152-455: The Exclusion Crisis ran from 1679 until 1681 in the reign of King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland . Three Exclusion Bills sought to exclude the King's brother and heir presumptive , James, Duke of York , from the thrones of England , Scotland and Ireland because he was a Roman Catholic . None became law. Two new parties formed. The Tories were opposed to this exclusion, while
304-564: A " Popish Plot " to assassinate the king, even accusing the queen of complicity. Charles did not believe the allegations, but ordered his chief minister Lord Danby to investigate. While Danby seems to have been rightly sceptical about Oates's claims, the Cavalier Parliament took them seriously. The people were seized with an anti-Catholic hysteria; judges and juries across the land condemned the supposed conspirators; numerous innocent individuals were executed. Later in 1678, Danby
456-631: A Catholic, being next in line to the throne. The prospect of a Catholic monarch was vehemently opposed by the 1st Earl of Shaftesbury (a former member of the Cabal, which had fallen apart in 1673). Lord Shaftesbury's power base was strengthened when the House of Commons of 1679 introduced the Exclusion Bill , which sought to exclude the Duke of York from the line of succession . Some even sought to confer
608-673: A bill, and were likewise dissolved. While it should be treated with caution, the Exclusion Crisis is often identified as the point at which discernible political parties first emerged in England. Those who supported petitions asking Charles to recall Parliament and complete the passage of the Exclusion Bill were known as 'Petitioners' and later became Whigs . Those who opposed the Bill or the so-called Abhorrers developed into
760-576: A common hangman. It also repealed the 1642 Bishops Exclusion Act , thereby allowing Church of England bishops to resume their temporal positions, including their seats in the House of Lords . Other notable pieces of first session legislation include the Militia Act placing the armed forces unambiguously under the king's authority, and the Sedition Act . It also continued proceedings against
912-630: A day). He was baptised on 27 June in the Chapel Royal by William Laud , a future archbishop of Canterbury , and during his infancy was supervised by the Protestant Countess of Dorset . His godparents included his maternal uncle Louis XIII and maternal grandmother, Marie de' Medici , the Dowager Queen of France, both of whom were Catholics. At birth, Charles automatically became Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay , and
1064-651: A foolish thing, And never did a wise one To which Charles is reputed to have replied "that the matter was easily accounted for: For that his discourse was his own, his actions were the ministry's". In 1665, the Great Plague of London began, peaking in September with up to 7,000 deaths per week. Charles, his family, and the court fled London in July to Salisbury ; Parliament met in Oxford . Plague cases ebbed over
1216-534: A foreign country on par with France). To facilitate the overseas operations of the charter companies , parliament inserted a clause into the 1663 Staple Act allowing the free exportation of coin and bullion – over the vigorous opposition of Arthur Annesley (Earl Anglesey) , the leading mercantilist in parliament. To encourage the inflow of gold and silver from abroad and into circulation, the Coinage Act 1666 abolished seignorage , and introduced free minting at
1368-461: A formal society in 1660 to give a more academic and learned approach to science and to conduct experiments in physics and mathematics. Sir Robert Moray , a member of Charles's court, played an important part in achieving this outcome, and he was to be the first president of this new Royal Society . Over the years, Moray was an important go-between for Charles and the Society, and his standing with
1520-523: A group of parliamentarians known as the "Country Party" – a group of MPs held together by their suspicion of corruption in high places, suspicious of the king's dubious foreign policy and, increasingly, suspicious of his loyalty to Protestantism. The factions of a "party political" system thus gradually emerged in parliament, polarised between the Coventry-led "Country Party" (ancestral to the Whigs ) and
1672-661: A life of leisure at Saint-Germain-en-Laye near Paris, living on a grant from Louis XIV of 600 livres a month. Charles could not obtain sufficient finance or support to mount a serious challenge to Cromwell's government. Despite the Stuart family connections through Henrietta Maria and the Princess of Orange, France and the Dutch Republic allied themselves with Cromwell's government from 1654, forcing Charles to leave France and turn to Spain for aid, which at that time ruled
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#17327649946681824-464: A means to break the hated Cabal – which contained both crypto-Catholics like Arlington and Clifford and crypto-Presbyterians like Ashley and Lauderdale. Parliament believed the Cabal had been responsible for keeping them out of session and counselling to king to govern without them. To that end, parliament used its purse-strings to force not only the repeal of the Declaration but also the passage of
1976-532: A message that reached Charles at Breda on 8 May 1660. In Ireland, a convention had been called earlier in the year and had already declared for Charles. On 14 May, he was proclaimed king in Dublin. Charles set out for England from Scheveningen , arrived in Dover on 25 May 1660 and reached London on 29 May, his 30th birthday. Although Charles and Parliament granted amnesty to nearly all of Cromwell's supporters in
2128-541: A public Anglican service. The same year, in an unpopular move, Charles sold Dunkirk to King Louis XIV of France for about £375,000. The channel port, although a valuable strategic outpost, was a drain on Charles's limited finances, as it cost the Treasury £321,000 per year. Before Charles's restoration, the Navigation Acts of 1650 had hurt Dutch trade by giving English vessels a monopoly, and had started
2280-429: A recognisable genre. Theatre licences granted by Charles required that female parts be played by "their natural performers", rather than by boys as was often the practice before; and Restoration literature celebrated or reacted to the restored court, which included libertines such as Lord Rochester . Of Charles II, Rochester supposedly said: We have a pretty, witty king, Whose word no man relies on, He never said
2432-413: A scapegoat for a scandal by which Louis XIV bought the neutrality of Charles's government with an outright bribe, caused anti-Catholic sentiments in parliament to boil over, resulting in a parliamentary push to exclude James from the throne. Though Danby had, for many years, been using his power as Lord Treasurer to attempt to divert the King away from a pro-France foreign policy, his effort to gain funds for
2584-596: A time a-dying", and expressed regret at his treatment of his wife. On the last evening of his life he was received into the Catholic Church, in the presence of Father John Huddleston , though the extent to which he was fully conscious or committed, and with whom the idea originated, is unclear. He was buried in Westminster Abbey "without any manner of pomp" on 14 February. Cavalier Parliament List of parliaments of England List of acts of
2736-782: A victory at the Battle of Lowestoft , but in 1667 the Dutch launched a surprise attack on England (the Raid on the Medway ) when they sailed up the River Thames to where a major part of the English fleet was docked. Almost all of the ships were sunk except for the flagship, Royal Charles , which was taken back to the Netherlands as a prize . The Second Dutch War ended with the signing of
2888-573: Is Richard Gibson, an ex-Colonel in Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army , and an outspoken member of the Green Ribbon Club and of the emerging Whig party. Despite their sharp political differences, Burnaby and Gibson come to deeply respect each other, and they share the anxiety lest the unfolding crisis escalate beyond control and England be plunged again into all-out civil war. Eventually, Burnaby's son marries Gibson's daughter, with
