Transcriber's Notes
The seven footnotes originally all labeled [A] are now showing as numbers
one to seven.
Hyphenation has been standardised.
[Illustration: _John Hampden_
HARPER & BROTHERS]
[Illustration: TOWER OF LONDON.]
HISTORY
OF
KING CHARLES THE FIRST
OF
ENGLAND.
BY JACOB ABBOTT.
With Engravings.
NEW YORK:
HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,
82 CLIFF STREET.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand
eight hundred and forty-eight, by
HARPER & BROTHERS,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District
of New York.
PREFACE.
The history of the life of every individual who has, for any reason,
attracted extensively the attention of mankind, has been written in a
great variety of ways by a multitude of authors, and persons sometimes
wonder why we should have so many different accounts of the same
thing. The reason is, that each one of these accounts is intended for
a different set of readers, who read with ideas and purposes widely
dissimilar from each other. Among the twenty millions of people in the
United States, there are perhaps two millions, between the ages of
fifteen and twenty-five, who wish to become acquainted, in general,
with the leading events in the history of the Old World, and of ancient
times, but who, coming upon the stage in this land and at this period,
have ideas and conceptions so widely different from those of other
nations and of other times, that a mere republication of existing
accounts is not what they require. The story must be told expressly
for them. The things that are to be explained, the points that are
to be brought out, the comparative degree of prominence to be given
to the various particulars, will all be different, on account of the
difference in the situation, the ideas, and the objects of these new
readers, compared with those of the various other classes of readers
which former authors have had in view. It is for this reason, and
with this view, that the present series of historical narratives is
presented to the public. The author, having had some opportunity to
become acquainted with the position, the ideas, and the intellectual
wants of those whom he addresses, presents the result of his labors to
them, with the hope that it may be found successful in accomplishing
its design.
CONTENTS.
Chapter Page
I. HIS CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH 13
II. THE EXPEDITION INTO SPAIN 34
III. ACCESSION TO THE THRONE 58
IV. BUCKINGHAM 81
V. THE KING AND HIS PREROGATIVE 107
VI. ARCHBISHOP LAUD 131
VII. THE EARL OF STRAFFORD 155
VIII. DOWNFALL OF STRAFFORD AND LAUD 177
IX. CIVIL WAR 203
X. THE CAPTIVITY 234
XI. TRIAL AND DEATH 261
ENGRAVINGS.
Page
PORTRAIT OF HAMPDEN _Frontispiece._
ILLUMINATED TITLE
TOWER OF LONDON 1
CHARLES I. AND ARMOR BEARER 10
QUEEN HENRIETTA MARIA 11
WINDSOR CASTLE 22
THE ESCURIAL 55
ST. STEPHEN'S 76
LAMBETH PALACE 133
WESTMINSTER HALL 187
STRAFFORD AND LAUD 199
THE KING'S ADHERENTS ENTERING YORK 221
THE LANDING OF THE QUEEN 228
NEWARK 236
CARISBROOKE CASTLE 254
RUINS OF CARISBROOKE CASTLE 265
[Illustration: CHARLES I. AND ARMOR BEARER.]
[Illustration: QUEEN HENRIETTA MARIA.]
KING CHARLES I.
CHAPTER I.
HIS CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH.
King Charles the first was born in Scotland. It may perhaps surprise
the reader that an English king should be born in Scotland. The
explanation is this:
[Sidenote: 1600.]
[Sidenote: Born in Scotland.]
[Sidenote: The circumstance explained]
They who have read the history of Mary Queen of Scots, will remember
that it was the great end and aim of her life to unite the crowns of
England and Scotland in her own family. Queen Elizabeth was then Queen
of England. She lived and died unmarried. Queen Mary and a young man
named Lord Darnley were the next heirs. It was uncertain which of the
two had the strongest claim. To prevent a dispute, by uniting these
claims, Mary made Darnley her husband. They had a son, who, after the
death of his father and mother, was acknowledged to be the heir to the
English throne, whenever Elizabeth's life should end. In the mean time
he remained King of Scotland. His name was James. He married a princess
of Denmark; and his child, who afterward was King Charles the First of
England, was born before he left his native realm.
[Sidenote: Princess Anne.]
King Charles's mother was, as has been already said, a princess of
Denmark. Her name was Anne. The circumstances of her marriage to
King James were quite extraordinary, and attracted great attention
at the time. It is, in some sense, a matter of principle among kings
and queens, that they must only marry persons of royal rank, like
themselves; and as they have very little opportunity of visiting each
other, residing as they do in such distant capitals, they generally
choose their consorts by the reports which come to them of the person
and character of the different candidates. The choice, too, is very
much influenced by political considerations, and is always more or
less embarrassed by the interference of other courts, whose ministers
make objections to this or that alliance, on account of its supposed
interference with some of their own political schemes.
