The Restoration: riassunto

THE RESTORATION: RIASSUNTO

The restoration period.

Historical background. Charles II landed in England in 1660. He was welcomed by the people who had never accepted the rule of army. A new parliament replaced the convention parliament. Charles would have liked religious toleration but when he called a parliament a series of acts were passed including the Test Act imposing a strict and formal Anglicanism: all those who held public office were to belong to the Anglican church; all clergyman were to be designed by an Anglican bishop or give up their parishes. About one fifth of the clergy were expelled. These acts were made by parliament against the king’s will. Parliament in fact feared Catholicism which was the imposed religion of all those countries (France and Spain) were the kings were absolute rules. Charles II was an Anglican but in his heart he was Catholicism: he would have allowed toleration for both Catholics and protestants.

The Restoration and the Augustan age: riassunto in inglese

THE RESTORATION OF THE MONARCHY

New Dutch war broke out due to trading interests. After heavy fighting at sea the English obtained new Amsterdam which they renamed new york.
The power of Luis XIV in France began to scar all Europe. England made a triple alliance with Holland and Sweden against France. But Charles II also made a secret treaty with Louis XIV. The two king secretly agreed that, if Holland were defeated they would divided its territory between France and England, and Charles would announce his conversion to Catholicism. The Dutch army led by William of orange saved Holland from destruction.
To avoid the return of a catholic king to the throne of England parliament introduced the Exclusion Bill to exclude the catholic kings from the throne and give it to one of James’s daughter, Mary, and to her husband, William of Orange. Mary and Anne Stuart were the daughters of James II and were protestant- parliament and the commons were dividend in two part: the Whigs who wished to exclude James from the throne and Tories who supported James.

Restoration period: riassunto in inglese

THE RESTORATION OF THE MONARCHY RIASSUNTO INGLESE

Parliament dissolved. This left the way to the throne open to James. In his last years Charles reigned as an absolute monarch.
But his reign was marked by two terrible event: the great plague in which about 70,000 Londoners die, and the great fire of london city.
James II was a catholic and tried to reintroduce Catholicism into England and Scotland. Rebellions broke out but they were crushed. The English hoped for better times since James’s heir was Mary, the wife of William of Orange, champions of the protestant cause in Europe. But when a son was born to James by his second catholic wife an invitation to come over to England was secretly sent to William of Orange, who landed in England and James II fled to France.
William and Mary crowned as William III and Mary II. The English called the political changes of this time the Glorious Revolution because they were peaceful and non-violent. The new monarchs were obliged to sign the bill of rights which further limited the power of the king in favour of parliament. Also passed: the Toleration Act giving freedom of worship to dissenters but not to Catholics and the Act of Settlement starting that catholic pretenders were excluded from the throne. It also started that on the death of William III, the throne would pass to Mary’s sister Anne.