3040-471: The Act of Indemnity and Oblivion , 50 people were specifically excluded. In the end nine of the regicides were executed: they were hanged, drawn and quartered , whereas others were given life imprisonment or excluded from office for life. The bodies of Oliver Cromwell, Henry Ireton and John Bradshaw were subjected to posthumous decapitations . The English Parliament granted Charles an annual income to run
3192-633: The Act of Uniformity 1662 made the use of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer compulsory; the Conventicle Act 1664 prohibited religious assemblies of more than five people, except under the auspices of the Church of England; and the Five Mile Act 1665 prohibited expelled non-conforming clergymen from coming within five miles (8 km) of a parish from which they had been banished. The Conventicle and Five Mile Acts remained in effect for
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#17327649946683344-585: The Cavalier Parliament . Worked up by the Popish Plot however, the newly assembled Habeas Corpus Parliament was actually much more hostile to the king and Danby, eventually banning him from entering the royal presence. On 6 March 1679, it committed Danby to the Tower of London . On 15 May 1679, the supporters of Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury , introduced the Exclusion Bill in
3496-592: The Clarendon Code , to shore up the position of the re-established Church of England . Charles acquiesced to these new laws even though he favoured a policy of religious tolerance . The major foreign policy issue of his early reign was the Second Anglo-Dutch War . In 1670, he entered into the Treaty of Dover , an alliance with his cousin, King Louis XIV of France . Louis agreed to aid him in
3648-516: The Commons with the intention of excluding James from the succession to the throne . A fringe group there began to support the claim to the throne of Charles's illegitimate – but Protestant – son, the Duke of Monmouth . As it seemed likely that the bill would pass in the House of Commons, Charles exercised his royal prerogative to dissolve Parliament again. Successive Parliaments attempted to pass such
3800-553: The Dean of Christ Church, Oxford , was his tutor. Neither man thought that the study of science subjects was appropriate for a future king, and Newcastle even advised against studying any subject too seriously. However, as Charles grew older, the renowned surgeon William Harvey was appointed his tutor. He was famous for his work on blood circulation in the human body and already held the position of physician to Charles I; his studies were to influence Charles's own attitude to science. As
3952-510: The Declaration of Breda , in which Charles promised lenience and tolerance. There would be liberty of conscience, and Anglican church policy would not be harsh. He would not exile past enemies nor confiscate their wealth. There would be pardons for nearly all his opponents except the regicides . Above all, Charles promised to rule in cooperation with Parliament. The English Parliament resolved to proclaim Charles king and invite him to return,
4104-584: The Duke of Monmouth to Flanders in May, 1678. But it was too late – the French and Dutch quickly wound up their negotiations (without England), and went on to sign the Treaties of Nijmegen ending the war. In June, parliament quickly voted a sum to finance the disbanding of the expeditionary force, but Charles II decided to use the money to maintain it instead for a few months longer, in the hope he might still affect
4256-508: The Earl of Essex , Algernon Sydney , Lord Russell and the Duke of Monmouth were implicated in the plot. Essex slit his own throat while imprisoned in the Tower of London; Sydney and Russell were executed for high treason on very flimsy evidence; and the Duke of Monmouth went into exile at the court of William of Orange. Lord Danby and the surviving Catholic lords held in the Tower were released and
4408-586: The East Indies , religious and commercial freedom in Portugal and two million Portuguese crowns (equivalent to £300,000 then ); while Portugal obtained military and naval support against Spain and liberty of worship for Catherine. Catherine journeyed from Portugal to Portsmouth on 13–14 May 1662, but was not visited by Charles there until 20 May. The next day the couple were married at Portsmouth in two ceremonies—a Catholic one conducted in secret, followed by
4560-594: The Exclusion Crisis when it was revealed that Charles's brother and heir presumptive , James, Duke of York , had become a Catholic. The crisis saw the birth of the pro-exclusion Whig and anti-exclusion Tory parties. Charles sided with the Tories and, after the discovery of the Rye House Plot to murder Charles and James in 1683, some Whig leaders were executed or forced into exile. Charles dissolved
4712-665: The Fifth Monarchists , anticipating the arrival of Jesus Christ to claim the throne, led a succession of revolts under the command of Vavasor Powell and Thomas Venner . To silence radical agitators and pamphleteers, Parliament passed the Licensing of the Press Act 1662 , instituting government censorship of the press. On the economic legislation, the Cavalier parliament had a notable Mercantilist bent. To promote
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4864-730: The First Dutch War (1652–1654). To lay foundations for a new beginning, envoys of the States General appeared in November 1660 with the Dutch Gift . The Second Dutch War (1665–1667) was started by English attempts to muscle in on Dutch possessions in Africa and North America. The conflict began well for the English, with the capture of New Amsterdam (renamed New York in honour of Charles's brother James, Duke of York) and
5016-528: The First Earl of Shaftesbury for example, highlighted in print and in the House of Lords the dangers of arbitrary government and adherence to Rome to Parliament, the nation, the rule of law, and the English rights and liberties. This concern was exacerbated by the discovery of the Duke of York's new religious affiluation and by the Secret Treaty of Dover (1670). In 1678, during the Popish Plot ,
5168-532: The House of Lords . At this stage, the House of Commons was de facto subservient to Lords, "managed from above" by the Lords' handlers, following their lead and echoing their quarrels. But Commons soon began to find its own voice. Finding the Cabal insufferable, Sir William Coventry resigned as Secretary to the Admiralty and went back to the House of Commons, where he emerged in 1669 as the formidable leader of
5320-581: The Palace of Whitehall , at 11:45 am, aged 54. The suddenness of his illness and death led to suspicion of poison in the minds of many, including one of the royal doctors, but a more modern medical analysis has held that the symptoms of his final illness are similar to those of uraemia , a clinical syndrome due to kidney dysfunction. Charles had a laboratory among his many interests where, prior to his illness, he had been experimenting with mercury . Mercuric poisoning can produce irreversible kidney damage, but
5472-619: The Pensioner Parliament for the many pensions it granted to adherents of the King. The first session of the Cavalier Parliament opened on May 8, 1661. Among the first orders of business was the confirmation of the acts of the previous year's irregular Convention of 1660 as legitimate (notably, the Indemnity and Oblivion Act ). Parliament immediately ordered the public burning of the Solemn League and Covenant by
5624-466: The Royal Mint . The prior Convention of 1660 had promised King Charles II a generous annual revenue of £1.2 million, secured on customs duties and excise taxes . It was up to Cavalier parliament to ensure that the promise was kept. But in the first few years, the revenue fell short of the promised amount, and parliament had to look for new ways to make up for it. Parliament was responsible for
5776-542: The Southern Netherlands . Charles made the Treaty of Brussels with Spain in 1656. This gathered Spanish support for a restoration in return for Charles's contribution to the war against France. Charles raised a ragtag army from his exiled subjects; this small, underpaid, poorly-equipped and ill-disciplined force formed the nucleus of the post-Restoration army. The Commonwealth made the Treaty of Paris with France in 1657 to join them in war against Spain in
5928-550: The Third Anglo-Dutch War and pay him a pension, and Charles secretly promised to convert to Catholicism at an unspecified future date. Charles attempted to introduce religious freedom for Catholics and Protestant dissenters with his 1672 Royal Declaration of Indulgence , but the English Parliament forced him to withdraw it. In 1679, Titus Oates 's fabrication of a supposed Popish Plot sparked
