January 27, 1649

Trial of Charles I

The High Court Sentences Charles I to Death

John Bradshaw wore scarlet robes for the first time on sentence day, visually announcing that a death judgment was coming.

Judgment day in Westminster Hall

On 27 January 1649 Charles I was brought before a public session of the High Court of Justice in Westminster Hall for judgment. He had repeatedly refused to plead, denying that a court created by the Commons had jurisdiction over a king.

Before sentence he asked to be heard by the Lords and Commons in the Painted Chamber. Objections among the commissioners forced an adjournment — John Downes argued the request should be allowed — but the majority, with Cromwell pressing them to proceed, rejected it.

Tyrant, traitor, murderer, public enemy

Lord President John Bradshaw pronounced Charles guilty of high treason and characterized him with four labels: tyrant, traitor, murderer and public enemy. The court sentenced him to death by severing his head from his body.

The charge had been drafted and presented by Solicitor-General John Cook: that Charles had abused a limited public trust and levied war against Parliament and the people. The court treated his refusal to plead as tacit confession and heard 33 witness depositions for additional assurance.

Sixty-seven, then fifty-nine

Parliamentary Archives research records 67 judges as passing sentence. The separate execution warrant ultimately received 59 signatures — the two counts are not the same thing.

The verdict, the warrant and the execution were three separate events: 27, 29 and 30 January. The date is English Old Style; contemporary legal records could call it 27 January 1648, because the civil year began on 25 March.

Sources

Researched 23 Aug 2026 7 sources 2 audit passes Traditional date

How this was checked

Researched from the web into a fact sheet, rewritten from that sheet, then audited against it by a different model. How the pipeline works →

Traditional date. This date is the conventional one, not one fixed by a contemporary record.

What the sources leave uncertain

January 27 is the conventional English Old Style date: it uses the Julian calendar but modernizes the year to begin January 1. Contemporary English legal records could call it January 27, 1648 because the civil year began on March 25.
Its proleptic Gregorian equivalent is February 6, 1649. Histories of Britain customarily retain January 27, 1649.