English History

Execution of Charles I

The history of Great Britain can produce only one genuine civil war. Those students who think that the Wars of the Roses (see also in Toda Historia) was a civil war are quite wrong. That series of battles which saw dethroning of monarchs, usurpation of the throne and the death of thousands of soldiers, was strictly a private struggle between warlike landlords – warlords if you like – to gain the crown by right of battle (and the use of cunning and subterfuge). Civilians, as such, busy in the villages and on the farms, were virtually untouched by the Wars of the Roses, though the people watched with horror as the flower of English chivilary cut each other to pieces.

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The English philosopher Bertrand Russell memorably said that the greatest of the British Kings were the Queens. Setting aside the waspishness of the double meaning, it must be admitted that few of the male gender in the list of the monarchs of England and later Great Britain compare favourably with the ladies in the same list. Alfred (the only King called ‘The Great’ in English history) perhaps, but this war leader and creator of organised education was King only of a part of England. Edward Ist perhaps, but his kingly reputation is blemished (for some) by the bloodiness of his reign, especially in lawless Scotland. Edward Ist was not known as ‘The Hammer of the Scots’ for nothing. He was also responsible for Edward II, not known for anything much except for his male favourites, and the cruel manner of his demise in Berkeley Castle.

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