My first thought when reading about the King was, How pompous! He really had an inflated opinion of himself! In his responses at his trial there is much reference to God and the disservice that is being done to Him.
But then, didn’t they all have a rather inflated opinion of themselves? They changed the laws to be able to bring charges and hold a trial against the King for treason. As listed on page 1738, those who wanted to get rid of the King had to get rid of half of parliament, and pass a law that redefined treason. Treason now was against the country and not against the King. Then there was a sham of a trial, obviously he was going to die regardless! Another thing that I found interesting is in reading the footnotes. Did anyone else happen to notice that most of those fine noble men that were involved in the King’s trial were later “executed after the Restoration”? One man, John Bradshaw, was even posthumously convicted of treason, and his remains dug up and hung in chains! Going a little far there, don’t you think?
I also found it interesting that these new political writings, more abundant now that censorship was removed, were being used as tools for the political parties. I immediately thought of how the same thing happens with the news media today (my opinion anyway). According to our readings, these reports influenced people’s opinions and probably contributed to the problem.
One last thing, on page 1738 it mentions that the King conducted himself with dignity, even at the end. I do agree with that. When reading his responses, I was amused at how he refused to answer the charges since those bringing the charges didn’t have the authority, at least in him mind, to accuse him of anything. In the end, he asked for forgiveness for those who had committed this crime against him and even admitted to himself being influenced and committing this same sin against another, (his advisor, Thomas Wentworth).
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