THE KING GONE
An Act for Abolishing the Kingly Office (1649)
Following the conclusion of the English Civil War and the execution of King Charles I, Parliament passed a law laying claim on the right to legislate on the institution of the monarch itself.
Introduction
“An Act for Abolishing the Kingly Office” was an act of Parliament that was passed on March 17, 1649, shortly after the execution of Charles I on January 30, 1649, during the English Civil Wars. The Act was passed by the Rump Parliament, so named because it consisted of less than half of the original Long Parliament that had been convened in 1640. The Long Parliament had been purged by New Model Army troops under the command of Colonel Thomas Pride in December of 1648, in order to rid Parliament of those hostile to the idea of trying Charles I for high treason. Those who remained made up the Rump Parliament. The Rump Parliament was responsible for the trial and execution of Charles I, the dissolution of the House of Lords, and the abolishment of the monarchy. “An Act for Abolishing the Kingly Office” prohibited Charles’ sons and any future descendants from inheriting the crown and proclaimed a new form of government in England and Ireland: The Commonwealth. The Act declared that the kingly office had been used to “oppress and impoverish and enslave the subject,” and was therefore unlawful. Provisions in the “Act for Abolishing the Kingly Office” were reversed on May 8, 1660, when the monarchy was restored and Charles I’s eldest son, Charles II, was declared the lawful monarch of England.
Rachael Edmonston
Further Reading
Charles I
- http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-5143?rskey=9ndZoN&result=3
- Kelsey, Sean. “The Death of Charles I.” The Historical Journal 45, no. 4 (2002): 727-54. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3133526
- Kelsey, Sean. “The Trial of Charles I.” The English Historical Review 118, no. 477 (2003): 583-616. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3489287
- HOLMES, CLIVE. “THE TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF CHARLES I.” The Historical Journal 53, no. 2 (2010): 289-316. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40865689
The “Rump” Parliament
- http://bcw-project.org/church-and-state/the-commonwealth/rump-parliament
- Worden, Blair. The Rump Parliament, 1648-1653. Cambridge England: University Press, 1974.
The English Civil Wars
- Cust, Richard, and Ann Hughes. The English Civil War. Arnold Readers in History. London: Arnold, 1997.
- Ashley, Maurice. The English Civil War. Rev. and Reillustrated ed. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1990.
- Ashton, Robert, and Raymond Howard Parry. The English Civil War and After, 1642-1658. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1970.
- Hibbert, Christopher. Cavaliers & Roundheads: The English Civil War, 1642-1649. New York: C. Scribner’s Sons, 1993.
Sources
“An Act for the Abolishing the Kingly Office in England, Iralend, and the Dominions thereunto belonging.” in Scobell, Henry. A Collection of Several Acts of Parliament, Published in the Years 1648, 1649, 1650, and 1651. (London: John Field, 1653).
Document images courtesy of the Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, D.C.
Transcription by Michael Becker and Dylan Bails.
Cite this page
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A
COLLECTION
Of several
ACTS
OF
PARLIAMENT,
Published in the Years
1648, 1649, 1650, and 1651.
Very useful, especially for Justices of the Peace, and other
Officers in the Execution of their Duties, and
the Administration of JUSTICE.
With some Ordinances of Parliament
of like concernment.
Whereunto is added, several Acts of Parliament made
in the 17th and 18th Years of the late King, and
Ordinances touching Adventurers for Ireland.
Together with TABLES containing the Titles of
the several Acts and Ordinances:
As also a TABLE or KALENDER of the
principal Matters in them contained.
By Henry Scobell Esq; Clerk of the Parliament.
LONDON,
Printed by JOHN FIELD, Printer to the Parliament of England,
And are to be sold by W: Lee, D: Pakeman and G: Bedell,
at their Shops in Fleet-street, 1653.
[act starts mid-way down page]
An Act for the Abolishing the Kingly Office in England,
Iralend, and the Dominions thereunto belonging.
