Not Just the Tudors: "Oliver Cromwell v. Charles I"

Podcast: Not Just the Tudors (History Hit)
Host: Professor Suzannah Lipscomb
Episode Date: September 4, 2025

Overview

In this gripping, narratively rich episode, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb, with the help of expert historians, traces the dramatic arc of the English Civil Wars, focusing on the seismic conflict between Oliver Cromwell and King Charles I. The episode covers pivotal battles, the moral and legal dilemmas around regicide, and the radical transformation of monarchy and society in mid-17th century England. Drawing on both narrative storytelling and incisive expert commentary, it explores why a kingdom once governed by divine royal authority came to execute its own king, birthing a brief republic and planting the roots for modern constitutional government.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Approaching the Apocalypse: How England Arrived at Regicide

• Setting the Scene: The episode opens with a vivid recounting of King Charles I’s execution, describing the stunned crowd at Whitehall (01:10).
• Causative Factors:
  • Charles’ autocratic rule—imposing taxes without Parliament, promoting religious reforms, and especially his marriage to a Catholic—sparked outrage (01:10–04:00).
  • The Bishops' Wars against Scotland drained the royal treasury, forcing Charles to recall a hostile Parliament, escalating tensions to outright war.

2. Decisive Battles and the Rise of Cromwell

• Battle of Marston Moor (1644): Turning point in Parliament’s favor, decimating royalist forces.
• Battle of Naseby (14 June 1645):
  • Detailed narrative of the battle, highlighting Cromwell’s tactical brilliance and the discipline of the New Model Army (04:00–10:25).
  • Quote:
    “Cromwell’s cavalry’s ability to regroup after their initial charge and return to the main battle was the decisive factor.” — Prof. Suzannah Lipscomb (09:53)
• Cromwell’s Leadership:
  • Professor Ian Gentles underscores how Cromwell’s care for his men ensured loyalty:
    “He would make sure that they were properly fed, properly paid, properly clothed, and that he wouldn’t needlessly risk their lives in battle.” (10:38)

3. The Downfall and Captivity of Charles I

• Charles’ Surrender: Forced to flee Oxford and seek terms with the Scottish Covenanters, only to become a political pawn (11:31–13:24).
• The "Man of Blood" Argument:
  • Army officers saw Charles as responsible for needless bloodshed, providing biblical justification for treating him as a murderer (13:25–15:35).
  • Notable Quote:
    “Well, what should the punishment be for a man of blood? ... The King is guilty of treason, he’s guilty of murder, and therefore he has forfeited his right to live.” — Prof. Ian Gentles (13:33)

4. The Web of Negotiations and Second Civil War

• Endless Bargaining:
  • Charles cunningly negotiates between Parliament, the Army, Scottish factions, and the Engagers—“shopping around for the best possible peace terms” (16:34–18:00).
  • As he played factions against each other, his duplicity eroded all trust.
• Exploding Conflicts (1648):
  • Royalist uprisings flare across England; Cromwell and the New Model Army rapidly suppress them, culminating in the crushing defeat of the Scots at Preston (19:22–23:40).
  • Cromwell’s military momentum becomes unassailable.

5. Revolution Becomes Reality: The Purge and Trial

• Pride's Purge:
  • Colonel Pride forcibly excludes pro-negotiation MPs from Parliament, leaving only hardliners willing to try the King (24:38–26:29).
  • Quote:
    “They thereby got rid of roughly two-thirds of the House of Commons... the army had created a purged Parliament that was willing to do the army’s will.” — Prof. Ian Gentles (24:51)
• Legal Innovations and Paradoxes:
  • The episode probes the unprecedented nature of the trial: How could a king be tried for treason, when treason was legally defined as a crime against the king?
  • Quote:
    “Uniformly, the kind of legal opinion is, no, they can’t. There isn’t a court that could try the King for treason...” — Prof. Ted Vallance (27:46–28:28)
  • The result: a hybrid court, drawing on both civil and military law (27:31–29:03).

