Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Charles I - Martyr or Tyrant

January 30, the anniversary of the execution of Charles I of England, Ireland, (Alba) Scotland (and France). A feast day in the Anglican communion, he was hailed as a saint and martyr throughout the English speaking world until the Victorian era, when the special "Feast of Charles I" homily and morning/evening prayer was removed from the BCP. Charles is the only person to have been canonized by the Church of England since the reformation.

But do you agree with the Carolingian Restoration propaganda? Or do you agree with the puritans accusation of him as a tyrant? Let me know.

Here are some of favourite Carolingian pictures:






3 comments:

Anonymous said...

You can put me in the Martyr collumn.

michael jensen said...

you can put me in the tyrant column. fer sure!

Matthew Moffitt said...

It is interesting to think that despite having the martyrdoms of Cranmer, Latimer, Ridley, Hooper, Jewel, and the other 300, the main model of Christian martyrdom for the Anglican world for centuries was a francophilic Scotsman.