44 Facts About Charles I of England

Charles I of England was born into the House of Stuart as the second son of King James VI of Scotland, but after his father inherited the English throne in 1603, he moved to England, where he spent much of the rest of his life.

Charles I of England believed in the divine right of kings, and was determined to govern according to his own conscience.

Charles I of England supported high church Anglican ecclesiastics such as Richard Montagu and William Laud, and failed to aid continental Protestant forces successfully during the Thirty Years' War.

From 1642, Charles I of England fought the armies of the English and Scottish parliaments in the English Civil War.

Charles I of England surrendered to a Scottish force and after lengthy negotiations between the English and Scottish parliaments he was handed over to the Long Parliament in London.

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In England, Charles was placed under the charge of Elizabeth, Lady Carey, the wife of courtier Sir Robert Carey, who put him in boots made of Spanish leather and brass to help strengthen his weak ankles.

Charles I of England became an adept horseman and marksman, and took up fencing.

Charles I of England, who turned 12 two weeks later, became heir apparent.

Charles I of England delayed the opening of his first Parliament until after the marriage was consummated, to forestall any opposition.

Charles I of England provoked further unrest by trying to raise money for the war through a "forced loan": a tax levied without parliamentary consent.

Charles I of England's became pregnant for the first time, and the bond between them grew stronger.

The provocation was too much for Charles I of England, who dissolved Parliament and had nine parliamentary leaders, including Sir John Eliot, imprisoned over the matter, thereby turning the men into martyrs and giving popular cause to their protest.

The next 11 years, during which Charles ruled England without a Parliament, are known as the Personal Rule or the "eleven years' tyranny".

Large fiscal deficit had arisen during the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I Notwithstanding Buckingham's short-lived campaigns against both Spain and France, Charles had little financial capacity to wage wars overseas.

Charles I of England was still the least taxed country in Europe, with no official excise and no regular direct taxation.

Chief tax Charles imposed was a feudal levy known as ship money, which proved even more unpopular, and lucrative, than tonnage and poundage before it.

Charles I of England derived money by granting monopolies, despite a statute forbidding such action, which, though inefficient, raised an estimated £100, 000 a year in the late 1630s.

Charles I of England raised funds from the Scottish nobility, at the price of considerable acrimony, by the Act of Revocation, whereby all gifts of royal or church land made to the nobility since 1540 were revoked, with continued ownership being subject to an annual rent.

When Charles I of England attempted to impose his religious policies in Scotland he faced numerous difficulties.

Military failure in the First Bishops' War caused a financial and diplomatic crisis for Charles I of England that deepened when his efforts to raise funds from Spain while simultaneously continuing his support for his Palatine relatives led to the public humiliation of the Battle of the Downs, where the Dutch destroyed a Spanish bullion fleet off the coast of Kent in sight of the impotent English navy.

Charles I of England continued peace negotiations with the Scots in a bid to gain time before launching a new military campaign.

Consequently, Charles I of England summoned what later became known as the Long Parliament.

Charles I of England assured Strafford that "upon the word of a king you shall not suffer in life, honour or fortune", and the attainder could not succeed if Charles I of England withheld assent.

Charles I of England had trained up a large Catholic army in support of the king and weakened the Irish Parliament's authority, while continuing to confiscate land from Catholics for Protestant settlement at the same time as promoting a Laudian Anglicanism that was anathema to presbyterians.

Charles I of England suspected, probably correctly, that some members of the English Parliament had colluded with the invading Scots.

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In one stroke Charles I of England destroyed his supporters' efforts to portray him as a defence against innovation and disorder.

Charles I of England raised an army using the medieval method of commission of array, and Parliament called for volunteers for its militia.

Charles I of England regrouped at Oxford, turning down Rupert's suggestion of an immediate attack on London.

Charles I of England became disillusioned by the assembly's ineffectiveness, calling it a "mongrel" in private letters to his wife.

In 1644, Charles remained in the southern half of England while Rupert rode north to relieve Newark and York, which were under threat from parliamentary and Scottish Covenanter armies.

Charles I of England put himself into the hands of the Scottish presbyterian army besieging Newark, and was taken northwards to Newcastle upon Tyne.

Charles I of England was eager to exploit the widening divisions, and apparently viewed Joyce's actions as an opportunity rather than a threat.

Charles I of England was taken first to Newmarket, at his own suggestion, and then transferred to Oatlands and subsequently Hampton Court, while more fruitless negotiations took place.

From Carisbrooke, Charles I of England continued to try to bargain with the various parties.

Charles I of England was moved to Hurst Castle at the end of 1648, and thereafter to Windsor Castle.

Charles I of England walked under guard from St James's Palace, where he had been confined, to the Palace of Whitehall, where an execution scaffold had been erected in front of the Banqueting House.

Charles I of England was separated from spectators by large ranks of soldiers, and his last speech reached only those with him on the scaffold.

Charles I of England blamed his fate on his failure to prevent the execution of his loyal servant Strafford: "An unjust sentence that I suffered to take effect, is punished now by an unjust sentence on me.

At about 2:00 p m, Charles put his head on the block after saying a prayer and signalled the executioner when he was ready by stretching out his hands; he was then beheaded in one clean stroke.

Partly inspired by his visit to the Spanish court in 1623, Charles I of England became a passionate and knowledgeable art collector, amassing one of the finest art collections ever assembled.

In 1627 and 1628, Charles I of England purchased the entire collection of the Duke of Mantua, which included work by Titian, Correggio, Raphael, Caravaggio, del Sarto and Mantegna.

Charles I of England's collection grew further to encompass Bernini, Bruegel, da Vinci, Holbein, Hollar, Tintoretto and Veronese, and self-portraits by both Durer and Rembrandt.

Charles I of England deliberately pursued unpopular policies that brought ruin on himself.

Charles I of England had nine children, two of whom eventually succeeded as king, and two of whom died at or shortly after birth.