The execution of King Charles I, in January 1649, was a groundbreaking and politically shocking event. It brought a bloody end to the whole concept of monarchy in England, and sent ripples of worry and fear throughout the rulers of Europe. But there is an often-forgotten link between Charles' trial and execution and the commercial, leafy town of Reading in Berkshire. 

Daniel Blagrave, born in 1603, was a nephew of John Blagrave of Reading, a famous and historically-important mathematician. As a boy, Daniel entered into legal training, and in 1645 was appointed a recorder of the town. He was elected MP for Reading on 8 May 1648 and appears often in the accounts of the Reading Corporation throughout most of 1648. 

Claude Du Bosc, c.1711–1740, The Trial of Charles I. 1648, Engraving, hand-colored, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, B1977.14.17893.

In early 1649 Daniel played a central and visible role in the trial of his king, Charles I. This would have required him to lodge in London for most of that January, as one of the commissioners of the unprecedented trial. He attended the first meeting, seated with Oliver Cromwell and Henry Ireton in the Painted Chamber of the palace of Westminster on 6 January 1649. Here, they appointed Edward Dendy, Sergeant at Arms, to proclaim the proceedings of the trial. They next met on 10 January, with Daniel once again present, to hash out how the trial would take place and who would preside over it. John Bradshaw was chosen to oversee the proceedings as president, with other commissioners and messengers also appointed in various roles. At a meeting on 13th January, Daniel would have looked on as it was agreed that the trial would be held privately, and at Westminster. On the 15th, a Monday, the charges against Charles were read out at court. Daniel would have noted his neighbour at some of these gatherings, Edmund Ludlow from Tadley Place in nearby Hampshire, a relative of Sir Henry Ludlow of the village. 

Daniel was at another meeting on 17th January, but not at one held on the following day on the 19th. He was back in the Painted Chamber on 20 January, when Charles first appeared to hear the charges against him. The king lodged with Robert Cotton during his trial and was brought to the court room with 32 guards. Asked to sit, he took his place on a 'velvet crimson chair', although stood up to glare at the guards and onlookers who had assembled. Charles listened as he was told that 'the Commons of England Assembled in Parliament, being deeply sensible of the Evils and Calamities that had been brought upon this Nation, and of the innocent Blood that had been spilt in it, which was fixed upon him as the principal Author'. They resolved, they informed the king, to 'make Inquisition for this Blood, and according to the Debt they did owe to God, for Justice, the Kingdom, and themselves'. Charles was visibly angered by the trial, and was repeatedly asked by the commissioners to be silent. He regularly interrupted those who were speaking and when he was described as 'a Tyrant, Traitor, Murderer', he laughed out loud, later arguing that the court 'had no legal authority' to act against him.

The next few dates were no more promising. Daniel Blagrave was listed as present on the morning of 22 January and again, in a packed room with 70 commissioners present, in the afternoon. At this later gathering Charles continued to argue that the men assembled had no right to proceed against him and that he did not know 'how a King can be a Delinquent'. On 23 January, Daniel listened as the king was finally asked how he pleaded. Charles allowed a pause, and then argued once again, that as a king he could not be tried by the people and that the commissioners had no power. Daniel was listed at the commission on 24 January, but not specifically on the morning of the 25th. He might have been one of the 'divers others' present, not listed by name. On this day, members of the public were called as witnesses to Charles' many actions of war, telling the council how he had held his sword in his hand and fought in battle, with deaths caused on either side. Others told how he marched through the country with his armies, one William Brayne of Salop relating how he had seen the king 'while the standard was set up, and the flag flying'. That afternoon, Daniel Blagrave was present, when the court declared that they were 'resolved upon the whole matter, that this court will proceed with the sentence of condemnation against Charles Stuart, King of England' and that he would be condemned as a tyrant, traitor and a murderer. 

Print made by William Faithorne, ca. 1620–1691, Charles I, 1658, Line engraving on medium, slightly textured, cream laid paper, Yale Center for British Art, Gift of Edward B. Greene, transfer from the Yale University Art Gallery, B1994.4.943.

