CHARLES I, King of England and Scotland. - B. 19 Nov. 1600 at Dunfermline, d. 30 Jan. 1649 in London, son of James I and Anne of Denmark. In 1625, having become king, he married Henrietta Maria, sister of Louis XIII of France. In a secret article annexed to the marriage treaty, C. undertook to guarantee the Catholics freedom of worship, at least in private; but fear of the strong opposing party that wanted the application of the existing laws of persecution against the papists, and the intention of avoiding any approach to Rome and the Pope, led him to adaptations and concessions, which even produced martyrs. The true importance of the marriage was above all of a political character. By it Richelieu averted the threat of a Spanish-English alliance that would oppose the French reconquest of the Valtellina, while on the English side there was hope for the restoration of the Elector Palatine, related by kinship to C.

After the wedding, profound divergences arose between C. and his wife, since the king did not intend to grant any protection to the Catholics. On the pretext of proselytism carried on in favor of the Catholic Church by Henrietta's retinue, C. expelled the members of that retinue from the kingdom. The result was war with France: C. sought to help the Huguenots besieged at La Rochelle, but all attempts failed. Meanwhile the necessities of war required substantial financial means (C. was also at war with Spain and was subsidizing Christian IV of Denmark, his maternal uncle), which the king procured, since they had been denied him by Parliament, through forced loans. Having concluded peace with France and with Spain (1620 and 1630), C. continued along this unconstitutional path. In 1637 he alienated the Scots with anti-Presbyterian measures, and they finally openly rebelled against him. After the death of the Duke of Buckingham (1628), C. was reconciled with the queen and several times gave proof of understanding for the Catholics of the kingdom, while always refusing to convert. The king's infringement of parliamentary immunities led in 1642 to civil war, in which the strong personality of Oliver Cromwell revealed itself. C. was defeated and condemned to death.

Bibliography

BIBL.: S. R. Gardiner, s. v. in Dictionary of National Biography, IV, pp. 67-84. On Catholicism in England under the reign of C. see A. J. Destombes, La persécution religieuse en Angleterre sous Elisabeth et les premiers Stuarts, III, Lille 1883. On relations with the Holy See, in addition to vols. XII, XIII, XIV of Pastor cf. above all G. Albion, Charles I and the Court of Rome, London 1935.

Silvio Furlani

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Charles I, King of England and Scotland

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