Biography of King Charles the First » Biographies » King Charles I King Charles the First, 1600-1649 King of England, Scotland and Ireland whose refusal to compromise over complex religious and political situations led to civil war, his own execution and the abolition of the Monarchy. The second son of James VI of Scotland and Anne of Denmark, Charles Stuart was born at Fife in Scotland on 19 November 1600. His father succeeded Queen Elizabeth I and came to the throne of England as King James I in 1603. Charles was created Duke of Albany at his baptism (December 1600) and Duke of York in 1605. He was placed in the care of Lord and Lady Fyvie until the age of four, then moved to England where he was brought up in the household of Sir Robert and Lady Carey. As a child, Charles suffered from weak ankle joints that slowed his physical development. Attempts were made to strengthen his physique by making him wear heavy boots reinforced with iron. Charles was also slow in learning to speak and never completely overcame a slight stammer.

His education was overseen by Thomas Murray, a Scottish Presbyterian who later became Provost of Eton. Despite his physical disabilities, Charles was a serious-minded student who excelled at languages, rhetoric and theology. Vivat Rex Charles was overshadowed by his brilliant elder brother Prince Henry, to whom he was devoted, but Henry died of typhoid when Charles was eleven years old. With Henry's death, Charles became heir to the throne of the Three Kingdoms: England, Scotland and Ireland. The death of Prince Henry prompted a succession crisis. King James and Queen Anne were too old to have more children and the sickly Charles was not expected to survive to adulthood. A proposal was made that in the event of Charles' death, the succession would pass to James' daughter Princess Elizabeth and her husband the Elector Palatine Frederick V, which would mean the Wittelsbach dynasty acceding to the throne of the Three Kingdoms. However, by strength of will, Charles worked to overcome his physical weaknesses. He followed a self-imposed regimen of hard physical exercises that led to rapid improvements in his health and physique. Charles became a good horseman, excelling at tournament sports and hunting.

He developed sophisticated tastes in the arts and earnestly applied himself to his religious devotions. Created Prince of Wales in 1616, Charles was instructed by King James in every aspect of ruling a kingdom. With a profound belief that kings are appointed by God to rule by divine right, Charles succeeded as the second king of the Stuart dynasty in 1625. Charles came to the throne amid pressure from English Protestants for intervention against Spain and the Catholic powers in the religious wars raging in Europe (the Thirty Years War, 1618-48). He allowed England's foreign policy to be directed by the unpopular Duke of Buckingham , who masterminded a series of disastrous military expeditions against Spain and France intended indirectly to assist the Palatinate . Charles dissolved his first two parliaments when they tried to impeach Buckingham but he was forced to call a third because he needed funds to pursue his warlike policies. In 1628, Charles' opponents formulated the Petition of Right as a defence against the King's arbitrary use of his powers. Charles grudgingly accepted the Petition in the hope that Parliament would grant him subsidies, but in practice he ignored its provisions.

Personal Rule Emblem of the Stuart dynasty After the assassination of Buckingham in 1628, critics in Parliament turned their attention to Charles' religious policy. Resentful of parliamentary interference in matters which he believed were his concern alone, Charles angrily dismissed his third Parliament in 1629. Furthermore, he imprisoned several of his leading opponents, and declared his intention of ruling alone. The eleven-year period of the King's Personal Rule was also described as the "Eleven Year Tyranny". It was initially successful and during the turmoil of the civil wars, many people looked back upon it as a golden age of peace and prosperity. Charles had made peace with Spain and France by 1630. Trade and commerce grew; the King's finances were stable by 1635. This enabled him to commission great works of art by Rubens and Van Dyck, and also to build up the Royal Navy for England's defence. But without Parliament to grant legal taxes, Charles was obliged to raise income by obscure and highly unpopular means including forced loans, the sale of commercial monopolies and, most notoriously of all, ship-money.

Along with Charles' controversial religious policies, these measures alienated many natural supporters of the Crown, including powerful noblemen like Lord Saye-and-Sele , and wealthy landowners like John Hampden . Charles and his advisers made extensive use of the Court of Star Chamber to prosecute opponents. Dating back to the 15th century, Star Chamber had originally been a court of appeal. Under the early Stuarts, it came to be used to examine cases of sedition, which in practice meant that the court could be used to suppress opposition to royal policies. Star Chamber sessions were held in secret, with no indictments, no right of appeal, no juries, and no witnesses. It became synonymous with the King's misuse of his power during the Personal Rule. Religious Strife In religion, Charles favoured the elaborate and ritualistic High Anglican form of worship. He appointed William Laud Archbishop of Canterbury in 1633. Laud insisted upon strict compliance to the established tenets of the Church and vigorously supported the King's claim to divine right.

