regicides (rĕj´Ĭsīdz) [Lat., =king-killers], in English history, name given to those judges and court officers responsible for the trial and execution of Charles I in 1649. After the Restoration (1660) of the monarchy they were excepted from the general pardon granted by the Act of Indemnity. At that time 41 of the 59 signers of the king's death warrant were still alive. Fifteen of them fled: William Goffe, John Dixwell, and Edward Whalley went to New England; several went to Germany and Holland; and Edmund Ludlow and four others went to Switzerland. Some were able to convince Charles II that they had had little to do with his father's trial and that they were loyal to the monarchy, and they were reprieved. Nine of those who signed the warrant and four others closely connected with the trial were hanged. Six others, who were deemed less politically dangerous, were imprisoned for life; some were later reprieved.

See C. V. Wedgwood, A Coffin for King Charles (1964); N. H. Mayfield, Puritans and Regicide (1988).

regicides. After the second civil war in 1648, most army leaders despaired of reaching an agreement with the king that would be honoured and resolved to put him on trial. Fifty-nine signed Charles's death warrant in January 1649. At the Restoration, the remains of Cromwell, Ireton, and Bradshaw were taken from Westminster abbey and hanged at Tyburn. Of the 41 regicides still alive, 9 were put to death. Thomas Harrison, one of Cromwell's major-generals, told the court, ‘This was not a thing done in a corner.’

J. A. Cannon

regicide any of those who took part in the trial and execution of Charles I; after the Restoration, several of the regicides were tried and executed, and the bodies of Oliver Cromwell and others were dug up, drawn on a hurdle to Tyburn, displayed in their coffins on the scaffold, and finally buried under the gallows.

reg·i·cide / ˈrejəˌsīd/ • n. the action of killing a king. ∎  a person who kills or takes part in killing a king. DERIVATIVES: reg·i·cid·al / ˌrejəˈsīdl/ adj.

regicide1 one who kills a king. XVI. f. L. rēx, rēg- king + -CIDE1.
So regicide² (-CIDE2) killing of a king. XVII.

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