Killers
Of The King: The Men Who Dared to Execute Charles I
Charles
Spencer
Bloomsbury Press, Jan 20 2015, $30.00
ISBN: 9781620409121
Haughty with rigid adherence to the Divine Rights of King
doctrine, Charles I angered Parliament and much of his English subjects with
his iron fisted intolerant rule until a revolt led to his fleeing to Scotland
for sanctuary. However instead of
asylum, Scottish soldiers sold him to the English. On trial in front of a jury of 83 carefully
selected commissioners, the monarch is found guilty with 59 choosing death. After the deposed ruler is executed, Oliver
Cromwell imposes a rigid theocracy especially targeting Catholic Royalists and
their families. When Cromwell dies, with
the support of now out in the open royalists, the son of the late Charles
becomes king. King Charles II proclaims
the Declaration of Breda amnesty with noted exceptions.
This is a fabulous fast-paced seventeenth century historical that
escorts armchair historians through the decade consisting of the final days of
Catholic King Charles I, the Cromwell Protestant regime, and the Restoration of
King Charles II. Readers meet key
royalists, Cromwellians (particular the regicides) and restorers. The two common themes during this tumultuous
internal strife are survival under the opponent’s oppression with role
reversals occurring; and those in charge persecute those who were not with
nobody seemingly able to learn anything from being hounded except implementing revenge
when they are back on top.
Harriet
Klausner
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