Lesson Y8-U01-L06

Trial and Execution of Charles I, 1649 Quiz: KS3 History, Unit 7

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson Y8-U01-L06, Trial and Execution of Charles I, 1649: 20 multiple choice questions for the KS3 History (National Curriculum), Unit 7: Year 8: English Civil War, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. On what date did the trial of Charles I begin?

    • 20 January 1649
    • 27 January 1648
    • 6 December 1648
    • 30 January 1649

  2. What was the special court created to try the king called?

    • The Court of Assize
    • The Court of Chancery
    • The Star Chamber
    • The High Court of Justice

  3. Who presided as judge at the trial?

    • John Bradshaw
    • Thomas Pride
    • John Pym
    • Oliver Cromwell

  4. What were the men who signed the death warrant later called?

    • Levellers
    • Royalists
    • Regicides
    • Grandees

  5. How many men signed the death warrant?

    • 590
    • 59
    • 5
    • 159

  6. Why did Charles refuse to enter a plea at his trial?

    • He believed no court could try a king, since a king's power came from God
    • He was too ill to speak clearly in court and had asked for a delay for his health
    • He had no lawyers to defend him, and the court had refused to appoint any for him
    • He wanted to be tried by the Pope in Rome instead of by English judges and MPs

  7. What was Pride's Purge of December 1648?

    • A battle at Naseby in 1645, where the King's main army was destroyed in one day
    • The removal of MPs who still wanted to negotiate with Charles, in December 1648
    • A tax on all landowners in 1649 that was used to pay the New Model Army's wages
    • The execution of the Earl of Strafford in 1641, carried out by Act of Attainder

  8. Which war did Charles restart in 1648, after the First Civil War?

    • The Second Civil War
    • The Hundred Years' War
    • The Bishops' Wars
    • The Anglo-Scottish Union

  9. Where was Charles I executed?

    • Outside the Banqueting House in Whitehall
    • On Tower Hill, in front of a crowd of London apprentices and the city's merchants
    • In Westminster Abbey, in front of the altar where kings had been crowned for centuries
    • At Nottingham Castle, on the day the royal standard was raised in August 1642

  10. Why did Charles wear two shirts to his execution?

    • So he would not shiver and look afraid in the cold
    • To show that he was still a Scottish king, despite his English crown and title
    • To hide the wounds he had received in the battle of Naseby from the watching crowd
    • Because it was a royal custom that every king wore two shirts to his execution

  11. What was Eikon Basilike?

    • A list of Parliament's grievances against the King, published in London in 1641
    • A book presenting Charles as a Christian martyr
    • A law that abolished the monarchy and declared England a republic for ever
    • A battle plan written for the New Model Army before the siege of Colchester

  12. What charge was read against Charles at his trial?

    • Failing to pay Ship Money in the years when the tax was collected in London
    • Refusing to attend Parliament, which had been called in 1640 for his trial
    • Tyrant, traitor, murderer and public enemy
    • Heresy and witchcraft, for which the court had prepared a list of witnesses

  13. Why did Charles argue that the court could not try him?

    • He had no lawyers to defend him, and the judges had refused to hear his case
    • He was the source of law and answered only to God
    • The court met in the wrong city, far from the royal palace at Whitehall
    • The judges were all Scottish and had been chosen by the Scottish Parliament

  14. What does Charles's claim in Source A, that he holds a trust from God, show about his view?

    • He was ready to resign his throne to his son and retire to the country
    • He believed the Pope should judge him, and he asked for a papal delegate
    • He believed his power came from God, not his subjects
    • He wanted to become a Parliament member and sit in the House of Commons

  15. Source C is one eyewitness's account of a groan from the crowd. Why is it useful to a historian?

    • It proves the whole nation wanted the execution and welcomed the new republic
    • It shows the crowd's strong reaction, but it is one witness's view
    • It shows the King was Scottish by birth and raised in Edinburgh's royal palace
    • It is a government ordinance that ordered the crowd to remain silent

  16. Why does the trial's decision not represent the whole nation?

    • The public voted in a national referendum held across every county in England
    • Only a purged minority of about 200 MPs decided, after Pride's Purge
    • Every MP voted unanimously in favour of the trial after a long and quiet debate
    • The King had abdicated before the trial began and asked for his son to rule instead

  17. Why did the execution backfire on Parliament?

    • It led to Scotland joining the Commonwealth as its fourth and newest province
    • It created a martyr and the monarchy was restored in 1660
    • It made Charles a hero who won the war against the New Model Army in the end
    • It ended the monarchy for ever and no king was ever crowned in England again

  18. Why did the regicides fear that a living Charles would be dangerous?

    • He would move the capital to Scotland and rule from Edinburgh's great castle
    • He would become a Parliament leader and sit in the House of Commons
    • He would sign a peace with France and hand over the English navy to the French
    • He would be a focus for plots, escape and a third war

  19. Why is 'legal' different from 'justified', as the lesson suggests?

    • Something can be deserved but still against the law of the time
    • Legal only applies to ordinary people and never to a king or to nobles
    • Justified means approved by the Pope, who alone could judge a king's conduct
    • Legal means the same as justified, so there is no difference between the two

  20. Which point best supports the view that the trial was NOT justified?

    • Only a small, purged group of MPs made the decision, and no lawful court existed for it
    • Charles wore two shirts to the scaffold so the crowd would not see him shiver
    • Oliver Cromwell had led the cavalry at Naseby and Marston Moor in earlier battles
    • The execution happened in January, during the coldest part of the winter

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