From the beginning of the investigation of Louis XVI’s trial until its execution, the reference to English history, including Charles Ier’s judgment and rising to Cromwell Protectorate, represented a frequent passage in contemporary speeches. The views of both conventional and private individuals and journalists often referred to the historic example of Charles Stuard’s trial, in support of or against the legitimacy of the judgment. In these speeches, reference was sometimes made to the most emblematic figures of the 17th century English republicanism, in particular those of John Milton and Algernon Sidney. The former was cited as author of a Defense of the English people against the accusations of regicide, an ad hoc book published in French at the time of Louis XVI’s trial; the latter as a martyr of freedom, his only name being able to evoke extreme commitment and sacrifice to the republican cause.