Mercurius Britanicus on Charles I: an exercise in civil war journalism and high politics, August 1643 to May 1646

Abstract

This article examines in detail the sustained campaign of character assassination run by Mercurius Britanicus against Charles I. It illustrates the substance, style and provenance of Britanicus's arguments; it then assesses the newsbook's attacks in their chronological context.The article argues that Britanicus worked closely with the parliamentary war party grandees to discredit Charles publicly, to divide royalist opinion by revealing his weaknesses and mistakes, and to pressurize him into making peace on the radicals' terms. Although Britanicus stopped short of calling outright for Charles's deposition, this was the logical conclusion to be drawn from the newsbook's comments.

From Tyrant to Unfit Monarch: MarchamontNedham's Representation ofCharlesStuart andRoyalists during the Interregnum

“…Nedham had employed a similar strategy to attack Charles I during the Civil War, when his editorials in Mercurius Britanicus insinuated that Charles I should be held accountable for not behaving in a manner appropriate for the king of England. Rumours and representations of Cromwell as a monarch were prominent in 1653, but Charles Stuart and the royalists represented a barrier to any increase in Cromwell's power. Charles Stuart may have been defeated and exiled, but he still had a claim to the English throne, a claim that the majority of Englishmen still recognized (and did in 1660).…”

Promoting the Anglo-Scottish alliance of 1643: the Solemn League and Covenant and the parliamentary press in the first civil war*

“…Such arguments would, hopefully, convince doubters that they should engage to preserve both the protestant religion and the parliamentary mixed monarchy, neither of which was safe in Charles's hands. 88 In taking this particular approach, and, in its last edition, recommending to its readers George Buchanan, that arch advocate of deposition for royal tyrants, Britanicus was signalling its association with the more radically minded Scots. Unfortunately for Nedham, in May 1646, as the war drew to a close, the fortunes of the English war party were waning, while relations between parliament and the Scots were becoming increasingly toxic, particularly regarding the fate of the king.…”