After the collapse of the Roman Empire, Europe entered a long medieval period, at this time the entire western Europe had no empires, and most of the regions established kingdoms! According to the reason, the king in his own kingdom is the embodiment of power, it can be said that one does not do what they want, but the feudal society in Western Europe implements a sub-feudal system, the power of nobles and commoners is very large, which greatly limits the power of the king, for example, if the kings of England and France want to increase taxes, then they must be approved by Congress, and if they do not approve, it is not legal to increase taxes! When the conflict between the king and the nobles intensified, civil war would be triggered, and the king's defeat would be judged by parliament and even publicly beheaded. In history, three kings in Western Europe have been beheaded, and the fate is unbearable. Today, Xiaobian will introduce you to these three kings who were beheaded in public.
1. Mary Queen, King of Scotland
In 1485, Henry Tudor, with the support of the King of France, defeated King Charles III of England through the Battle of Bosworth, became King of England, and established the Tudor Dynasty, known as Henry VII. Henry VII strengthened his relationship with Scotland by marrying his eldest daughter, Princess Margaret, to King James IV of Scotland, and to marrying his younger daughter, Mary Tudor, to King Louis XII of France, further consolidating Tudor rule in England through marriage. At that time, the Roman Catholic Church controlled the churches throughout Western Europe, owned a large amount of land and property in each kingdom, controlled all of Western Europe spiritually, and the kings of each kingdom were all believers, obeyed the Pope, and paid a lot of taxes to the Holy See! However, as the kings of the various kingdoms became more powerful, many countries began to be dissatisfied with the exploitation and control of the Holy See, and France and Germany carried out the Reformation and openly broke with the Holy See. At this time, there was also dissatisfaction with the Roman Catholic Church in England, and many Protestants appeared, in order to consolidate their rule and get rid of the control of the Holy See, Henry VIII decided to launch the Reformation!
Portrait of Bloody Mary
Just in time for Henry VIII's queen, Catherine of Spain never gave birth to a son, only Princess Mary, and Henry VIII applied for divorce from the Holy See on the grounds that she did not have a male heir! At that time, Spain was the most powerful country in Western Europe because of the discovery of the New World, and the Holy See, under pressure from the King of Spain, did not grant Henry VIII's request for divorce. So Henry VIII took this opportunity to announce the Reformation, broke off relations with the Holy See, became the head of the Church of England, announced his divorce from Catherine, married Catherine's maid Anne Bolin, but did not give birth to a son, only Princess Elizabeth, and soon beheaded Anne Bolin for treason! He married a third wife, Jane Seymour, and gave birth to his only son, Edward VI! In 1547, Henry VIII died, succeeded by Edward VI at the age of nine, but died of soldiers six years later. After a brief court struggle, Edward's eldest daughter Mary I succeeded to the throne, restored the Roman Catholic Church, and killed Protestants on a large scale, it is said that more than three hundred people were killed, known as Bloody Mary! In 1559, Mary I died, and Henry VIII's younger daughter Elizabeth succeeded to the throne, known as Elizabeth I, because she was unmarried in her life, also known as the Virgin Queen. During the reign of Elizabeth I, The British defeated the Spanish Armada and began their maritime supremacy, occupying colonies everywhere in the world!
Spanish Armada
It's time to talk about our protagonist, Mary I of Scots! Why did so much of the British Tudor dynasty go into the situation before it began to say today's heroine? It is because if you do not introduce the relationship between the Tudor Dynasty and the King of Scotland in the early Qing Dynasty, it is impossible to say why Queen Mary, King of Scots (hereinafter referred to as Queen Mary), was beheaded! Princess Margaret, the eldest daughter of Henry VII, married King James IV of Scotland and gave birth to a son, James V! James V's daughter was Queen Mary, a cousin of King Elizabeth I of England. When Queen Mary was one year old, her father James V was killed in battle, and at the age of one, Mary I became King of Scotland! In 1548, at the age of six, Mary I went to France and became the fiancée of Francis the Prince of France, officially married in 1558, in 1559 Francis was crowned King of France, Mary I became Queen of France, but Francis died a year later, and Queen Mary returned to Scotland as King of Scotland and became pro-government. Because Queen Mary was Catholic and finally pope, and Scotland had converted to Protestantism under the influence of England, Mary I's pro-government was dissatisfied by the Protestant nobility, and in 1567, queen Mary was deposed and Mary I's one-year-old son James VI was crowned king of Scotland. Queen Mary had to defect to her cousin, King Elizabeth I of England, and as a result, she was imprisoned by Elizabeth I as soon as she arrived in England. If Mary I had been a prisoner in prison, she would certainly not have been executed, but she repeatedly contacted the Scottish Catholic forces during her imprisonment to escape, and because Elizabeth I had no heirs, she wanted to seek the throne of England through abnormal means, and after being discovered repeatedly, she was beheaded by Elizabeth I in 1587 for treason. It is said that when the executioner was too nervous, the first knife was not cut down, and Queen Mary turned her head and scolded: "Please do your job." The executioner was so completely frightened that he cut off Mary I's head twice in a row. Ironically, after the death of Elizabeth I, queen Mary's son James VI entered England due to the lack of heirs, became king of England, established the Stuttgart dynasty in England, called James I, from then on England and Scotland entered the era of co-lordship, and a hundred years later achieved formal union.