In the afternoon of 26 January Daniel was among those who drafted the sentence against the king. On the 27th, he looked on as Charles listened to his fate. He would be 'put to death, by the severing of his head from his body'. The king repeatedly argued with Bradshaw and tried to interrupt, but when asked to reply officially to the sentence, he refused to speak. However after the proceedings were over Charles insisted that he wanted to address him with arguments, Bradshaw tersely reminding him 'Sir, you are not to be heard after the sentence'. As Charles was taken out of the chamber by armed guards, an eyewitness claimed that the king was spat on and tobacco smoke blown on his face. On 29 January his children Elizabeth and Henry visited him, the king telling them that he loved their mother and that they should obey their brother Charles if he ever became king. However, he told Henry 'do not be made a king by them', referring to the Commons. Henry told his father that  he would 'be torn into pieces first'. 

On 29 January 1649, Daniel Blagrave, with others, signed Charles I's Death Warrant and affixed his seal to the document. The commissioners met the following day, when Charles was taken to the scaffold. Telling the executioner that he would give him a signal when he was ready to die - his hands held out in front of him - Charles knelt and placed his head on the wooden block, which had been draped in black cloth. After a brief moment of prayer, the king gave the signal and the executioner struck. Daniel was present at the meeting before the execution, and so it is likely that he would have stayed to observe the action he had helped put into place, as one of the Regicides of the now late king. 

With Charles' body still warm in its coffin in St George's Chapel, Windsor, the Protectorate government under Oliver Cromwell established itself, and England entered into the Puritan religion. Daniel Blagrave continued to play a role in the new regime. He appears in the Corporation Records of Reading as a steward and dealt regularly with business there in the summer and autumn of 1649. In 1650 he listened to a case involving the fencing and railing of land belonging to Thomas Harrison's father in Reading. In May, he considered selling the town's lands in Silchester but decided to ponder on the problem before coming to an agreement, making it clear that 'Parr's business be concluded on' first. He is marked is absent in many of the town meetings during 1652 and 1653, perhaps because he was now needed closer to the centre of government. He worked in the Court of Common Pleas, securing an income of £500 a year, and was parliamentary treasurer for the county of Berkshire. In 1654 he appears often in Reading's local business, and was a commissioner for the Protectorate government 'for the ejection of scandalous and inefficient ministers'. He was accused at the time of being heavy-handed with his power, as 'a vexatious persecutor of the clergy'. Daniel later purchased the fee-farm rent of the manor of Sonning in Berkshire along with other lands, and represented Reading as a Member of Parliament in 1656 and 1658. 

In May 1660, at the Restoration of the Monarchy, Charles' eldest son Charles II was crowned. One of his first actions as king was to seek out those who had signed the death warrant of his father and issue punishment. Oliver Cromwell's corpse was even dug up out of its grave and subjected to a traitor's 'death'. Wisely perhaps, Daniel Blagrave escaped out of the kingdom and settled in Aachen in Germany. It's likely that he never returned to England, and is believed to have died at his Aachen home in 1668.

Liked this? You might also like: The Cryptic Last Words of King Charles I, and A Restoration Era Ghost Story of 1662.

My book,  Power Couples of the Renaissance, features this era and explores the relationship dynamics that went against accepted norms of the period. There were also power-hungry couples who ruled, fought and spread the patronage of art, science and culture across the globe during one of the most tumultuous periods of history. Find it on the Pen and Sword Books website. 

 Sources:

A true copy of the journal of the High-Court of Justice for the tryal of King Charles I. As it was read in the House of Commons, ... Taken by J. Nalson, LL.D. Jan. 4. 1683. 1731

Reading Records: Diary of the Corporation of Reading, Volume 4. J. Parker, London. 1892.

Dictionary of National Biography, Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee. Volume 2. Smith, Elder and Co., London. 1908.