Laud also made extensive use of Star Chamber and the ecclesiastical court of High Commisson to suppress opposition from Puritans who regarded his high church liturgy as dangerously close to Roman Catholicism. The King's marriage to the French Catholic princess Henrietta Maria also caused consternation amongst English Protestants, particularly as she was allowed to practise her religion openly and freely. In some quarters, Henrietta Maria's influence over the King and the royal children was regarded as part of an international Papist conspiracy against the Protestant faith. Although Charles himself was high-minded and devout, his religious policies were deeply divisive. In collaboration with Archbishop Laud, he insisted upon religious conformity across the Three Kingdoms. This went disastrously wrong when the Anglican liturgy and Laudian Prayer Book were forced upon the Scottish Kirk in 1637, resulting in the creation of the Scottish National Covenant against interference in religion, and the Bishops' Wars between the two nations. In order to finance war against the Scots, Charles was obliged to recall Parliament in 1640, bringing his eleven-year personal rule to an end.

King versus Parliament The strength of feeling against the King's policies in Church and State resulted in vehement criticism and lack of co-operation from the Short Parliament of April 1640 and its successor the Long Parliament . The opposition was orchestrated by John Pym in the House of Commons in collaboration with a small group of Puritan nobles in the Lords. Rather than making a direct political attack, Pym successfully undermined the King's position by blaming the nation's grievances upon the malign influence of his principal ministers Archbishop Laud and the Earl of Strafford . To great popular acclaim, Parliament impeached Laud and Strafford and condemned them to death, with Charles doing little to help them. 1642: The King raises his battle standard In November 1641, news of the Irish Uprising reached London, provoking a crisis over whether King or Parliament should control the army that was needed to quell the rebellion. Against a background of riots and civil unrest, the King and royal family were forced to flee from London in January 1642 following Charles' disastrous attempt to arrest the Five Members regarded as his leading opponents in Parliament.

During the spring and summer of 1642, as King and Parliament appealed for the support of the nation and manoeuvred to gain control of the armed forces, a violent confrontation became inevitable. King Charles raised his battle standard at Nottingham Castle on 22 August 1642, which was his call-to-arms and the beginning of the English Civil War . Ironically, the navy that Charles had built on the proceeds of ship-money declared for Parliament. Having lost London to the Parliamentarians, Charles set up his court and military headquarters at Oxford. Although he lacked military experience, Charles was courageous and always accompanied the Oxford army on campaign. He employed the Scottish veteran Patrick Ruthven , Earl of Forth, as his chief military adviser. However, the Royalist war effort was hampered by arguments and jealousies amongst its senior commanders, with Charles himself frequently indecisive or capricious. He was easily swayed by his counsellors, notably Lord Digby , who was himself conducting a personal vendetta against Prince Rupert.

When the King began shipping government troops back from Ireland as reinforcements in 1643, Parliament mounted a successful propaganda campaign, raising fears of a Catholic conspiracy against English Protestants that greatly damaged the Royalist cause. The combination of Parliament's alliance with the Scottish Covenanters and the formation of the professionally-run New Model Army brought about the defeat of the Royalists in 1645-6. Confinement and Intrigue Charles fled from Oxford in April 1646 as the New Model Army approached the city. He surrendered to the Scottish army rather than to Parliament under secret terms negotiated by Cardinal Mazarin's envoy Jean de Montereul, who hoped to influence a settlement between England and Scotland that was favourable to French interests. Charles attempted to exploit divisions between the Parliamentarians and the Scots, continually involving himself in plots and intrigues with the exiled Henrietta Maria in the vain hope of gaining military help from Ireland and France. He failed to recognise the damage done to his cause in England by his association with foreign powers and Catholics. After Charles refused to accept the terms offered under the Newcastle Propositions , the Scots handed him over to Parliament in January 1647.

The New Model Army—which was itself in disagreement with the Presbyterian faction in Parliament—secured the King in April 1647. 1647: King Charles imprisoned in Carisbrooke Castle Charles was held at Hampton Court Palace, where he continued to play off the Army, Parliament and Scots against one another. He hoped that the monarchy would be seen as a beacon of stability amongst the political turmoil, but his obstructiveness and duplicity in negotiations alienated Oliver Cromwell and other Parliamentarians who had been anxious to reach a settlement. Believing that Army radicals were planning to murder him, Charles escaped from Hampton Court in November 1647. However, he ignored the advice of the Earl of Lauderdale to go north to Berwick where the Scots would support him and went instead to the Isle of Wight to seek the protection of the governor, Colonel Hammond, intending to take ship from there to France. Torn between loyalty to the King and his duty to Parliament, Hammond confined King Charles at Carisbrooke Castle. Refusing to compromise over a settlement with the Army or with Parliament, Charles turned once again to the Scots.

Under the terms of the Engagement signed in December 1647, Charles promised to impose Presbyterianism in England in exchange for a Scottish army to fight against Parliament. The Marquis of Argyll and the Scottish Kirk opposed the Engagement because Charles refused to take the Covenant personally or to impose it upon his subjects, but Argyll's rival the Duke of Hamilton put himself at the head of the Engager army and prepared to invade England. The Scottish invasion and simultaneous Royalist uprisings in England and Wales resulted in the short but bitterly-fought Second Civil War , culminating in Cromwell's victory over the Scots at the battle of Preston in August 1648. Trial and Execution Army officers were furious that Charles could deliberately provoke a second war when his defeat in the first seemed so clear an indication of divine favour to the Parliamentarian cause. Tired of his deceptions and intrigues, the Army denounced King Charles as the "Man of Blood". Parliament was purged of Presbyterian sympathisers and moderates in December 1648 and left with a small "Rump" of MPs that supported the Army.