6080-518: The Third Anglo-Dutch War . The Cavalier Parliament opposed the Declaration of Indulgence on constitutional grounds by claiming that the king had no right to arbitrarily suspend laws passed by Parliament. Charles withdrew the Declaration, and also agreed to the Test Act , which not only required public officials to receive the sacrament under the forms prescribed by the Church of England, but also later forced them to denounce transubstantiation and
6232-665: The Treaty of Breda . As a result of the Second Dutch War, Charles dismissed Lord Clarendon, whom he used as a scapegoat for the war. Clarendon fled to France when impeached for high treason (which carried the penalty of death). Power passed to five politicians known collectively by a whimsical acronym as the Cabal —the Baron Clifford , Earl of Arlington , Duke of Buckingham , Baron Ashley (afterwards Earl of Shaftesbury) and Duke of Lauderdale . In fact,
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6384-498: The regicides of Charles I . Later that same year (1661), Parliament passed the Corporation Act , the first of a series of acts known as the Clarendon Code , to cement the episcopal Anglican church as the official church of England. The Clarendon code is normally given as the following four acts: The Quaker Act 1662 , specifically targeting Quakers , can also be cited as part of the new religious 'code'. In January 1661,
6536-402: The regnal year in which that session sat. So the citation "15 Cha 2. c. 4" means "the fourth chapter of the act passed by the parliamentary session that sat in the 15th year of the reign of Charles II". Charles II's regnal year begins January 30, so if a single parliamentary session overlaps that date, it will usually be given a double label, e.g. "19 & 20 Cha. 2" (the session that sat from
6688-574: The state religion in all three of his kingdoms. When negotiations with the Scots stalled, Charles authorised Lord Montrose to land in the Orkney Islands with a small army to threaten the Scots with invasion, in the hope of forcing an agreement more to his liking. Montrose feared that Charles would accept a compromise, and so chose to invade mainland Scotland anyway. He was captured and executed. Charles reluctantly promised that he would abide by
6840-528: The "Country Party", who were soon to be called the Whigs , supported it. While the matter of James's exclusion was not decided in Parliament during Charles's reign, it would come to a head only three years after James took the throne, when he was deposed in the Glorious Revolution of 1688. Finally, the Act of Settlement 1701 decided definitively that Roman Catholics were to be excluded from
6992-470: The "Court Party" (supporters of the king's council, ancestral to the Tories ). The new self-assurance of Commons was felt in a quarrel that erupted during the 9th Session in 1670 between Lords and Commons, where Commons assailed the Lords' assumption that they had the right to amend their revenue bills. Finding their handlers could no longer control Commons, and that the goodwill that had attended Charles II at
7144-473: The "Pensionary Parliament"). After these calamitous sessions, Charles II prorogued parliament in November 1675 and kept it out of session for the next fifteen months (the "Long Prorogation"). When parliament resumed in February 1677, it opened with a bang. Shaftesbury (joined by Buckingham, Salisbury and Wharton), proclaimed the session illegitimate, claiming that the "Long Prorogation" implied that parliament
7296-576: The "villainy" and "hypocrisy" of the Covenanters. Charles was provided with a Scottish court, and the record of his food and household expenses at Falkland Palace and Perth survives. Charles's alliance with the Scots led to the Anglo-Scottish War of 1650 to 1652. On 3 September 1650, the Covenanters were defeated at Dunbar by a much smaller force commanded by Oliver Cromwell . The Scots were divided between moderate Engagers and
7448-408: The 1677 debate. Parliament immediately impeached Danby, forcing Charles II to prorogue the session in December, 1678. In the recess, Charles II entered into negotiations with Shaftesbury and other parliamentary leaders. In return for saving Danby from trial in the House of Lords, Charles II reluctantly agreed to their demands to finally dissolve parliament and call for new elections. The dissolution
7600-417: The 1682 municipal elections, and in 1683 the London charter was forfeited. In retrospect, the use of the judicial system by Charles (and later his brother and heir James) as a tool against opposition, helped establish the idea of separation of powers between the judiciary and the Crown in Whig thought. Charles suffered a sudden apoplectic fit on the morning of 2 February 1685, and died four days later at
7752-420: The 19th to the 20th year of Charles II's reign). If there are two sessions within the same regnal year, they are differentiated by a "Statute" suffix (e.g. 13 Cha. 2. St. 1 is a different session than 13 Cha. 2. St. 2 ). Finally, some sessions were prorogued without passing an act, and thus have no legal statute label at all. The legal titles of parliamentary sessions of the Cavalier parliament are as given in
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#17327649946687904-402: The Cabal rarely acted in concert, and the court was often divided between two factions led by Arlington and Buckingham, with Arlington the more successful. In 1668, England allied itself with Sweden, and with its former enemy the Netherlands, to oppose Louis XIV in the War of Devolution . Louis made peace with the Triple Alliance , but he continued to maintain his aggressive intentions towards
8056-437: The Catholic Mass as "superstitious and idolatrous". Clifford, who had converted to Catholicism, resigned rather than take the oath, and died shortly after, possibly from suicide. By 1674, England had gained nothing from the Anglo-Dutch War, and the Cavalier Parliament refused to provide further funds, forcing Charles to make peace. The power of the Cabal waned, and that of Clifford's replacement Lord Danby grew. Queen Catherine
8208-488: The Cavalier parliament confirmed and reinforced the Navigation Act passed by the prior parliament in 1660, with the new Staple Act in 1663, requiring foreigners trading with the American colonies to transship their goods through English ports. Old corn laws were adjusted to the advantage of English farmers: the old restrictions on the exportation of wheat was gradually relaxed, exportation becoming fully free in 1670 and even subsidized with bounties after 1673. Conversely,
8360-405: The Commons thought too mild—the impeachment became stalled between the two Houses. As he had been required to do so many times during his reign, Charles bowed to the wishes of his opponents, committing Danby to the Tower of London , in which he was held for another five years. In Charles's early childhood, William Cavendish, Earl of Newcastle , was governor of the royal household and Brian Duppa,
8512-426: The Crown on the Protestant Duke of Monmouth , the eldest of Charles's illegitimate children. The Abhorrers —those who thought the Exclusion Bill was abhorrent—were named Tories (after a term for dispossessed Irish Catholic bandits), while the Petitioners —those who supported a petitioning campaign in favour of the Exclusion Bill—were called Whigs (after a term for rebellious Scottish Presbyterians). Fearing that
8664-479: The Duke of York's secretary, Edward Colman , was named by Titus Oates as a conspirator to subvert the kingdom. Members of the Anglican English establishment could see that, in France, a Roman Catholic king was ruling in an absolutist way, and a movement gathered strength to avoid such a form of monarchy from developing in England, as many feared it would if James were to succeed his brother Charles , who had no legitimate children. Sir Henry Capel summarised
8816-403: The Elizabethan Poor Laws with the Act of Settlement and Removal (1662), legally restricting the poor to seeking assistance in their own home parish. Other significant and curious pieces of early legislation include the first licensing of hackney carriages (1662), an act against "excessive gaming" (1663) and a famous 1663 act authorizing the erection of toll gates on the Great North Road ,
