Punch magazine satirised the absurdity of the debate as to whether or not Cromwell should have a statue at Westminster in 1845. It reasoned that if Cromwell were to be excluded history books would have to be re-written proving that Charles Stuart died comfortably in bed!
The relationship between Charles II of England and Jane Lane, Lady Fisher
Jane Lane played a heroic role in the Escape of Charles II in 1651. The main significance of the story is the key part that the escape played in forming the character and the opinions of Charles.
After the Battle of Worcester in 1651 in the English Civil War, Charles II escaped and headed north into Shropshire and Staffordshire with several companions. A reward of £1000 was offered for the capture of the King. It is likely that the King and anyone helping him would have been executed for treason, if caught. The King had a distinctive appearance: very dark and six foot two inches tall.
Colonel John Lane, who had been an officer in the Royalist Army, had a sister named Jane Lane. Jane had obtained a permit from the military for herself and a servant to travel to Bristol, to visit a relation. It was decided that the King should take advantage of the military pass and travel to Bristol disguised as Jane Lane’s servant, and then find a ship to take him to France, Charles riding the same horse as Jane.
In helping her King, Jane risked her life, and this was acknowledged and rewarded by Charles once he had the means to do so.
It would be fascinating to know what passed between Jane and her ‘man’ in those long anxious hours on the road. They faced common danger, and were in close physical proximity, Jane actually clinging to her companion as she rode behind him. Charles, who felt keenly his fifteen month deprivation of female company, found himself in an emotionally charged situation with a spirited young woman, who was obviously devoted to him. Jane, for her part was alone with her king and actively involved in saving his life. What hopes, dreams and fantasies might have been awakened in her?
Charles had to consent to being ‘bossed about’ by his ‘mistress’. Whenever strangers were around Jane had to speak to him curtly and give him orders. And Charles enjoyed the masquerade. He had always been surrounded by strong-minded women and he adored them. Submission to dominant females was a fixture of his psyche, to the increasing despair of his advisers over the years.
- From the book ‘All the Kings Women’ by Derek Wilson.
That last paragraph. I can’t even.
Actually, thinking about the personalities of the women around him, it’s a pretty obvious conclusion.
Also, if anyone is interested in ~historical romance~ novels, ‘The September Queen’ by Gillian Bagwell is about Charles and Jane Lane.
A portrait miniature Charles II (1630-1685), as Prince of Wales, in armour breastplate, buff doublet with embroidered sleeves, white lawn collar with tassels, wearing the blue sash of the Order of the Garter, natural curling brown hair
By David Des Granges
This miniature may be considered to be one of the group of the official likenesses des Granges painted during Charles II’s exile. These miniatures were essential tools for distribution among his supporters. Not only were they given as tokens of affection and thanks but were essential in keeping the putative king’s visage alive.
Charles had a long association with des Granges, who had painted him as a young boy copying portraits of him after Hoskins during the late 1630s. In 1647, he was perhaps the natural choice to follow the young Prince of Wales in his exile to The Hague. Here, des Granges produced a series of copies in miniature after the lost, probably full-length portrait of the future King Charles II, by Adriaen Hanneman. In 1651, he was appointed “His Majesty’s Limner in Scotland”, the same year as Charles was crowned ‘King of Scotland’ at Scone.
The present miniature can be dated to circa 1650, based on another version signed and dated in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. At twenty years of age, the future king is shown with a tentative moustache, the sash of the Order of the Garter emphasising his recent Scottish coronation.
Charles II by Chris Collingwood
Charles II in disguise after the Battle of Worcester, accompanied by Jane Lane - after E.M. Ward
Charles II after his defeat by Cromwell at the Battle of Worcester, by Charles Knight, published by J. Deeley, after Thomas Stothard, hand-coloured stipple engraving, published 1809.
On this day in 1649, Charles I was executed. His son, later to become Charles II, didn’t find out for almost a week.