The purged Parliament appointed a High Court of Justice in January 1649 and Charles was charged with high treason against the people of England. The King's trial opened on 20 January. He refused to answer the charges, saying that he did not recognise the authority of the High Court, but he was found guilty of the charges against him and sentenced to death on 27 January 1649. The King was beheaded on a scaffold outside the Banqueting House at Whitehall on 30 January. 1649: The execution of King Charles I The King's execution shocked the whole of Europe. He was buried on 9 February at Windsor rather than at Westminster Abbey to avoid the possibility of public disorder at his funeral. Charles' personal dignity during his trial and execution had won him much sympathy. His death created a cult of martyrdom around him, which was encouraged by the publication of a book of his supposed meditations during his final months, Eikon Basilike. The ideal of the martyred king helped to sustain the Royalist cause throughout the Commonwealth and Protectorate years. After the Restoration, it was sanctified to commemorate Charles' sacrifice of his life for the doctrine of episcopacy.

King Charles the Martyr is the only saint to be canonised in the Anglican church. To this day, wreaths of remembrance are laid on the anniversary of his death at his statue, which faces down Whitehall to the site of his beheading. Sources BBC - History - James II z James II © James was a Stuart king of England, Scotland and Ireland who in 1688 was overthrown in the 'Glorious Revolution' by William III. James was born on 14 October 1633 to Charles I and his French wife, Henrietta Maria and was named after his grandfather, James I and VI. During the English Civil War he was captured but fled to exile on the continent. He distinguished himself a soldier, returning to England at the Restoration of his brother, Charles II, in 1660. He commanded the Royal Navy from1660 to1673. In 1660, James married Anne Hyde, daughter of Charles II's chief minister and they had two surviving children, Mary and Anne.

In 1669, James converted to Catholicism and took a stand against a number of anti-Catholic moves, including the Test Act of 1673. This did not impede his succession to the throne on Charles' death in 1685. Later that year James faced rebellion, led by Charles II's illegitimate son the Duke of Monmouth. The rebellion was easily crushed after the battle of Sedgemoor in 1685, and savage punishments were imposed by the infamous lord chief justice, Judge Jeffreys, at the 'Bloody Assizes'. Monmouth himself was messily beheaded. This, together with James's attempts to give civic equality to Roman Catholic and Protestant dissenters, led to conflict with parliament. In 1685, James prorogued it and ruled alone. He attempted to promote Catholicism by appointing Catholics to military, political and academic posts. In 1687, he issued a Declaration of Indulgence aiming at complete religious toleration and instructed Anglican clergy to read it from their pulpits. In June 1688, James's second wife Mary of Modena, gave birth to a son, James Francis Edward.

Fearing that a Catholic succession was now assured, a group of Protestant nobles appealed to William of Orange, husband of James's older, and Protestant, daughter Mary. In November, William landed with an army in Devon. Deserted by an army and navy who he had completely alienated, James completely lost his nerve and fled abroad. In February 1689, parliament declared that James's flight constituted an abdication and William and Mary were crowned joint monarchs. In March 1689, James landed in Ireland where, with French support, he raised an army. He was defeated by William at the Battle of the Boyne in July 1690. James died in exile in Saint-Germain in France on 16 September 1701.

House of Stuart | King James I House of Stuart Father: Lord Darnley Henry Stuart Mother: Mary Queen of Scots Born: June 19, 1566 at Edinburgh Castle Ascended to the throne: March 24, 1603 aged 36 years Crowned: July 25, 1603 at Westminster Abbey, also as James VI of Scotland at Stirling Castle on July 29, 1567 Married: Anne, Daughter of Frederick II of Denmark and Norway, on November 23, 1589 Children: Three sons and five daughters, of whom three survived infancy; Henry, Elizabeth and Charles Died: March 27, 1625 at Theobalds Park, Hertfordshire, aged 58 years, 9 months, and 7 days Buried at: Westminster Abbey James was the son of Mary Queen of Scots and her second husband Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley. He was descended through the Scottish kings from Robert the Bruce, and the English Tudors through his great grandmother Margaret Tudor sister of Henry VIII.

His parent�s marriage was short-lived and Darnley was found murdered 8 months after James was born in June 1566. His mother married again, but in 1567 was forced to renounce the throne of Scotland in favour of her infant son. James became King James VI of Scotland aged 13 months in July 1567, and was crowned at Stirling. Mary fled to England where she was eventually executed following Catholic plots against Elizabeth I in 1587. His childhood and adolescence were unhappy, abnormal, and precarious; he had various guardians, whose treatment of him differed widely. His education, although thorough, was weighted with strong Presbyterian and Calvinist political doctrine, and his character � highly intelligent and sensitive, but also fundamentally shallow, vain, and exhibitionist � reacted violently to this. He also sought solace with extravagant and unsavoury male favourites who, in later years, were to have a damaging effect on his prestige and state affairs. A suitable Queen was found for him in Anne of Denmark and they were married in 1589.

