Charles II was proclaimed King by the Scottish Parliament but Oliver Cromwell and his parliament gathered enough troops that he was able to defeat Charles II at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651 and he fled to the mainland and remained in exile for 9 years while Cromwell was literally a dictator of England. When Cromwell died of natural causes in 1658 the monarchy was restored. Charles came into London on his 30th birthday and the people received him with cheering crowds along the way into London.
Charles had Cromwell's body dug up and he was beheaded as a sign that Cromwell's parliament was no longer in power. He had all of the men who signed his father's death warrant put to death. That was the end of the 1st episode.
This morning I began to work on my ancestors, tracing my 9th Great-Great Grandfathers and Grandmothers. I began to research Isaac Penington and come to find out he was tried for high treason when King Charles II came to regain his throne. Isaac was put into the Tower of London where he died the night of the 16 December 1660.
Here is his story:
Penington had a very good education and succeeded his father in becoming a Liveryman[1] of the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers[2] . He inherited several estates in Norfolk and Suffolk from his father and purchased one of his own. He made a fortune as a wine and cloth merchant. From 1626 he acted as financial agent to his second cousin, Admiral John Penington.
On Feb. 7th,1614 he married my 9th Great-Great Grandmother, Abigail Allen. They would go on to have 7 children: John, Mary, Ned, Rachel, Isaac (my 8th GGFather), William and Edward.
In 1638 Penington was elected Sheriff of London and became an alderman of the City of London for Bridge Without[3], named such for being without the wall of London. He was Prime Warden of the Fishmongers Company in 1640. His house was on Wood Street, Cheapside[4] , and he was a prominent member of St. Stephen's Church, Coleman Street[5].
In April 1640 Penington was elected a Member of Parliament (MP) for the City of London in the Short Parliament[6]. He was re-elected MP for City of London for the Long Parliament[7] in November 1640 and sat until 1653. On 16 Aug. 1642, after the royalist lord mayor, Sir Richard Gurney, had been expelled by parliament from his office, Penington was chosen to succeed him, and the commons gave him special permission to remain a member of their house.
In 1642 he became a Colonel of the 2nd or White Regiment[8] of the forces of the city of London. In September of 1642 He exhorted the citizens in order to build fortifications for the defense of London.
On Saturday, 26 Nov. 1642, he issued, in his official capacity, a proclamation ordering the collection of 30,000 £ by Tuesday. The ministers were directed to stir up their parishioners, the churchwardens to make the collection on Sunday after service, and to bring reports of their procedure to a committee of the lords and commons sitting at the Guildhall on the ensuing Monday[9]. This action angered King Charles I.
From 1642 to 1645 he was Lieutenant of the Tower of London[10]. In that capacity he was present during the execution of William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury who was regarded as a strong opponent to the Puritans who were strong in the land. He became Governor of the Levant Company in 1644, retaining the position to 1654.
In January 1649, Penington was appointed a commissioner of the High Court of Justice at the trial of King Charles, but he did not sign King’s death warrant. He served on the Rump's Council of State and on several government committees. He was on the committees for foreign affairs, the admiralty, and other purposes; and was one of the most regular attendants at the council. He occupied lodgings in Whitehall. His services to the Commonwealth were rewarded by grants of lands in Norfolk and Buckinghamshire, houses and tenements in the city. Soon after 6 June 1649, he was knighted by the speaker of the commons, on the recommendation of the house.
At the Restoration when King
Charles II was restored to the monarchy Penington faced charges that he was one
of the planners of King Charles I death. He was committed to the custody of the
sergeant-at-arms on 15 June 1660, and was brought up for trial at the Old
Bailey on 10 Oct. On the 16th he pleaded ‘not guilty,’ protesting his
‘ignorance of what he did.’ The jury convicted him, and he was committed a
prisoner to the Tower, where, after rather more than a year's imprisonment, he
died on 17 Dec. 1660. An order was issued for the delivery of his body to his
friends.
Penington was a sturdy and austere puritan. When he expressed
violent disapproval of his son Isaac's joining the Quakers, the son retorted
that his father's religion was formal and invented, the result of fear lest
wrath should overtake him.
My own opinion of this guy is that he was a pain in the ass. He did serve as High Commissioner when Charles 1 was beheaded...as his son watched. He then thought that he'd be saved because he didn't know what he was doing. Hogwash, he knew exactly what he was doing. He also was so very strict about his religious life. He persecuted the Quakers and wrote a whole volume of books telling for how much God hated them. Many of his children went on to be Quakers and settled in the Colonies. I would have also wanted to come to the Colonies to get away from persecution. There really was NO religious freedom in England.
My own opinion of this guy is that he was a pain in the ass. He did serve as High Commissioner when Charles 1 was beheaded...as his son watched. He then thought that he'd be saved because he didn't know what he was doing. Hogwash, he knew exactly what he was doing. He also was so very strict about his religious life. He persecuted the Quakers and wrote a whole volume of books telling for how much God hated them. Many of his children went on to be Quakers and settled in the Colonies. I would have also wanted to come to the Colonies to get away from persecution. There really was NO religious freedom in England.
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[1] Liveryman: A full member of his respective company. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livery_company#Liverymen
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worshipful_Company_of_Fishmongers
[3] London Bridge viewed from Southwark: the Great Stone
Gateway at the very southern end of the bridge formed the boundary between
Within and Without.
[4] Wood Street,
Cheapside
[6]
The Short
Parliament was a Parliament of
England that was summoned by King Charles I of
England on 20 February 1640 and
sat from 13 April to 5 May 1640. It was so called because of its short life of
only three weeks.
[7] The Long Parliament was an English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened for only three weeks during the spring of 1640 after an 11-year parliamentary absence.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Parliament
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Parliament
[10] from: The Discovery of a Great and Wicked Conspiracie, &c. … whereunto is added an Order by the Lord Mayor for the Raysing of 30,000 li in the City of London,’ &c., 28 Nov. 1642.
Other websites I used for writing this story:
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclopedia/9421/#CITEREFWillis1750
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Penington_(Lord_Mayor)#cite_note-3
https://www.geni.com/people/Isaac-Pennington-Lord-Mayor-of-London/6000000003649683863
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