< Back Kings, Poets and Writers King Charles I Charles I (19 November 1600 - 30 January 1649) was king of England, Scotland and Ireland from the 27 March 1625 up until his death. He was the focus of much political and religious tension which exploded in the English Civil War: the forces of Parliament, opposing his attempts to increase his power in an absolutist sense, and the Puritans, hostile to his religious politics, both clashed with the king. The war ended with a defeat for Charles, who was captured, tried, condemned and executed with the charge of high treason. The monarchy was abolished and replaced with a republic which lasted only briefly. Charles I is revered as a saint by the Anglican Church, which remembers him on 30 January.