Was King Charles I Justifiably Executed

Was King Charles I Justifiably Executed?

Although King Charles the first was a self-righteous and arrogant ruler, I believe that he did not deserve to be executed. Under his rule, he made bad decisions and spent excessively, but his kingdom was stable. There wasn’t poverty and he didn’t treat his subjects terribly. Oliver Cromwell had no right to execute the king. After all, he was just a minority in the country. He took power with force of his army and pressured the small Parliament into signing the petition to kill the King. In General Pride’s purge of the Parliament, what left was the Rump Parliament, the Puritan MPs. He also handpicked his judges at the trial; the only people that he thought supported the trial of the king. Many of the members that had been obligated to go did not, because they did not want to be associated with the death of the king, as an act of disloyalty. Among the 46 men that were considered Oliver’s followers, only 26 voted for the trial. Therefore, with no members that were Royalists, majority of the Parliament gone and no clear support, the trial should not be considered fair or legal.
After Chief Judge John Bradshaw, announced the judgement of the court: “that he, the said Charles Stuart, as tyrant, traitor, murderer and public enemy to the good of this nation, shall be put to death by the severing of his head from his body,” King Charles could not defend himself even if he wished to. He was told he had lost his chance, and was moved out of the court by Oliver’s soldiers.
In his execution, there were no executioners willing to do it, but in the end, they had found a man and his assistant who were paid 100 euro to do the job. Therefore, many of the public did not support the execution. In his death, King Charles was not respected. Spectators came up and paid to dip in handkerchiefs into the blood of the king believing the blood of a king could cure any illness or injury.
I believe that King Charles I did not deserve this, as he did not have a fair trial, a fair hearing where he could not defend himself or state his reasons. The Parliament was also a bit too hasty in executing the king. He could have received a second chance, but Oliver Cromwell was not sympathetic or righteous towards King Charles. He did not think about the bigger picture and where he would stand in the hierarchy of that time period.