Restoration To Revolution 1660-88 Flashcards
(4 cards)
Describe the terms of the Restoration Settlement.
. The Convention Parliament met to be proposed with the Declaration of Breda, issued by Charles on the 4th of April 1660, with the advice of Edward Hyde and Monck.
. The declaration promised:
. Co-operation and harmony within politics.
. An amnesty for actions during the Civil Wars and the Interregnum, except for those who had signed Charles 1’s death warrant.
. The settlement of outstanding issues with Parliament.
. Arrears of pay would be provided to the army and toleration of religious sects would continue.
. On the 25th of May Charles landed at Dover to be welcomed by the people and Parliament, declaring he was in the 12th year of his reign and laying down his claim to divine right.
. In December 1660, the Convention Parliament was dissolved and new elections were held.
. After a failed fifth monarchist uprising in January 1661 in London known as Venner’s Rising, the elections displayed reignited fears of radical groups, resulting in a royalist majority and the newly elected Parliament being known the Cavalier Parliament.
. This Parliament was seeking revenge against the republicans, so aimed to introduce measures in the Restoration Settlement to relieve restrictions on the kings power.
. An example of this being the reintroduction of the Militia Act in 1661, stating that the king alone was in control of the militia and armed forces.
. The revised Triennial Act of 1664 did not provide any mechanisms to ensure that parliament met at least once every 3 years.
. Charles was also granted annual funding of £1.2 million per year through excise tax and customs duties.
. Though the king was still unable to gain funds through Feudal Tax due to the abolition of Feudal Tenures e.g - forced loans. And to restore the Ship Money Tax was unthinkable. This pleased many MPs still endeavouring in controlling the monarch through finances.
Describe the Cavalier Parliament’s religious measures.
. The Cavalier Parliament renewed religious conflicts that had undermined effective political development since 1625.
. They left the organisation of the Established Church down to a meeting of the clergy at the Savoy Palace in April 1661 in London.
. The effect of Venner’s rising was once again displayed in the results, with the High Church Party Royalists having their revenge.
. The Act of Uniformity passed in 1662 reinforced the Laudian Church and led to the expulsion of 1,800 ministers from their livings.
. The High Church Party wanted to drive non-conformists out of existence.
. Sheldon, now Archbishop of Canterbury, with his mentor being Laud, issues the Conventicle Act, which banned non conformists from meeting outside of the established Laudian Church.
. The Quaker Act forced Quakers to take the Oath of Allegiance, going against their religion. This resulted in the imprisonment of many part of the Quaker denomination.
Describe conflicts between the king and Parliament.
. The king attempted to suspend the Act of Uniformity in 1662 and provide a measure of religious toleration.
. This was an attempt to ease religious tensions with Scotland and Ireland, and create a more tolerant environment for English Catholics.
. After all, Charles’ mother was Catholic and he had spent many years in Catholic France.
. In 1665, he embarked on a second Anglo-Dutch War to aid Louis XIV in his campaign to destroy the Protestant Dutch Republic and extend French territory.
. Charles hoped that war would also free him from dependence on Parliament for finances.
. Though the war went badly for Charles, with humiliation through the Dutch destroying English ships on the Medway River.
. This was exacerbated by the Great Plague in 1665 and the Great Fire of London in 1666.
. The people blamed the king’s catholic advisors, to which Charles directed the blame onto the Earl of Clarendon, who had opposed the war, allowing for him to replace him in 1667 with a group of advisors known as the Cabal, including two Catholics.
. In 1668 Charles’ brother James announced his conversion to Catholicism.
. Charles signed the Treaty of Dover with the French in 1670, committing England to further war with the Dutch, confirming Catholic suspicions.
. However, Charles also made a Secret Treaty with the French, with the French providing him with subsidies to free his financial dependency on Parliament after his conversion to Catholicism.
. Charles’ first Declaration of Indulgence was shut down by a strongly Anglican Parliament in 1662, however due to progressive sympathy towards dissenters and rising distaste towards the Act of Uniformity, Charles was able to issue a second Declaration of Indulgence in 1672.
. However, there were significant issues with this Declaration, including how it proposed extending toleration to Catholics, and would be enforced through the King’s prerogative, allowing for the King to suspend Laws against religious toleration.
