Book Review: Belloc on Charles I AND Oliver Cromwell

The publisher of Mysterium Press kindly sent me review copies of the next set of biographies/character studies by Hilaire Belloc: Charles I (published in 1933) and Cromwell (published in 1934). The books are available in the USA from Os Justi Press.

I finished reading Charles I and am still reading Cromwell. 

What Belloc does in these books--as he did in Wolsey and Cranmer--is not just, or really, biography, but character analysis--, and how, for example, Charles I's character influenced historical events. Belloc also creates word pictures of the the cultural, religious, economic, and political milieu of the era of his subject's life. And he presents his interpretation of the crucial historical events and the how, again, the characteristic personalities of the actors involved influenced their actions, strategies, successes, and failures. 

And he does it all without a bibliography and just a few footnotes. So the reader has to trust Belloc, that he is honestly guiding her through these lives and these events. I reviewed the first two volumes from Mysterium Press, Wolsey and Cranmer, previously. And Mysterium is preparing Belloc's works on Charles II and James II--I really look forward to the latter.

But as to Charles I; here is the publisher's blurb:

In an increasingly divided England the wealthy eyed the Crown and plotted revolution. Monarchy went back beyond tradition and was a symbol of the nation's unity: the people were embodied in one man. England was the first to lose it.

Charles Stuart, once a sickly child, manned the tottering throne (which was weakened and despoiled by theft) with tenacity and dignity and was led, outgunned, into a war which ended with his murder. He cleaved to law and precedent and sued for peace and freedom, was tricked by lies and cunning, and then finally beheaded.

Master historian Hilaire Belloc paints a portrait of the principled and rueful monarch who suffered for the people's rights, and whose sense of honour led him and kingship to the block.

And here is a list of the chapters:

1. The Problem
2. The Circumstance
3. Stuart
4. The Formative Years
5. Buckingham
    I. The Spanish Match
    II. The Attack Begins

    III. The Blow
6. Maturity
7. Scotland
8. The Effort for Unity
    I. The Central Effort
    II. The Effort in the Church
    III. The Effort in Ireland
    IV. The Abortive Effort in Scotland
9. The Menace
10. The Crisis
11. The Great Rebellion
12. The Triumph of the Great Rebellion
13. The Hostage    
    I. The Hostage of the Scotch
    II. Hostage of the Parliament
14. The Killing of the King

I'd like to highlight the comment from the blurb "the wealthy eyed the Crown and plotted revolution"** because in the first chapter, "The Problem", Belloc outlines how the Tudor dynasty, especially the reign of Elizabeth I, set up the fall of the monarch to come in the Stuart era. Although she still was the symbol of unity in England, Burghley was the one who truly ruled the country. 

[**I do wonder what Belloc was seeing in the early 1930's that inspired him to write this:

Today all Christendom is hungry for monarchy. In the United States, partly by provision of the Constitution, more by its development in the nineteenth century, the principle of an executive in the hands of one man was preserved. But in Europe it was gradually lost, and replaced by the rule for a few; in practice, of the rich, under the guise of representatives. That experiment is breaking down before our eyes, and monarchy is returning.

(p. 1) Where was he seeing this in Europe in the 1930s? In France? Hindsight's view of any development of "an executive in the hands of one man" in Germany or Italy is chillingly negative. But what did he know or see by 1933 to inspire this sentence?]

When James VI of Scotland came south to England to rule, he tried to wrest that power and authority from the nobility to some extent, although he was influenced by his favorites. When Charles I succeeded his father (because the first heir, Henry, had died), he inherited the same problem, with Buckingham's influence so strong in his adolescence and early reign. Yet, he was determined to rule as the King of England, as more than "a symbol of the nation's unity"; he wanted (as chapter 8 demonstrates) to create and enforce that unity among the three kingdoms in England, Ireland, Scotland--and in the Church of England.

He had developed, because of childhood weakness (rickets!) and slow development of speech, into a young man who had been isolated and presented some characteristics, according to Belloc, of reaction to events in a certain pattern: "fluid against the first onset of attack; then there came a moment when the attack reached something quite different from the first fluid resistance--a stone wall. It was thus that he same to his death. Men were led on to think him pliable; when they came unexpectedly on rigidity, they were infuriated." (p. 47)

But, when he, and his counselors, during the period of his Personal Rule (1629 to 1640) while Parliament was prorogued and the Crown was not able to raise taxes to fund the administration of the kingdom, had a plan for effecting the unity, Charles I demonstrated how determined he could be. With Richard Weston the Earl of Rutland (and a Catholic), his treasurer, William Laud, the Archbishop of Canterbury; William Noy, his Attorney General; and Thomas Wentworth, privy counsellor and Lord Deputy of Ireland, Charles I had a plan for creating that unity mentioned above.

As adept as Belloc is in political and economic analysis, he also excels as an interpreter of military strategy--it's important to note that his study of the French Revolution he dedicates a long chapter, with maps, to the battles of the French Revolution--and he demonstrates that aptly in this book too. [Please note that in my review of Belloc's The French Revolution, linked above, I am quite willing to disagree with Belloc when I think it's necessary. He fails entirely in that book to reckon with the anti-Catholicism of the French Revolution--while he's quite ready to acknowledge its presence in England etc. in his studies of Charles I and Cromwell!]

Throughout, Belloc's prose, with its clarity of expression, balancing brevity with comprehensiveness and detail, provides an incredible model. As a voice of authority, it's so clear that it does inspire the reader's confidence in Belloc's interpretation of character and events. 

I appreciate Mysterium Press making these books available in handsome hardback editions and recommend this addition to the series highly.

Image Credit (Public Domain): King Charles I after original by van Dyck

Image Credit (Public Domain): 1915 portrait Belloc