Tag Archives: Execution of King Charles I

February 9th 1649 saw the publication of the so called Eikon Basilike (Greek: Εἰκὼν Βασιλική, the ‘Royal Portrait’), an anonymous ‘hagiography’ of the newly executed King Charles I as martyr, attributed to Charles himself, but more likely the work of others; some as yet quite probably unidentified. As is always the case, scholars are divided as to the true authorship of the work. Whatever the truth though, the speedy impeachment and speedier death of the unfortunate King in the wake of the Second English Civil War would usher in what many of the King’s enemies would see as golden age of religious freedom described by Professor Alec Ryrie in his November 2016 Gresham College Lecture as ‘The Republic of King Jesus’. Continue reading →