One way that the Stuart dynasty is memorable

❤ One way that the Stuart dynasty is memorable

in the history of England, is that it featured the first and only English king to be executed.
Charles I was famously deposed, put on trial, and beheaded for treason at the end of the English Civil War.
Executing a king was a big deal, and maybe some people were still a little uncomfortable about it afterwards, because Charles’ head was then sewn back onto his body for burial!!!
❤ Charles I was executed on  Tuesday 30th January 1649.
It was a cold day, and Charles awoke early.
He began dressing at 5 am in his finest clothes.
He instructed his Gentleman of the Bedchamber, Thomas Herbert, on what would be done with the few possessions he had left.
He requested one extra shirt from Herbert, so that the crowd gathered would not see him shiver from the cold, and mistake it for cowardice.
Charles was allowed to go for a last walk in St James’s park, with his pet dog.

❤ Experts have long believed that a stunning light blue knitted silk waistcoat was, at the least, the over-garment that Charles wore to his execution.

❤ Charles was given the Blessed Sacrament, so that he would not faint out of hunger on the scaffold.
At 10 am, Charles was instructed to go to Whitehall, ready for his execution.
At noon, Charles drank a glass of claret wine and ate a piece of bread.

❤ A large crowd had amassed outside the Banqueting House, where the platform for Charles' execution was set up.
The platform was draped in black and staples had been driven into the wood for ropes to be run through if Charles needed to be restrained.
The execution block was so low that the king would have had to lower himself to place his head on the block, a submissive pose as compared to kneeling before the block.
The executioners of Charles were hidden behind face masks and wigs to prevent identification.

❤ Just before 2 pm, Charles was called to the scaffold.
Charles came through the window of the Banqueting Hall, to the scaffold, in what has been described as
                    "the saddest sight England ever saw"
Charles declared his innocence from the crimes parliament accused him of, his faithfulness to Christianity and that Parliament had been the cause of all the wars before him.
He called himself "a martyr of the people"—claiming he would be killed for their rights.

❤ Charles asked for his silk nightcap to be put on, so that the executioner would not be troubled by his hair.
He then turned and said "I would go from a corruptible crown to an incorruptible crown"—claiming his perceived righteous place in Heaven.
Charles gave his loyal gentleman, his George sash and cloak—uttering one cryptic word: "remember".

❤ Charles laid his neck out on the block and asked the executioner to wait for his signal to behead him.
A moment passed and Charles gave the signal; the executioner beheaded him in one clean blow.
The executioner silently held up Charles' head to the spectators.
He did not utter the customary cry of "Behold the head of a traitor!" either from inexperience, or fear of identification.

❤ The identity of the executioner, or his assistants, was never revealed to the public, with crude face masks and wigs hiding them at the execution, and they were probably only known to Oliver Cromwell, and a few of his colleagues.
The clean cut on Charles' head and the fact the executioner held up Charles' head after the execution suggests the executioner was experienced in the use of an axe.

❤ Shortly after Charles' death, relics of Charles' execution were reported to perform miracles – with handkerchiefs of Charles' blood supposedly curing ailments among peasants.
Many works of devotion, were produced to glorify the dead Charles and his cause.

❤ Charles was denied a funeral at Westminster Abbey, and is buried with King Henry VIII, and Jane Seymour, in St. George's Chapel, Windsor.

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