Edward III was a lover of chivalry, celebration and order and also considered the ancient Briton King Arthur a bit of a role model. Other kings, like his later namesake Edward IV, admired his approach to court entertainment and adopted these traits into their own households. Theatrical, extravagant and concerned with heading a royal court of justice and legend, Edward III told his subjects in January 1344 that he wanted to host a tournament at Windsor Castle. 

Edward III, by William Bruges, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Windsor was then a stocky fortress, its famous Round Tower having been built by William the Conqueror after 1066. Many of the walls we see today date from the early 1500s, after modifications and building works were commissioned by Henry VII and his councillor Sir Reginald Bray. In the fourteenth century St George's Chapel was a smaller building, consisting of where Prince Albert's memorial chapel is today. The vast building on the left hand side was begun by Edward IV and finished under the reign of Henry VII. 

Edward III issued a safe conduct to subjects 'for the recreation and solace of men of war who delight in the exercise of arms' to travel to the castle. Foreigners were also invited, specifically 'knights, gentlemen and esquires', expected to descend on the castle with their servants. 

A fascinating eyewitness account of the tournament survives, written by Adam Murimuth, a lawyer and rector of Wraysbury, a position he held in 1331. He died later in 1347. Looking back on the event, Murimuth wrote that:

'This year the lord King arranged to have a most noble just or essay in the place of his birth, namely in the Castle of Windsor... which, at a fitting date preceding, he caused to be proclaimed both in parts beyond sea as well as in England. To which also he caused to be invited by his letters all the ladies of the southern parts of England, and the wives of the burgesses of London. Therefore having assembled the earls, barons, knights, and as many ladies as possible, on Sunday... in the aforesaid Castle, the King kept a solemn feast, so that the great hall of the same Castle was filled with ladies, nor was there any male person among them, save two knights who alone had just come from France for the festival. At which feast there were two queens, nine countesses, and wives of barons, knights, and burgesses, who could not easily be counted, whom the King himself personally arranged in their places according to their rank. The Prince of Wales, the Duke of Cornwall, the earls, barons, and knights, together with all the people, feasted in a tent and in other places, where there were rations and all other necessaries made ready and delivered to all freely and without murmuring, and later on ring-dances... and divers other dances were solemnly arranged.

The Norman Round Tower at Windsor today

And on the three following days the King with nineteen other knights held the lists against all coming from without; and the same Lord, not on account of the royal favour, but by reason of the great labour which he sustained, and from the luck which he had on the said three days, bore away the favours among those within. But from without Sir Miles Stapelton on the first day, Sir Philip Despenser on the second day, and Sir John Blount on the third day, bore away the favours. On the Thursday following... the Lord King made a great supper at which he began his Round Table, and received the oaths of certain earls and barons and knights whom he wished to be of the said Round Table, under a certain form pertaining to the said Round Table; and he fixed the day of holding the Round Table in the same place on the feast of Pentecost next after, and to all present he gave leave with acts of grace to return to their own affairs.

He also ordained afterwards that there should be made in the same place a most noble house, in which the said Round Table could be held at the term appointed; for the making of which, he appointed carpenters and other workmen and ordered to be provided both beams and stones, not sparing labour or expense.'

Murimuth also gives an account of another tournament and feast held at the castle in 1343, although it is not clear if this describes part of the same event or a different one. 

'In the year of Our Lord 1343, but in the second year of the pontificate of Pope Clement VI and in the seventeenth of King Edward the Third from the Conquest, beginning always and ending always at the feast of St. Michael, from which feast until the feast of the Purification of the Blessed Mary there were not any things done worthy of much note or relation, but on the Sunday next after the feast of the Blessed Mary, at Windsor, the Lord King kept a very great solemnity and a great feast ; to which he invited his first-born son the Prince of Wales, the earls, barons, and knights, and very many other nobles of his kingdom. There were also there the Lady Queen Philippa, with her children, the lady Queen-mother, the lady Isabella, countesses, baronesses, as well as ladies and gentlewomen, with an indescribable host of people about to delight in so great a solemnity. And so at feasts that were expensive and abounding in the most alluring of drink they were sustained to the satiety of everyone. Among the lords and ladies dances were not lacking, embraces and kissings alternately co-mingling. Among the knights continued joustings were being practised for three days; the best melody is made by the minstrels, and divers joyous things; to these are given changes of raiment, to those offerings were abounding; these being enriched with plenty of gold and silver.

