The hesitant martyr
Margaret Laird reflects on the death of King Charles I
and wonders about the value of keeping his ‘saint’ day
T
he inclusion of 30 January in the Grove, Jeremy Taylor expressed the mood
ASB and Common Worship is surely of many of his contemporaries who had ‘in
evidence that greater recognition their lifetime discountenanced an excel-
is now being given to the importance of lent liturgy, taken off the hinges of unity go from a corruptible to an incorruptible
Charles I; but what can be gained from and disgraced the articles of religion.’ crown.’ The Kingdom of God and Divine
observing this day? Although Milton had predicted that ‘no Kingship were clearly in his mind as he
King Charles, with his weaknesses and martyr ever died for a church which was approached the scaffold. They were a clear
unpredictability, was not endowed with established,’ others believed that Charles inspiration to George Herbert in such
Solomon’s wealth and wisdom. However, I and Archbishop Laud had vindicated hymns as ‘King of Glory, King of Peace’
with the aid of his Royalist followers and themselves against this charge, by show- ‘Let all the world in every corner sing,
their conviction of the Divine Right of ing that the doctrines and practices of the my God and King!’ And with the Resto-
Kings, expressed in Eikon Basilike, the Church of England were the same as those ration, poets and theologians were again
cult of the Martyr King was established for which the early martyrs died. Conse- freely using the imagery of kingship, and
within a few years of his death. quently, throughout the 1650s, despite the sense of awe and worship was again
The Fast, as 30 January was known, the risk involved, the Royalist cause was incorporated into Anglican liturgy.
was officially observed until the early kept alive, particularly as people became 30 January might also remind us that
nineteenth century. It was the Tractarian disenchanted with the Commonwealth. God has a plan for every individual.
Movement which led to renewed interest Andrew Lacey, writing in The Cult of King Charles himself wanted above all to fuse
in the cult. Shorn of its political agenda, it Charles the Martyr [Boydell 2003] com- the image of the king with the reality. Set
became an inspiration to those who cher- mented, ‘In many ways the dead king was against the seventeenth century under-
ished the vision of the Church of England more useful to the Royalists than when standing of the world (as Shakespeare put
as Catholic, reformed and woven into he was alive’ when his behaviour was so it) as a stage on which we are all called to
English society. This alone could justify unpredictable. act out our life in the particular sphere
the annual remembrance; but are there Thomas Traherne, writing soon after assigned by God’s providence. Charles I
other reasons for doing so? the Restoration, reflects how the attitude managed to conceal the contradictions
When the king was executed in 1649, to the established church had changed. of his character by achieving ‘composure’,
his supporters must have thought that the Anxious to uphold the new Ecclesiasti- a quality which impressed his subjects.
world and church they knew were dis- cal Settlement, he criticized those who The king truly believed that God had set
appearing. At the king’s burial, with the ‘make divisions and are despisers of him upon the throne and that it was his
Prayer Book forbidden, the closed copy union, peace and external flourishing’ duty to make God’s image of him a real-
carried by Bishop Juxon, as he followed the and described the established church as ‘a ity. May the day recall us to those words
coffin in the snow, must have seemed to blessing provided by God in his mercy’. of the Catechism, ‘to do my duty in that
Royalists symbolic of the bleakness of the 30 January also has theological signifi- state of life into which it shall please God
forthcoming era. In 1655, in The Golden cance. In his final speech, Charles I said, ‘I to call me.’
ND
Touching Place LES JACOBINS, TOULOUSE
T
he Capitole is a bustling place in supports the whole of the vaulting of the of Corpus Christi. Unlike some modern
high summer, humming with life, for chevet (1298). philosophers, Aquinas was a humble and
Toulouse is the centre of the aerospace But you have come here to kneel before holy man of God. While he was celebrating
industry, and like all smart French cities the central altar, built over the casket Mass on 6 December 1273, he had a
it has a new Métro system. You could sit containing the mortal remains of the mystical experience which made him give
in the shade here, sipping a long, cool greatest Dominican, St Thomas Aquinas up his writing, telling his secretary, ‘All that
drink; instead, take a short walk down (1229–74), author of the Summa Theologica I have written seems to me like so much
the rue Léon Gambetta and turn right. and composer of the office for the feast straw compared to what I have seen and
In front of you, built in brick like much what has been revealed to me.’ It is said
of la ville rose, is Les Jacobins, the that Our Lord asked him: ‘Thomas, thou
Dominican church in the city where hast written well of me; what reward wilt
Dominic de Guzmán founded his first thou have?’ to which Thomas replied:
house in 1215. ‘Nothing but thyself, Lord.’
Admire its octagonal belfry, modelled Share St Thomas’ vision with him:
upon St Sernin, and pass inside the
O Christ, whom now beneath a veil we see,
double-naved building. Wonder in awe May what we thirst for soon our portion be,
at the unknown genius who conceived To gaze on thee unveiled, and see thy face,
the design of the palmier des Jacobins on The vision of thy glory and thy grace.
top of the single 28-metre column, which Simon Cotton
January 2008
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newdirections
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31
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