Which English king was executed in 1649 after the English Civil War?

Which English king was executed in 1649 after the English Civil War? Charles I was beheaded on 30 January 1649.

Charles’s conflict with Parliament grew from disputes over taxation, religion, royal authority, and his belief in the divine right of kings. The English Civil War began in 1642 between Royalists supporting the king and Parliamentarians seeking to limit his power. Parliamentary forces captured Charles after the wars, and a specially created High Court of Justice tried him for high treason.

Charles refused to recognise the court’s authority, arguing that no earthly court could judge a reigning monarch. The court nevertheless convicted him and sentenced him to death. His execution took place outside the Banqueting House at Whitehall in London, and the monarchy was abolished soon afterward as England became a Commonwealth under Oliver Cromwell.

A common mix-up is Charles II, his son. Charles II was not executed; he returned to the throne in the Restoration of 1660. Charles I’s death remains one of the most dramatic challenges to hereditary monarchy in European history.