King Charles ye First (Charles I): Majesty in Misery. A broadside c1720
COBB, T; CLUER, J. King Charles ye First: Majesty in Misery. An engraved royalist broadside.
Circa 1720-1730.
Large engraved broadside, circa 1720-1730, backed onto later card. The sheet is substantially complete and remains highly striking, with Charles I shown kneeling in prayer during his captivity at Carisbrooke Castle, surrounded by extensive engraved verse, ornamental lettering and decorative borders. There are old folds, creasing, age toning, staining, surface wear, edge tears and small losses, including a more noticeable loss to the right-hand text panel. Backed onto later card. Good.
The full title reads: "King Charles ye First. Majesty in Misery. An Imploration to the King of Kings, wrote by his Majesty in Carisbrook Castle during his Captivity, Anno Domini 1648." The central image shows Charles I kneeling in ermine, holding the crown of thorns, while the royal crown, orb and sceptre lie beneath him. An open Bible stands beside him and a beam descends from a heavenly crown. The inscription above the image reads: "'Tis well the Blood of GOD speaks better Things, Than that of Abel, or of Murther'd Kings." Beneath it appears: "His Sufferings and his Death with Truth proclaim, For He got Glory, but the NATION Shame." The imagery deliberately casts Charles as a suffering Christian king and forms part of the Royal Martyr tradition which developed after his execution in 1649.
The poem is presented in the first person as Charles's lament and prayer. It condemns the overthrow of monarchy and episcopacy, attacks Presbyterians, Independents and sectarian preachers, and describes the king as betrayed by those acting in his own name. Among its most forceful lines are: "Church-men are chain'd, Schismaticks are freed, Mechanicks Preach and Holy Fathers bleed; The Crown is Crucified with the Creed" and "With my own Power my Majesty they wound, In ye King's Name, ye King himself's uncrown'd; So doth the Dust destroy the Diamond."
The Latin motto at the lower right reads: "VOTA DABUNT QUAE BELLA NEGARUNT", meaning approximately, "Prayers will grant what wars have denied." The poem was circulated as having been written during his captivity at Carisbrooke Castle. Its authorship should be treated with caution, but the attribution was central to its contemporary and later appeal.
The engraving is signed in the lower right panel: "T. Cobb Sculp. Bow-Church-Yard, London." The main publication line at the foot reads: "Sold by J. Cluer, in Bow-Church-Yard, G. Wilday, Ludgate-street, T. Webster, Leadenhall-street, and at the Printing-house in Northampton." T. Cobb was responsible for the engraving, while John Cluer was the principal printer, publisher and seller, with additional distribution through Wilday, Webster and the Northampton printing house.
An uncommon survival of early eighteenth-century Royalist propaganda and of the cult of Charles the Martyr.