Hostname: page-component-7bb8b95d7b-495rp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-09-17T18:38:18.695Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Cult of the Royal Martyr

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

Byron S. Stewart
Byron S. Stewart
Affiliation:
Professor of History, Central Missouri State College, Warrensburg, Missouri
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

In 1660 not only did the institution of monarchy return to England but also the “Image of the King” was restored. The monarchy had to be defined again, but the image persisted and entered the mythology of English history. By decapitating Charles I, Parliament and the army created a myth which covered all the flaws in the king and revealed only the virtuous martyr. The Cult of the Royal Martyr was formed around this myth of the sanctified personality of Charles. Charles the Good was martyred to the factious spirit of the Puritans. He was a martyr for the church; and as such, instead of being a dead king, he became a living defender of the church and the monarchy. He was the patron saint of all who wished to criticize puritanism or to support the monarchy.

Type
Research Article
Information
Church History , Volume 38 , Issue 2 , June 1969 , pp. 175 - 187
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 1969

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. This paper is based upon research into some 300 sermons preached on the anniversary of the death of Charles I. These sermons vary greatly in quality and content. The great majority were preached before the House of Commons or the House of Lords. A list of most of these sermons can be found in The British Museum General Catalog of Printed Books and many are located in the Henry E. Huntington Library.

2. Paradise, John, Hadadrimmon… A Sermon… Preached Jan 30, 1660… at Westbury (London: for Nathanael Webb, 1661), p. 38.Google Scholar

3. More, P. E., and Cross, F. L., eds., Anglicanism (London, S.P.C.K., 1935).Google Scholar

4. Ibid.

5. A Form of Common Prayer, to be used upon the Thirtieth of January, Being the Anniversary Day, Appointed by Act of Parliament For Fasting and Humiliation … Published by His Majestis's Command (London: by John Bill and Christopher Barker, 1661).Google Scholar

6. Ibid.

7. SirBulstrode, Richard, The Bulstrode Papers (privately printed, 1897), p. 169Google Scholar (located in the Huntington Library). A convenient list of diaries is Matthews, William, British Diaries (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1950).Google Scholar Bulstrode's comment is typical.

8. Pepys, Samuel, The Diary of …, ed. Wheatley, Henry B. (New York: Random House, n.d.), p. 560Google Scholar (1662/1963).

9. Harrold, Edmund, Diary, in Collectanea Relating to Manchester, Chetham Society Publications, LXVIII, 1866, p. 202 (1714).Google Scholar

10. Mercurius Publicus, Number 51, p. 810.

11. Calendar of State Papers, Venetian (London: H. M. Stationary Office, 1884), Vol. 135, p. 106.Google Scholar

12. Ibid., pp. 106, 107.

13. Ibid., p. 107.

14. The Oxinden and Peyton Letters, 1642–1670, ed. Dorothy Gardiner (London: The Sheldon Press, 1937), p. 311.Google Scholar

15. Brodie, , Alexander, , The Diary of Alexander Brodie, ed. Laing, D. (Aberdeen: Spalding Club, 1863), p. 239.Google Scholar

16. Baker, William, A Sermon preaehed before the House of Commons … January 30, 1720 (London: for Benjamin Cowse, 1720), p. 5.Google Scholar

17. Calendar of State Papers, Venetian, Vols. 135, 136,Google Scholarpassim.

18. The word government was nearly always used as a substitute for the former use of king or monarchy.

19. Hartcliffe, John, A Sermon preached before … the House of Commons … on the Thirtieth of January, 1694/5 (London: for Charles Harper, 1695), p. 22.Google Scholar

20. Moore, John, A Sermon Preached before the House of Lords … January 31, 1697 (London: for W. Rogers, 1697), p. 5.Google Scholar

21. Ibid., pp. 6, 7.