[Sidenote: Royal marriages.]
[Sidenote: Getting married by proxy.]
As it is very inconvenient, moreover, for a king to leave his
dominions, the marriage ceremony is usually performed at the court
where the bride resides, without the presence of the bridegroom, he
sending an embassador to act as his representative. This is called being
married by proxy. The bride then comes to her royal husband's
dominions, accompanied by a great escort. He meets her usually on the
frontiers; and there she sees him for the first time, after having been
married to him some weeks by proxy. It is true, indeed, that she has
generally seen his _picture_, that being usually sent to her before
the marriage contract is made. This, however, is not a matter of much
consequence, as the personal predilections of a princess have generally
very little to do with the question of her marriage.
[Sidenote: James thwarted.]
[Sidenote: James sues for Anne.]
Now King James had concluded to propose for the oldest daughter of the
King of Denmark, and he entered into negotiations for this purpose.
This plan, however, did not please the government of England, and
Elizabeth, who was then the English queen, managed so to embarrass
and interfere with the scheme, that the King of Denmark gave his
daughter to another claimant. James was a man of very mild and quiet
temperament, easily counteracted and thwarted in his plans; but this
disappointment aroused his energies, and he sent a splendid embassy
into Denmark to demand the king's second daughter, whose name was
Anne. He prosecuted this suit so vigorously that the marriage articles
were soon agreed to and signed. Anne embarked and set sail for
Scotland. The king remained there, waiting for her arrival with great
impatience. At length, instead of his bride, the news came that the
fleet in which Anne had sailed had been dispersed and driven back by a
storm, and that Anne herself had landed on the coast of Norway.
[Sidenote: Their marriage.]
[Sidenote: James in Copenhagen.]
James immediately conceived the design of going himself in pursuit of
her. But knowing very well that all his ministers and the officers of
his government would make endless objections to his going out of the
country on such an errand, he kept his plan a profound secret from them
all. He ordered some ships to be got ready privately, and provided a
suitable train of attendants, and then embarked without letting his
people know where he was going. He sailed across the German Ocean to
the town in Norway where his bride had landed. He found her there, and
they were married. Her brother, who had just succeeded to the throne,
having received intelligence of this, invited the young couple to
come and spend the winter at his capital of Copenhagen; and as the
season was far advanced, and the sea stormy, King James concluded to
accept the invitation. They were received in Copenhagen with great pomp
and parade, and the winter was spent in festivities and rejoicings.
In the spring he brought his bride to Scotland. The whole world were
astonished at the performance of such an exploit by a king, especially
one of so mild, quiet, and grave a character as that which James had
the credit of possessing.
[Sidenote: Charles's feeble infancy.]
Young Charles was very weak and feeble in his infancy. It was feared
that he would not live many hours. The rite of baptism was immediately
performed, as it was, in those days, considered essential to the
salvation of a child dying in infancy that it should be baptized
before it died. Notwithstanding the fears that were at first felt,
Charles lingered along for some days, and gradually began to acquire
a little strength. His feebleness was a cause of great anxiety and
concern to those around him; but the degree of interest felt in the
little sufferer's fate was very much less than it would have been if
he had been the oldest son. He had a brother, Prince Henry, who was
older than he, and, consequently, heir to his father's crowns. It
was not probable, therefore, that Charles would ever be king; and the
importance of every thing connected with his birth and his welfare was
very much diminished on that account.
[Sidenote: Death of Elizabeth.]
[Sidenote: Accession of James to the English crown.]
It was only about two years after Charles's birth that Queen Elizabeth
died, and King James succeeded to the English throne. A messenger came
with all speed to Scotland to announce the fact. He rode night and
day. He arrived at the king's palace in the night. He gained admission
to the king's chamber, and, kneeling at his bedside, proclaimed him
King of England. James immediately prepared to bid his Scotch subjects
farewell, and to proceed to England to take possession of his new
realm. Queen Anne was to follow him in a week or two, and the other
children, Henry and Elizabeth; but Charles was too feeble to go.
[Sidenote: 1603.]
[Sidenote: Second sight.]
[Sidenote: Prediction fulfilled.]