Whereas Charls Stuart late King of Eng-
land, Ireland and the Territories and
Dominions thereunto belonging,
hath by Authority derived from Parliament,
been, and is hereby declared to be justly con-
demned, adjudged to dye, and put to death for
many Treasons, Murthers, and other hain-
ous Offences committed by him; by which
Judgement he stood and is hereby Declared to
be attainted of high Treason, whereby his
Issue and Posterity, and all others pretending
Title under him, are become uncapable of the
said Crowns, or of being King or Queen of
the said Kingdom or Dominions, or either or
any of them: Be it therefore Enacted and Or-
dained, and it is Enacted, Ordained and De-
clared by this present Parliament, and by au-
thority thereof, That all the People of England
and Ireland, and the Dominions and Territo-
ries thereunto belonging, of what degree or
condition soever, are discharged of all Fealty,
Homage and Allegiance which is or shall be
pretended to be due unto any of the Issue and
Posterity of the said late King, or any claiming
under him; and that Charls Stuart eldest son, and
James called Duke of York, second son, and all
other the Issue and Posterity of him the said
late King, and all and every person and persons
pretending Title from, by or under him, are
and be disabled to hold or enjoy the said Crown
of England and Ireland, and other the Domini-
ons thereunto belonging, or any of them; or
to have the Name, Title, Stile or Dignity of
King or Queen of England and Ireland, Prince
of Wales, or any of them; or to have and enjoy
the Power and Dominion of the said King-
doms and Dominions, or any of them; or the
Honors, Manors, Lands, Tenements, Pos-
sessions and Hereditaments belonging or apper-
taining ot the said Crown of England and Ire-
land, and other the Dominions aforesaid, or
to any of them; or to the Principality of Wales,
Dutchy of Lancaster or Cornwal, or any or either
of them, Any Law, Statute, Ordinance,
Usage or Custom to the contrary hereof in any
wise notwithstanding: And whereas it is and
hath been found by experience, that the Office
of a King in this Nation and Ireland, and to
have the power thereof in any single person, is
unnecessary, burthensom and dangerous to the
Liberty, Safety, and Publique Interest of
the People, and that for the most part use hath
been made of the Regal Power and Preroga-
tive, to Oppress, Impoverish and Enslave the
Subject; and that usually and naturally any
one person in such Power, makes it his Inte-
rest to incroach upon the just Freedom and Li-
berty of the People, and to promote the setting
up of their own Will and Power above the
Laws, that so they might Enslave these King-
doms to their own Lust: Be it therefore En-
acted and Ordained by this present Parlia-
ment, and by Authority of the same, That the
Office of a King in this Nation shall not
henceforth reside in, or be exercised by any one
single person; and that no one person whatso-
ever, shall or may have, or hold the Office,
Stile, Dignity, Power or Authority of King
of the said Kingdoms and Dominions, or any
of them, or of the Prince of Wales, Any Law,
Statute, Usage or Custom to the contrary
thereof in any wise notwithstanding. And it
is hereby Enacted, That if any person or per-
sons shall endeavor to attempt by force of Arms
or otherwise, or be ayding, assisting, comfort-
ing or abetting, unto any person or persons
that shall by any ways or means whatsoever,
endeavor or attempt the reviving or setting up
again of any pretended Right of the said Charls,
eldest Son to the said late King, James called
Duke of York, or of any other the Issue and
Posterity of the said late King, or of any per-
son or persons claiming under him or them, to
the said Regal Office, Stile, Dignity or Autho-
rity, or to be Prince of Wales; or the promoting
of any one person whatsoever, to the Name,
Stile, Dignity, Power, Prerogative or Autho-
rity of King of England and Ireland, and Domi-
nions aforesaid, or any of them; That then eve-
ry such Offence shall be deemed and adjudged
High Treason, and the Offenders therein, their
Councellors, Procurers, Ayders and Abetters,
being convicted of the said Offence, or any of
them, shall be deemed and adjudged Traytors
agains the Parliament and People of England,
and shall suffer, lose and forfeit, and have such
like and the same Pains, Forfeitures, Judge-
ments and Execution, as is used in case of
High Treason: And whereas by the abolition
of the Kingly Office provided for in this Act,
a most happy way is made for this Nation (if
God see it good) to return to its just and anci-
ent Right, of being Governed by its own Re-
presentatives or National Meetings in Coun-
cel, from time to time chosen and entrusted for
that purpose by the People, It is therefore Re-
solved and Declared by the Commons assem-
bled in Parliament, That they will put a
period to the sitting of this present Parliament,
and dissolve the same so soon as may possibly
stand with the Safety of the People that hath
betrusted them, and with what is absolutely
necessary for the preserving and upholding the
Government now setled in the way of Com-
monwealth; and that they will carefully pro-
vide for the certain chusing, meeting and sitting
of the next and future Representatives, with
such other Circumstances of Freedom in Choice
and equality in distribution of Members to be
Elected thereunto, as shall most conduce to the
lasting Freedom and good of this Common-
wealth: And it is hereby further Enacted and
Declared, notwithstanding any thing con-
tained in this Act, no person or persons of
what condition and quality soever, within the
Commonwealth of England and Ireland, Domi-
nion of Wales, the Islands of Guernsey and
Jersey, and Town of Berwick upon Tweed shall
be discharged from the Obedience and Subje-
ction which he and they owe to the Govern-
ment of this Nation, as it is now Declared;
but all and every of them shall in all things
render and perform the same, as of right is due
unto the Supreme Authority hereby declared
to reside in this and the successive Representa-
tives of the People of this Nation, and in them
onely.
Passed the Seventeenth of March, 1648.
[Act ends]