Charles I was the only English monarch to be tried and executed. This volume examines the resulting crisis in the monarchy. It addresses the period of mid-century crisis and the earlier years of Charles's reign and the afterlife of his royal image.

Preface; 1. Duke, Prince and King: problems, transitions and transformations in the early representation of Charles I Thomas N Corns; 2. 'A ball of strife': Caroline poetry and royal marriage Ann Baynes Coiro; 3. Popular representations of Charles I Joad Raymond; 4. 'Incendiaries of the State': Charles I and tyranny Martin Dzelzainis; 5. The King among radicals: godly Republicans, Levellers, Diggers and Fifth Monarchists David Loewenstein; 6. Eikon Basilike and the rhetoric of self-representation Elizabeth Skerpan Wheeler; 7. Milton and King Charles Sharon Achinstein; 8. The King's Music Jonathan P. Wainwright; 8. The visual image of Charles I John Peacock; 10. The royal martyr in the Restoration: national grief and national sin Lois Potter; 11. Reviving the martyr king: Charles I as Jacobite icon Laura Lunger Knuppers; 12. The royal image: an afterword Kevin Sharpe; Index.