Hercules Huncks

Last updated

Hercules Huncks (died 19 October 1660) was an English soldier and one of the Regicides of King Charles I of England. [1]

Hercules Huncks was born in Warwickshire. Although the rest of his family were Royalist, he joined the Parliamentarians and attained the rank of colonel in the New Model Army. With Francis Hacker and Robert Phayre, he was one of the senior army officers delegated to supervise and carry out the King's execution. However, he refused to sign the order to the executioners, for which Oliver Cromwell berated him as a "peevish fellow". Arrested and brought to trial at the Restoration, Huncks was pardoned because he gave evidence against Daniel Axtell and Hacker. [2]

Notes

  1. Manganiello, op.cit., p.270
  2. Gough, op.cit., p.243

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fifth Monarchists</span> English radical religious group, 1649–1660

The Fifth Monarchists, or Fifth Monarchy Men, were a Protestant sect which advocated Millennialist views, active during the 1649 to 1660 Commonwealth of England. Named after a prophecy in the Book of Daniel that Four Monarchies would precede the Fifth or establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth, the group was one of a number of Nonconformist sects that emerged during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Perhaps its best known adherent was Major-General Thomas Harrison, executed in October 1660 as a regicide, while Oliver Cromwell was a sympathiser until 1653.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stuart Restoration</span> 1660 restoration of the monarchy in the British Isles

The Restoration of the Stuart monarchy in the kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland took place in 1660 when King Charles II returned from exile in continental Europe. The preceding period of the Protectorate and the civil wars came to be known as the Interregnum (1649–1660).

Regicide is the purposeful killing of a monarch or sovereign of a polity and is often associated with the usurpation of power. A regicide can also be the person responsible for the killing. The word comes from the Latin roots of regis and cida (cidium), meaning "of monarch" and "killer" respectively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Goffe</span> English regicide

Major-General William Goffe, probably born between 1613 and 1618, died c. 1679, was an English Parliamentarian soldier who served with the New Model Army during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. A religious radical nicknamed “Praying William” by contemporaries, he approved the Execution of Charles I in January 1649, and later escaped prosecution as a regicide by fleeing to New England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cavalier</span> Royalist supporter in the English Civil War

The term "Cavalier" was first used by Roundheads as a term of abuse for the wealthier royalist supporters of King Charles I and his son Charles II of England during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration. It was later adopted by the Royalists themselves. Although it referred originally to political and social attitudes and behaviour, of which clothing was a very small part, it has subsequently become strongly identified with the fashionable clothing of the court at the time. Prince Rupert, commander of much of Charles I's cavalry, is often considered to be an archetypal Cavalier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Dixwell</span> English regicide

John Dixwell, alias James Davids, c. 1607 to 18 March 1689, was an English lawyer, republican politician and regicide. Born in Warwickshire, during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms he held various administrative positions in Kent on behalf of Parliament, and approved the Execution of Charles I in January 1649. Under the Commonwealth, he served as Governor of Dover Castle, and was a member of the English Council of State.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniel Axtell</span>

Colonel Daniel Axtell, c. 1622 to 19 October 1660, was a grocer and religious radical from Hertfordshire who served with the Parliamentarian army during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. He was in charge of security during the Trial of Charles I at Westminster Hall in January 1649, and as a result was excluded from the Act of Indemnity and Oblivion after the 1660 Stuart Restoration. He was hanged, drawn and quartered for treason on 19 October 1660.

John Blakiston, was a member of the English parliament, one of the regicides of King Charles I of England, a prominent mercer and coal merchant, puritan and anti-Episcopalian.

The Committee of Both Kingdoms,, was a committee set up during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms by the Parliamentarian faction in association with representatives from the Scottish Covenanters, after they made an alliance in late 1643.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Stirling (1648)</span> Battle on 12 September 1648 during the Scottish Civil War of the 17th century

The second Battle of Stirling was fought on 12 September 1648 during the Scottish Civil War of the 17th century. The battle was fought between the Engagers who were a faction of the Scottish Covenanters under the command of George Munro, 1st of Newmore and who had made "The Engagement" with Charles I of England in December 1647, against the Kirk Party who were a radical Presbyterian faction of the Scottish Covenanters who were under the command of Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll.

Colonel Robert Phaire, (1619?–1682), was an officer in the Irish Protestant and then the New Model armies and a Regicide. He was one of the three officers to whom the warrant for the execution of Charles I was addressed, but he escaped severe punishment at the Restoration by having married the daughter of Sir Thomas Herbert (1606–1682). He became a Muggletonian in 1662.

Events from the year 1660 in England. This is the year of Restoration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francis Lascelles</span>

Francis Lascelles (1612-1667), also spelt Lassels, was an English politician, soldier and businessman who fought for Parliament in the 1639-1652 Wars of the Three Kingdoms and was a Member of Parliament between 1645 and 1660.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Barkstead</span>

John Barkstead was an English major general and regicide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francis Hacker</span> English soldier

Colonel Francis Hacker was an English soldier who fought for Parliament during the English Civil War and one of the Regicides of King Charles I of England.

Matthew Thomlinson (1617–1681) was an English soldier who fought for Parliament in the English Civil War. He was a regicide of Charles I. Tomlinson was a colonel of horse (cavalry) in the New Model Army and was one of the officers presenting the remonstrance to parliament in 1647. He took charge of Charles I in 1648, until Charles's execution, but refused to be his judge. He followed Oliver Cromwell to Scotland in 1650.

Samuel Browne, of Arlesey, Bedfordshire, was Member of Parliament during the English Civil War and the First Commonwealth who supported the Parliamentary cause. However he refused to support the trial and execution of Charles I and, along with five of his colleagues, resigned his seat on the bench. At the Restoration of 1660 this was noted and he was made a judge of the Common Pleas.

Henry Huncks was an English soldier who was briefly governor of Barbados from 1640 to 1641. During the English Civil War, he was a lieutenant colonel in the army, fighting on the Cavalier side in support of the king.

The battle of Bovey Heath took place on 9 January 1646 at Bovey Tracey and Bovey Heath during the First English Civil War. A Parliamentarian cavalry detachment under the command of Oliver Cromwell surprised and routed the Lord Wentworth's Royalist camp.

Huncks is a surname of English origin.

References