This same solemnity lasted Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday ; on which day at night, after the end of the jousts, the Lord King caused to be proclaimed that no lord or lady presume to depart, but await until morning, to know the Lord King’s pleasure. When the morning, that is the Thursday, came, about the first hour the King caused himself to be solemnly arrayed in royal and festive vestures, and he had on uppermost a mantle of very precious velvet and the royal crown placed upon his head. The Queen was likewise most nobly adorned. The earls and barons, and the rest of the lords and ladies, with all the decency they could, according to the King’s command, prepared themselves to go with him to the chapel in the Castle of Windsor and hear mass. Which having been celebrated, the Lord King went out of the chapel, the lord Henry earl of Derby, as seneschal of England, and the lord William, earl of Salisbury, as marshal of England, going before him, each in virtue of his office carrying a staff in his hand, and the Lord King himself holding the royal sceptre in his hand. There followed him the young Lady Queen, and the lady Queen-mother, the Prince of Wales, the earls, barons, knights and nobles, with the ladies and all the people about to see so unwonted a spectacle, to the place appointed for the assembly. In which place the same Lord King and all the others at the same time stood up, and having been offered the Book, the Lord King, after touching the Gospels, took a corporeal oath that he himself, at a certain time limited to this, whilst the means were possible to him, would begin a Round Table, in the same manner and condition as the lord Arthur, formerly King of England, appointed it, namely to the number of 300 knights, a number always increasing, and he would cherish it and maintain it according to his power.

To observe, sustain, and promote which with all its appendages, the earls of Derby, Salisbury, Warwick, Arundel, Pembroke, and Suffolk, the other barons and very many knights, whom probity and renown put forward to be worthy of praise, made a like oath. Which being done, with trumpets and nakers sounding all together, the guests hastened to a feast; which feast was complete with richness of fare, variety of dishes, and overflowing abundance of drinks: the delight was unutterable, the comfort inestimable, the enjoyment without murmuring, the hilarity without care. The last things therefore corresponding to the first, the royal feast was ended, so that on the fifth day each might return to his own affairs.'

As we might expect for so lavish an occasion, Edward's costs were expensive, and not just for carving his Round Table. Works clearly involved erecting a building that the Round Table would be installed in, like a council room, although it didn't have to be used only for business. This involved a lot of money and various employees were called upon to carry out Edward's vision.  Two men were paid to drive two carts of sand over the 'bridges of the Castle... lest they be broken with the heavy carriage of the Round Table'. Their work took them two days and they were paid two shillings eight pence. Four men were paid to scatter the sand for the two days, with more sand delivered the following March. The building of the Round Table itself was begun on 15 February 1344. A carpenter named William Hurley was in charge of the project, and was asked to recruit carpenters from other towns and cities to work with him on the project. A mason named William of Ramsey was assigned for the same work. It was William of Langley's job to make sure the workers had enough stone and timber, which was to be brought from Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Middlesex. John Knyght was recruited to bring materials by boat 'between London and Windsor'. John Waleraund was 'overseer and controller of the works' and responsible for paying the bills. 

It's not known for certain what happened to Edward's building, but it no longer survives at the castle today. However its trace in historical sources and witness accounts acts as a reminder of the king's forward-thinking, chivalrous and ambitious approach to cultural identity during his reign. He died in July 1377 and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

Interested in the cultural development of England and other countries? You might like my third book Power Couples of the Renaissance. Tracking couples who drove arts, literature and the theatre forwards from the 1390s to the early 1700s, it features relationship dynamics that went against accepted norms of the period and power-hungry couples who ruled, fought and spread the patronage of art, science and culture across the globe during one of the most tumultuous periods of history. Find it on the Pen and Sword Books website. 