In 1672, Charles was unable to repay his debts to his creditors so had suspended repayment. This became known as the Stop of Exchequer.
. In 1673, Charles recalled Parliament to gain funding for the 3rd Anglo-Dutch War.
. In the House of Lords, the King and Bishops blocked Parliaments call for an end to Indulgence, however the King was not able to prevent Parliament from passing the Test Act, forcing office holders to deny Catholic doctrines, leading to the expulsion of Charles’ brother James as Lord Admiral.
. Charles, to make up for overstepping his powers, appointed the Anglican and Protestant Earl of Danby as Treasurer.
. Danby focused on the pursuit of a foreign policy that favoured relations with the Dutch through, in 1677, conducting the marriage of Mary, the Protestant daughter of the Duke of York (James 2) and William of Orange, leader of the United Provinces.
. However this offended a number of MPs including the Earl of Shaftesbury, who had served Charles in the Cabal and favoured toleration.
. Shaftesbury formed the Whig Party to oppose Danby and the Tories.
. The Popish Plot - an Anglican priest named Titus Oates claimed that English Jesuits (Catholics) and the French planned to kill Charles and replace him with his brother.
. After ate death of Godfrey to Jesuit and French Agents, his story gained credibility.
. This sparked the Exclusion Crisis of 1679-81, where MPs demanded the expulsion of James from succession to the throne.
. Shaftesbury and the Whigs used the Popish Plot to link Danby to corruption and bribery in Parliamentary management, funded through French Susidies. They now accused him of being linked to the Popish Plot and opposing National Interests.
. Charles attempted to save Danby from impeachment through dissolving Parliament in 1679, though new elections produced an overwhelming anti-Danby majority.
. The new Parliament forced Charles to accept a Bill excluding James from succession, out of fear that James will impose pro-Catholic policies in England.
. They associated James with Louis XIV, who had established absolute monarchy in France and used his power to persecute French Protestants.
. This blatant attack on hereditary divine right monarch angered Charles, who dissolved Parliament in 1679 to prevent the first Exclusion Bill from being passed.
. He defeated the second Bill in the House of Lords in 1680, by this time the credibility of the Popish Plot was dwindling, as Oates victims became more and more unrealistic.
. Charles received subsidies from France to allow him to dissolve Parliament, and in 1681 he was financially independent from Parliament.
. When Parliament met again and attempted to pass another Exclusion Bill, he dissolved it and arrested Shaftesbury for treason.
. The Rhye House Plot, an Protestant attempt to kill Charles at the Rhye House in April 1683 and place the Duke of Monmouth on the throne, was discovered by Charles, allowing for him to arrest the remaining leading Whig members.
. The plot also sparked Royalist backlash, allowing for Charles to avoid calling Parliament and establish personal rule.
. When Charles died in 1685, James succeeded him without opposition.
Describe measures taken by James in his Personal Rule and how this led to his expulsion from the throne.
. James wanted to establish religious freedom and social equality Catholics in England.
. His enemies in Parliament feared the establishment of Catholic absolutism and the persecution of Protestants alike to Louis’ reign in France.
. In 1685, James began introducing measures allowing for Catholics to become army officers.
. He used the case of Godden vs Hales to gain Judicial powers to issue Catholic measures whenever he thought necessary.
. Edward Hales, a Catholic, was persecuted by his coachman Arthur Godden for holding military command without taking Anglican communion and the Oath of Allegiance as stated by the Test Act.
. In 1687, James issued a new Declaration of Indulgence, granting freedom to Catholics and Protestant dissenters.
. This suggests that James had no design on establishing Catholic absolutism, and believed in toleration first all religious denominations in England.
. The Borough Charters were remodelled and Catholics could be appointed as magistrates.
. An Ecclesiastical Commission was set up as a court for church affairs.
. Through this Commission, James appointed Catholics as Fellows in Universities such as Oxford and Magdalen College, in an attempt to establish religious equality.
. However this was seen as a blatant attack on the Protestant Church and religion.
. In 1688, James enforced that the new Declaration of Indulgence be read from every pulpit of every parish, threatening the structure of the Established Church.
. When 7 bishops refused to accept this, they were arrested but later acquitted to public celebration.
. In 1688, an invitation was extended to William of Orange, a Dutch Calvinist, to invade England, in an attempt to put Mary on the throne.