As King of Scotland, he curbed the power of the nobility, although his attempts to limit the authority of the Kirk (Church of Scotland) were less successful. When Elizabeth I of England died in 1603 unmarried, James moved to London and was crowned King James I of England the first of the Stuart Kings of the combined crowns of England and Scotland. The English courtiers were wary of his Scottish favourites, affairs with male courtiers and uncouth ways. He was however a supporter of literature and arts. William Shakespeare was among the �Kings Men� troupe of actors who performed plays for their patron James. He commissioned the King James Authorized Version of the Bible, published in 1611, which remains one of the most important English translations of the Bible. He initially acted mainly upon the advice of Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, but on Salisbury�s death all restraint vanished. His religious policy consisted of asserting the supreme authority and divine right of the crown and suppressing both Puritans and Catholics who objected. Guy Fawkes' attempt to blow up Parliament in 1605 produced an anti-Catholic reaction, which gave James a temporary popularity which soon dissipated.

His foreign policy aimed primarily at achieving closer relations with Spain was not liked by Parliament who saw Spain as the Old Catholic enemy of the Armada and competitor for world trade. During his reign the East India Company expanded trade bringing spices from the East, and Jamestown was founded in Virginia. His willingness to compromise politically, even while continuing to talk in terms of absolutism, largely accounts for the superficial stability of his reign. However, the effects of many of his actions were long term, becoming fully obvious only after his death. James and Anne had 8 children only three of whom survived infancy. Their eldest son Henry died aged 18 of typhoid, and their 2nd son Charles became King Charles I. The marriage of their daughter Elizabeth to Frederic V, Elector Palatine and King of Bohemia, was to result in the eventual Hanoverian succession to the British throne.

King James I's Signature Biography of King Charles the Second » Biographies » Charles II Charles II, 1630-85 Exiled after the execution of his father and the failure of his attempts to regain the throne, he was finally invited to return as King Charles II after the collapse of the Cromwellian régime The second and eldest surviving son of King Charles I and Queen Henrietta Maria , Charles Stuart was born in St James's Palace, London, on 29 May 1630. He was placed under the governorship of William Cavendish , Earl of Newcastle. His tutor was Dr Brian Duppa, the dean of Christ Church, Oxford, a protégé of Archbishop Laud . In view of Henrietta Maria's Roman Catholicism, the Long Parliament took a keen interest in Prince Charles' education and religious development. In 1641, Parliament insisted that the Earl of Newcastle be removed from the Prince's governorship after allegations of his involvement in the Army Plot. Newcastle was replaced by William Seymour , Marquis of Hertford.

Early in 1642, as relations between King Charles and Parliament continued to deteriorate, the King sent Henrietta Maria to The Hague and took steps to regain custody of the Prince, despite the protests of Parliament. The King took Charles with him when he left London for the north in the spring of 1642. The Civil Wars Charles was 12 years old when the English Civil War broke out in August 1642. Although he took the title Prince of Wales, he was never formally invested. He was made an honorary captain in the King's Horse Guards and was present at the battle of Edgehill (1642), where he had to be dissuaded from making a high-spirited charge at a troop of Roundhead cavalry. Charles accompanied the King either at Oxford or on campaign until March 1645 when he was appointed captain-general of Royalist forces in the West. With his headquarters at Bristol, Charles nominally presided over a council composed of moderate Royalists, including Lord Hopton and Sir Edward Hyde .

During the final stages of the First Civil War, the Prince's Council struggled to co-ordinate the volatile commanders Sir Richard Grenville and Lord Goring, until Fairfax led the New Model Army on its triumphant invasion of the West in 1645-6. After the fall of Bristol in September 1645, the Prince withdrew into Cornwall. King Charles issued orders that he should escape to France to join Queen Henrietta Maria, but Hyde and others on the Prince's Council were concerned that the move would damage the Royalist cause because of the Queen's Catholicism. After Lord Hopton's defeat at Torrington in February 1646, the Prince and his Council sailed from Cornwall to the Isles of Scilly. A Parliamentarian fleet sent after them was providentially dispersed in a storm, after which the Prince went to Jersey. Finally, with the support of the Queen's envoy Lord Jermyn , Charles overruled his Council and joined his mother at St Germain near Paris in June 1646 where he remained for two years at the expense of the French government.

In the spring and early summer of 1648, uprisings in England and Wales signalled the beginning of the Second Civil War. Prince Charles moved to the Netherlands to take command of ten warships that had defected to the Royalists during the naval revolt against Parliament , but his attempts to support the uprisings in East Anglia and Kent were thwarted. A Parliamentarian fleet confronted him in the Thames estuary during late August. The two fleets prepared for battle, but were driven apart by a sudden storm. Prince Charles sailed back to the Netherlands and retired to The Hague while his cousin Prince Rupert took over command of the Royalist fleet. King of Scots After the execution of King Charles I by the English Parliament in January 1649, Prince Charles was proclaimed King of Scotland in Edinburgh—on condition that he would sign the Covenant and undertake to enforce a Presbyterian religious settlement in England. Moderate English Royalists were opposed to an alliance with the Covenanters, but Charles' appeals to other European heads of state for military help against the new republican government of England came to nothing.

