American Toby Jug Museum 

King Charles character jug produced by NE of England circa 1970. Charles I (1600-1649), the second son of James I of England and Scotland and Anne of Denmark, became king at the age of 24 and reigned for 24 years. As king he was dogmatic and inflexible with Parliament and attempted to usurp its power and govern by personal rule. Parliament refused to grant funds to a king who refused to address the grievances of the nobility. Three times summoned and dissolved between 1625 and 1629, Parliament went the next eleven years without being summoned as Charles financed his reign by selling commercial monopolies and extracting ship money. In 1642 the royal standard was raised by Charles at Nottingham against the Parliamentary forces. The King's supporters, known as the Cavaliers, came from the ranks of peasants and nobility who fought against the militia drawn from the emerging middle classes, Puritans known as the Roundheads. Led by Oliver Cromwell, the New Model Army routed the Cavaliers at Naseby in 1645 and Charles surrendered a year later. Put on trial for treason, he was led to the scaffold before Whitehall, his courage in the face of death elevating him to the level of a martyr. A feather plume from Charles' hat forms the handle of the jug.