8968-447: The English Parliament in 1681 and ruled alone until his death in 1685. Following his restoration, Charles became known for his affability and friendliness, and for allowing his subjects easy access to his person. However, he also showed an almost impenetrable reserve, especially concerning his political agendas. His court gained a reputation for moral laxity. Charles's marriage to Catherine of Braganza produced no surviving children, but
9120-414: The English cloth industry, it outlawed the exportation of raw materials, such as wool , raw hides and fuller's clay (1662) and forbade the importation of finished materials like lace and embroidery (1662). It repealed old domestic restrictions on linen manufacturing (1663). To encourage the development of the American colonies as raw-material producers and consumers of English manufactured goods,
9272-474: The English court, was astonished by the extent of the king's knowledge. The king freely indulged in his many interests, including astronomy, which had been stimulated by a visit to Gresham College , in October 1660, to see the telescopes made by the astronomer Sir Paul Neile . Charles was so impressed by what he saw that he ordered his own 36' telescope which he had installed in the Privy Garden at Whitehall . He would invite his friends and acquaintances to view
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#17327649946689424-510: The English, Scottish, and Irish thrones, later the British throne. In 1673, when the Duke of York refused to take the oath prescribed by the new Test Act , it became publicly known that he was a Roman Catholic. In the five years that followed, growing concern regarding the shift towards the king and court's pro-French stance and perceived emulation of its Catholicism and arbitrary ('absolute') behaviour, led to growing opposition amongst some politicians and peers in Parliament. Between 1675 and 1678,
9576-429: The Exclusion Bill angered some Protestants. Protestant conspirators formulated the Rye House Plot , a plan to murder him and the Duke of York as they returned to London after horse races in Newmarket . A great fire, however, destroyed Charles's lodgings at Newmarket, which forced him to leave the races early, thus inadvertently avoiding the planned attack. News of the failed plot was leaked. Protestant politicians such as
9728-416: The Exclusion Bill would be passed, and bolstered by some acquittals in the continuing Plot trials, which seemed to him to indicate a more favourable public mood towards Catholicism, Charles dissolved the English Parliament, for a second time that year, in mid-1679. Charles's hopes for a more moderate Parliament were not fulfilled; within a few months he had dissolved Parliament yet again, after it sought to pass
9880-478: The Exclusion Bill. When a new Parliament assembled at Oxford in March 1681, Charles dissolved it for a fourth time after just a few days. During the 1680s, however, popular support for the Exclusion Bill ebbed, and Charles experienced a nationwide surge of loyalty. Lord Shaftesbury was prosecuted (albeit unsuccessfully) for treason in 1681 and later fled to Holland, where he died. For the remainder of his reign, Charles ruled without Parliament. Charles's opposition to
10032-412: The Governor of Scotland, was concerned that the nation would descend into anarchy. Monck and his army marched into the City of London , and forced the Rump Parliament to re-admit members of the Long Parliament who had been excluded in December 1648, during Pride's Purge . Parliament dissolved itself, and there was a general election for the first time in almost 20 years. The outgoing Parliament defined
10184-508: The House of Commons failed to view him as a reluctant participant in the scandal, instead believing that he was the author of the policy. To save Danby from the impeachment trial, Charles dissolved the Cavalier Parliament in January 1679. The new English Parliament, which met in March of the same year, was quite hostile to Charles. Many members feared that he had intended to use the standing army to suppress dissent or impose Catholicism. However, with insufficient funds voted by Parliament, Charles
10336-454: The Indies. Earlier in 1668 he leased the islands of Bombay to the company for a nominal sum of £10 paid in gold. The Portuguese territories that Catherine brought with her as a dowry proved too expensive to maintain; Tangier was abandoned in 1684. In 1670, Charles granted control of the entire Hudson Bay drainage basin to the Hudson's Bay Company by royal charter, and named the territory Rupert's Land , after his cousin Prince Rupert of
10488-496: The King would try to move against them through the courts. But the act far outlived the specific crisis, having long-term implications for the British legal system (and later, the American one). Robert Neill 's 1972 historical novel The Golden Days depicts the Exclusion Crisis as experienced by two Members of Parliament representing a rural constituency. Sir Harry Burnaby is a staunch Royalist who had been knighted for having helped Charles II's Restoration; his neighbour and fellow MP
10640-422: The Lord Treasurer on the charges that he had "encroached to himself regal power through his conduct of foreign affairs, that he had endeavored to introduce arbitrary power by raising an army on pretense of a war, and that he was 'popishly affected' and had concealed the plot." Over the following months Danby tried to retain his position, even getting Charles to save him from a trial in the House of Lords by dissolving
10792-426: The Mathematical School at Christ's Hospital in 1673 and, two years later, following concerns over French advances in astronomy, he founded the Royal Observatory at Greenwich. He maintained an interest in chemistry and regularly visited his private laboratory. There, dissections were occasionally carried out, and observed by the king. Pepys noted in his diary that on the morning of Friday, 15 January 1669, while he
10944-440: The Netherlands. In 1670, Charles, seeking to solve his financial troubles, agreed to the Treaty of Dover , under which Louis would pay him £160,000 each year. In exchange, Charles agreed to supply Louis with troops and to announce his conversion to Catholicism "as soon as the welfare of his kingdom will permit". Louis was to provide him with 6,000 troops to suppress those who opposed the conversion. Charles endeavoured to ensure that
11096-535: The Netherlands. Royalist supporters in the Spanish force were led by Charles's younger brother James, Duke of York . At the Battle of the Dunes in 1658, as part of the larger Spanish force, Charles's army of around 2,000 clashed with Commonwealth troops fighting with the French. By the end of the battle Charles's force was about 1,000 and with Dunkirk given to the English the prospect of a Royalist expedition to England
11248-481: The Parliament of England The Cavalier Parliament of England lasted from 8 May 1661 until 24 January 1679. It was the longest English Parliament , and longer than any Great British or UK Parliament to date, enduring for nearly 18 years of the quarter-century reign of Charles II of England . Like its predecessor, the Convention Parliament , it was overwhelmingly Royalist and is also known as
11400-603: The Parliamentarian fleet defected, it did not reach Scotland in time to join up with the Royalist Engager army led by the Duke of Hamilton before it was defeated at Preston by the New Model Army . At The Hague, Charles had a brief affair with Lucy Walter , who later falsely claimed that they had secretly married. Her son, James Crofts (afterwards Duke of Monmouth and Duke of Buccleuch ),
11552-470: The Pope, requiring royal family members to get parliamentary consent on marriage and how to raise their children. Finally when Shaftesbury's clique begin considering bringing James of York on charges of high treason , Charles II quickly prorogued the session, preventing the session's act from being passed. The next year's sessions of 1675 went little better: Shaftesbury led an attempt to impeach Danby, following
11704-638: The Restoration was wearing thin, the Cabal recommended doing without them, and persuaded Charles II to keep parliament out of session with repeated prorogations. The Third Anglo-Dutch war (begun in April 1672), however, soon forced Charles II's hand. While parliament was prorogued, the Cabal had unwisely engineered the " Great Stop of the Exchequer " in January 1672, redirecting the revenues designated for
