Who is Charles I in the poem, An Horation Ode Upon Cromwell’s Return From Ireland?

Charles I was the eldest son of King James I, and he inherited his throne. Due to a variety of religious conflicts, Charles was an unpopular king, and his reign was characterized by civil wars, the last of which ended in his execution by Oliver Cromwell's order. In this poem, though it is ostensibly authored in Cromwell's praise, Charles is imagined as a figure of tragic sympathy. He meets his death with enormous dignity, showing "nothing common ... or mean" in how he accepts his fate (57). The poem may not condemn Cromwell, but it certainly uplifts Charles as possessing the dignity of a king.