| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
The famous triple portrait of Charles I by Van Dyck. Bernini, seeing this picture, called it "the portrait of a doomed man."
Written in a simple, moving, and straightforward style in the form of a diary, the book combines irenic prayers urging the forgiveness of Charles's executioners with a justification of royalism and the King's political and military program that led to the Civil War.
It is by no means certain that Charles wrote the book. After the Restoration, John Gauden, bishopA bishop is an ordained person who holds a specific position of authority in any of a number of Christian churches. Bishops in the New Testament The bishop's role is typically called the " episcopacy", because the word "bishop" is derived ultimately from of Worcester, claimed to have written it. Scholars continue to disagree about the merits of this claim, though assuming that Gauden wrote it, he had access to Charles's papers when he wrote it. Jeremy TaylorJeremy Taylor is depicted in this portrait at Caius College, Cambridge University. Jeremy Taylor ( 1613 August 13, 1667) was a clergyman in the Church of England who achieved fame as an author during The Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell. He was educated at is also said to have had a hand in its revision, and to be the source of its title; an earlier draft bore the name Suspiria Regalia, the "Royal Sighs."
Whoever wrote it, its author was an effective prose stylist, one that had partaken deeply of the solemn yet simple eloquence of Anglican piety as expressed in Cranmer'sThomas Cranmer ( July 2, 1489 March 21, 1556) was the Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of the English kings Henry VIII and Edward VI. Born in 1489 at Nottingham, Cranmer was educated at Jesus College, Cambridge and became a priest following the Book of Common PrayerThe Book of Common Prayer is the prayer book of the Church of England and also the name for similar books used in other churches in the Anglican Communion. It has been through many revisions over the last few centuries. It contains the order to be followe. The end result is an image of a steadfast monarchThis article treats the generic title monarch . For the origins of the word king and its English use, see Germanic king. For other meanings of the word, see Monarch (disambiguation A monarch is a type of ruler or head of state. The word derives from Greek who, while admitting his weaknesses, declares the truth of his religious principles and the purity of his political motives, while trusting in God despite adversity. Charles's chief weakness, it says, was in yielding to Parliament's demands for the head of the Earl of StraffordThomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford ( April 13, 1593 May 12, 1641) was an English statesman, a major figure in the period leading up to the English Civil War. He was born in London, the son of Sir William Wentworth, of Wentworth Woodhouse, near Rother; for this sinThis page is about sin in the context of religion. For other meanings, see Sin (disambiguation Sin has always been a term most usually used in a religious context, and today describes any lack of conformity to the will of God; especially, any willful disr, Charles paid with his throne and his life. Its portrait of Charles as a martyr invited comparison of the King to Jesus Christ.
The pathos of this dramatic presentation made it a master stroke of Royalist propaganda. The book was quite popular despite official disapproval during the Protectorate and the Restoration; it went into 36 editions in 1649 alone. Because of the favourable impression the book made of the King, Parliament commissioned John Milton to write a riposte to it, which he published under the title Eikonoklastes ("The Iconoclast") in 1649. Milton's response sought to portray the image of Charles, and the absolute monarchy he aspired to, as idols, claiming a reverence due only to God, and therefore justly overthrown to preserve the law of God. This theological counterattack failed to dislodge the sentimental narrative of the Eikon itself from public esteem.