January 20, 1649

Trial of Charles I

Opening day of the trial of Charles I

The king walked into court, kept his hat on, and declined every expected gesture of submission.

20 January 1649, Westminster Hall

On 20 January 1649 the specially created High Court of Justice opened public proceedings against Charles I in Westminster Hall, with John Bradshaw presiding.

After the court's establishing act was read, the prosecutor John Cook presented a charge of treason, high misdemeanours, and other high crimes on behalf of the Commons of England. It accused Charles of holding only a limited entrusted power, yet maliciously levying war against Parliament and the represented people for his personal power and prerogative.

No plea

Charles used his staff two or three times to try to stop Cook from speaking. The near-contemporary record says he laid it on Cook's shoulder; the more cinematic version — a blow forceful enough to break off a silver tip — comes from later narrative traditions.

He did not plead guilty or not guilty. He demanded to know by what lawful authority he had been summoned, invoked hereditary kingship and divine trust, and objected that neither the Lords nor the king had constituted the purported Parliament.

What the refusal cost him

The court adjourned without obtaining a plea. The next morning the commissioners resolved not to let Charles challenge their jurisdiction, and to treat continued refusal as pro confesso — an implicit confession.

One dating note: England used the Julian calendar and began its legal year on 25 March, so contemporary records call this day 20 January 1648.

Sources

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What the sources leave uncertain

Contemporary England used the Julian calendar and legally began the year on 25 March, so contemporary records call this 20 January 1648. Modern histories normalize the year to 1649; the Gregorian equivalent is 30 January 1649.
There is no single complete verbatim official transcript. Surviving manuscript journals were prepared after the proceedings, and contemporary newsbook reports also shaped later narratives.
Sources disagree about commissioner attendance. A widely repeated claim that only 68 of 135 commissioners ever sat should not be treated as an uncontested session count.