Tea at Trianon: King Charles I Flees London

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Saturday, February 5, 2022

King Charles I Flees London

This is going to be in the sequel, which I am working on now. From Battlefield Biker:

On 4 January 1642, King Charles ordered the issuance of an indictment of treason against the “five members” of parliament. The members were John Hampden, Sir Arthur Hasilrige (multiple spellings), Denzil Holles, John Pym and William Strode. John Hampden died at the Battle of Chalgrove the very next year. Battlefield Biker favorite, Sir Arthur Hasilrige, fought throughout the war with his regiment of cuirassiers, or “lobster” cavalry.” Denzil Holles fought at the Battle of Edgehill, but was later a leading proponent of a negotiated settlement of the war. John Pym was the driving force in Parliament to curb the King’s powers, but died two years later of cancer. William Strode, after being imprisoned for eleven years at the King’s behest, was probably only second in vociferousness in the war party to Pym.

On 10 January 1642, King Charles I had to leave London as the unrest against him grew. He had recently tried to arrest five members of parliament on treason charges, but failed. His coach had been surrounded by a mob when he had demanded that those who were sheltering the five members should give them up. This was enough to scare Charles and his Queen, Henrietta, into leaving London. They first decamped to Hampton Court, then Windsor Castle and finally to Oxford to set up an alternative government to the Parliament in London. Parliament was busy activating its militias, called the “Trained Bands.” Although there were some attempts at reconciliation, the train of events leading to the English Civil War was already underway. (Read more.)