The significance of the trial and execution of Charles I | English Civil War

[Music] the trial of the of Charles the first I think arguably is probably the most important event in British history it's the first time when a legitimate head of state has been put on trial by a formal procedure for his life in the name of the people so it's a moment when the sovereignty of the people overrode the divine authority of a king one of the reasons why this is a significant moment is because it's the first time certainly in British history probably in European history when there is a direct challenge between popular sovereignty and royal authority so the idea that's born in it and is celebrated later on in 1688 and in the american revolution of 1776 is that legitimate authority is created by the consent of the people and there is a trust between community and ruler and the ruler has to obey the office of trust which is to benefit the common good and Charles the first is put on trial for compromising that for breaking his trust for acting in an ungodly and bloody way actually persecuting and killing his people so it's the first time that's instantiated in an event and the claim of parliament to judge the king in the name of the people was was received with horror around the other monarchs of Europe so it is the first moment of democratic resistance if you like the very event of the trial is in itself a significant constitutional moment but the fact that the king was killed stunned not only the British state but the entire literate European world this was and it's a slightly horrible analogy but it's like the twin towers with the planes flying in and destroying the sort of cultural stability killing the king was killing God God's had appointed Kings and the Old Testament is full of examples to rule over a sinful people so killing the king even though he was a tyrant and they very cunningly in the trial reclassified him not as a king because he'd broken his office so he was like a tiger or a beast a wild animal who could be dealt with in the appropriate way and I think that this was an act of incredible bravery very often the history books will tell you that this was predictable once Charles is put on trial he's bound to be executed but the only certainty was that Charles first was too arrogant to recognize that his life was in danger and we know from research that the judges the trial court were making up as they went along it was contingent they weren't sure what was happening and if the King had pled acknowledged the authority of the court he might have got off and as they said in the final judgment we may not acquit the guilty may they literally sighted from the Old Testament King Nebuchadnezzar who was a bad tyrant but he apologized so Charles the first refused to apologize so had to die but arguably we didn't know he was going to die until the last 20 minutes or so and even then they might have been ways out but he resolutely refused to acknowledge the power of the court so that this you know it's about regime change in one sentence but this is a climatic very old-fashioned word but a moment that really stunned the whole of Europe and and we know this because you know the Dutch the French the Spanish were reporting almost within hours of his execution and if we think this world was a providential one everything's in its order a natural order every little stone is put there by God human beings fathers ruling over mothers and daughters and sons gentlemen ruling over servants Kings ruling over communities or they just chop that off so the whole state of nature is disrupted so that this would have you know the lots of reports of people falling down in faints women aborting their children all sorts of catastrophes because the state of nature has been turned upside down so it was almost incomprehensible which is probably why most people in the UK today barely know it happened because it was such a threat to the established order [Music]