In those early days there was a prevailing belief in Scotland, and,
in fact, the opinion still lingers there, that certain persons among
the old Highlanders had what they called the gift of the second
sight--that is, the power of foreseeing futurity in some mysterious
and incomprehensible way. An incident is related in the old histories
connected with Charles's infancy, which is a good illustration of this.
While King James was preparing to leave Scotland, to take possession
of the English throne, an old Highland laird came to bid him farewell.
He gave the king many parting counsels and good wishes, and then,
overlooking the older brother, Prince Henry, he went directly to
Charles, who was then about two years old, and bowed before him, and
kissed his hand with the greatest appearance of regard and veneration.
King James undertook to correct his supposed mistake, by telling him
that that was his second son, and that the other boy was the heir
to the crown. "No," said the old laird, "I am not mistaken. I know
to whom I am speaking. This child, now in his nurse's arms, will be
greater than his brother. This is the one who is to convey his father's
name and titles to succeeding generations." This prediction was
fulfilled; for the robust and healthy Henry died, and the feeble and
sickly-looking Charles lived and grew, and succeeded, in due time, to
his father's throne.
[Sidenote: An explanation.]
Now inasmuch as, at the time when this prediction was uttered, there
seemed to be little human probability of its fulfillment, it attracted
attention; its unexpected and startling character made every one notice
and remember it; and the old laird was at once an object of interest
and wonder. It is probable that this desire to excite the admiration
of the auditors, mingled insensibly with a sort of poetic enthusiasm,
which a rude age and mountainous scenery always inspires, was the
origin of a great many such predictions as these; and then, in the end,
those only which turned out to be true were remembered, while the rest
were forgotten; and this was the way that the reality of such prophetic
powers came to be generally believed in.
[Sidenote: Charles's titles of nobility.]
Feeble and uncertain of life as the infant Charles appeared to be,
they conferred upon him, as is customary in the case of young princes,
various titles of nobility. He was made a duke, a marquis, an earl,
and a baron, before he had strength enough to lift up his head in his
nurse's arms. His title as duke was Duke of Albany; and as this was
the highest of his nominal honors, he was generally known under that
designation while he remained in Scotland.
[Illustration: WINDSOR CASTLE.]
[Sidenote: Charles's governess.]
When his father left him, in order to go to England and take possession
of his new throne, he appointed a governess to take charge of the
health and education of the young duke. This governess was Lady
Cary. The reason why she was appointed was, not because of her
possessing any peculiar qualifications for such a charge, but because
her husband, Sir Robert Cary, had been the messenger employed by the
British government to communicate to James the death of Elizabeth, and
to announce to him his accession to the throne. The bearer of good news
to a monarch must always be rewarded, and James recompensed Sir Robert
for his service by appointing his wife to the post of governess of his
infant son. The office undoubtedly had its honors and emoluments, with
very little of responsibility or care.
[Sidenote: Windsor Castle.]
One of the chief residences of the English monarchs is Windsor Castle.
It is situated above London, on the Thames, on the southern shore.
It is on an eminence overlooking the river and the delightful valley
through which the river here meanders. In the rear is a very extensive
park or forest, which is penetrated in every direction by rides and
walks almost innumerable. It has been for a long time the chief country
residence of the British kings. It is very spacious, containing
within its walls many courts and quadrangles, with various buildings
surrounding them, some ancient and some modern.
[Sidenote: 1610.]
Here King James held his court after his arrival in England, and in
about a year he sent for the little Charles to join him.
[Sidenote: Journey to London.]
[Sidenote: A mother's love.]
The child traveled very slowly, and by very easy stages, his nurses
and attendants watching over him with great solicitude all the way.
The journey was made in the month of October. His mother watched his
arrival with great interest. Being so feeble and helpless, he was, of
course, her favorite child. By an instinct which very strongly evinces
the wisdom and goodness which implanted it, a mother always bestows
a double portion of her love upon the frail, the helpless, and the
suffering. Instead of being wearied out with protracted and incessant
calls for watchfulness and care, she feels only a deeper sympathy
and love, in proportion to the infirmities which call for them, and
thus finds her highest happiness in what we might expect would be a
weariness and a toil.
[Sidenote: Rejoicings.]
[Sidenote: Charles's continued feebleness.]
Little Charles was four years old when he reached Windsor Castle.
They celebrated his arrival with great rejoicings, and a day or two
afterward they invested him with the title of Duke of York, a still
higher distinction than he had before attained. Soon after this, when
he was perhaps five or six years of age, a gentleman was appointed to
take the charge of his education. His health gradually improved, though
he still continued helpless and feeble. It was a long time before he
could walk, on account of some malformation of his limbs. He learned to
talk, too, very late and very slowly. Besides the general feebleness of
his constitution, which kept him back in all these things, there was an
impediment in his speech, which affected him very much in childhood,
and which, in fact, never entirely disappeared.
