King Charles I (1600-1649) had a life marked by tragedy, plots, war, and bloodshed (all culminating in his beheading). Coming from an already grim heritage (his grandmother was Mary, Queen of Scots, after all), he was born in Scotland to James VI of Scotland and Anna of Denmark. Following the death of Queen Elizabeth I in 1603, this royal family moved to England and ruled Britain. In his own time, he was regarded by some as “Charles Stuart, that man of blood”, and by others as a martyr. Like quite a few seventeenth-century historical figures, such as his wife, Henrietta Maria, one of his foes, Oliver Cromwell, etc, Charles I remains a controversial figure.
Enter rising star historian Mark Turnbull, who was my guest during Season 1 of Stuart Saturday Live and whose history podcast, CavalierCast: The Civil War in Words, is both popular and highly informative. His work, Charles I’s Private Life (published in the Autumn of 2023 by Pen & Sword History), reexamines Charles’s life. Despite excellent history works in recent times that have reevaluated Charles I (I recall Mark Kishlansky’s Charles I: An Abbreviated Life and White King: Charles I, Traitor, Murderer, Martyr by Leanda de Lisle), I welcomed another look at this monarch, whose relatively short life made such an impact.
Although Turnbull’s book shows some sympathy for Charles I, this does not veer into the realm of hagiography. Instead, rather, he pulls off the often difficult road of a balanced assessment of his subject’s strengths and weaknesses.
Turnbull writes:
‘Charles’s flawed idealism simply encouraged opposition, emboldening dissenters and giving them an advantage over him’
I found it very thought-provoking when Turnbull compared Henry VIII with Charles I:
‘But whereas Henry was vengeful and ruthless to the core, Charles was not. David Hume, an 18th-century philosopher called it a ‘paradox in human affairs’ that Henry was almost adored by contemporaries, while Charles with ‘so much virtue’ met with such a fatal catastrophe, to be thereafter pursued by ‘falsehood and by obloquy’.
Indeed, I think there is something in this. Charles I was the antithesis of Henry VIII: fiercely loyal to his (one!) wife, Henrietta Maria, for example. Throughout the book, we get an insight into how much Charles loved his wife and family, which I think is crucial to understanding his motivations and fears.
The book contains an acknowledgements section, a preface, and an introduction, followed by 33 chapters, an image section with various portraits of Charles and persons important to his story, along with objects, that are quite interesting to look upon. It comes with a bibliography, endnotes, and an index. On top of all that, it has a gorgeous cover, incorporating three portraits of Charles I from his childhood to late adulthood. I have both the eBook (which I purchased), and the hardback version, which I received from P&S.
Mark Turnbull’s biography is well-written (the introduction particularly powerful, I felt), and backed by his utilisation of numerous archival documents from around the United Kingdom, combined with his clear passion for history, gives readers a fresh, vital voice. Turbull’s work speaks for itself and is a lovely addition to the study of Stuart-era history. I very much look forward to his next book, which is a biography of Prince Rupert of the Rhine.
To purchase a copy of Charles I’s Private Life, please visit Pen & Sword.
