King Charles I—Henry Ireton | Autograph draft letter on the imprisonment of the King, November 1648

King Charles I—Henry Ireton.

Autograph draft letter calling for the arrest of the King

reiterating the concerns of the recent Army Remonstrance in “setting forth the danger & evils of the pr[e]sent Treatye & desireing, amongst other things that the p[er]son of the king may bee brought to Justice”, and ordering that “you immediately secure the p[er]son of the kinge in Carisbrooke Castle […] & that you Continue him soe secured, intill, upon some Resolution or answer from the p[ar]liam[en]t to the s[ai]d Remonstrance, or other wise, you shall Receive further orders from […] the L[or]d Gen[era]ll”, with extensive revisions, autograph subscription addressing to “Col[one]ll Rob: Hammond Gove[erno]r of the Isle of wight or to Col[one]ll Ewers or the chiefe Commander of the Forces there”, 1 page, folio, [late November 1648], addressed on the verso in another hand “To the honoured scoutm[aste]r Gene[ra]ll Rowe, In his absence for John Rushworth Esq Or in their absence for Mr Wm Clarke”, staining, remains of guard

THE KING TAKES A STEP CLOSER TO THE SCAFFOLD. By the time this letter was written Charles I had been a prisoner on the Isle of Wight for a year, and a second civil war fought in his name had been resoundingly defeated by the New Model Army, but he remained king. Negotiations on the Isle of Wight led to the Treaty of Newport but hardliners in the army, led by Henry Ireton, did not believe Charles was negotiating in good faith; in the Army Remonstrance they called the treaty to be abandoned and for the king to be brought to trial. This letter is a key part of the struggle between moderates and hardliners that would lead within weeks to the regicide. This draft letter, although unsigned, is in Ireton’s handwriting (see for example British Library Add. MS 12098, fol. 7) and calls for the king’s person to be secured by the army. Although the letter itself is an order to be given to Robert Hammond, the army officer who was Governor of the Isle of Wight, this draft was sent to three men who were close allies to the Commander in Chief of the army, Sir Thomas Fairfax: it was almost certainly sent to secure Fairfax’s acquiescence in this step towards the army’s bid for power.

Events were to move quickly in the weeks that followed. The House of Commons rejected the Army Remonstrance at the end of November. Meanwhile, on the Isle of Wight, Robert Hammond was arrested, out of concern that his loyalties lay with Parliament before the army. On 1 December Charles I, now in the hands of the army, was removed from the Isle of Wight to Hurst Castle in Hampshire. The army then marched into London and on 6 December forcibly ejected moderate members from the House of Commons in Pride’s Purge. The stage was now set for the trial of a king.