Cultural depictions of Charles I of England explained
Charles I of England has been depicted in popular culture a number of times.
Music
Literature
- Jowitt views the character of the gentleman Vitelli in Massinger's 1624 play The Renegado as an allegory of the prince during the failed marriage attempt.[1]
- There is the manuscript of a play entitled Charles I by Percy Shelley, started in early 1822 and left unfinished after his death.
- Twenty Years After, by Alexandre Dumas, gives a highly fictionalised account of Charles I's downfall, trial and death condensed into a few days. The book's fictional villain, Mordaunt, is depicted as the king's executioner, while Athos, Aramis, D'Artagnan and Porthos are his secret – and unsuccessful – helpers.
- John Inglesant (1881), by Joseph Henry Shorthouse, features the hero meeting Charles I.[2]
- In High Places (1898) by Mary Elizabeth Braddon depicts the youth of Charles I.[3]
- 1649: A Novel of a Year by Jack Lindsay (1938) begins with Charles' execution.[4]
- The Civil War period is seen through the eyes of the fictional Morland family in The Oak Apple, Volume 4 of The Morland Dynasty, a series of historical novels by author Cynthia Harrod-Eagles.
- Mary of Carisbrooke: The Girl Who Would Not Betray Her King by Margaret Campbell Barnes (1956) narrates the relationship of the titular heroine with Charles, during the latter's imprisonment on the Isle of Wight.[5]
- 55 Days (2012 – played in the premiere production by Mark Gatiss)
- He makes a brief appearance in Lawrence Norfolk's John Saturnall's Feast, published in 2012 by Bloomsbury Publishing.
- He's a character in The King's Spy by Andrew Swanston, set mainly in Oxford; the novel was published in August 2012 by Bantam Press.
- In Traitor's Field by Robert Wilton, published in May 2013 by Bloomsbury Publishing, the reader follows him from his imprisonment in Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight to his trial and, ultimately, execution in Whitehall.
- Makes an appearance in Elizabeth Goudge's 1958 novel, The White Witch, set during the Civil War.
- Ellanor's Exchange by Linda Hayner contains a fictionalized account of how John Pym and his friends avoid arrest by Charles I.
Film and television
On screen, Charles has been portrayed by:
Notes and References
- Jowitt C (2004) Massinger's The 'Renegado' (1624) and the Spanish marriage, Cahiers Elisabethains, 65, p 45–53
- Book: Sutherland, John. John Sutherland (author). The Stanford Companion to Victorian Fiction. Stanford University Press. 1990. 0-8047-1842-3. 337.
- Nield, Jonathan (1925), A Guide to the Best Historical Novels and Tales. G. P. Putnam's sons. (p. 60)
- Montefiore, Janet.Men and Women Writers of the 1930s: The Dangerous Flood of History. London: Routledge, 1996. (p. 142).
- Lynda G. Adamson, World Historical Fiction: An Annotated Guide to Novels for Adults and Young Adults. Greenwood Publishing Group (p. 168).
