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The Divine Right of Kings and the English Civil War
The Divine Right of Kings and the English Civil War

God, King and Cromwell: Regicide and Providence in Early Modern England

Amy Bensley
Amy Bensley
London
Published
Anthropology
Early Modern Period
1660
War & Conflict
United Kingdom
The killing of one’s king entirely violated the Divine Right of Kings, a doctrine defining the monarch’s God-given right to rule, which had governed English society for centuries.

Oliver Cromwell assured his troops “there is no such thing as chance, no mistake in providence”1, convincing them of God’s favour — that they were indeed the “instruments of providence” — as they fought and later beheaded King Charles I. In Cromwell’s camp, the act of regicide of a tyrannical king was an act of divine intervention.2 Many however were not convinced.3

Providential beliefs were widely held in early modern England and until the Civil War the idea that a non-royal could commit a deposition of this kind was virtually inconceivable to the English.4 Royalists believed Cromwell and his soldiers had grossly perverted the Divine Right of Kings and that in time God would have his vengeance on them.5

Providential beliefs could be manipulated for both the benefit and detriment of the King and Cromwell. When censorship laws lapsed as a result of political uncertainty during the Civil War and Interregnum (1649-60), propaganda on both sides exploited providence to support their causes.6 But by 1660 when the republican regime had begun to falter under Cromwell’s son, public opinion began to shift in favour of the restoration of the monarchy, with many viewing their beheaded king as a virtuous martyr.7

By the time of the Restoration, the public at large was firmly rooted in their support of the new king, Charles II, while a spike displayed Cromwell’s head outside Westminster Hall.
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References

  1. Henry Stubbe. An Account of the Rise and Progress of Mahometanism . Creative Media Partners. 1911. 178-9
  2. Christopher Durston. Signs and Wonders and English Civil War. History Today Volume 37 Issue 10. October 1987
  3. Blair Worden. God’s Instrument’s: Political Conduct in the England of Oliver Cromwell. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2012. 61-62
  4. Alexandra Walsham. Providence in Early Modern England. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1999. 6
  5. Robert Beddard. The Restoration Church in J. R. Jones (ed.) The Restored Monarchy . Rowman and Littlefield. 1979. 167
  6. Christopher Durston. Signs and Wonders and English Civil War. History Today Volume 37 Issue 10. October 1987
  7. Jonathon Clark. English Society 1660-1832: Religion, Ideology and Politics during the Ancien Regime. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2000. 45
Amy Bensley
Amy Bensley
London
Early modern England witnessed the executions of two monarchs: King Charles I (1649) and Mary Queen of Scots (1587). Both were received very differently by the public. Whilst the ‘Protestant Wind’ and the defeat of the Spanish Armada convinced most in England that God approved of Mary’s execution, God’s divine judgement on Charles’ was less straightforward. I want the reader to understand the perception of regicide in early modern England.
— Amy Bensley