Crisis of Authority: Trial & Execution of King Charles in 17th Century - Essay Example

? Analysis: 17th Century - Crisis ity - Trial & Execution of King Charles England witnessed two decades of civil war during 1640-1660. The war left a lasting impression on English literature which reflected in the works of the later prose writers and poets. Some form of political writing was also in vogue at that time. They tried to give objective accounts of the contemporary political happenings through pamphlets called newsbooks. Precisely, such political writing originated in England in the 1620s. However, such writings could never earn the support of the British monarchy. In fact, King Charles Stuart I had issued a ban on the printing of regional news or any articles related to them. Most of the members of the New Model Army including Oliver Cromwell perceived King Charles I as a tyrant who would be an active threat to their idea of England as a reorganized commonwealth which they planned to implement in future. In 1648-49, the army council ordered the king to be captured from his confinement in the Isle of Wight and be brought to London. The Parliament passed a new law citing the conditions of treason against the state. The king was put on trial in the court and the judges found him guilty of treason against the state. Subsequently, they ordered his execution. The execution of King Charles I had an immense impact on the political writing and in general the literature of England. The evidence of this is found in the writings of John Milton. Milton remains one of the noted political writers of English literature to this day. In 1641, he started his career with the book “Of Reformation Touching Church-Discipline in England”. Within two weeks of the trial and execution of Charles I, Milton brought out a vindication of the trail procedure in his writing “The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates”. The work was written when the trail procedure of the King was already underway. Therefore, historical and political events have significantly influenced the work of writers from times immemorial and this was applicable to the writers of seventeenth century England also. (Milton, Delaines, Gruzelier ix, Gabriel R) Critique and Comparison of the two Articles Both these articles are taken from newsbooks, which became one of the important forms of literature in England during the civil war years. They enumerate the trial and subsequent execution of King Charles I in the court. The first article is from the newsbook The Moderate No.28 (16-23 January 1949) and second one is from “A Perfect Diurnal of Some Passages in Parliament No.288 (Tuesday, January 30). The article in The Moderate begins directly by describing the scene at the court of justice which was held at the Great Hall of Westminster. It gives a detailed account of the proceedings of the court. The descriptions of the important people present are enumerated in the footnotes of the newsbook for the convenience of the reader. The article proceeds to directly quote the speech of Sergeant Bradshaw, who was the President of the court of justice, as he accused King Charles Stuart I of being responsible for the period of great strife that England had faced. Then the accusation of Mr. John Cook, the chief prosecutor of the case is quoted where he states that king is guilty of “treason and misdemeanors”. The article also describes the minute details of the reaction of the king to the two speeches. The article enumerates the proceedings of the court so vividly that a person reading the article would feel that he is himself present to witness the trial. However, the reporter does not forget to include his own opinions regarding certain actions. With regard to one of the King’s reactions he declares “This is conceived will be very ominous”. President Bradshaw then orders the court to read out the charges against the King. The article then describes the reaction of King Charles I on hearing the accusations: that he smiled often as he heard the charges against him, specially the fact that he was a “tyrant, traitor, murderer and public enemy of the commonwealth”. (The Moderate, 1). In this way, the article from The Moderate proceeds to describe word by word, the altercations between the King and the court of justice. It gives a direct account of the speeches made by the persons involved in the trial. The reporter gives little of his own opinion on the proceedings so that the readers are left to form their own judgments about the matter. However, the reporter also explains some phrases and quotes of the speeches with the help of his own explanations, so that it is easier for the reader to understand and infer their implications. Towards the latter half of the newsbook, the author has also reported some dialogues between the parties in reported speech. The reporter has been able to provide a very objective narration of the events to his readers. The writing is not biased towards any viewpoint. Thus the article stays true to its character of being a suitable newsbook component. (The Moderate, 2, 3) The second article from A Perfect Diurnal of Some Passages in Parliament No.288 gives an account of the events that took place on Tuesday, January 30, 1649, the day King Charles Stuart I was executed. The two newsbook articles describe two separate events. Though both the events are closely related, the article in The Moderate describes the trial procedure of King Charles I in the court of justice, while the second article narrates the events on the day of the actual execution. There are points of similarities as well as dissimilarities between the articles. Similar to the first article, here too the reporter gives a detailed description of the persons involved in the proceedings of the day. He begins by describing how the king was brought from the St. James Palace to the Whitehall Palace accompanied by a large group of men. The reporter proceeds to enumerate the happenings minutely and vividly to the reader. In certain parts of the narrative the author has explained certain phrases in his own words for the convenience of the reader. There are very detailed descriptions of the palace locations and the other structures including the scaffold which had been erected between the gate of the Whitehall Palace and that of the St. James Palace. In the first article from The Moderate there are no descriptions of any palace structures. Again, the first article, almost enumerates every speech in a direct format as spoken by the speaker. In the second article the author has described some conversations in reported speech while other more important ones are quoted directly. Here in the course of the narrative, the reporter also gives a footnote account of historical events relevant to the proceedings. The direct speeches (for ex. the King’s speech before his execution) quote many citations to Christian texts, which the reporter has explained for the understanding of his readers. In contrast, the first article does not contain any reference to specific Christian texts. The majority of the article gives a word by word account of the speech of King Charles I which he delivered to the onlookers. It seems he wanted to establish himself as an innocent man and a good Christian citizen in the eyes of the people present at the execution. The King claims himself to be martyr of the people of England. In between the long account of the King’s speech, the reporter also gives minute details about the actions of the monarch. It helps the reader to visualize the scene which happened on the grounds of the Whitehall Palace on that day. (A Perfect Diurnal of Some Passages in Parliament 2) The two articles are likely to have generated different responses among the readers. The article in the The Moderate which describes the trial procedure of King Charles has provided its readers with the relevant information about the trial process. It can be considered as an informative account. On the other hand, the second article describes at length the speech of the King just moments before his execution. This reflects the general trend of the newsbooks in those days which endeavored to capture the viewpoints and opinions of great men and reach them to the readers. Finally, second article which describes the entire process of the execution of King Charles I is likely to have generated a more emotional response among the readers. It is true, that the atrocities of England’s civil war and its consequences were largely attributed to Charles I. Whatever be the case, the description of the process of public execution of a king is sure to have invoked sentiments of emotion among the common people. Noting the points of similarities, both the articles have been able to retain their true character of being a component of a newsbook. They give a detailed description of the respective events, with the reporters refraining from voicing their personal viewpoints as much as possible. The happenings in the court of justice and on the day of the execution are described vividly and the readers have been left to form their own opinions about the proceedings. Both the reporters have been able to maintain an unbiased approach while enumerating the activities. This can be considered commendable since they were reporting an event which had few precedents in the history of the world. References: 1. The Trial of King Charles I, the First Day The Moderate (1649) 28 2. The Execution of Charles I, A Perfect Diurnal of some Passages in Parliament (1649) 288 3. Milton John, Dzelzainis Martin, Gruzelier Claire Political Writings England, Cambridge University Press 1991 4. Roberts Gabriel Milton’s Political Context Darkness Visible September 14, 2011 from http://www.christs.cam.ac.uk/darknessvisible/politics.html Read More