 Source: W.H. St John Hope. Windsor Castle, An Architectural History Volume 1. London, 1913.

At the dawn of the Stuart dynasty that ruled both Scotland and England for over a century, a tavern was built on London's busy Fleet Street, at number 39. Believed to have first opened in 1603, William Shakespeare is reputed to have been one of its early customers, with the poet Richard Jackson later alluding to 'Shakespeare's Rime which he made at ye Myter in Flete Street'. 

In 1639 the tavern was the scene of a duel between Charles Cotton and Sir John Hunt. Cotton, visibly drunk, convinced a gentlewoman in Hunt's company to go with him to the Mitre, 'upon which grew a quarrel'. Hunt was hurt in the abdomen and Cotton ran away. Hunt later recovered from his injuries and the men reconciled. 

But it wasn't just Shakespeare who was a high profile patron of The Mitre. Eighteenth century writers Dr Johnson and James Boswell met there to discuss work, with Boswell writing in 1763 that Johnson's 'place of frequent resort was the Mitre tavern in Fleet Street, where he loved to sit up late'. Samuel Pepys was at the tavern in 1660 at the Restoration of the monarchy under Charles II. He visited on 18 February with Captain Holland and the clerk Mr Southorne. They drank at the Half Moon Tavern first and then went to The Mitre, hearing music in another room being played 'very plainly through the ceiling'. They left there and went to Mr Wotton's and then to an alehouse to discuss the city's plays before tying up some business relating to the Navy.

Pepys may well have left the tavern through the back entrance, which opened out onto Ram Alley, an adjacent street. In 1640 a meeting was recorded between Dr Percival Willoughby of Derby and 'old Will Poole the astrologer', who lived in the alley. 

Kenneth Rogers has highlighted some of the characters that lived and worked in and near the tavern. In his 1928 work on The Mitre and Mermaid Taverns of Old London, he tells the story of Margaret Denham who seems to have positioned herself as a competitor of The Mitre. In 1644 she was summoned to the courts 'for selling ale and bere without lycence, and for keeping a disorderly house haveing a resort of both men and women of light behaviour late in the night'. Her lodging was recorded as The Adam and Eve in Ram Alley, seemingly a spontaneously opened premises without approval from the authorities. The comings and goings of her patrons was enough to worry the neighbours, who clearly informed the council. 

A case of 1648-9 dealt with a Widow Baly who dwelled in The Mitre Tavern itself, and was accused of 'having Company in her house at unlawful times'. She continued the business after the death of her husband, John, who was named as landlord in 1647. Widow Baly looks like she had her work cut out for her, and there were attempts to keep the area clean and reputable. In 1649 the residents of Ram Alley behind the tavern were cautioned, as those who 'continually bring forth and lay their sea cole ashes and other noysom filth and soyle in the high street before the Alley Gate'. In 1652 pigs around the tavern snuffled freely, 'to the great Annoyance of neighbours and divers inhabitants dwelling in Fleet Street'. Another tavern, called The Cat and Fiddle, was also nearby. This earlier establishment dated to the mid-sixteenth century.

A Mrs Sutton was keeper of the Mitre in 1629, and in 1639 a Matthew Alsop is recorded as landlord. In that year he refused delivery of a batch of Spanish wines and was ordered to take them 'as other vintners do', or have his tavern closed down. A family named Webb is also recorded as keepers of The Mitre in the early 1600s. At the time of Pepys' visit, the landlord of the Mitre was Hugh Stedman.

The Mitre provided for drinks and socialising - and even a bit of business - but it also laid on entertainments. In 1733 Topham, a strong man, rolled up a large pewter dish with his hands, to the delight of the customers. It continued its association with creatives, scientists and thinkers, and the artist Hogarth drank and socialised at there. The Royal Society - a group of scientists and philosophers granted a royal charter for their work - also met here for dinner. In 1729 The Society of Antiquaries met at The Mitre, recorded in a line in a poem that they 'last winter on a Thursday night were Met in full senate at the Mitre'. 