[Sidenote: His progress in learning.]
As soon, however, as he commenced his studies under his new tutor, he
made much greater progress than had been expected. It was soon observed
that the feebleness which had attached to him pertained more to the
body than to the mind. He advanced with considerable rapidity in his
learning. His progress was, in fact, in some degree, promoted by his
bodily infirmities, which kept him from playing with the other boys of
the court, and led him to like to be still, and to retire from scenes
of sport and pleasure which he could not share.
The same cause operated to make him not agreeable as a companion, and
he was not a favorite among those around him. They called him _Baby_
Charley. His temper seemed to be in some sense soured by the feeling
of his inferiority, and by the jealousy he would naturally experience
in finding himself, the son of a king, so outstripped in athletic
sports by those whom he regarded as his inferiors in rank and station.
[Sidenote: 1616.]
[Sidenote: Charles improves in health.]
[Sidenote: Death of his brother.]
The lapse of a few years, however, after this time, made a total change
in Charles's position and prospects. His health improved, and his
constitution began to be confirmed and established. When he was about
twelve years of age, too, his brother Henry died. This circumstance
made an entire change in all his prospects of life. The eyes of the
whole kingdom, and, in fact, of all Europe, were now upon him as the
future sovereign of England. His sister Elizabeth, who was a few
years older than himself, was, about this time, married to a German
prince, with great pomp and ceremony, young Charles acting the part of
brideman. In consequence of his new position as heir-apparent to the
throne, he was advanced to new honors, and had new titles conferred
upon him, until at last, when he was sixteen years of age, he was made
Prince of Wales, and certain revenues were appropriated to support a
court for him, that he might be surrounded with external circumstances
and insignia of rank and power, corresponding with his prospective
greatness.
[Sidenote: 1618.]
[Sidenote: Charles's love of athletic sports.]
In the mean time his health and strength rapidly improved, and with
the improvement came a taste for manly and athletic sports, and the
attainment of excellence in them. He became very famous for his skill
in all the exploits and performances of the young men of those days,
such as shooting, riding, vaulting, and tilting at tournaments. From
being a weak, sickly, and almost helpless child, he became, at twenty,
an active, athletic young man, full of life and spirit, and ready for
any romantic enterprise. In fact, when he was twenty-three years old,
he embarked in a romantic enterprise which attracted the attention of
all the world. This enterprise will presently be described.
[Sidenote: Buckingham.]
[Sidenote: Buckingham's style of living.]
There was at this time, in the court of King James, a man who became
very famous afterward as a favorite and follower of Charles. He is
known in history under the name of the Duke of Buckingham. His name
was originally George Villiers. He was a very handsome young man,
and he seems to have attracted King James's attention at first on
this account. James found him a convenient attendant, and made him,
at last, his principal favorite. He raised him to a high rank, and
conferred upon him, among other titles, that of Duke of Buckingham.
The other persons about the court were very envious and jealous of his
influence and power; but they were obliged to submit to it. He lived in
great state and splendor, and for many years was looked up to by the
whole kingdom as one of the greatest personages in the realm. We shall
learn hereafter how he came to his end.
[Sidenote: Royalty.]
[Sidenote: True character of royalty.]
If the reader imagines, from the accounts which have been given thus
far in this chapter of the pomp and parade of royalty, of the castles
and the ceremonies, the titles of nobility, and the various insignia
of rank and power, which we have alluded to so often, that the mode
of life which royalty led in those days was lofty, dignified, and
truly great, he will be very greatly deceived. All these things were
merely for show--things put on for public display, to gratify pride and
impress the people, who never looked behind the scenes, with high ideas
of the grandeur of those who, as they were taught, ruled over them
by a divine right. It would be hard to find, in any class of society
except those reputed infamous, more low, gross, and vulgar modes of
life than have been exhibited generally in the royal palaces of Europe
for the last five hundred years. King James the First has, among
English sovereigns, rather a high character for sobriety and gravity of
deportment, and purity of morals; but the glimpses we get of the real,
every-day routine of his domestic life, are such as to show that the
pomp and parade of royalty is mere glittering tinsel, after all.
[Sidenote: 1620.]
[Sidenote: The king and Buckingham.]
[Sidenote: Indecent correspondence.]
