Beheading of an Authoritarian Archbishop

On a cold winter morning Archbishop William Laud climbed the scaffold on Tower Hill to the executioner's block. The short man who once wielded near-absolute power over England's church now faced the blade, condemned by the movement he spent years trying to crush. 

William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury (painted 1636)

Twelve years earlier, in 1633, King Charles I appointed Laud as Archbishop of Canterbury, and he soon became England's most feared religious authority. He demanded strict adherence to all church practices—dictating the attire ministers wore, the sermons they preached, the worship they led, and even the exact position of every altar. Defiant ministers were ousted and had their ears cut off. Critics were imprisoned.

He saved his strongest hatred for the Puritans—the reformers who sought a simpler church with less Catholic influence. Laud considered their plain services and rejection of ceremony as an appalling insult to God. He hunted them down, driving thousands to flee across the Atlantic. When William Prynne, the influential Puritan leader, dared criticize his policies, Laud had him branded, his ears cropped, and thrown into prison.

But Laud's authoritarian grip and his alliance with the arrogant King Charles I helped ignite his own downfall and the English Civil War. When the Puritan Parliament gained the upper hand, Laud was among their first targets.

At age 71, after four years imprisoned in the Tower, Archbishop Laud forgave his executioner and knelt. The axe fell once, then again to completely sever the head. On January 10, 1645 the crowd watched in silence as England's most authoritarian archbishop was carried away, his dream of absolute religious conformity dying with him. 

*****

“Thus saith the Lord God, I will take away the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall be no more the same: I will exalt the humble, and will abase him that is high.”

(Ezekiel 21:26; 1599 Geneva Bible)

Puritan Parliament Defies King Charles I

King Charles I’s relationship with the Puritans in Parliament deteriorated as they pressed relentlessly for religious reform. His marriage to the French Catholic Queen, Henrietta Maria, further aggravated his rift with the radical Protestants. When he heard rumors that Parliament members encouraged Scotland to rebel against his religious authority, Charles was incensed. On January 3, 1642, his Attorney General, Sir John Bankes, read articles of impeachment against five elected officials: John Pym, John Hampden, Denzil Holles, Arthur Haselrig, and William Strode. Since no one in Parliament supported the charges, the King himself marched to the House of Commons the following day with dozens of armed guards to arrest the five men. 

Taking over the speaker’s chair, the King called out the suspects’ names, one by one, but no one responded. Charles looked to Speaker William Lenthall for help, but Lenthall merely bowed and said he could only reply as directed by the House of Commons, and he "cannot give any other answer than this."

Realizing his enemies had slipped away, the King said, "I see the birds have flown," and he stomped out. London's officials also refused to help the King hunt down the wanted men. When rumors circulated that Charles was sending soldiers into the city to force cooperation, men poured in to defend London against the King's army, fueling the fire for an approaching civil war and royal execution. 

Charles' actions triggered an unrest that rippled across the Atlantic to the American colonies, triggering a desire for greater economic and political autonomy, and ultimately an independence from the English crown. 

*****

“He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.”

(Luke 1:52; 1599 Geneva Bible)