1649 in England - Events

Events

• 3 January – An explosion of several barrels of gunpowder in Tower Street, London kills 67 people and destroys 60 houses.
• 20 to 27 January – Trial and conviction of King Charles I by a High Court of Justice convened in Westminster Hall.
• 30 January
  • King Charles I beheaded outside the Banqueting House, Whitehall.
  • The Commonwealth of England, a republican form of government comprising members of the Rump Parliament, replaces the monarchy as the form of government of England and later of Scotland and Ireland.
  • Prince Charles Stuart declares himself King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland. At this time none of the three Kingdoms have recognised him as ruler.
• 9 February – Eikon Basilike: the Pourtrature of His Sacred Majestie in His Solitudes and Sufferings, purporting to be the spiritual autobiography of Charles I, is published.
• 17 March – The Rump Parliament formally abolishes the English monarchy by passing an act abolishing the kingship.
• 19 March – The House of Commons passes an act abolishing the House of Lords, declaring that it is "useless and dangerous to the people of England".
• March – Robert Blake is promoted to become a General at Sea of the English fleet.
• 2 May – Lawyer and regicide Sir Isaac Dorislaus, while in The Hague to negotiate an alliance with the Dutch Republic, is murdered by royalist exiles.
• 17 May – Banbury mutiny ends – leaders of the Leveller mutineers in the New Model Army are hanged.
• 19 May – An act declaring England to be a Commonwealth is passed by the Rump Parliament.
• 22 May–October – Robert Blake blockades Prince Rupert's fleet in Kinsale, Ireland.
• August – The Diggers abandon their last major colony, at St. George's Hill, Weybridge.
• 15 August – Oliver Cromwell lands in Dublin to begin the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland.
• 3–11 September – Siege of Drogheda in Ireland: Cromwell's New Model Army massacres the Irish Catholic Confederation garrison.
• 2–11 October – Sack of Wexford in Ireland: New Model Army massacres the Irish Catholic Confederation garrison.
• October – John Milton's Eikonoklastes: in Answer to a Book Intitl'd Eikon Basilike, a defence of the execution of Charles I, is published.