Author Description
When the British monarchy was restored in 1660, King Charles II was faced with the conundrum of what to with those who had been involved in the execution of his father eleven years earlier. Facing a grisly fate at the gallows, some of the men who had signed Charles I's death warrant fled to America. Charles I's Killers in America traces the gripping story of two of these men-Edward Whalley and William Goffe-and their lives in America, from their welcome in New England until their deaths there. With fascinating insights into the governance of the American colonies in the seventeenth century, and how a network of colonists protected the regicides, Matthew Jenkinson overturns the enduring theory that Charles II unrelentingly sought revenge for the murder of his father. Charles I's Killers in America also illuminates the regicides' afterlives, with conclusions that have far-reaching implications for our understanding of Anglo-American political and cultural relations. Novels, histories, poems, plays, paintings, and illustrations featuring the fugitives were created against the backdrop of America's revolutionary strides towards independence and its forging of a distinctive national identity. The history of the 'king-killers' was distorted and embellished as they were presented as folk heroes and early champions of liberty, protected by proto-revolutionaries fighting against English tyranny. Jenkinson rewrites this once-ubiquitous and misleading historical orthodoxy, to reveal a far more subtle and compelling picture of the regicides on the run.
Menrva's Summary
THE THESIS
This book investigates the historical reality and subsequent mythologizing of Edward Whalley and William Goffe, two regicides who fled to colonial America after the execution of Charles I. Matthew Jenkinson, a scholar of early modern history, utilizes archival records and cultural artifacts to challenge the long-standing narrative that Charles II pursued these men with relentless vengeance. By examining the political climate of seventeenth-century New England, the author argues that the survival of these fugitives reveals a more complex relationship between the English monarchy and its American colonies than previously understood.
THE SCOPE MAP
What You Will Find
- Detailed analysis of the flight and survival of regicides Edward Whalley and William Goffe in New England.
- Examination of the administrative and political governance of American colonies during the seventeenth century.
- A study of how the regicides were transformed into folk heroes in American literature, art, and political discourse.
Scope Limits
- The book does not provide a comprehensive biography of every individual involved in the execution of Charles I.
- It does not focus on the internal military or political mechanics of the English Civil War beyond the immediate context of the regicides' flight.
THE AUTHORITY PERSPECTIVE
Historians and scholars of the Anglo-American relationship view this work as a significant correction to the romanticized myths surrounding the regicides. Readers frequently note the meticulous archival research and the author's ability to synthesize political history with the evolution of cultural memory.
Page Count:
272
Publication Date:
2019-01-01
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
ISBN-10:
0192552562
ISBN-13:
9780192552563
History
Biography
British History
Political History
Seventeenth Century
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