After Oliver Cromwell died in 1658, England's Commonwealth collapsed. Cromwell turned out to be more of a dictator than a Lord Protector. The English decided that perhaps having a king wasn't so bad after all. Parliament invited Charles I's son, Charles II, back from exile to retake the throne. In 1660, the Stuart Restoration period began.
Fig. 1 The arrival of Charles II, King of England, in Rotterdam
The English Civil War and the Stuart Restoration
The English Civil War ended in 1649 with the execution of King Charles I and the establishment of the Commonwealth of England. The Commonwealth had no king but instead tried to act as a democratic governing body. However, in 1653, Oliver Cromwell used his control over the military to force his agenda through Parliament. He was named Lord Protector of England, which lasted until he died in 1658. The Protectorate passed to Cromwell's son, who could not control the army. They revolted, removed him, and set in motion the Parliamentary conversations that would welcome Charles I's son, Charles II, back to England as king.
Restoration Terms of Approval
Charles II was in Breda, the Netherlands, when Parliament delivered their terms to approve a restoration. In response, Charles issued the Declaration of Breda on April 4, 1660, promising to:
- Pardon crimes committed during the English Civil War, including the execution of his father, Charles I.
- Grant religious toleration to groups that did not conform to the Church of England.
- Uphold land purchases made during the Commonwealth period.
- Pay the army.
- Work with Parliament to administer the realm.
Charles II's coronation took place on April 23, 1661, when he was confirmed king of England, Ireland, and Scotland.
Fig. 2 King Charles II coronation
The Stuart Restoration Timeline
The Stuart Restoration lasted from 1660 to 1688. It was a time when the Stuart family reigned as kings of England. However, after the Glorious Revolution of 1688, the Stuart monarchy was removed from power by a coup led by Dutch Prince William III and his wife, Mary, the daughter of the Stuart king James II. During both Charles II and his brother James II's reigns, much legislation passed through Parliament in an attempt to stabilize the government, especially in matters of religion, including the Clarendon Code, named after Charles II's Chancellor, Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon.
The Clarendon Code
- 1661: Corporation Act restricted government positions to Anglicans.
- 1662: Act of Uniformity reestablished the Anglican Church of England and required all clerics to be reordained as Anglican. More than 2,000 clerics refused and lost their positions.
- 1664: The Conventicle Act outlawed non-Anglican religious gatherings of more than five people.
- 1665: The Five Mile Act prohibited clerics who lost their positions in 1662 from living within 5 miles of their former parishes.
Edward Hyde, First Earl of Clarendon (1609-1674)
Clarendon was a Royalist who remained close to Charles in exile during the Commonwealth years. He was Charles' chief advisor in the first years of his reign. Early twentieth-century historians believed Clarendon was responsible for the Clarendon Code's four laws because he was Lord Chancellor from 1660 to 1667 when the laws were written. However, according to historian John Kenyon, he was not much involved and disapproved of most of their contents.
Fig. 3 Edward Hyde, First Earl of Clarendon
Event Timeline
- 1665-1667 and 1672-1674: The second and third Anglo-Dutch Wars resulted in heavy losses and a damaged English economy.
- 1668: Charles II's brother and heir, James, Duke of York, secretly converted to Catholicism. Consequentially, Charles ordered an Anglican education for James' daughters, Mary and Anne.
- 1673: After the death of his first wife in 1671, James took a second wife. He chose Mary of Modena, a Catholic Italian princess, which affirmed suspicions about his religion. Fierce Parliamentary opposition ensued.
- 1673: Parliament forced through the Test Act, which was built on the Corporation Act, requiring that all public officials take an oath denying that communion in a church service was anything but symbolic. The act explicitly targeted Catholics.
Catholics believe that the communion wafer turns into the literal blood and body of Christ when the priest blesses it during mass. This conversion process is called transubstantiation.
- 1678: The Popish Plot created chaos in England. A failed cleric named Titus Oates concocted a story about a Catholic plot to assassinate Charles II. The hysteria that followed caused the deaths of forty Catholics from all ranks of society.
- 1679-1681: The Exclusion Crisis rose out of the Popish Plot. Parliament attempted to force Charles to remove James as his heir because of his Catholicism. Charles refused and disbanded Parliament.
- 1685: Charles II died, and James II became king.
- 1688: The Glorious Revolution supplanted James II with his Anglican daughter, Mary, and her husband William, the Dutch Prince of Orange, in a constitutional monarchy.
Fig. 4 King James II
The Stuart Restoration Colonies
The Restoration in the New World meant growth and prosperity. Charles II was determined to expand England's global reach and remain competitive with other world powers such as France and Spain. So Charles added four new North American colonies to England's territory, known as the Restoration colonies:
The Carolinas (1663): Charles took control over the area between Virginia and Spanish Florida, naming it the Carolinas. The king's charter in 1663 granted the land to eight men who remained loyal to him during his exile. These men recruited farmers from Barbados to cultivate the land. The colony broke into North and South Carolina in 1729.
New York and New Jersey (1664): Charles took over the former New Netherlands from the Dutch, naming one portion New York in honor of his brother. However, James had no interest in governing the colony, so the area remained relatively independent and governed itself.
Pennsylvania (1681): Charles granted this land to the Quaker William Penn as payment for a debt he owed Penn's family. The area, named after its governor, became a Quaker stronghold and refuge. Quakers faced persecution in England and other colonies such as Massachusetts, so many immigrated to Pennsylvania.
Explanation of the Stuart Restoration: Problems
The restored King Charles II pledged to uphold religious toleration in the Declaration of Breda in 1685. However, his Parliament disagreed. As soon as the Restoration began, Parliament issued a series of laws that only protected the Anglican Church of England members. The laws shunned religious nonconformists, including Puritans and Catholics. While James II tried to grant religious toleration and abolish the Test Act, he went too far the other way and heavily favored Catholics, which angered Parliament.
Parliament and the king could not agree on who had more power to make laws and enforce them. This disagreement between the king and Parliament was not resolved until after the Glorious Revolution, granting Parliament supreme authority over the three kingdoms.
The End of the Restoration
The Restoration period ended in 1688 with the Glorious Revolution. James II was replaced by his Anglican daughter, Mary, who with her Dutch husband became Mary II and William III, joint monarchs of England.
Fig. 5 Prince of Orange Landing at Torbay
The Stuart Restoration - Key Takeaways
- Parliament invited Charles II to return to England as king in 1660, marking the beginning of the Restoration period (1660-1688).
- Despite attempts to uphold his promise of religious toleration in the Declaration of Breda (1660), Parliament issued several laws restricting the religious activities of non-Anglicans and removed them from government positions and church positions.
- Charles II refused to allow Parliament to dictate the royal succession, and his Catholic brother James II inherited the throne in 1685.
- James II and Parliament also disagreed on who had the power to create and uphold laws, particularly regarding religious toleration, resulting in his overthrow during the Glorious Revolution in 1688.
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