After the defeat of the Marquis of Ormond's army in Ireland, the possibility of a Scottish army appeared to be Charles' only hope for regaining the English throne. In May 1650, Charles signed the Treaty of Breda in which he agreed to the Covenanters' terms, abandoned the loyal Marquis of Montrose and repudiated Ormond's treaty with the Irish. Charles landed in Scotland in June 1650. Meanwhile, an English army commanded by Oliver Cromwell invaded Scotland and defeated the Scots at the battle of Dunbar (September 1650). Covenanters on the ruling Committee of Estates blamed the defeat on the lack of religious commitment shown by Charles and his followers. They demanded the removal of all former Engagers and ungodly Cavaliers from the army and from Charles' retinue. Charles attempted to overthrow the Covenanters in October 1650. The plot, known as "The Start", failed through Charles' last-minute indecision, but it helped to weaken the power of the Kirk Party on the Committee of Estates in favour of the Royalists and Engagers. Charles was crowned King of Scots at Scone on 1 January 1651.

"The Scots holding their young King's nose to the grindstone": English satirical broadside of 1651 With Cromwell's army tightening its grip on Scotland, Charles decided to lead his Scots-Royalist army into England. He marched from Scotland on 31 July 1651 but the expected uprising of English Royalists failed to materialise. Cromwell followed him south and gathered an overwhelming concentration of forces at Worcester , where Charles was decisively defeated on 3 September 1651. Charles' escape through England after the battle of Worcester became legendary. He evaded capture for six weeks, travelling in disguise, helped by loyal subjects and at one point hiding from Roundhead soldiers in the famous oak tree at Boscobel . He finally got away to France in mid-October. Charles in Exile Following his dramatic escape from England, Charles rejoined his mother in exile at the palace of the Louvre in Paris. Reliant upon a pension granted by the government of France and surrounded by a group of quarrelsome advisers, Charles became gloomy and withdrawn.

The Royalist court-in-exile split into three main factions: the "Louvre" party, which revolved around Henrietta Maria and her close confidante Lord Jermyn; the "Old Royalist" faction, led by conservatives like Sir Edward Hyde, Sir Edward Nicholas and Lord Hopton; and the "Swordsmen" who looked to Prince Rupert for leadership. The Louvre group was willing to seek alliances with foreign powers or to make concessions to the Presbyterians and other parliamentary factions in order to restore the monarchy at the earliest opportunity, whereas Hyde and his followers argued that it was better to rely exclusively upon old Royalists whose loyalty was assured and to wait for opinion in England to swing over to the King rather than to make compromises for short-term gains. The Swordsmen had no coherent policies but were largely motivated by personal feuds and jealousies against members of the other factions. By 1654, Cromwell was negotiating with Cardinal Mazarin of France for an alliance against Spain. For diplomatic reasons, Charles and his entourage were obliged to leave Paris.

Charles moved to Cologne and then to Bruges in the Spanish Netherlands when the Anglo-Spanish War broke out between Spain and the English Protectorate in alliance with France. Charles' representatives negotiated with Spain for help in regaining the throne of England and the exiled Royalists raised an army of 3,000 English, Scottish and Irish soldiers commanded by Charles' brother James, Duke of York (later James II), to help the Spanish defend Flanders against Marshal Turenne's Anglo-French army. During Charles' exile, there were three serious attempts to incite Royalist uprisings in Britain: Glencairn's Uprising in Scotland during 1653-4, Penruddock's Uprising in the West Country of 1655 and Booth's Uprising in Cheshire of 1659. All three were easily suppressed through superior military strength and, in the case of the English uprisings, an efficient intelligence network that infiltrated Royalist conspiracies and allowed the Protectorate government to stay one step ahead of its enemies.

The Restoration The restoration of the monarchy in 1660 came about after the death of Oliver Cromwell when the collapse of the Protectorate resulted in a power struggle between republicans and army officers that brought political turmoil to England. Popular calls for the return of the monarchy were given vital military backing by General Monck who, during the early months of 1660, moved cautiously from a position of support for the Commonwealth to support for the Restoration. Charles was acknowledged rightful king by the newly-elected Convention Parliament on 8 May 1660 and invited to return to England. He landed at Dover on 25 May. Amid wild rejoicing across the nation, he made a triumphal entry into London on his 30th birthday, 29 May 1660. His coronation at Westminster Abbey took place on St George's Day, 1661. Charles II at his coronation, 1661 The Restoration Settlement resulted in the return of the monarchy, the House of Lords and the Anglican church. Separate parliaments for Ireland and Scotland were also reinstated.

