REGICIDE: THE CONTEXTS OF THE 1649 KENT PETITION FOR THE TRIAL OF CHARLES I

CANTERBURY CHRIST CHURCH UNIVERSITY

SECOND JOHN HAYES CIVIL WAR CONFERENCE: SATURDAY 7th FEBRUARY 2009 – 10.00-4.00

Although public opinion in Kent has been depicted as strongly anti-Parliament in the aftermath of the Second Civil War, a petition calling for the trial and execution of the King was circulated in the county early in January 1649. It attracted 1,135 signatures including some of the town councillors of Canterbury, Sandwich and Hythe and members of independent church congregations. Their names were headed by William Kenwricke of Boughton under Blean, who was one of the five representatives from Kent to the Nominated or Barebones Parliament of 1653. The petition has been regarded as a fraud, but it can also be argued that the petition demonstrates that there was active, but limited, support for the regicide in Kent.

To contextualise the Kent Petition a day conference will be held at Canterbury Christ Church University, on Saturday 7th February 2009.

PARTICIPANTS: Professor Barry Coward, (Birkbeck London University), Professor Jackie Eales (CCCU), Professor Clive Holmes (Oxford), Professor Ann Hughes (Keele University), Dr Jason Peacey, (University College, London), Dr Stephen Rowlstone (CCCU). Speakers will address the petition, the trial, the Kent regicides, and the justification of civil war and regicide by Parliamentarian preachers.

Registration for the conference costs £12 (£8-50p for postgraduates), lunch will be available at a further cost of £10-50p. For further details and registration form please contact Professor Jackie Eales, History Department, Canterbury Christ Church University, North Holmes Road, Canterbury, Kent CT1 1QU. E-mail: jackie.eales@canterbury.ac.uk