Charles I. King of England, second son of James I. Born in Dunfermline in 1600. Failing in his suit for the infanta of Spain, he married Henrietta Maria, a French princess, a devoted Catholic, who had great influence over him, but not for good. He had for public advisors Strafford and Laud, who cherished in him ideas of absolute power adverse to the liberty of his subjects. Acting on these ideas brought him into collision with Parliament and provoked a civil war, Charles himself being the first to throw down the gauntlet. He raised the royal standard at Nottingham, but in the end surrendered himself to the Scots' army at Newark, and was delivered by them to Parliament. He was tried as a traitor to his country, condemned to death, and beheaded at Whitehall, January 30, 1649.

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