Murder As A Weapon Of Exile: English Politics At The Spanish Court (1649–1652)

Abstract

This chapter looks at the political implications of the arrival and activity of a body of English exiles in their land of adoption, Spain, especially a series of attempts that they made to influence the international policy of their hosts in their favour. After the beheading of Charles I in 1649, both Royalists and Parliamentarians turned Madrid into a battlefield in their shadow war, the struggle for political influence in that city culminating in the murder of Anthony Ascham, the Parliament's agent. Republicans and Royalists aimed at the same prize, Spanish recognition, and towards that end they exerted as much political pressure on the Spanish Monarchy as possible. The sending of an envoy from the Parliament to Spain posed the same embarrassing question as it had in the other major European courts as regards the official status of the English Commonwealth. Keywords: english exiles; Parliamentarians; Political murder; Spanish court