"That, whatever his faults, Charles died a martyr for his Church and his religious convictions is beyond dispute... The image of Charles I as a Christ-figure was soon to become familiar through the illicit circulation of the Eikon Basilike. This image, more powerful than all the intellectual arguments of James I in defence of royal absolutism, is among the main reasons why the age of absolute monarchy par excellence in England came after 1660 rather than before 1640."