William Laud was beheaded during the Civil War, when England was ruled by a puritanical (Protestant-Calvinist) current in the parliament.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, William Laud, was executed on this day in England. It happened during the Civil War, when England was ruled by a puritanical (Protestant-Calvinist) current in the parliament. The Archbishop was an Anglican by faith and was close to King Charles I, for whom the Puritans believed that he brought the Anglican Church too close to Catholic Church (the King also married a Catholic princess, which provoked suspicion among Protestants).
As Archbishop of Canterbury, William Laud was the most important person in the Church of England. He was imprisoned in the famous Tower of London and was put on a trial. The Parliament ordered for him to be executed, which was done despite the fact that the king pardoned him. He was decapitated on a hill northwest of the Tower of London.