The historians of the day tell such stories as these. The king was
at one time very dejected and melancholy, when Buckingham contrived
this plan to amuse him. In the first place, however, we ought to say,
in order to illustrate the terms on which he and Buckingham lived
together, that the king always called Buckingham _Steeny_, which was
a contraction of Stephen. St. Stephen was always represented, in the
Catholic pictures of the saints, as a very handsome man, and Buckingham
being handsome too, James called him Steeny by way of compliment.
Steeny called the king _his dad_, and used to sign himself, in his
letters, "your slave and dog Steeny." There are extant some letters
which passed between the king and his favorite, written, on the part
of the king, in a style of grossness and indecency such that the
chroniclers of those days said that they were not fit to be printed.
They would not "blot their pages" with them, they said. King Charles's
letters were more properly expressed.
[Sidenote: Buckingham's pig.]
To return, then, to our story. The king was very much dejected and
melancholy. Steeny, in order to divert him, had a pig dressed up in the
clothes of an infant child. Buckingham's mother, who was a countess,
personated the nurse, dressed also carefully for the occasion. Another
person put on a bishop's robes, satin gown, lawn sleeves, and the
other pontifical ornaments. They also provided a baptismal font, a
prayer-book, and other things necessary for a religious ceremony, and
then invited the king to come in to attend a baptism. The king came,
and the pretended bishop began to read the service, the assistants
looking gravely on, until the squealing of the pig brought all gravity
to an end. The king was _not_ pleased; but the historian thinks the
reason was, not any objection which he had to such a profanation, but
to his not happening to be in a mood for it at that time.
[Sidenote: James's petulance.]
[Sidenote: The story of Gib.]
There was a negotiation going on for a long time for a marriage between
one of the king's sons, first Henry, and afterward Charles, and a
princess of Spain. At one time the king lost some of the papers, and
was storming about the palace in a great rage because he could not
find them. At last he chanced to meet a certain Scotchman, a servant
of his, named Gib, and, like a vexed and impatient child, who lays the
charge of a lost plaything upon any body who happens to be at hand to
receive it, he put the responsibility of the loss of the papers upon
Gib. "I remember," said he, "I gave them to you to take care of. What
have you done with them?" The faithful servant fell upon his knees,
and protested that he had not received them. The king was only made
the more angry by this contradiction, and kicked the Scotchman as he
kneeled upon the floor. The man rose and left the apartment, saying,
"I have always been faithful to your majesty, and have not deserved
such treatment as this. I can not remain in your service under such a
degradation. I shall never see you again." He left the palace, and went
away.
[Sidenote: The king's frankness.]
A short time after this, the person to whose custody the king had
really committed the papers came in, and, on learning that they were
wanted, produced them. The king was ashamed of his conduct. He sent
for his Scotch servant again, and was not easy until he was found
and brought into his presence. He then kneeled before him and asked
his forgiveness, and said he should not rise till he had forgiven
him. Gib was disposed to evade the request, and urged the king to
rise; but James would not do so until he had said he forgave him, in
so many words. The whole case shows how little of dignity and noble
bearing there really was in the manners and conduct of the king in
his daily life, though we are almost ready to overlook the ridiculous
childishness and folly of his fault, on account of the truly noble
frankness and honesty with which he acknowledged it.
[Sidenote: Glitter of royalty.]
Thus, though every thing in which royalty appeared before the public
was conducted with great pomp and parade, this external magnificence
was then, and always has been, an outside show, without any thing
corresponding to it within. The great mass of the people of England
saw only the outside. They gazed with admiration at the spectacle of
magnificence and splendor which royalty always presented to their eyes,
whenever they beheld it from the distant and humble points of view
which their position afforded them. Prince Charles, on the other hand,
was behind the curtain. His childhood and youth were exposed fully to
all the real influences of these scenes.
[Sidenote: 1622.]
[Sidenote: The appearance.]
[Sidenote: The reality.]
The people of England submitted to be governed by such men, not because
they thought them qualified to govern, or that the circumstances
under which their characters were formed were such as were calculated
to form, in a proper manner, the minds of the rulers of a Christian
people. They did not know what those circumstances were. In their
conceptions they had grand ideas of royal character and life, and
imagined the splendid palaces which some saw, but more only heard of,
at Westminster, were filled with true greatness and glory. They were
really filled with vulgarity, vice, and shame. James was to them King
James the First, monarch of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, and
Charles was Charles, Prince of Wales, Duke of York, and heir-apparent
to the throne. Whereas, within the palace, to all who saw them and
knew them there, and really, so far as their true moral position was
concerned, the father was "Old Dad," and the son, what his father
always called him till he was twenty-four years old, "Baby Charley."