Charles II and the English Restoration (The Stuarts: Part Three)

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Soon after the death of Oliver Cromwell, the Commonwealth government collapsed and Charles II, the son of the executed Charles I, was invited to return to England and restore the monarchy. Charles II, known as the Merry Monarch, abandoned the strict religious policies of his father and grandfather, pursuing a policy of Christian toleration and non-enforcement of laws against Catholics and Protestant nonconformists. The court of Charles II was interesting, to say the least, frequented by bawdy poets like Rochester.

Charles had over a dozen illegitimate children with several mistresses and struggled to maintain them comfortably. Louis XIV offered Charles money in return for assistance from the Royal Navy in his wars against the Dutch as part of the Treaty of Dover. Another provision of the Treaty of Dover, which was kept secret, involved Charles converting to Catholicism if an opportune time to do so presented itself. Charles found this opportune time on his deathbed before passing the throne to his brother, James II, who would not wait until he was dying to convert to Catholicism. James' Catholicism was a major cause of the Glorious Revolution.

This is the third part of my four part lecture on the Stuarts, the English Civil War, and the Glorious Revolution.

View Part 1:    • James I and Stuart Absolutism (The St...  
View Part 2:    • Charles I and the English Civil War (...  
View Part 4:    • James II and the Glorious Revolution ...