Queen arthur
Charles II (1
660-85), Charles I’s son, had spent his exile in France; he was an admirer of the Sun King, Louis XIV, and he had French tastes. Therefore, when the monarchy was restored in 1660 and he came back to England, he established a court devoted to pleasure. Theatres, race-courses and taverns re-opened, and fashion and gossip replaced religious debate. The reaction to the Civil War and Puritan Commonwealth varied from the rejection of strict morality to a more rational interest in the real, present world, rather than concentrating on the life of the soul. In 1662 Charles patronised the Royal Society, which was an association of scientists and intellectuals. The motto of the Society, nullius in verba – ‘on the word of no one’ – was a direct challenge to the dependence of the old philosophy on authorities. Among its members were the physicist and chemist Robert Boyle (1627-91), the diarists John Evelyn (1620-1706) and Samuel Pepys, and the architect Sir Christopher Wren (1632-1723). As regards home policy, the landowners, both nobles and gentry, resumed their leadership of society and the newly elected Parliament, the so-called Cavalier Parliament, met in 1661. It ordered the bodies of the regicides, including Cromwell, to be exhumed and hanged. A series of acts were passed, like the Corporation Act (1661), which excluded the dissenters from public offices; the Act of Uniformity (1662), which imposed the use of the Book of Common Prayer; and the Test Act (1673), which required all public employees to conform to the Church of England.
From James II to the joint monarchs
When James II (1685-88) came to the throne in 1685, he began to place Catholics in positions of authority in the army and universities. James was a widower and his heirs were his two Protestant daughters, Mary and Anne, who were married to the rulers of Holland and Denmark respectively. James, however, then married the Catholic Mary of Modena and in 1688 he became the father of a Catholic son who took precedence over Mary as James’s successor. The two opposing parties in Parliament, the Whigs and the Tories, were alarmed because another Civil War could break out. So they began to negotiate with William of Orange, whose Protestant wife, Mary, James II’s daughter, was next in succession to the throne. In 1688 William of Orange marched across southern England while James, his wife and son fled to France. In January 1689 William and Mary became joint monarchs as William III (1689-1702) and Mary II (1689-94) at the request of Parliament. A revolution had taken place as the monarch had been chosen by Parliament, not by ‘divine right’. Because this revolution had succeeded without any fighting, it was known as the ‘Bloodless’ or ‘Glorious’ Revolution. During William and Mary’s reign, acts were passed which set the course of parliamentary rule in Britain and paved the way to constitutional monarchy. The Toleration Act (1689) introduced more religious tolerance by granting freedom of worship to dissenting Protestants but excluded Catholics and Unitarians. The Bill of Rights (1689) re-enacted freedoms that had been stated by Magna Carta and the Petition of Right , and it established that the king could levy taxes, raise an army and suspend laws only with parliamentary consent. A Triennial Act asserted that Parliament should last for three years. Meanwhile the exiled James II, supported by the Catholics in Ireland and Scotland, landed in Ireland in 1689 and tried to seize control over the English Protestants who had settled there. In 1690 William defeated him in the Battle of the Boyne. In 1694 Mary died of smallpox. Since the couple had had no children, in 1701 Parliament passed the Act of Settlement which excluded Catholics from the throne and declared that Anne, Mary’s sister, and her heirs would succeed William. Anne became queen when William died a year later.
Queen Anne’s reign
Anne (1702-14) was a popular queen, proudly English and Anglican. She made important political decisions and even attended the debates in the House of Lords. In 1707 the Act of Union was passed by which the kingdom of England and Scotland, established by James I , was replaced by the United Kingdom of Great Britain with a single Parliament in Westminster. Ireland remained a separate kingdom with its own Parliament, though subordinate to Westminster, with a Protestant government at Dublin Castle under a British-appointed Lord Lieutenant. In foreign policy, the Treaty of Utrecht was signed with France in 1713 at the end of the War of the Spanish Succession, in which England was involved against France. It required the French to recognise the Protestant succession and expel the exiled Stuarts. It gave England the French possessions in Canada and the monopoly of the slave trade with Spanish America. The British Empire was emerging. By 1714 British ships brought timber from America, sugar and tea from the West Indies as well as oriental carpets, Chinese porcelain and spices from the Far East. English traders could send their goods around the British Isles free of customs duties, which made European goods more expensive. When Queen Anne died in 1714, George I, Elector of Hanover and James I’s great-grandson, inherited two kingdoms and twelve colonies.