6. The Trial and Execution of Charles I

• Trial Proceedings:
  • Charles flatly refuses to recognize the court’s authority or enter a plea (29:30–31:00).
  • Quote:
    “I would know by what power I am called hither.” — King Charles I (30:18)
  • Accusations center on Charles’ responsibility for the war (“war crimes” and “command responsibility”) (31:03–31:45).
  • Proceedings are uncommonly transparent for the era: shorthand notes lead to rapid publication of trial news (33:03).
• Final Hours and Execution:
  • Charles maintains regal calm, insisting on his divinely appointed authority to the end (36:27–36:54).
  • Quote:
    “I go from a corruptible to an incorruptible crown, where no disturbance can be.” — King Charles I (36:54)
  • The execution itself unleashes not triumph, but a “moan” from the crowd—a marker of the enormity of the act (37:05).

7. Aftermath: Cromwell’s Rise, Restoration Hopes, and Historical Legacy

• Cromwell’s Rule and New Uprisings:
  • Cromwell becomes Lord Protector (16 Dec 1653), but must face further challenges, including Charles II’s failed bid at Worcester (1651), after which monarchy is gone, parliament and law assume primacy (37:05–41:16).
• Transforming Political Thought:
  • The episode frames the wars as the “last of the wars of religion and the first of the wars of modern politics,” ending divine right monarchy (39:35–41:10).
  • The Restoration fails to undo the notion that kings are answerable to Parliament and law (42:48).
  • Quote:
    “Still live with the consequences of the most traumatic event in our history and the most formative. We cannot understand our past or our present without understanding the Civil War.” — Prof. Blair Worden (43:15)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “He always took his time in preparing for a battle... That’s an illustration of how well he took care of his men.” — Prof. Ian Gentles (10:41)
• “How can you possibly negotiate with this man of blood, this man who has twice plunged the country into civil war?” — Prof. Ian Gentles on Purge of Parliament (24:51)
• “There isn’t a court that could try the King for treason... The conception of treason is that it’s actions that threaten the King.” — Prof. Ted Vallance (27:50)
• “Charles is most successful in at least shaping his posthumous reputation... he gains a huge amount of continental support.” — Prof. Claire Jackson on the King’s legacy (29:30)
• “The English had done what no people had ever dared to do before. They had condemned their King to death in a court of law.” — Prof. Suzannah Lipscomb (37:14)
• “The constitutional monarchy that eventually emerged built directly on principles established during the Civil Wars: that kings were not above the law, that taxation required consent, and that Parliament had an essential role.” — Prof. Suzannah Lipscomb (42:48)

Important Timestamps

• 01:10–04:00 — Introduction, context, and causes of conflict
• 04:00–10:25 — Battle of Naseby narration and Cromwell’s leadership
• 10:25–13:25 — Cromwell’s military style, aftermath for Royalists, Charles’s surrender
• 13:25–15:35 — “Man of blood” argument and army’s radicalism
• 16:34–18:42 — Charles’s negotiations and the Engagement
• 19:22–24:16 — Second Civil War, suppression of uprisings, Battle of Preston
• 24:38–26:29 — Pride’s Purge and Parliament reshaped
• 27:31–29:03 — Legal challenges to trying a king
• 29:30–31:45 — Charles’s conduct at trial, nature of the charges, evidence
• 36:27–37:05 — The execution scene
• 39:35–42:48 — Cromwell’s rule, Restoration, and long-term impact
• 43:15–43:29 — Civil War as the formative event in modern Britain

Tone and Storytelling

Professor Lipscomb deftly combines dramatic narrative—evocative battle scenes, personal moments, political intrigue—with clear expert analysis and primary source quotations. The result is an episode both scholarly and cinematic, grounding the epic scope of history in vivid, personal detail.

Takeaway

“Oliver Cromwell v. Charles I” vividly reconstructs a nation at the crossroads between medieval and modern, from divine-right absolutism to constitutional monarchy. The English Civil Wars, the trial and execution of the king, and the fleeting republican experiment laid the groundwork for democracy as we know it, with lessons that remain urgent and relevant.