Portrait of Queen Mary
2. King Charles I of England
Charles I, the second king of the Stuttgart dynasty of England, was the son of James I and practiced the Anglican religion. Although England is a monarchy, the power of the king is greatly limited by the Parliament, especially the power to collect taxes is controlled by the parliament, that is, if the parliament does not agree to tax, the king has no power to tax the subjects. After Charles I succeeded to the throne, life was extremely corrupt and profligate, and the state tax revenue was far from meeting the needs of the king.
Portrait of Charles I
In order to maintain his own decadent life, Charles I was ready to increase taxes on the people, but the parliament did not approve, Charles I actually ordered the dissolution of the parliament, and levied various harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes on the people, which caused strong dissatisfaction among the people, and the national army was also divided into a royalist party supporting the king and a revolutionary party supporting the parliament, and a civil war broke out in 1642. The revolutionary army, led by Cromwell, defeated the royalist army through four years of war and captured King Charles I. However, due to the disagreement of the Revolutionary Party, Charles I managed to escape, and another civil war broke out, only to be defeated and captured by Cromwell and sentenced to death for treason. In the early morning of January 30, 1649, a guillotine was erected in London, and it is said that Charles I was not afraid of danger, still smiling, calmly, and calmly said to the handmaiden: "Death is not terrible for me, thank God, I am ready." "Maintained the dignity of a king! After the beheading, the body was secretly buried at Windsor Castle.
Portrait of Cromwell
3. King Louis XVI of France
Louis XVI was the last king of the Bourbon dynasty of France, knowledgeable and talented, but a little lacking in courage and means, and was a relatively mediocre king. Louis XVI married Marie Antoinette, Grand Duke of Austria. Louis XVI and the queen did not accomplish much politically, and every day they were only keen on balls, fashion, fun, disguises and feasts, decorating gardens, extravagance, and generating a large deficit! Louis XVI and Queen Mary, in order to maintain their luxurious lives, decided to increase taxes on French nationals! But in France, as in England, the authority to approve taxes rests with Parliament! So in 1787, Louis XVI took the advice of the Treasurer Carona and convened a "Council of Dignitaries" to plan a tax on the nobles of the privileged class, which could be imagined to be resisted by the nobles and failed. No way, Louis XVI organized a three-tier council in May 1789 that had been suspended for 175 years to collect taxes on the people of the third estate, which was strongly resisted.
Three-level meeting of France
This time Louis XVI was determined not to give up until he reached his goal, and while dismissing the reformist finance director Necker, who was supported by the Third Estate, he secretly mobilized the army and planned to disperse the Constituent Assembly, which eventually triggered a great uprising of the people of Paris. In the early morning of July 14, 1789, angry Parisian citizens spontaneously rushed to the Bastille, some with muskets, some with spears, some with axes in their hands, and rushed to the Bastille with the same slogan. Originally a fortress built to defend against the British invasion, the Bastille housed a large number of the king's army, and gradually evolved into a special prison for political prisoners! Soon the Bastille was razed to the ground by an angry crowd and a constituent assembly was formed. On 26 August 1789, the Constituent Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man, declaring that "men are born and always free and equal" In October, Louis XVI planned to overthrow the Constituent Assembly with mercenaries, but it ended in failure, and Louis XVI and the entire royal family were forced to move to Paris. The Constituent Assembly also moved to Paris.
Portrait of Louis XVI
In June 1790, the Constituent Assembly abolished the titles of prince, hereditary nobility, knighthood, and redivided the political districts. Establish the Dali Yuan, the Supreme Court, and establish a jury system. The Constituent Assembly has not yet collected church property, and has declared that the Church of France will be separated from the papal rule and under the administration of the state, achieving the separation of church and state. On 20 June 1791, Louis XVI attempted to flee in disguise, but was discovered by the Constituent Assembly and failed, so some radical leaders and the masses demanded the abolition of the monarchy and the introduction of a republic. In 1793, Louis XVI was put on the guillotine set up by Louis XVI himself by the queen, and Louis XVI wrote a suicide note before his death, maintaining the dignity of a king!
Louis XVI on the guillotine