Royal Accountability Quotes
She referred to herself and others referred to her as “The Maid of Orleans” and she wrote of herself in the third person.
The revolution turned on many of its initiators including Vergniaud. He was guillotined along with other Girondists.
Prior to Cooke’s indictment of English King Charles I, there was a concept of Royal Impunity—that a sovereign could not legally be called to account for his actions as ruler of the state. The concept of “sovereign immunity” was a concept where the sovereign and his agents could be given immunity for specific actions, but they never would have impunity again where there were no limits to the crimes they might commit against their own people. Charles I refused to even recognize Cooke’s indictment and so have heads of state called to account for their major crimes since then all the way down to Saddam Hussein in 2006 who made the same argument. Cooke was himself hanged, drawn and quartered almost 20 years after the Charles I trial for his part in the “Regicide” so the concept of Royal Impunity did not die quickly.
Actually, these revolutionists were quite moderate and what they wanted was his abdication and for him to go to England but they used the fear of trial and beheading to induce him to leave rather than have a pitched battle. He did.
