Charles I and the People of England, by David Cressy

Abstract

This book begins with a story. In 1626, Lucy Martin, wife of a London tailor, sought to meet King Charles, for she had received a warning message for him from heaven. The king presided over a nation (‘city, court and country’) that emulated Sodom and Gomorrah in wickedness; worse, he had married a Catholic, and, unless Henrietta Maria could be won from that faith, she might ‘bring a greater plague on us all’. Lucy Martin also sought to meet the king not only in the guise of a prophetess, but as a penitent sinner. A casual affair, many years before, still tore at her conscience, and she believed an interview with Charles might alleviate her burden of guilt. Frustrated in her initial attempts to secure an interview, Lucy wrapped a letter explaining her concerns around a stone, and tossed it into the royal pew as Charles was preparing to hear a Palm Sunday sermon. She was immediately arrested, imprisoned, interrogated and sentenced to be ‘well corrected with the whip’ at Bridewell. This evocative tale provides David Cressy with a splendid focus for his book: a voice from among ‘the often-ignored subjects’ of Charles I, and with a strong sense at its heart of the reciprocal relationship between king and people. These are the themes he seeks to pursue and elucidate in his work.