22The Great Plague and the Great Fire
In 1665 there was a devastating outbreak of bubonic plague and in 1666 the Great Fire of London raged for five days, destroying nine-tenths of the buildings within the City’s medieval walls. Charles II asked the architect Sir Christopher Wren to re-build the old insanitary City. Wren presented a plan for a new City with wide streets and squares, buildings and churches in the neoclassical style. St Paul’s Cathedral was his masterpiece.Charles II was able to finance his projects with the aid of France, who offered cash when the king’s relationship with Parliament was difficult. In 1670 he signed the Treaty of Dover in preparation for a joint war against Holland. This treaty also contained a secret agreement that would restore Britain to Catholicism with the military aid of France. So when Charles died in 1685, the succession of his brother James, who had converted to Catholicism, was assured
Charles II (1
660-85), Charles I’s son, had spent his exile in France; he was an admirer of the Sun King, Louis XIV, and he had French tastes. Therefore, when the monarchy was restored in 1660 and he came back to England, he established a court devoted to pleasure. Theatres, race-courses and taverns re-opened, and fashion and gossip replaced religious debate. The reaction to the Civil War and Puritan Commonwealth varied from the rejection of strict morality to a more rational interest in the real, present world, rather than concentrating on the life of the soul. In 1662 Charles patronised the Royal Society, which was an association of scientists and intellectuals. The motto of the Society, nullius in verba – ‘on the word of no one’ – was a direct challenge to the dependence of the old philosophy on authorities. Among its members were the physicist and chemist Robert Boyle (1627-91), the diarists John Evelyn (1620-1706) and Samuel Pepys, and the architect Sir Christopher Wren (1632-1723). As regards home policy, the landowners, both nobles and gentry, resumed their leadership of society and the newly elected Parliament, the so-called Cavalier Parliament, met in 1661. It ordered the bodies of the regicides, including Cromwell, to be exhumed and hanged. A series of acts were passed, like the Corporation Act (1661), which excluded the dissenters from public offices; the Act of Uniformity (1662), which imposed the use of the Book of Common Prayer; and the Test Act (1673), which required all public employees to conform to the Church of England.
From James II to the joint monarchs
When James II (1685-88) came to the throne in 1685, he began to place Catholics in positions of authority in the army and universities. James was a widower and his heirs were his two Protestant daughters, Mary and Anne, who were married to the rulers of Holland and Denmark respectively. James, however, then married the Catholic Mary of Modena and in 1688 he became the father of a Catholic son who took precedence over Mary as James’s successor. The two opposing parties in Parliament, the Whigs and the Tories, were alarmed because another Civil War could break out. So they began to negotiate with William of Orange, whose Protestant wife, Mary, James II’s daughter, was next in succession to the throne. In 1688 William of Orange marched across southern England while James, his wife and son fled to France. In January 1689 William and Mary became joint monarchs as William III (1689-1702) and Mary II (1689-94) at the request of Parliament. A revolution had taken place as the monarch had been chosen by Parliament, not by ‘divine right’. Because this revolution had succeeded without any fighting, it was known as the ‘Bloodless’ or ‘Glorious’ Revolution. During William and Mary’s reign, acts were passed which set the course of parliamentary rule in Britain and paved the way to constitutional monarchy. The Toleration Act (1689) introduced more religious tolerance by granting freedom of worship to dissenting Protestants but excluded Catholics and Unitarians. The Bill of Rights (1689) re-enacted freedoms that had been stated by Magna Carta and the Petition of Right , and it established that the king could levy taxes, raise an army and suspend laws only with parliamentary consent. A Triennial Act asserted that Parliament should last for three years. Meanwhile the exiled James II, supported by the Catholics in Ireland and Scotland, landed in Ireland in 1689 and tried to seize control over the English Protestants who had settled there. In 1690 William defeated him in the Battle of the Boyne. In 1694 Mary died of smallpox. Since the couple had had no children, in 1701 Parliament passed the Act of Settlement which excluded Catholics from the throne and declared that Anne, Mary’s sister, and her heirs would succeed William. Anne became queen when William died a year later.
Queen Anne’s reign
Anne (1702-14) was a popular queen, proudly English and Anglican. She made important political decisions and even attended the debates in the House of Lords. In 1707 the Act of Union was passed by which the kingdom of England and Scotland, established by James I , was replaced by the United Kingdom of Great Britain with a single Parliament in Westminster. Ireland remained a separate kingdom with its own Parliament, though subordinate to Westminster, with a Protestant government at Dublin Castle under a British-appointed Lord Lieutenant. In foreign policy, the Treaty of Utrecht was signed with France in 1713 at the end of the War of the Spanish Succession, in which England was involved against France. It required the French to recognise the Protestant succession and expel the exiled Stuarts. It gave England the French possessions in Canada and the monopoly of the slave trade with Spanish America. The British Empire was emerging. By 1714 British ships brought timber from America, sugar and tea from the West Indies as well as oriental carpets, Chinese porcelain and spices from the Far East. English traders could send their goods around the British Isles free of customs duties, which made European goods more expensive. When Queen Anne died in 1714, George I, Elector of Hanover and James I’s great-grandson, inherited two kingdoms and twelve colonies.
22The Great Plague and the Great Fire
In 1665 there was a devastating outbreak of bubonic plague and in 1666 the Great Fire of London raged for five days, destroying nine-tenths of the buildings within the City’s medieval walls. Charles II asked the architect Sir Christopher Wren to re-build the old insanitary City. Wren presented a plan for a new City with wide streets and squares, buildings and churches in the neoclassical style. St Paul’s Cathedral was his masterpiece.Charles II was able to finance his projects with the aid of France, who offered cash when the king’s relationship with Parliament was difficult. In 1670 he signed the Treaty of Dover in preparation for a joint war against Holland. This treaty also contained a secret agreement that would restore Britain to Catholicism with the military aid of France. So when Charles died in 1685, the succession of his brother James, who had converted to Catholicism, was assured