---
title: "Execution of King Charles I"
year: 1649
country: "England"
canonical: "https://recap.at/1649/charles-i-execution"
slug: "charles-i-execution"
recapType: "global_event"
startDate: "1649-01-30"
---

# Execution of King Charles I

> The unprecedented trial and beheading of a reigning English monarch crystallized the revolutionary principle that no ruler stands above law.

## Summary

Charles I, King of England, Scotland and Ireland, was publicly executed on 30 January 1649 outside the Banqueting House on Whitehall, London. The execution was the culmination of political and military conflicts between the royalists and the parliamentarians in England during the English Civil War, leading to Charles's capture and his trial. On 27 January 1649 the parliamentarian High Court of Justice had declared Charles guilty of attempting to "uphold in himself an unlimited and tyrannical power to rule according to his will, and to overthrow the rights and liberties of the people" and sentenced him to death by beheading.

## Sources

- [Execution of King Charles I](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Execution_of_Charles_I_of_England) - Wikipedia

---
Canonical: https://recap.at/1649/charles-i-execution