Crown, Parliament, plots and court life
Why a king came back
King Charles I was executed in 1649. England then had no king for 11 years (the Interregnum, meaning 'between reigns'), ruled mostly by Oliver Cromwell. After Cromwell died, there was confusion. In 1660 Parliament invited Charles I's son back. Charles II promised in the Declaration of Breda to forgive most old enemies and let Parliament settle hard questions.
Crown and Parliament
Parliament gave Charles a yearly income, but it was not enough. He often needed more and had to ask Parliament. To get money without them he secretly agreed with King Louis XIV of France (the Secret Treaty of Dover, 1670) to receive French payments. Parliament passed the Clarendon Code (1661–1665), laws that punished people outside the Church of England, such as Quakers and Baptists (called Dissenters or Nonconformists).
The Catholic question
Many English Protestants feared Catholics would take over. The Test Act (1673) stopped Catholics holding public office, and the King's brother James had to resign as head of the navy. In 1678 Titus Oates invented the Popish Plot, a false story that Catholics planned to kill the King. Panic followed and innocent people were executed. MPs then tried to pass a law to stop James becoming king: the Exclusion Crisis (1679–1681). Supporters of exclusion were called Whigs; supporters of the King's right to choose were called Tories. Charles dissolved Parliament in 1681 and ruled without it until he died in 1685. The Rye House Plot (1683) to kill Charles and James failed and weakened the Whigs.
Charles II's court
Charles was nicknamed the 'Merry Monarch'. His court was known for fun, fashion, gambling and mistresses, a big change from Puritan rule. He enjoyed science, horse racing and sailing, and he supported theatres reopening.
Life in Restoration England
Crisis: plague and fire
In 1665 the Great Plague hit London. It was bubonic plague, spread by fleas on rats, though people then blamed bad air. Officials shut sick families inside houses marked with a red cross. Around 100,000 people, perhaps one in four Londoners, died. In September 1666 the Great Fire of London started in a bakery on Pudding Lane. Wooden houses packed close together, a dry summer and strong wind helped it spread for four days. About 13,000 houses and St Paul's Cathedral were destroyed, but few deaths were recorded. Afterwards new buildings had to be brick or stone, streets were widened, and Christopher Wren rebuilt St Paul's and many churches. The first fire insurance companies appeared.
Restoration culture
Theatres, closed under the Puritans, reopened, and for the first time women acted on the English stage. Coffee houses spread fast: for a penny a man could drink coffee, read news-sheets and debate politics. The King worried they spread rebellion. In 1662 the Royal Society got a royal charter; scientists such as Robert Hooke and Isaac Newton shared experiments there. People began to explain the world by testing and observing.
Land, trade and war
Land
England gained colonies and trading posts: New Amsterdam in North America was taken from the Dutch in 1664 and renamed New York; Bombay came to Charles as part of his Portuguese wife's dowry in 1661 and was later passed to the East India Company. Colonies in the Caribbean and North America grew crops for sale in Europe.
Trade
The Navigation Acts said goods coming to England had to be carried in English ships, to weaken Dutch traders. Sugar, tobacco, tea and cloth brought great wealth to merchants and ports. A terrible part of this trade was the transatlantic slave trade: the Royal African Company (1660s) carried enslaved Africans to work on plantations in the Americas.
War
England fought two wars with the Dutch Republic in this period (1665–1667 and 1672–1674), mostly at sea and mostly about trade. In 1667 the Dutch sailed up the River Medway and burned or captured English warships, a deep embarrassment.
Studying a historic site from the period
Courses may ask you to study one real place, such as Wren's St Paul's Cathedral, a rebuilt city church, the Royal Observatory at Greenwich (1675) or a coffee house. Ask four questions:
- Where and why here? St Paul's was rebuilt on the same hill where the old one burned.
- What was it for and how is it built? Worship, a symbol of a reborn city; stone, a great dome.
- Who made and used it? Christopher Wren designed it; Londoners, clergy and visitors used it.
- How does it show its time? Stone after the fire, new science in its dome engineering, royal and church power together.
Try it: choose an old place you know, like a fort, temple, church or market. Write one line for each question.
Key formulas and definitions
- Restoration (1660): the return of the monarchy under Charles II.
- Interregnum (1649–1660): the years without a king.
- Clarendon Code: laws (1661–1665) punishing Protestants outside the Church of England.
- Test Act (1673): only members of the Church of England could hold public office.
- Exclusion Crisis (1679–1681): attempts to stop James, a Catholic, becoming king.
- Whigs and Tories: the first political parties; Whigs backed exclusion, Tories backed the King.
Worked examples
1. Why did Charles II make a secret treaty with France?
Parliament controlled taxes and did not give him enough money. French payments let him rely less on Parliament, so he secretly agreed with Louis XIV at Dover in 1670.
2. Give three reasons the Great Fire spread so far.
1) Houses were wooden and packed close together. 2) The summer had been long and dry. 3) A strong east wind blew the flames across the city.
3. How did the Popish Plot lead to the first political parties?
The made-up plot spread fear of Catholics. MPs tried to exclude the Catholic James from the throne. Those for exclusion became Whigs and those against became Tories.
Common mistakes
- Thinking the Restoration gave the King all his old power back. Parliament still controlled taxes.
- Saying the Great Fire killed most Londoners. Few deaths were recorded; the Plague a year earlier killed far more.
- Believing the Popish Plot was real. Titus Oates made it up.
- Mixing up Whigs and Tories. Whigs wanted to block James; Tories supported the King's line.