The House of Commons, in response to…
January 1649 CE
The House of Commons, in response to Charles's defiance of Parliament even after defeat, and his encouraging the second Civil War while in captivity, passes an Act of Parliament in January 1649 creating a court for Charles's trial.
After the first Civil War, the parliamentarians had accepted the premise that the King, although wrong, had been able to justify his fight, and that he would still be entitled to limited powers as King under a new constitutional settlement.
It is now felt that by provoking the second Civil War even while defeated and in captivity, Charles has showed himself incorrigible, dishonorable, and responsible for unjustifiable bloodshed.
His trial on charges of high treason and "other high crimes" begins on January 20, 1649, but Charles refuses to enter a plea, claiming that no court has jurisdiction over a monarch.
Over a period of a week, when Charles is asked to plead three times, he refuses.
It is at this time normal practice to take a refusal to plead as pro confesso: an admission of guilt, which means that the prosecution cannot call witnesses to its case.
However, the trial does hear witnesses.
Fifty-nine of the Commissioners sign Charles's death warrant on January 29, 1649, possibly at the Red Lion Inn in Stathern, Leicestershire.
The Commonwealth of England, a republican form of government, replaces the monarchy as the form of government of England (and later of Scotland and Ireland).
Members of the Long Parliament serve as government.
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