It wasn’t until 5th February that news reaching the continent was certain enough for Charles to be told of his father’s death. Upon being addressed as ‘Your Majesty’, the teenage prince- now technically a king- burst into tears.
William Winstanley and King Charles II ‘Restoring Christmas’
In 1644, two years into the Civil War, the Puritan factions in Parliament made its fundamentalist religious presence felt by drawing up the first of several laws banning Christmas.
They objected to the binge-drinking and the debauchery that accompanied the traditional revelries of Christmas week. One of them noted that “more mischief is committed at that time than in all the year besides”
But the Puritans did not just object to over-indulgence. They objected to the catholic sounding name of ‘Christ Mas’ as well as the overtly pagan traditions of misletoe, holly, ivy, yule logs and carols.
When the war was over, with King Charles beheaded and Oliver Cromwell triumphant, the injunction continued. For years Britain was officially a country without Christmas.
However, in secret the festivities went on. And one of those who refused to cease being merry at this time of year was an Essex farmer’s son - diarist and writer William Winstanley.
The Winstanleys lived in a Tudor farmhouse, aptly named Berries, and it was in the hall that, when the doors of the parish church were locked against them, the family held its clandestine carol services. Their home became open house for visitors who knew their secret.
These were dangerous times, and Republican England under its Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell was a sinister place of suspicion and discontent. Spies and informers were everywhere, the knock of a chain-mailed fist on the door a real threat.
Winstanley’s willingness to risk life and liberty to celebrate Christmas was not because of bacchanalian desires. He was an educated man, an amateur historian, a lover of folklore and of literature, and, though a Royalist in his political leanings, he was as pious as any Puritan.
He believed it was the duty of all Christians to celebrate the birth of their Saviour, with joyous festivity and open-handed generosity towards friends, relations and more especially the poor.
In 1658, Cromwell died, to a collective sigh of relief. Two years later Charles II was back from exile. The restoration of the monarchy led to the easing of restrictions on pleasure. The anti-Christmas legislation was repealed. Good cheer returned.
But, perhaps surprisingly, the nation did not instantly return to the traditional feasting and celebration. For most people, Christmas as a time of rejoicing had almost been forgotten, and there was no great groundswell to restore it.
And it is here that Winstanley becomes a hero. He was by now a well-regarded writer of poems, pamphlets and books. In these, under the pen-name of Poor Robin Goodfellow, he extolled the joys of Christmas.
He also had friends in high places, and he lobbied these powerful lords and earls - even the King himself, who invited him to court - to set an example to their family friends and tenants by opening their houses for feasting and entertainment, “much mirth and mickle glee”.
Again, his reasons were highminded not licentious. Christmas was for helping the poor and destitute, and he believed celebrating it properly gave them something to look forward to as winter set in and provided fond memories to see them through to the spring.
For 38 years until his death he kept up his stream of propaganda, instructing the nation on the festivities it had forgotten. So persistently and enthusiastically did he drum in the message that by the late 1680s Christmas had taken root again.
Holly and ivy were back. In Winstanley’s ideal Christmas, there had to be roaring log fires in every room and an ‘especially jolly blaze’ in the hall.
“Good, nappy ale” was to be on tap, and the sideboards should groan with “chines of beef, turkeys, geese, ducks and capons”, then “minc’d pies and plumb-puddings”.
In the summer of 1651, Charles II and cavalry officer and General, David Leslie (Lord Newark) marched south towards London. Closely shadowed by Cromwell with a massive force of 30,000 men, they decided to take refuge in Worcester. The King’s supporters numbered just 12,000.
…and we all know what happened after Worcester, don’t we?
Yup, the escape to France, via an oak tree.
FUCK YEAH CHARLES IICharles II was King of England, Scotland and Ireland from 1660 to 1685. Also known as the Merry Monarch, he is infamous for his numerous mistresses and rowdy court- but there's a lot more to Charlie than debauchery and scandal. This blog is here to showcase every aspect of his life, with a generous dollop of humour thrown in.
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