The Student Room Group
Uni students - Complete our survey >>
Uni students - Complete our survey >>
Uni students - Complete our survey >>

Did King Charles deserve to die?

i reckon he did. OK, people will say who deserves to die, but then he caused the war, and had to be held to account somehow.

Parliament tried to reason with him, and offer concessions, but he wouldn't budge.

And he had personal rule, which was against the constitution.

I do admit though his trial was just a sham trial, as he had no real defence, and he had a point because nobody could really try a King. Could things have changed had he remained alive?
"One cannot reign innocently: the insanity of doing so is evident. Every king is a rebel and a usurper....As for me, I see no middle ground: this man must reign or die! He oppressed a free nation; he declared himself its enemy; he abused the laws: he must die to assure the repose of the people, since it was in his mind to crush the people to assure his own.”
- Louis Antoine de Saint-Just, at the trial of Louis XVI
i miss his triangular face
No but Cromwell did.

[video="youtube;UN55RceP41c"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UN55RceP41c[/video]
I don't think he deserved to die. He was a good king in many ways, but also quite stiff-necked and inflexible. His Personal Rule in the 1630s was far less controversial in England than many actually think, but his ability to seize defeat from the jaws of victory when it came to the political clashes of 1640-2 were most unfortunate.

The question of who was 'right' in the Civil War is complex. The King and Parliament equally were right and wrong on certain points, and on others overemphasised their cause and inflated grievances and excuses. I think, for the development of our constitution as it now stands, it's good that Parliament won.

But for the killing of the King. The difficulty was that he couldn't be expected to honour the settlement that Parliament wanted, and they couldn't let him go free. But nor could they imprison him for life, as that would leave an eternal mark on Parliament's legitimacy. Something had to give, and the extremists in Parliament took the initiative, setting up a sham trial in violation to the law of the land.

He didn't deserve to die, but his death was inevitable with a parliamentary victory, I believe. Suffice to say, the Republic was a failure and the monarchy was - thankfully - restored.

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you