Why Was Charles I Executed?

by Clive Holmes

The execution of Charles I in 1649, followed by the proclamation of a Commonwealth, was an extraordinary political event. It followed a bitter Civil War between parliament and the king, and their total failure to negotiate a subsequent peace settlement.



Why the king was defeated and executed has been a central question in English history, being traced back to the Reformation and forward to the triumph of parliament in the eighteenth century. The old answers, whether those of the Victorian narrative historian S.R. Gardiner or of Lawrence Stone's diagnosis of a fatal long-term rift in English society, however, no longer satisfy, while the newer ones of local historians and ‘revisionists' often leave readers unclear as to why the Civil War happened at all.



In Why Was Charles I Executed? Clive Holmes supplies clear answers to eight key questions about the period, ranging from why the king had to summon the Long Parliament to whether there was in fact an English Revolution.

Genres: History

264 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2006

Reviews

[Ed]

This book is a detailed review of the English Revolution and Interregnum. Each chapter asks a question such as the one used in the title of the book. By using such a direct question he is able to organize a wealth of material in a way that someone who is not very familiar with the material doesn't get lost. He is presenting his own interpretation of events. I wasn't familiar enough with other interpretations for this to matter to me. I would recommend this book as an introduction to the politics of mid-seventeenth century England.

[imngrer]

He makes some excellent points and this is a very useful book.

But it does not flow very well and he jumps about all over the place.

[Andrea Zuvich]

Abandoned.

[John]

nonfiction,history