11856-587: The Rhine , the company's first governor. Although previously favourable to the Crown, the Cavalier Parliament was alienated by the king's wars and religious policies during the 1670s. In 1672, Charles issued the Royal Declaration of Indulgence , in which he purported to suspend all penal laws against Catholics and other religious dissenters. In the same year, he openly supported Catholic France and started
12008-497: The Tories. The nature of politics in this period is illustrated by the fact that Shaftesbury, who opposed James due to his similarities to the absolutist Catholic French regime, was supported financially by Louis XIV of France , who saw benefit in deepening English internal divisions. The Popish Plot was used by the Whigs to mobilise support, but moderates grew increasingly concerned by the hysteria that it generated, including causing
12160-579: The Treaty—especially the conversion clause—remained secret. It remains unclear if Charles ever seriously intended to convert. Meanwhile, by a series of five charters, Charles granted the East India Company the rights to autonomous government of its territorial acquisitions, to mint money, to command fortresses and troops, to form alliances, to make war and peace, and to exercise both civil and criminal jurisdiction over its possessions in
12312-503: The Whigs of their main source of political support, i.e., government patronage; the failed 1683 Rye House Plot then completed their isolation. One long-lasting result of the crisis was the codification of the writ of Habeas Corpus : the one concrete achievement of the short-lived Habeas Corpus Parliament of 1679 before it was dissolved. In passing this act, the Whig leaders were concerned for their own persons, apprehensive (correctly) that
12464-488: The adherence of talented MPs like William Russell , William Cavendish , Henry Powle , Thomas Littleton and John Birch and coordinated their actions in Commons closely with Shaftesbury's Lords. Through the brief 12th session of early 1674, Shaftesbury and his friends, flexing their new muscles, steered a slew of provocative bills in the House of Lords, e.g. expelling Catholics from London, forcing an oath that renounced
12616-543: The blame on Charles II's chief minister Edward Hyde (Earl of Clarendon) and the king's brother and lord admiral, James, Duke of York . Parliament, echoing public belief, accused that the money voted for the war had been embezzled by court officers. Under pressure, Charles consented to setting up an independent commission for inquiry, but the verdict was inconclusive. Nonetheless, parliament decided to launch impeachment proceedings against Clarendon. Before these bore fruit, Clarendon went into exile. Clarendon's departure opened
12768-550: The case for that being a cause of his death is unproven. In the days between his collapse and his death, Charles endured a variety of torturous treatments, including bloodletting , purging and cupping , in the hope of effecting a recovery, which may have exacerbated his uraemia through dehydration, rather than helping to alleviate it. On his deathbed, Charles asked his brother, James, to look after his mistresses: "be well to Portsmouth , and let not poor Nelly starve". He told his courtiers, "I am sorry, gentlemen, for being such
12920-443: The city in September 1666, parliament set up a court to settle disputes between landlords and tenants of burned buildings ( Fire of London Disputes Act 1666 ), and passed a series of acts setting down regulations for rebuilding of the city ( Rebuilding of London Act 1666 ). Mercantilist agitation had prompted parliament to support the Second Anglo-Dutch War in 1665. But when the war turned out poorly in 1667, parliament decided to lay
13072-546: The cleric John Earle , well known for his satirical book Microcosmographie , with whom he studied Latin and Greek, and Thomas Hobbes , the philosopher and author of Leviathan , with whom he studied mathematics. In France, Charles assisted his childhood friend, the Earl of Buckingham , with his experiments in chemistry and alchemy , with the Earl convinced he was close to producing the philosopher's stone . Although some of Charles's studies, while abroad, may have helped to pass
13224-747: The climax of the English Civil War , the Parliament of Scotland proclaimed Charles II king on 5 February 1649. However, England entered the period known as the English Interregnum or the English Commonwealth , with a republican government eventually led by Oliver Cromwell . Cromwell defeated Charles II at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651, and Charles fled to mainland Europe . Cromwell became Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland. Charles spent
13376-455: The controversial war. In February, Charles II took the unprecedented step of communicating the terms of the Treaty to Westminster to parliament before it was signed. With the fall of the Cabal (only Lauderdale lingered on in Scotland), Charles II turned to Thomas Osborne (Earl of Danby) as his chief minister. The House of Commons, which had played a significant role in the events of 1673,
13528-500: The crown achieved the opposite, while bringing the ire of the parliament down upon him. In late 1677, Danby persuaded Charles to raise an army to threaten the French into paying them off to avoid an English incursion into the Franco-Dutch War . However, when news of the French victory against the Dutch at Ghent reached the Commons in February 1678, a motion was passed to address the King for an immediate war with France, despite
13680-426: The crown allocate as it saw fit), became secretary to the Treasury, and helped overhaul crown finances, finally putting them on a steady course. Nonetheless, parliament was shocked when, in 1668, the Cabal announced the " Triple Alliance ", which brought England into alliance with her recent enemy, the Dutch Republic . Although a league of northern Protestant powers had some appeal, mercantilist sentiment in parliament
13832-541: The defeat of Danby's proposed legislation to reinforce the Test Act with a new oath forswearing any attempt to "modify" the Church and State. The impeachment effort came to naught, but Danby responded to the opposition's new muscle with a strenuous effort to construct a "Court Party" in the House of Commons to counter the Country Party (Danby's generous bribes to MPs caused the Cavalier Parliament to also be known as
13984-451: The efforts of the Society members "to weigh air". He seemed unable to grasp the significance of the basic laws of physics being established at that time, including Boyle's Law and Hooke's Law and the concept of atmospheric pressure and the barometer and the importance of air for the support of life. Although Charles lost interest in the activities of the society, he continued to support scientific and commercial endeavours. He founded
14136-474: The electoral qualifications intending to bring about the return of a Presbyterian majority. The restrictions against royalist candidates and voters were widely ignored, and the elections resulted in a House of Commons that was fairly evenly divided on political grounds between Royalists and Parliamentarians and on religious grounds between Anglicans and Presbyterians. The so-called Convention Parliament assembled on 25 April 1660, and soon afterwards welcomed
14288-496: The execution of 22 'conspirators' and accusing the Queen of conspiring to poison her husband. Many of Shaftesbury's supporters, such as the Earl of Huntingdon , now switched sides and after two failed attempts to pass the Bill, Charles succeeded in labelling the Whigs as subversives. Louis now switched financial support to Charles, allowing him to dissolve the 1681 Oxford Parliament . It was not called again during his reign, depriving
14440-476: The fact that parliament had granted no supply and had stopped the lucrative trade across the Channel. All too aware that the King lacked sufficient funds, Danby was forced into accepting a secret French proposal to give Charles money in return for an alliance. The letters confirming the secret proposal acceptance were later captured by other MPs who, upon revelation to parliament in late summer 1678, voted to impeach
14592-630: The final treaty. This humiliating conclusion to the king's war policy dragged the political reputation of the King and Danby to a low point, making them vulnerable when the Popish Plot erupted in August and September 1678. When the 17th session opened that October, parliament was in a tremendously combative mood. Worked up by the Popish plot, they strengthened the Test Act with the Papists' Disabling Act excluding Catholics from both houses of parliament and
