Britain Axes the Monarchy

HISTORY This Week

The HISTORY® Channel

History, Education, Society & Culture

4.6 • 3.9K Ratings

🗓️ 30 January 2023

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

January 30, 1649 / 1661. London, 1649. King Charles I lays his head on a chopping block. The axe falls and, soon with it, the monarchy. What follows is Parliament’s grueling effort to set up a functioning republic – one of the first in history. It will be led by Oliver Cromwell, a brilliant military leader who becomes the country’s most powerful man. But on January 30, 1661 – exactly twelve years after the death of Charles I – royalist forces will use the same method to take their revenge: a beheading. Who was Oliver Cromwell, the man who led Britain’s brief experiment in life without a king? And how did it all go wrong?

Special thanks to our guests, Martyn Bennett, professor of early modern history at Nottingham Trent University and author of several books including Cromwell at War: The Lord General and His Military Revolution; and Peter Gaunt, professor of history at the University of Chester and author/editor of books including two Cromwell biographies, both entitled Oliver Cromwell.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	The History Channel, original podcast.
0:04.3	History this week, January 30th, 1649,
0:08.9	and January 30th, 1661.
0:13.8	I'm Sally Helm.
0:18.1	London, 1649.
0:20.8	A morning so cold that the river Thames is frozen over.
0:26.3	King Charles awakes in his room at St. James Palace.
0:29.9	He asks his servants for an extra thick shirt.
0:33.6	He doesn't want to shiver in front of his enemies.
0:36.4	Then they might think he's afraid.
0:39.4	Although, of course, King Charles is afraid.
0:44.4	England has just been through a long, exhausting civil war.
0:49.2	The monarchy has been overthrown,
0:51.8	and the power to rule has been handed to Parliament, to the people.
0:56.7	The first thing they've done is try King Charles in court,
1:00.7	convict him of treason, and condemn him to death.
1:07.4	Today, England is going to execute its king.
1:12.8	At 10am, the bishop who once bowed to the monarch's authority,
1:17.4	knocks on Charles' door and leads him across St. James Park to Whitehall Palace.
1:22.0	Around noon, guards formally trained to obey his every whim,
1:27.6	now usher him through a royal hall towards the scaffold.
1:31.7	On the ceiling above, a magnificent painting that Charles himself had commissioned
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The HISTORY® Channel, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The HISTORY® Channel and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.