Charles I Storms Parliament: The English Civil War Begins

Charles I didn't come alone. He brought 400 soldiers into the House of Commons on January 4, 1642, looking for five members of Parliament he wanted arrested for treason. When he arrived, the chamber was empty. Speaker William Lenthall knelt on the floor and told the king he had no eyes to see, no ears to hear, no tongue to speak, except as Parliament directed. The five men had slipped out through a back door minutes earlier. Charles left having found nobody, looking like a bully who'd walked into the wrong room. His attempt to seize Parliament's leadership by force destroyed whatever remained of his authority. Within months, England was at war with itself. The Civil War lasted nearly a decade. Charles lost his crown — and eventually his head — on a scaffold outside the Banqueting House in 1649. The Parliament he'd tried to arrest outlived him.