2021/08/01 by Edward Vallance · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · Economics, Econometrics and Finance · #Reformation and Early Modern Christianity #Historical Economic and Social Studies #Historical Art and Culture Studies #Witness #Plea #Economic Justice #Narrative #Law #Embodied cognition #Subject (documents) #Sociology #History #Political science #Philosophy #Literature #Epistemology #Art
paper · pdf · doi:10.1093/ehr/ceab272
openalex publication_date 2021/08/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
Abstract The trial and execution of Charles I have been the subject of considerable historical study, especially in the last twenty years. One aspect of the trial, however, remains largely unexplored: the role of witness testimony. The witness depositions received on 24 and 25 January 1649 have sometimes been dismissed as a mere stalling tactic, intended to provide Charles with further time to consider entering a plea. In contrast, this article contends that the witnesses’ depositions shed important new light on the trial. Exploring the witnesses’ backgrounds allows us to connect individuals with the regiments of regicides such as John Hewson and John Barkstead. These connections, through the army petitions of 1648, also link the witnesses’ testimony and, in broader terms, the trial, with the radical ideas of justice embodied in the Levellers’ ‘Large Petition’. Connecting the trial with the arguments made in the petitions for justice of the autumn and winter of 1648/9 also allows us to reconsider the importance of the concept of ‘blood guilt’. This article suggests that, far from being marginal to the king’s trial, the multi-faceted idea of blood guilt not only influenced the court’s procedure (in terms of the calling of multiple witnesses) but also was central to many of the witness depositions. Finally, drawing on both historical and philosophical work on personal testimony, the article suggests that the witness depositions may be connected to the broader, non-legal purposes of ‘witnessing’ in offering narratives of personal suffering.