14744-549: The firefighting effort. The public blamed Catholic conspirators for the fire. Since 1640, Portugal had been fighting a war against Spain to restore its independence after a dynastic union of sixty years between the crowns of Spain and Portugal. Portugal had been helped by France, but in the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659 Portugal was abandoned by its French ally. Negotiations with Portugal for Charles's marriage to Catherine of Braganza began during his father's reign and upon
14896-485: The first Test Act in May 1673, requiring all office-holders to deny Catholic transubstantiation and take Anglican communion . Following the Test Act, the members of the Cabal gradually resigned or were dismissed. Rather than submit to the Test, Clifford and, more significantly the king's own brother and heir apparent, James Duke of York, resigned their offices. James's refusal caught the public by surprise – and signalled
15048-467: The full blessing of both fathers. Charles II of England Charles II (29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685) was King of Scotland from 1649 until 1651 and King of England , Scotland, and Ireland from the 1660 Restoration of the monarchy until his death in 1685. Charles II was the eldest surviving child of Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland and Henrietta Maria of France . After Charles I's execution at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at
15200-480: The general feeling of the country when he said in a parliamentary debate in the House of Commons of England on 27 April 1679: From popery came the notion of a standing army and arbitrary power... Formerly the crown of Spain, and now France, supports this root of popery amongst us; but lay popery flat, and there's an end of arbitrary government and power. It is a mere chimera, or notion, without popery. The impeachment of Thomas Osborne, Earl of Danby , for use as
15352-400: The government of £1.2 million, generated largely from customs and excise duties. The grant, however, proved to be insufficient for most of Charles's reign. For the most part, the actual revenue was much lower, which led to attempts to economise at court by reducing the size and expenses of the royal household and raising money through unpopular innovations such as the hearth tax . In
15504-477: The hated Dutch, now swung firmly against it. Facing the Anglo-French onslaught, the Dutch republic had delivered itself into the hands of the charismatic young stadtholder William III of Orange , Charles's own nephew. English public opinion (encouraged by Dutch propaganda) embraced the image of the heroic young Protestant prince valiantly defying an "international Catholic conspiracy" (uncomfortably close to
15656-554: The heavens through his new telescope and, in May 1661, Evelyn describes his visit to the Garden, with several other scientists, to view Saturn's rings . Charles also had a laboratory installed, in Whitehall, within easy access to his bedroom. From the beginning of his reign, Charles appointed experts to assist him in his scientific pursuits. These included: Timothy Clarke , a celebrated anatomist, who performed some dissections for
15808-400: The importation of wheat was restricted, with the first prohibitive tariffs on the importation of grains introduced in 1663 in a two-tier system, adjusted (1670) into a three-tier system based on current price. The importation of Irish cattle into Britain was forbidden (1666), giving English beef producers a protected home market (in trade, Scotland was already excluded altogether, treated as
15960-525: The introduction of the controversial hearth tax (1662), with its unpopular and intrusive method of assessment (tax collectors had to go inside everyone's private homes to count hearths ). Another problem also emerged at this time: the sudden rise in the number of paupers , which had catapulted with the demobilization of the army. It was feared they would migrate en masse to the better-off parishes and swamp their social assistance programs. So, in another controversial piece of legislation, parliament changed
16112-423: The king acknowledged at least 12 illegitimate children by various mistresses. He was succeeded by his brother James. Charles was born at St James's Palace on 29 May 1630, eldest surviving son of Charles I , king of England , Scotland and Ireland , and his wife Henrietta Maria , sister of Louis XIII of France . Charles was their second child (the first being a son born about a year before, who had died within
16264-614: The king was so high that he was given access to the royal laboratory to perform his own experiments there. Charles never attended a Society meeting, but he remained aware of the activities there from his discussions with Society members, especially Moray. In addition, Robert Boyle gave him a private viewing of the Boyle/Hooke air-pump , which was used at many of the Wednesday meetings. However, Charles preferred experiments that had an immediate practical outcome and he laughed at
16416-634: The king's Catholic brother, James, acquired greater influence at court. Titus Oates was convicted and imprisoned for defamation. Thus through the last years of Charles's reign, his approach towards his opponents changed, and he was compared by Whigs to the contemporary Louis XIV of France, with his form of government in those years termed "slavery". Many of them were prosecuted and their estates seized, with Charles replacing judges and sheriffs at will and packing juries to achieve conviction. To destroy opposition in London, Charles first disenfranchised many Whigs in
16568-607: The king's chief physician, Harvey accompanied Charles I to the Battle of Edgehill and, although some details are uncertain, he had charge of Prince Charles and the Duke of York in the morning, but the two boys were back with the king for the start of battle. Later in the afternoon, with their father concerned for their safety, the two princes left the battlefield accompanied by Sir W. Howard and his pensioners. During his exile, in France, Charles continued his education, including physics, chemistry and mathematics. His tutors included
16720-556: The king's court (James exempted). Parliament also demanded to know why the king had misapplied the June funds and was still maintaining the expeditionary force in Flanders. The session was finally wrecked when details emerged that, on Charles II's instructions, Danby had entered into secret negotiations with Louis XIV in early 1676, promising England would not re-enter the war on the Dutch side, negotiations which had not been revealed during
16872-469: The king's household. Evelyn visited his laboratory with the king. In addition to his many other interests, the king was fascinated by clock mechanisms and had clocks distributed all around Whitehall, including seven of them in his bedroom. Robert Bruce (later Earl of Ailesbury), a Gentleman of the Bedchamber, complained that the continual noise of the clocks chiming disturbed his sleep, whenever it
17024-464: The king; Robert Morison as his chief botanist (Charles had his own botanical garden); Edmund Dickinson , a chemist and alchemist, who was tasked with carrying out experiments in the king's laboratory; Sir Thomas Williams , who was skillful in compounding and inventing medicines, some of which were prepared in the royal presence; and Nicasius le Febure (or Nicolas LeFevre), who was invited to England as royal professor of chemistry and apothecary to
17176-460: The latter half of 1660, Charles's joy at the Restoration was tempered by the deaths of his siblings Henry and Mary of smallpox . At around the same time, Anne Hyde , the daughter of Lord Chancellor Edward Hyde , revealed that she was pregnant by Charles's brother James, whom she had secretly married. Edward Hyde, who had not known of either the marriage or the pregnancy, was created Earl of Clarendon and his position as Charles's favourite minister
17328-465: The long prorogation was probably unconstitutional, but that the session itself was not. The session of 1677 had been called by Charles II to finance England's re-entry into the Franco-Dutch war , which had been dragging on since England left in 1674, and hopefully get himself a seat at the peace table. Parliament was inclined, provided the king joined the Dutch side. To this end, Danby negotiated
