The Execution of Charles I

Dan Snow's History Hit

History Hit

History

4.7 • 12.9K Ratings

🗓️ 31 January 2022

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On the 30th January, 372 years ago, Charles I, king of Great Britain and Ireland, stepped out of the Banqueting House in Whitehall, to be beheaded in front of a huge London crowd. It was a deeply shocking moment not just in the lives of those people who witnessed it, but also in the longer span of British history. But the regicide didn’t just happen out of the blue, it was part of a truly revolutionary period - one that experienced civil war, regime change, religious upheaval and, for the only time in British history, a period of republican government.

Rebecca Warren, an early modern historian who specialises in the history of the church during the British civil wars and interregnum between 1640-1660, joins Dan on the podcast. They discuss the reason king and parliament went to war, the Battle of Preston in August 1648 as a turning point, the day-by-day details of the trial, and how the image of Charles as a martyr became immediately fostered as a result.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to Dance Noes History at 372 years ago today, King Charles I, King of
0:07.4	Great Britain, stepped out of his own banketing house in Whitehall, the magnificent building
0:13.4	that he had overseen the construction of. To be killed, executed, have his head chopped
0:19.8	off in front of a huge London crowd. It was a moment that shocked the people that watched
0:25.9	and it's a moment that I think has shocked generations that have followed and the big
0:31.8	impact on subsequent English and British history. How did they come to kill a king? It didn't
0:39.3	happen out of the blue of course, it was part of a revolutionary period, a time that when
0:44.4	which we saw civil wars, regime change, religious upheaval and led to the first and only example
0:52.4	in British history of a period of republican government. I have got the one and only Rebecca
0:58.0	Warren, Dr Rebecca Warren. She's a wonderful friend of the podcast, she has been a great
1:02.1	encouragement and friend to me over the years I've been doing this. She's a research
1:05.4	for the University of Kent and you have to be very clever to do religious history in
1:11.4	the 17th century. I'm going to be honest with you. They shouldn't say, hey, why are you
1:14.8	so I'm going to bring in search and it's not rocket science, they should say, hey,
1:17.6	this isn't 17th century religious history. Let's get that phrase into the lexicon folks,
1:22.2	go for it. Anyway, she's very brilliant and she's been on the podcast for and it's great
1:26.1	to have on this big anniversary. If you want to watch programs about Charles I or listen
1:33.4	to other podcasts, you can do so at history hit TV. We've got all the podcasts without
1:37.0	the ads. Tens of thousands of people are subscribing to that channel now. It's a history
1:42.0	chapter Netflix for history. I am about to board a plane to go to Antarctica. We are filming
1:47.5	a load of material down there about Shackleton, about the search for Shackleton's shipwreck
1:52.1	endurance. Very exciting indeed. So be sure to listen to the upcoming episodes of podcast
	...

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