However, the reforms introduced by the Long Parliament during 1640-2 abolishing the prerogative courts that had allowed Charles I to rule alone were retained. Despite the misgivings of Parliament, Charles II maintained a small standing army. The Restoration is a distinctive period in British history, characterised by the establishment of the Royal Society for scientific research in 1662 and the rebuilding of London after the Great Fire of 1666. The re-opening of theatres resulted in the new theatrical genre known as Restoration Comedy, concerned with fashionable society and characterised by wit, cynicism and bawdy language. The loose morals associated with the Restoration court stand in marked contrast to the sobriety of Charles I's reign and the Cromwellian régime. In England, 29 May was kept as an offical public holiday known as Oak Apple Day in commemoration of the Restoration. The official holiday was abolished in 1859, yet traditional ceremonies and customs persist in a few places to this day. Charles reigned for a further twenty-five years. Despite his considerable political skills, the power of Parliament steadily increased during this time. Towards the end of his reign, an embryonic party political system appeared.

The Whig and Tory parties emerged when Charles' Roman Catholic sympathies brought him into conflict with Parliament. Although he was notorious for keeping a string of mistresses and fathering numerous illigitimate children, Charles' marriage to the Portuguese princess Catherine of Braganza produced no legitimate heir. The Whigs in Parliament tried to exclude Charles' brother, James, Duke of York, from the succession because he was an avowed Roman Catholic. In response to the Exclusion Crisis, Charles dissolved Parliament in 1681 and ruled as an absolute monarch for the final four years of his reign. He died in 1685 professing that he was a Catholic on his deathbed. He was succeeded by his brother, James II. Sources: The Stuarts - Monarchs - 1603 - 1714 | HistoryOnTheNet The Stuarts - Monarchs - 1603 - 1714 Last Updated: 08/14/2014 - 16:47 The first Stuart monarch, James I of England and VI of Scotland, succeeded to the throne of England when Elizabeth I died.

He was the son of Mary Queen of Scots by her second husband Lord Darnley, and great-great grandson of Henry VIII's sister Margaret. In all there were seven Stuart monarchs: James I, Charles I, Charles II, James II, William III and Mary II Anne. The period from 1649 to 1660 was an interregnum (time without a monarch), that saw the development of the Commonwealth under Oliver Cromwell. James I (1603 - 1625) The accession of James VI of Scotland as James I of England, united the countries of England and Scotland under one monarch for the first time. James believed in the Divine Right of Kings - that he was answerable to God alone and could not be tried by any court. He forbade any interpretation of church doctrine different to his own and made Sunday Church-going compulsory. Catholics were not allowed to celebrate Mass and he refused to listen to Puritan demands for church reform , instead authorising use of the King James Bible that is still in existence today. James I also introduced English and Irish Protestants into Northern Ireland through the Ulster Plantation scheme and tried to keep England at peace with the rest of Europe.

Although he was a clever man, his choice of favourites alienated Parliament and he was not able to solve the country's financial or political problems. When he died in 1625 the country was badly in debt. Charles I (1625 - 1649) Charles I came to the throne after his father's death. He did not share his father's love of peace and embarked on war with Spain and then with France. In order to fight these wars he needed Parliament to grant him money. However, Parliament was not happy with his choice of favourites, especially the Duke of Buckingham and made things difficult for him. In 1629 he dismissed Parliament and decided to rule alone for the next 11 years. Like his father he also believed in the Divine Right of Kings and he upset his Scottish subjects, many of whom were Puritans, by insisting that they follow the same religion as his English subjects.

The result was the two Bishops Wars (1639-1640) Charles' financial state had worsened to such a degree that he had no choice but to recall a Parliament whose condemnation of his style of rule would lead the country to Civil War and Charles I to his execution in 1649. Interregnum Oliver Cromwell (1649 - 1658) In 1649, Oliver Cromwell took the title Lord Protector of the newly formed republic in England, known as the Commonwealth. His parliament consisted of a few chosen supporters and was not popular either at home or abroad. Cromwell disliked the Irish Catholics and, on the pretence of punishment for the massacre of English Protestants in 1641, he lay siege to the town of Drogheda in 1649 and killed most of its inhabitants. Having conquered Ireland he declared war on the Netherlands - England's greatest trade rival. He went on to establish colonies in Jamaica and the West Indies.

Although he faced opposition from those who supported Charles I's son, Charles II, as the rightful King, (especially the Scots), Oliver Cromwell succeeded in establishing a sound reputation for the Commonwealth by the time of his death in 1658. He was succeeded by his son Richard, who had no wish to rule. Cromwell's opponents were easily able to overthrow him and after a period of anarchy the monarchy was restored with the accession of Charles II. Charles II (1660 - 1685) After the execution of his father in 1649, Charles assumed the title Charles II of England, and was formally recognised as King of Scotland and Ireland. In 1651 he led an invasion into England from Scotland to defeat Cromwell and restore the monarchy. He was defeated and fled to France where he spent the next eight years. In 1660 he was invited, by parliament, to return to England as King Charles II. This event is known as the Restoration . He is known as the 'Merry Monarch' because of his love of parties, music and the theatre and his abolishment of the laws passed by Cromwell that forbade music and dancing.