The Mitre closed as a tavern in the late 1700s, and was temporarily used as an auction house. In 1829 it was completely demolished to make way for a grand new banking building belongding to Hoare's. It was also around this time that another Mitre Tavern, or coffee house, was opened in Mitre Court in Fleet Street, in a separate location from where the old tavern stood. It was called The Mitre and Chop House in 1815. 

Like this? You might also like Tudor Tourists: Sightseeing in Elizabethan London, Richard and Elizabeth Cholmeley, Power Couple of the Tower of London and The Hamlin's Coffee House Fore of 1759 in Cornhill.

I've also written a number of books focusing on forgotten and overlooked characters of history. See one you like? Find out more about them here.

    

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Bibliography

Bell, Walter G. Fleet Street in Seven Centuries. London, 1912.

 https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1660/02/18/

Rogers, Kenneth. The Mermaid and Mitre Taverns in Old London. London, 1928. 

Aldworth is one of my favourite churches, and I remember so vividly walking up towards it as the sunset began to glow a warm orange in the sky behind it. Very atmospheric! 

Around the time of the Domesday Survey in 1086, the manor was owned by Theodoric, a goldsmith. In the thirteenth century it was owned by the de Clares and then the de Musgros family, before being passed by marriage, to the Ferrars. The de la Beche family were also active in the parish, and owned other manors in the village. Eventually, the church was governed by a nunnery near Windsor, that of Bromhale, which was closed during the Reformation in the sixteenth century.

The church appears at the top of a slight hill, and behind are fields, giving it a beautifully rural and romantic appearance. The yew tree in the churchyard is said to be almost 1,000 years old but looked very withered when we visited. A visitor in the early twentieth century noted that it was about four feet high and measured 28 feet wide, adding that 'its vitality seems to be at rather a low ebb, but it will probably last for many generations yet to come'. 

It's believed that a church existed on the site since the early medieval period. Later, works on the west tower and nave date to the 1200s, while the building of the chancel dates to 1315. The south chapel was built to house the de la Beche effigies, which are known locally as The Aldworth Giants. Like so many churches in and around Berkshire, it was rebuilt in many places in the Victorian period, in 1871, but lots of medieval and historical features still survive, thankfully. The pulpit is also believed to have been brought from St Laurence's church in Reading after the town centre church took delivery of a more modern one in the 1700s. 

The ancient Yew tree at Aldworth

Although it is well out of the way, the church is said to have entertained two very famous figures. A long-standing tradition states that Elizabeth I and Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester visited. Legend is that Dudley plucked a genealogy of the de la Beches off the wall of the church to show the queen, and it promptly disappeared, having been taken or misplaced. I explored the relationship between Elizabeth and Dudley in my book Power Couples of the Tudor Era, arguing for their efforts in changing the realm and later generations together. After all my research I felt like I got to know them a little bit better and so it was lovely to wonder whether they stood where I stood inside the building some 500 years ago. 

Effigy of Joan de la Beche

The church is probably most famous for the effigies of the de la Beche family, who were medieval lords of manors here. They are represented in different poses and are in various states of disrepair, although some damage is attributed to Oliver Cromwell and his soldiers who ransacked the church in the mid-1600s. You can find out all about the effigies and who they represent in another post, where I explore them in more detail. 

A really atmospheric and beautiful church, and a must for fellow effigy hunters like myself. 

Interested in women's history? Check out my first book, Forgotten Women of the Wars of the Roses published by Pen and Sword Books. It discusses many woman of the fifteenth century conflict that played parts we don't often hear about today. You can Order your copy here.

If you like Tudor history, check out my second book, Power Couples of the Tudor Era, also published by Pen and Sword Books, which explores the contributions couples made to their own times as well as how they influenced our own. Order your copy here. 

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Source: The Berkshire Archaeological Journal, 1915, via archive.org.