The Cult of King Charles the Martyr

The first study to deal exclusively with the cult and the political theology underpinning it, taking the story up to 1859. The cult of King Charles the Martyr did not spring into life fully formed in January 1649. Its component parts were fashioned during Charles's captivity and were readily available to preachers and eulogists in the weeks and monthsafter the regicide. However, it was the publication of the Eikon Basilike in early February 1649 that established the image of Charles as a sufferi