Charles was extravagant with money and was forced to marry Portuguese Catherine of Braganza for the large dowry she would bring. He continued to have money problems and allied England with France, a move that led to war with the Dutch and the acquisition of New Amsterdam (now New York) for England. Charles II died in 1685. James II (1685 - 1688) James II succeeded his brother Charles to the throne. After the Restoration he had served as Lord High Admiral until he announced his conversion to Roman Catholicism and was forced to resign. He succeeded despite the passing of the Test Acts in 1673 (which barred all Roman Catholics from holding official positions in Great Britain) and the efforts of Parliament to have him by-passed. The Duke of Monmouth immediately mounted an uprising against James II but it was crushed and a series of treason trials known as the Bloody Assizes followed. The Lord Chief Justice, George Jeffreys, sentenced more than 300 people to death and had another 800 forcibly sold into slavery.

The Bloody Assizes led to an increasing number of calls for James to be replaced by his son-in-law, William of Orange and in 1688 the Dutchman was invited to take the English throne. William's subsequent invasion of England and accession to the throne is known as The Glorious Revolution . James fled to France where he lived until his death in 1701. William III (1688 - 1702) and Mary II (1688 -1694) William III and his wife Mary II (daughter of James II), were proclaimed joint sovereigns of England in 1688 following the Glorious Revolution. They were accepted by Scotland the following year, but Ireland, which was mainly Catholic , remained loyal to James II. William led an army into Ireland and James was defeated at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. Mary II died in 1694 and William ruled alone until his death in 1702. Queen Anne (1702 - 1714) Queen Anne was the sister of Mary II and was married to Prince George of Denmark.

She was a committed Protestant and supported the Glorious Revolution that deposed her father and replaced him with her sister and brother-in-law. In 1707 the Act of Union formally united the Kingdoms of England and Scotland. She was the last Stuart monarch as none of her eighteen children survived beyond infancy.

Quiz: King James I | Britroyals Born: June 19, 1566 at Edinburgh Castle, Scotland Parents: Mary, Queen of Scots, and Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley Relation to Elizabeth II: 9th great-grandfather House of: Stuart Ascended to the throne: March 24, 1603 aged 36 years Crowned: July 25, 1603 at Westminster Abbey, also as James VI of Scotland at Stirling Castle on July 29, 1567 Married: Anne, Daughter of Frederick II of Denmark and Norway Children: Three sons and five daughters, of whom three survived infancy; Henry, Elizabeth and Charles Died: March 27, 1625 at Theobalds Park, Hertfordshire, aged 58 years, 9 months, and 7 days Buried at: Westminster Reigned for: 22 years, and 3 days, King of Scotland for 57 years 1567-1625 Succeeded by: his son Charles James was the son of Mary Queen of Scots and her second husband Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley.

He was descended through the Scottish kings from Robert the Bruce, and the English Tudors through his great grandmother Margaret Tudor sister of Henry VIII. His parent�s marriage was short-lived and Darnley was found murdered 8 months after James was born in June 1566. His mother married again, but in 1567 was forced to renounce the throne of Scotland in favour of her infant son. James became King James VI of Scotland aged 13 months in July 1567, and was crowned at Stirling. Mary fled to England where she was eventually executed following Catholic plots against Elizabeth I in 1587. His childhood and adolescence were unhappy, abnormal, and precarious; he had various guardians, whose treatment of him differed widely. His education, although thorough, was weighted with strong Presbyterian and Calvinist political doctrine, and his character � highly intelligent and sensitive, but also fundamentally shallow, vain, and exhibitionist � reacted violently to this. He also sought solace with extravagant and unsavoury male favourites who, in later years, were to have a damaging effect on his prestige and state affairs. A suitable Queen was found for him in Anne of Denmark and they were married in 1589.

As King of Scotland, he curbed the power of the nobility, although his attempts to limit the authority of the Kirk (Church of Scotland) were less successful. When Elizabeth I of England died in 1603 unmarried, James moved to London and was crowned King James I of England the first of the Stuart Kings of the combined crowns of England and Scotland. The English courtiers were wary of his Scottish favourites, affairs with male courtiers and uncouth ways. He was however a supporter of literature and arts. William Shakespeare was among the �Kings Men� troupe of actors who performed plays for their patron James. He commissioned the King James Authorized Version of the Bible, published in 1611, which remains one of the most important English translations of the Bible. He initially acted mainly upon the advice of Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, but on Salisbury�s death all restraint vanished. His religious policy consisted of asserting the supreme authority and divine right of the crown and suppressing both Puritans and Catholics who objected. Guy Fawkes' attempt to blow up Parliament in 1605 produced an anti-Catholic reaction, which gave James a temporary popularity which soon dissipated.

His foreign policy aimed primarily at achieving closer relations with Spain was not liked by Parliament who saw Spain as the Old Catholic enemy of the Armada and competitor for world trade. During his reign the East India Company expanded trade bringing spices from the East, and Jamestown was founded in Virginia. His willingness to compromise politically, even while continuing to talk in terms of absolutism, largely accounts for the superficial stability of his reign. However, the effects of many of his actions were long term, becoming fully obvious only after his death. James and Anne had 8 children only three of whom survived infancy. Their eldest son Henry died aged 18 of typhoid, and their 2nd son Charles became King Charles I. The marriage of their daughter Elizabeth to Frederic V, Elector Palatine and King of Bohemia, was to result in the eventual Hanoverian succession to the British throne. King James I's Signature Quotes: What God hath conjoined let no man separate.