17480-639: The marriage of James of York's eldest daughter Mary to the Dutch Stadtholder William III of Orange in November 1677. But parliament was unwilling to provide enough funds to raise an army. The memoirs of the French ambassador Paul Barillon d'Amoncourt reveal extensive French communication (and bribery) of the MPs to delay supply – even Country Party leaders like Henry Powle , William Harbord and Thomas Littleton were paid. This has led some historians to speculate that parliament's war-call
17632-693: The more radical Kirk Party , who even fought each other. Disillusioned by these divisions, Charles rode north to join an Engager force in October, an event which became known as "the Start", but within two days members of the Kirk Party had recovered him. Nevertheless, the Scots remained Charles's best hope of restoration, and he was crowned King of Scotland at Scone Abbey on 1 January 1651. With Cromwell's forces threatening Charles's position in Scotland, it
17784-547: The next nine years in exile in France, the Dutch Republic and the Spanish Netherlands . A political crisis after Cromwell's death in 1658 resulted in the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, and Charles was invited to return to Britain. On 29 May 1660, his 30th birthday, he was received in London to public acclaim. After 1660, all legal documents stating a regnal year did so as if he had succeeded his father as king in 1649. Charles's English Parliament enacted
17936-587: The next two years based in the Royalist capital of Oxford . In January 1645, Charles was given his own Council and made titular head of Royalist forces in the West Country . By spring 1646, most of the region had been occupied by Parliamentarian forces and Charles went into exile to avoid capture. From Falmouth , he went first to the Isles of Scilly , then to Jersey , and finally to France, where his mother
18088-409: The paying of government debt towards financing a new fleet for the upcoming war. The default prompted the goldsmith bankers of London to cease all further credit to the crown, forcing Charles II to finally call parliament again in early 1673 for its 10th Session to plead for funds. By this time, the war was not going very well, and English public sentiment, which had originally been itching for revenge on
18240-484: The possessor of several other associated titles. At or around his eighth birthday, he was designated Prince of Wales , though he was never formally invested. In August 1642, the long-running dispute between Charles I and Parliament culminated in the outbreak of the First English Civil War . In October, Prince Charles and his younger brother James were present at the Battle of Edgehill and spent
18392-488: The prelude to a series of acts to help finance road-building for highways. In 1664, the Cavalier parliament amended the old Triennial Act so that it was now only suggested (rather than required) that the king summon a parliamentary session at least once every three years. In 1665, parliament met in Oxford to escape the Great Plague of London . The next year, in the aftermath of the Great Fire of London which ravaged
18544-484: The prospect that Charles II might be succeeded by a Catholic king. Through the late Summer of 1673, apprehension about James's Catholicism was the talk of the day. When the next session opened in October 1673, Ashley (now Earl of Shaftesbury), sensing the new mood, turned up at the House of Lords to loudly denounce the proposed marriage of James of York to the Catholic princess Mary of Modena . The king angrily prorogued
18696-401: The recess in 1672 suspending penal laws on Dissenters and Catholics . Parliament's opposition to this was not merely a spasm of religious intolerance. The Declaration effectively suspended an act of Parliament, and the MPs were eager to emphasize the constitutional point that an act which was passed in session could only be modified, suspended or repealed in session. They also saw religion as
18848-475: The remainder of Charles's reign. The Acts became known as the Clarendon Code , after Lord Clarendon, even though he was not directly responsible for them and even spoke against the Five Mile Act. The Restoration was accompanied by social change. Puritanism lost its momentum. Theatres reopened after having been closed during the protectorship of Oliver Cromwell, and bawdy " Restoration comedy " became
19000-699: The restoration, Queen Luísa of Portugal , acting as regent, reopened negotiations with England that resulted in an alliance. On 23 June 1661, a marriage treaty was signed; England acquired Catherine's dowry of the port of Tangier in North Africa, the Seven Islands of Bombay in India (which had a major influence on the development of the British Empire ), valuable trading privileges in Brazil and
19152-454: The session and dismissed Shaftesbury. Around that same time, Arlington and Buckingham fell into a quarrel, in the process of which the details of the secret Treaty of Dover were leaked to parliament, provoking an alarmed parliamentary inquiry. Arlington and Buckingham sheepishly appeared before the inquiry in January 1674, accusing each other of crafting the French alliance. His foreign policy in shambles, Charles II decided to pull England out of
19304-464: The speakership until 1671 (end of 9th Session), after which he was appointed the new Chief Baron of the Exchequer . At the opening of the 10th Session (February 1673), Job Charlton (MP Ludlow) was elected as the new speaker, but resigned after a month on account of ill-health. Sir Edward Seymour (MP for Totnes and Treasurer of the Navy ) replaced him, and served as Speaker until the 1678 session, when
19456-601: The speakership went to the Sir Robert Sawyer (MP for High Wycombe). But Sawyer resigned within weeks, also on account of health, and Seymour stepped in again as speaker until the end of the Cavalier parliament. At the 1660 Restoration , the Commonwealth era was obliterated from the legal record, with the result that Charles II's regnal years officially begin on January 30, 1649 (the death date of Charles I). The Cavalier parliament thus officially begins on
19608-556: The terms of a treaty agreed between him and the Scots Parliament at Breda , and support the Solemn League and Covenant , which authorised Presbyterian church governance across Britain. Upon his arrival in Scotland on 23 June 1650, he formally agreed to the Covenant; his abandonment of Episcopal church governance, although winning him support in Scotland, left him unpopular in England. Charles himself soon came to despise
19760-474: The thirteenth year of Charles II's reign. The Cavalier parliament went through seventeen sessions, although some sessions were broken up by adjournments and recesses (an "adjournment" only interrupts a session; a " prorogation " ends a session, a "dissolution" ends a parliament). By English tradition, a parliamentary session passes only one public "statute", albeit an act with various "chapters". English legal statutes are cited by parliamentary session labeled by
19912-506: The time, on his return to England he was already knowledgeable in the mathematics of navigation and was a competent chemist. Such was his knowledge of naval architecture that he was able to participate in technical discussions on the subject with Samuel Pepys , William Petty and John Evelyn . The new concepts and discoveries being found at this time fascinated Charles, not only in science and medicine, but in topics such as botany and gardening. A French traveller, Sorbier, while visiting
20064-405: The truth, given the secret Treaty of Dover). The Cabal defended the war vigorously – Ashley making his famous " Delenda est Carthago " speech before the House of Lords, comparing England to Rome and Holland to Carthage (an unusual classical reference for this audience). But Commons wanted to address a different item of business—the Declaration of Indulgence that had been issued by Charles II during
20216-537: The two most prominent compilations of statutes – the popular Statutes at Large (ed. Owen Ruffhead, 1762–65 or Danby Pickering 1762–66) and the official The Statutes of the Realm (ed. John Raithby, 1819). We note where the title differs between the two compilations. The session dates are sometimes incorrect in the rolls. This table largely follows the dating in Cobbett's Parliamentary History . ( N.B. - In
