Charles I of England — King and Martyr

Ken Kalis
5 days ago
3 min read

As an American Protestant, I never thought much of King Charles I.

My heart was with Oliver Cromwell and the common people against the haughty aristocrats.
I thought Charles was out of touch with his people and narcissistic
But he was a family man and loved his people and the Lord Jesus.

Learn with me why we honor him today and call him a martyr..

On January 30, the Church remembers Charles I, King of England, who was executed in 1649 after a long and bitter civil war. In the calendar of saints, he is remembered not as a flawless ruler, but as a Christian king who suffered death rather than surrender what he believed to be sacred trusts: the crown under God, the Church’s order, and the sanctity of conscience.

Charles was not an easy man. He could be reserved, stubborn, and unbending. Yet he possessed something rarer still — a profound sense that authority is not self-created, but received, and therefore accountable to God.

A King Formed by Prayer and Sacrament

Charles I understood kingship sacramentally. He believed that the monarch stood beneath God, not above Him, and that the Church of England was not merely a political institution but a spiritual inheritance.

His support of bishops, liturgy, and the Book of Common Prayer placed him increasingly at odds with a rising Puritan movement that sought to reshape both Church and state.

What many called obstinacy, Charles understood as fidelity.

When pressured to abolish episcopacy and submit the Church entirely to Parliament, he refused. He would negotiate policies, but not surrender principles.

Trial Without Precedent

The trial of Charles I was unprecedented — a reigning king charged with treason by his own subjects. He denied the court’s authority, not out of pride, but conviction: no earthly power could lawfully judge a king anointed under God.

He spoke calmly, clearly, and without rancor. Even his enemies noted his composure.

On January 30, 1649, outside the Banqueting House at Whitehall, Charles walked to the scaffold dressed for the cold, so that no shiver would be mistaken for fear.

His final act was prayer.

Eikon Basilike — The Image of a Christian King

Shortly after his death, Eikon Basilike (“The King’s Image”) appeared — a spiritual meditation attributed to Charles, presenting him as a suffering Christian rather than a political symbol.

I would rather choose to wear a crown of thorns with my Saviour, than to exchange that of gold, which is due to me, for one of lead, whose embased flexibleness shall be forced to bend and comply to the various and oft contrary dictates of any factions, when instead of reason and public concernments they obtrude nothing but what makes for the interest of parties, and flows from the partialities of private wills and passions. I know no resolutions more worthy a Christian king, than to prefer his conscience before his kingdoms.

Whether fully his or not, the book captured something true: a king who learned, too late perhaps, how deeply the crown is shaped by the cross.

For generations, Anglicans remembered him not merely as a fallen monarch, but as a witness to conscience under pressure, a ruler who accepted death rather than violate what he believed God had entrusted to him.

Why Charles I Still Matters

In an age that distrusts authority and flattens all hierarchy, Charles I stands as a troubling, necessary figure. He reminds us that:

Authority is real, but never absolute
Conscience has limits, but also claims
Power divorced from accountability becomes tyranny — but so does power seized without reverence

He was not perfect. But he was faithful — and faithful unto death.

Closing Prayer

O God, who didst sustain thy servant Charles in trial and suffering,grant us grace to hold fast to truth without bitterness,to authority without pride,and to conscience without fear;through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Let us then be true and faithful,

Trusting, serving every day;

Just one glimpse of Him in glory

Will the toils of life repay.

When we all get to Heaven,

What a day of rejoicing that will be!

When we all see Jesus,

We’ll sing and shout the victory!

Onward to the prize before us!

Soon His beauty we’ll behold;

Soon, the pearly gates will open;