I am the husband and the whole isle is my lawful wife' - James VI of Scotland who also became James I of England on the union of the crowns of Scotland and England, 1603 �[Smoking is] hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, and dangerous to the lungs.� � King James I �I can make a lord, but only God can make a gentleman� � King James I �God�s wounds! I will pull down my breeches and they shall see my arse!� � King James I (on being told that his subjects wanted to see his face) �Kings are justly called gods for they exercise a manner or resemblance of divine power upon earth� � King James I Timeline for King James I Year Fanciful images of Robert II of Scotland / celticjessica.blogspot.com Stuart, originally Stewart, is the family name of Scottish kings and queens from nearly the end of the fourteenth century until 1714 – English monarchs as well from 1603 to 1714. It was founded by Walter Fitzallen, Steward of the King of Scotland.

He in turn descended from Flald Fitzalan who had been Steward of Dol in Brittany. Walter’s descendent became King Robert II of Scotland, her first Stuart monarch, ruling from 1371 to 1390. Robert’s son the Earl of Carrick became King Robert III, on the Scottish throne from 1390 – 1406. It was this Robert’s son who became James I of Scotland), who married Joan of the Beaufort family, English descendants of John of Gaunt, and this was the first English connection. Robert’s son became James II (of Scotland) who was King from 1437 – 60. He married Mary of Gueldres and they had four children, one of whom became James IV. Here the sassenachs intervene again, for the crafty English King Henry VII (q.v.) arranged the marriage of his daughter Margaret Tudor to the Scottish king. Therefore for the second time the reigning houses of Scotland and England were linked. This is important because it later meant that a Scottish king was invited to become King of England and Scotland – but we are jumping the gun.

Margaret and James IV had a son called James, later James V, who married a fearsome Frenchwoman called Mary of Guise, a member of one of the most powerful (and frightening) families in France. Their daughter was none other than Mary, later known as Mary Queen of Scots, though by her marriage to Francis or François of France she was queen of France too. Mary was born in 1542, immediately becoming Queen of Scotland, but as we know came up against a deadly enemy in her cousin Elizabeth I of England, whose chief counsellor William Cecil, Lord Burghley arranged for the execution of the Queen of the French and the Scots in 1587. François died young and the very beautiful Mary married Henry, Lord Darnley, himself of royal blood and not the penniless, dumb upstart that some historians have described. Their son became James VI of Scotland. Meanwhile in England Elizabeth had a number of notable affairs with men but never married. When she died with heirs of either sex in 1603, it was this son of Mary Queen of Scots, James VI, who became James, first of the Stuart Kings in England. The Scottish line continued, but unofficially!

Though the arrival of James VI and I united Scotland and England for the third time creating the United Kingdom, the Stuart inheritance passed on through James VII & II’s second marriage with Mary of Modena whose son became James Edward ‘The Old Pretender’. If you are still with me, we will return to England, where James I (and VI) had a son who became the unfortunate Charles I, the second Stuart king. He fought against his own Parliament and lost both the crown and his head, dying bravely on the scaffold outside the great palace at Whitehall. A brief Republic under Oliver Cromwell existed, the only time such a thing has happened in English history, and then Charles’ son was recalled from the exile forced on him by the English Civil War (q.v.), to become Charles II (‘The Merry Monarch’) at The Restoration in 1660. Charles II was in effect the first constitutional monarch in Britain, since he accepted that a Parliament was securely installed, and that the years of absolute monarchy were over.

He was meant to be ‘merry’, as his nickname suggests, but he was more melancholic than merry, though he spent a great deal of energy in extra-marital affairs which produced at least eleven illegitimate children, almost all recognised by the King (q.v.). With his wife Catharine of Braganza he had no issue, and when Charles died comparatively young the throne passed to James, who became II of England and VII of Scotland. This handsome fellow was weak however, and a Roman Catholic to boot, and it was not long before his treacherous generals and a few powerful magnates decided they wanted nothing to do with the fourth Stuart king. In ‘The Glorious Revolution’ of 1688 James II was sent into exile and the magnates and Parliament invited his Proterstant daughter Mary and her Dutch husband William of Orange to occupy the English throne. William III descended from Mary Queen of Scots, so the executed heroine could be said to have had her revenge at last. This was not the last of the Stuarts, for when both William and Mary were dead the throne passed to James II’s other daughter Anne.

With her death without heirs in 1714 resulted in the replacement of the Stuart house by the House of Hanover, whose Elector became George I of England. The Stuarts were exiled, but not forgotten, especially by the Scots. Supporters of the Stuart exiles were called Jacobites and they proceeded to be a thorn in the flesh for many years, with two major rebellions occurring in 1715 and 1745 under ‘The Old Pretender’ James Edward Stuart, and ‘The Young Pretender’ Charles Edward Stuart. Both failed, and George III, the third Hanoverian King felt able to give a pension to Henry, Cardinal (and Duke) of York 1725 – 1807. The Stuart cause and line faded with Henry, who had no interest in women, was a Catholic priest, and had no heirs.

Question: Who was the second Stuart king on the English throne?
Answer: Charles I