20368-441: The way for the rise of a new crop of young ministers, known as "the Cabal ", a loose ministerial coalition consisting of Clifford , Arlington , Buckingham , Ashley , Lauderdale . The beginnings of what is now called a cabinet system began to emerge within the government. Sir George Downing , who had long stressed parliamentary prerogative in tying expenditures to specific sources (rather than just voting for supply and letting
20520-468: The winter, and Charles returned to London in February 1666. After a long spell of hot and dry weather through mid-1666, the Great Fire of London started on 2 September 1666 in Pudding Lane . Fanned by strong winds and fed by wood and fuel stockpiled for winter, the fire destroyed about 13,200 houses and 87 churches, including St Paul's Cathedral . Charles and his brother James joined and directed
20672-437: Was a bluff from the start, that they were more interested in denying the king a foreign policy victory and embarrassing Danby. Nonetheless, Charles II hurried things along in late 1677 by precipitously signing a treaty with William III to re-enter the war, and presenting it to parliament as a fait accompli. The reluctant parliament was forced to cough up enough funds to dispatch an expeditionary force of around 15,000 troops under
20824-544: Was a reward of £1,000 on his head, anyone caught helping him was at risk of being put to death, and he was difficult to disguise, being over 6 ft (1.8 m), which was unusually tall for the time. Under the Instrument of Government passed by Parliament, Cromwell was appointed Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland in 1653, effectively placing the British Isles under military rule. Charles lived
20976-555: Was already living under the protection of his first cousin, the eight-year-old Louis XIV . Charles I surrendered into captivity in May 1646. During the Second English Civil War in 1648, Charles moved to The Hague , where his sister Mary and his brother-in-law William II, Prince of Orange , seemed more likely to provide substantial aid to the Royalist cause than his mother's French relations. Although part of
21128-637: Was announced on 24 January 1679, bringing the seemingly interminable Cavalier Parliament to its end. After the elections, the new parliament – known as the Habeas Corpus Parliament (or "First Exclusion Parliament") – was assembled in March, 1679. In the first decade, the Speaker of the House of Commons was Sir Edward Turnour (MP for Hertford), who was elected by the first session in 1661. Turnour become Solicitor-General in 1670 and held
21280-418: Was comparatively calmed by Danby's orthodox Anglican government and vigorous enforcement of the Test Act. But the drama now shifted to the House of Lords, where the dismissed Ashley-Shaftesbury, in alliance with the disgruntled Buckingham and George Savile (Viscount Halifax) (Coventry's nephew), emerged as leader of the opposition to the government. In the House of Commons, the Country Party gained strength with
21432-488: Was dashed. After the death of Oliver Cromwell in 1658, Charles's initial chances of regaining the Crown seemed slim; Cromwell was succeeded as Lord Protector by his son Richard . However, the new Lord Protector had little experience of either military or civil administration. In 1659, the Rump Parliament was recalled and Richard Cromwell resigned. During the civil and military unrest that followed, George Monck ,
21584-556: Was decided to mount an attack on England, but many of their most experienced soldiers had been excluded on religious grounds by the Kirk Party, whose leaders also refused to participate, among them Lord Argyll . Opposition to what was primarily a Scottish army meant few English Royalists joined as it moved south, and the invasion ended in defeat at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651. Charles managed to escape and landed in Normandy six weeks later on 16 October, even though there
21736-459: Was effectively dissolved and that the king must call for new elections. This prospect alarmed the House of Commons, whose members (unlike Lords) risked losing their seats. The leaders of the Country Party in Commons believed their party would be strengthened by new elections, but were unable to persuade other members to follow suit. While the combative lords were sent to the Tower of London for their challenge, Commons were only willing to agree that
21888-427: Was forced to gradually disband his troops. Having lost the support of Parliament, Danby resigned his post of Lord High Treasurer , but received a pardon from the king. In defiance of the royal will, the House of Commons declared that the dissolution of Parliament did not interrupt impeachment proceedings, and that the pardon was therefore invalid. When the House of Lords attempted to impose the punishment of exile—which
22040-413: Was impeached by the House of Commons on the charge of high treason . Although much of the nation had sought war with Catholic France, Charles had secretly negotiated with Louis XIV, trying to reach an agreement under which England would remain neutral in return for money. Danby had publicly professed that he was hostile to France, but had reservedly agreed to abide by Charles's wishes. Unfortunately for him,
22192-470: Was necessary for him to stay close by to the king. Also, Charles had a sundial installed in the Privy Garden, by which he could set his personal pocket watch . (For a while, the king personally recorded the performance of the latest spring-balance watch, presented to him by Robert Hooke . ) In 1662, Charles was pleased to grant a royal charter to a group of scientists and others who had established
22344-671: Was one of Charles's many illegitimate children who became prominent in British society. Despite his son's diplomatic efforts to save him, the execution of Charles I took place in January 1649, and England became a republic . On 5 February, the Covenanter Parliament of Scotland proclaimed Charles II as "King of Great Britain, France and Ireland" at the Mercat Cross, Edinburgh , but refused to allow him to enter Scotland unless he agreed to establish Presbyterianism as
22496-424: Was particularly interested in alchemy, which he had first encountered many years earlier, during his exile with the Duke of Buckingham. Charles resumed his experiments with mercury and would spend whole mornings attempting to distill it. Heating mercury in an open crucible releases mercury vapour, which is toxic and may have contributed to his later ill health. Charles faced a political storm over his brother James,
22648-489: Was still very strong, and the Netherlands was still seen as the main threat to England. Disillusioned by the lukewarm reception, Charles II re-oriented his foreign policy and struck up the notorious secret Treaty of Dover in May 1670, allying England and Louis XIV 's France, in a plan to dismember the Netherlands. Despite their comparative energy and efficiency, the Cabal were a fractious and unpopular lot and their infighting spilled over publicly into parliament, particularly
22800-573: Was strengthened. The Convention Parliament was dissolved in December 1660, and, shortly after Charles's English coronation , the second English Parliament of the reign assembled. Dubbed the Cavalier Parliament , it was overwhelmingly Royalist and Anglican. It sought to discourage non-conformity to the Church of England and passed several acts to secure Anglican dominance. The Corporation Act 1661 required municipal officeholders to swear allegiance;
22952-579: Was unable to produce an heir; her four pregnancies had ended in miscarriages and stillbirths in 1662, February 1666, May 1668, and June 1669. Charles's heir presumptive was therefore his unpopular Catholic brother, James, Duke of York. Partly to assuage public fears that the royal family was too Catholic, Charles agreed that James's daughter, Mary , should marry the Protestant William of Orange . In 1678, Titus Oates , who had been alternately an Anglican and Jesuit priest, falsely warned of
23104-422: Was walking to Whitehall, he met the king who invited him to view his chemistry laboratory. Pepys confessed to finding what he saw there beyond him. Charles developed painful gout in later life which limited the daily walks that he took regularly when younger. His keenness was now channelled to his laboratory where he would devote himself to his experiments, for hours at a time, sometimes helped by Moray. Charles
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