surviving judges of Charles I were
rounded up and executed in the special manner reserved for traitors:
hanging, drawing and quartering (think of Mel Gibson's end in Braveheart).
Charles the Traitor became Charles the Martyr. His final writings, Eikon
Basiliske, were taken as the words of a saint. His widow queen consort,
Henrietta Maria, had returned her native France in 1644 and only learned
of her husband's death several days after the execution. His eldest
son
was crowned at Scone, Scotland, in 1651, but was forced into exile
after
Cromwell's Roundheads defeated the Royalists at Worcester.
Throughout the 18th century, the Book of Common Prayer prescribed a
form
of service to commemorate this event (as it also did to give thanks
for
the frustration of the Gunpowder Plot and for the celebration of the
Restoration annually on May 29). The running header for the text reads
"King Charles the Martyr." It was not finally removed from the Prayer
Book until the early years of this century, although it had
long since ceased to be used except by particularly loyal followers.
Anyone interested in attitudes to Charles's execution might find it
useful to know exactly how the occasion was remembered in the established
church of the day.
The King's execution is still commemorated each January 30 by a
procession to Le Sueur's equestrian statue at the top of Whitehall
(whence all distances in England are still measured), where a
commemorative service is held.
From the 1752 copy of the BCP, here are some elements of that
prescribed
service, headed:
Morning Prayer opens with three scriptural sentences (Daniel IX, 9-10,
Jeremiah X, 24, and Psalm 143, v2). The Venite is then
replaced by thirty verses selected from the Psalms, Nehemiah,
Lamentations, Genesis, the Book of Wisdom, Deuteronomy, and Revelation,
ordained to be recited as a responsorial psalm between priest on the
one
hand and clerk and people on the other. Then follow the proper Psalms
(Psalms 9, 10 and 11); the proper lessons are 2 Samuel I and Matthew
20
27.
The first collect at morning prayer was then replaced with the two
following collects:
Blessed Lord, in whose sight the death of thy Saints
is precious; We magnify thy Name for thine abundant grace bestowed upon
our martyred Sovereign; by which he was enabled so cheerfully to follow
the steps of his blessed Master and Saviour, in a constant meek suffering
of all barbarous indignities, and at last resisting unto blood; and even
then, according to the same pattern, praying for his murderers. Let his
memory, O Lord, be ever blessed among us; that we may follow the example
of his courage and constancy, his meekness and patience, and great charity.
And grant that this our land may be freed from the vengeance of his righteous
blood, and thy mercy glorified in the forgiveness of our sins: and all
for Jesus Christ his sake, our only Mediator and Advocate. Amen.
The order for the communion service prescribes the two collects given
above. The choice of lessons is particularly interesting: the Epistle
is
I Peter 2, 13-23, starting "Submit yourselves to every ordinance of
man
for the Lords sake, whether it be to the King, as supreme; or unto
governors...," and the Gospel is Matthew 21, 33-42, the parable of
the
husbandmen and the vineyard who slew even the owner's son. On this
day
the sermon is replaced by a reading of the first and second parts of
the
Homily against Disobedience and wilful Rebellion, "set forth by
Authority." Two more special collects then follow, of which the first
seems particularly interesting:
The Collects for Evening Prayer are perhaps the most interesting of
all,
and they complete a sense of movement towards catharsis from the effects
of the King's execution:
Blessed God, just and powerful, who didst permit thy dear Servant, our dread Sovereign King Charles the First, to be (as upon this day) given up to the violent outrages of wicked men, to be despitefully used, and at the last murdered by them: Though we cannot reflect upon so foul an act, but with horror and astonishment; yet we do most gratefully commemorate the glories of thy grace, which then shined forth in thine Anointed; whom thou wast pleased, even at the hour of death, to endue with an eminent measure of exemplary patience, meekness, and charity, before the face of his cruel enemies. And albeit thou didst suffer them to proceed to such a height of violence, as to kill him, and to take possession of his throne; yet didst thou in great mercy preserve his Son, whose right it was, and at length by a wonderful providence bring him back, and set him thereon, to restore thy true Religion, and to settle peace amongst us: For these thy great Mercies we glorify thy Name, through Jesus Christ our blessed Saviour. Amen.
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