Charles the First

by Jacob Abbott

Charles I was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. After his succession, Charles quarrelled with the Parliament of England, which sought to curb his royal prerogative. Charles believed in the divine right of kings and thought he could govern according to his own conscience. Many of his subjects opposed his policies, in particular the levying of taxes without parliamentary consent, and perceived his actions as those of a tyrannical absolute monarch. His religious policies, coupled with his marriage to a Roman Catholic, generated the antipathy and mistrust of reformed groups such as the Puritans and Calvinists, who thought his views too Catholic. He supported high church ecclesiastics, such as Richard Montagu and William Laud, and failed to successfully aid Protestant forces during the Thirty Years' War. His attempts to force the Church of Scotland to adopt high Anglican practices led to the Bishops' Wars, strengthened the position of the English and Scottish parliaments and helped precipitate his own downfall.From 1642, Charles fought the armies of the English and Scottish parliaments in the English Civil War. After his defeat in 1645, he surrendered to a Scottish force that eventually handed him over to the English Parliament. Charles refused to accept his captors' demands for a constitutional monarchy, and temporarily escaped captivity in November 1647. Re-imprisoned on the Isle of Wight, Charles forged an alliance with Scotland, but by the end of 1648 Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army had consolidated its control over England. Charles was tried, convicted, and executed for high treason in January 1649.

Genres: History, Biography, Nonfiction, Classics

106 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1848

About the author

Abbott was born at Hallowell, Maine to Jacob and Betsey Abbott. He graduated from Bowdoin College in 1820; studied at Andover Theological Seminary in 1821, 1822, and 1824; was tutor in 1824-1825, and from 1825 to 1829 was professor of mathematics and natural philosophy at Amherst College; was licensed to preach by the Hampshire Association in 1826; founded the Mount Vernon School for Young Ladies in Boston in 1829, and was principal of it in 1829-1833; was pastor of Eliot Congregational Church (which he founded), at Roxbury, Massachusetts in 1834-1835; and was, with his brothers, a founder, and in 1843-1851 a principal of Abbott's Institute, and in 1845-1848 of the Mount Vernon School for Boys, in New York City.

He was a prolific author, writing juvenile fiction, brief histories, biographies, religious books for the general reader, and a few works in popular science. He died in Farmington, Maine, where he had spent part of his time after 1839, and where his brother, Samuel Phillips Abbott, founded the Abbott School.

His Rollo Books, such as Rollo at Work, Rollo at Play, Rollo in Europe, etc., are the best known of his writings, having as their chief characters a representative boy and his associates. In them Abbott did for one or two generations of young American readers a service not unlike that performed earlier, in England and America, by the authors of Evenings at Home, The History of Sandford and Merton, and the The Parent's Assistant.
Fewacres in 1906, Abbott's residence at Farmington, Maine

His brothers, John S.C. Abbott and Gorham Dummer Abbott, were also authors. His sons, Benjamin Vaughan Abbott, Austin Abbott, both eminent lawyers, Lyman Abbott, and Edward Abbott, a clergyman, were also well-known authors.

Reviews

[Chris Cook · Rating 2 out of 5]

Brief but informative biography. Leaves you wanting more detail, though.

[Jenny Mealor]

Interesting. It was a good review of English history and gave insight into what young people years ago were reading. The author used history to teach young people about civic responsibility and morality.

[Stewart Jarvis-Grove · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. It was a quick and easy read. It seems to have been written for a younger audience in mind so it wasn't heavy on the details but it did give me a good amount of information about the life of Charles I.

[Dayla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surprising that Charles I completely closed the Parliment, and then was surprised the citizens wanted to behead him.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shameful as it is for an English person to admit, I am largely ignorant of this chapter of English history - or at least I was until I read this book! Obviously since this book was written there will have been many different analyses of the events of Charles' life, and so some of the theories regarding why things happened as they did might seem very dated to people more familiar with the subject matter.

For an outline of what actually took place and when, I thought this book did a decent job of presenting the information and introducing the major changes in both the church and the state over this period. It was written for what would now be described as a 'young adult' audience, but didn't seem condescending for an older reader.

One fault I would have would be the fact that the author labours the point a bit about the differences between society in the USA (the location of the intended audience) and the UK, although it is impossible for me to gauge how necessary this might have been in a different country and in the nineteenth century, so I'll give Mr. Abbott the benefit of the doubt here!

[Andrea Hickman Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was quite interesting. I knew of all the major related events, though I finally have a vague understanding of how Presbyterianism differs from other forms of Christianity, but I had my time lines messed up. I had thought Oliver Cromwell played a bigger part in the revolution and was very interested in the role played by the Parliamentary Houses, especially the House of Commons. I did feel the tone failed at presenting a balanced viewpoint. I was thinking that Buckingham, Strafford, Laud and Charles deserved everything they had coming to them (to a degree - torture and execution are not things I approve of) and found that the author was attempting (and in my opinion failing) to evoke a feeling of sympathy towards Charles. I'm going to have to read up more around that time period because I've found I don't know enough and I would like to. Is the current constitutional monarchy a result (direct or indirect) of this revolution? What about the French Revolution - what were the effects of this on other nations in Europe?

[Scott Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a simple and sympathetic account of the life and reign of Charles I - whose leadership endured terrible relationships with the still formulating Parliament and ultimately descended into civil war. Abbott is a fairly compassionate author who strives to portray all his major characters with dignity and humanity and avoids falling into patterns of demonizing one in favour of another. A good introduction to many readers to this historical period.

[Michael Stolle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tedious reading, but interesting enough in some aspects. Very biased, the author constantly waves the tea party flag (the original one, not the copy party of nowadays :) )

Guess that there are better books out there on this era - and yet there's some good and genuine research behind and it gives an authentic flavour of the British court life of Charles I - and in how far the sovereigns had become the puppets on the strings of some powerful families.

[Rick Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

And so that, children, is where Presbyterians come from...

[Therese]

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