Biography of Charles the First Essay Example

Introduction

Charles the first was born on November 19, 1600, in Dunfermline palace Scotland. Charles was the second serving son of James VI of Scotland and Madam Anne of Denmark after Henry, his elder brother. James VI lost many sons before he gave birth to Charles. While growing up, Charles was a suckling child, and when his father became a king of England in 1603, he was left in Scotland for a while because due to his health status he risked the journey of traveling to England. He was devoted to his brother Henry, and in 1612 he was very demoralized when Henry died this made him feel very lonely. One year later before he could accept the death of his brother, his only sister left England to marry Frederick V.

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Charles grew up as a slight stammer, and he had a bright accent of Scots. Charles was less dignified due to his small stature and being that he was timid and reserved. All those who had an opportunity to meet Charles were always impressed by his excellent temper, good manners and his lack of vices.He didn't like traveling and in fewer occasions would Charles mixed with ordinary people. Charles had weaving love for arts, mostly painting and tapestry this made him bought both Van Dyck and another famous painter called Rubens to come to England.

Most of his leisure time Charles could only be spent hunting and with his horses. Charles was very religious and when he became king the character of going to court became less critical as he could ethically solve most of the issues. He believed that kings are chosen by God to rule and govern and for this he had distrust to the House of Commons which he revealed on his earliest surviving letters. He always proved to the people that the House of Commons was very incapable of coming to terms and were not serving the universal need of the people within the kingdom boundaries

Marriage and life

In the year 1623, before becoming the king and inheriting the throne from his father, He was accompanied by Duke Buckingham who was his father favourite, to the land of King Phillip III to marry her daughter but that mission did not succeed. This was because of the arrogance of Buckingham; the Spanish court insisted that Charles was to become a Roman Catholic which he rejected. After that marriage was arranged with Henrietta Maria, who was as a sister to King Louis XIII of French (Cosentino and King, 1977). The friendship between Charles and Harrietta took place when England pro-Spanish policy was replaced by French system. And after going through a difficult time, they both got assimilated to each other, and they formed an extremely close partnership and became devoted to each other. The marriage between Charles and Harrietta was criticised as being political; some people even suggested that Harriet exercised a degree of personal power through the combination of her loyalty, her femininity and her sponsorship of the arts.

Charles Conflicts with the parliament

In the year 1625 in March, during his first meeting with the parliament, there was trouble which arose due to a general distrust of the advisor Buckingham, who had forcefully retained his position with the new king. At this time the Spanish war proving a failure and Charles did not give parliament to give their explanation and understanding of his foreign policy. The antagonism between the House of Commons and Puritans who came to be known as High church party arose in the parliament and due to this; they could not vote him the right to levy tonnage and poundage. And they gave him conditions even though this right was given to the previous kings.As this was not enough the second parliament of February 1626 gave Charles had time. Charles was forced to dissolve parliament when the members tried to impeach Buckingham to treason, who was accused of the failure of a naval expedition against the Spanish port of Cadiz. Charles was very desperate for the fund, and due to this, he imposed a forced loan which to his judges was illegal. Charles was annoyed by the decision of the judges, and on return, he dismissed the chief justice, and he detained the seventy judges who declined to contribute to the bill. His action of anger was widely discussed in the next parliamentary meeting (Lacey, 2003).

Charles was forced to give in to the resolutions which were passed by the House of Commons, that were condemning the arbitrary taxation, and the imprisonment and they set out its complaint in the petition of rights. In January 1629, during the fourth parliament meeting, it found when Buckingham had been assassinated. Charles ordered the adjournment of the parliament, but before the three resolutions could be passed he realized that his action was revolutionary and for the following eleven years as a king he ruled without calling the parliament. The kingdom economy was very demoralizing, and Charles tried the best and even economized the expenditure of the household, he did this in order to pay for the Royal Navy on the port and the island. Charles and his wife Henrietta became very happy for the first time during their married life when he ordered fell her French people to quit Whitehall. This happened after the death of Buckingham, where fallen in deep love with his with his wife.

The religious tradition made the king believe that he was responsible for his actions, this he could only apply to God alone but not to the parliament or the people. He realized that his duty was to serve his people genially and this made the whole community to enjoy his prosperity until 1639 when he joined the war which was fought against the Scots. When the people of Scots signed a national covenant to defend their Presbyterian religion, King Charles decided to enforce to the people his ecclersiasterian with the action of the sword. Following the advice which he was given by the two gentlemen who replaced Buckingham as the closest advisers to king Charles ordered the parliament that he met in 1640, where he raised the money for the war against Scotland. Charles was forced to agree that the existing parliament could not dissolve the issues without the consent Again he accepted the bills which were taking them and declaring ship money other fiscal policies. The majority of the members who were remaining in London sent the king the nineteen propositions; this included that no minister should be appointed without the parliamentary approval and that the army was to be placed under the administrative services.

Charles involvement in the civil war

In September 1642 the head of parliamentarian forces left London for the Midlands and king Charles moved is headquarters to Shrewsbury where he could easily recruit and train many people to join his army (Lyons, 2005). King Charles demanded all respect from his team after he defeated on the battle which was fought at Edgehill which was near Warwick. He gave the team the best encouragement that the king was their both cause, their main quarrel and their captain. And he gave them courage that comes life or death he would bare their company and that their service to the army was very great full both to the living and dying. Unfortunately, in the year 1643, the royal cause and honor for the king prospered, most in the places like Yorkshire Southwest.

In 1634, King Charles was approached by the parliamentarian side to make peace, and it failed, and they concluded the alliance with the Scottish. The king's army was thrashed by the entry of the Scottish army into England. On June 14 highly trained professionals led by Sir Thomas Fairfax and Oliver defeated the king and Prince Rupert at the Battle of Naseby. King Charles was beaten and held up in Northamptonshire where he lived, and he learned how the effects of the quarrels of the New Model Army and the Parliament. After the army matching in London Charles was moved to Hampton Court.

The death of King Charles by execution

King Charles was charged with the high treason and other very high profiled crimes against humanity and the dignity of human being and the law of England. At some given time when he was entirely in power, he had refused to recognize the legality of the court because no king on earth could be charged and tried by any supreme court as he believed that the Lord chose the king. He refused to plead before the court and instead he maintained that he was fighting for the liberty of the people of England. On January 27, his ruling was made, and he was declared traitor, murderer and public enemy. Charles sentence was carried out on a Tuesday morning outside the banqueting hall of the Whitehall. He went bravely to his death filled with courage and still believing that he was a hero of the people. Charles was buried at Windsor a week after his death.

References

Lyons, F. S. L. (2005). Charles Stewart Parnell, A Biography: The Definitive Biography of the Uncrowned King of Ireland. Gill & Macmillan Ltd.

Lacey, A. (2003). The cult of King Charles the martyr (Vol. 7). Boydell & Brewer.Cosentino, A. J., & King, C. B. (1977). The Paintings of Charles Bird King (1785-1862). National Collection of Fine Arts.