Charles II
The purpose of this essay is to uncover the
revolutionary intentions of Charles II. This will be achieved using evidence
from the following historical sources: personal information, revolutionary
beliefs, religion, politics, class status, everyday life, and finally his main
opponents. This should give hit all the main facts about Charles II.
Charles II
was born in London on May 29th, 1630. He was son of Charles I and born Prince
of Whales from Birth. Charles was the second son but eldest survivor. Charles
II was married to Catherine of Brganza on the 20th of May in 1662 at
Portsmouth, England. and sired no legitimate children however his oldest child
was James Scott, Duke of Mammoth. He made failed to bid the capture of the crown
when his father died( Charles II). As well as Charles Fitz Duke of Southampton,
and William Fitz Duke of Cleveland. Charles II died February 6th , 1685 from a
stroke in Whitehall palace, England. His burial was in Westminster Abbey,
London, England. His father Charles I and mother Henrietta Maria of France. He
was king of Scotland, Ireland, and England. His father was executed in 1649
after the defeat of the Civil War. He was then Exile to Holland and France.
Charles II reigned from 1660 to 1685. When Charles II was in his teen years he
was always fighting parliament Roundhead. He was sent to England. In 1646 he
was forced to escape to France and he stayed there with his mother. He was then
tutored by Thomas Hobbes. In 1649 he tried to save his father by presenting
Parliament with a signed blank paper. Charles II was thought to be tone of the
cleverest but most controversial of the England Kings. He may have been a
conniving king but he never really started a revolution. He was more or less
the calm before and after the storm.
Charles II
reign marked a period of stability in England after the English Revolution.
Charles II was not really in favor of the revolution as his father lost and
defended for twenty- five years against threats and revolution. This is what
brought his father down. This is when Charles II became king. He schemed,
plotted and even bribed to get absolute power. In the time that Charles was
king Oliver Cromwell had died, the parliament had to be restored or another
civil war would break out. Since Charles father had died he spent eleven years
to overthrow the republic established in England. Earlier on in his life he
held nominal military command in early campaigns of the first civil was of the
English revolution. Charles II was involved in quite a few wars in his life. A
major one was when he had formed an alliance with Louis XIV of France. In 1672
the alliance got England into a war with the Netherlands. That war was popular.
However with all the wars Charles II was involved in, it still remains that
revolution is what brought his father, Charles 1, down in the first place.
Events after Charles was the Glorious Revolution in England when Charles was no
longer king. This brings us to the religious side of Charles II.Charles II was
a Roman Catholic. He favored religious toleration for his own leaning to Roman
Catholicism. However the Anglican Cavalier Parliament passed a series of
statues, the Clarendon Code which was designed to strike against religious
nonconformity. Charles attempted unsuccessfully to suspend those by the
deceleration of indulgence(1662) which was later forced to withdraw (1663). In
1678 there was an Anti-Catholicism feeling in England in affair of the Popish
Plot. Charles did not intervene with this until his wife was accused (
Catherine of Braganza). The accusation of his wife was used by the first Earl
of Shafesbury. This led the movement to exclude Charles brother(James II) from
taking the throne. Instead it would be his illegitimate son of Marmouth.
Charles died Roman Catholic and was succeeded by his brother, James.
Due to the death of Oliver Cromwell, parliament had to
be restored. If not civil war would break out. Out with the old and in with the
new, this is exactly what they did. They got rid of the old parliament to bring
in the new parliament. The new parliament restored the monarchy and the House
of lords. After this was all cleaned up England invited Charles II to be king.
This was a very popular decision as the people were tired of the military
dictartoships, the people wanted parliament to protect their rights. Blue laws
were in place at the time of Charles II arrival, they are a very strict law and
people were unable to do things they enjoyed like to the theater. The puritans
only liked the Blue laws. The law was very quickly over with as Charles was one
to have fun and like entertainment. This made the people very happy and there
"love" you could say for Charles II grew even more. The monarchy was
restored and Charles was king, the people were happy! Charles II however was
happy as well but he had to rule under the constitutional monarchy. Charles
accepted this but secretly planned to regain the power his father lost. Charles
made darn sure that supporters were on his side, he accomplished this by
blackmail, persuasion and bribery. Some events that took place while Charles II
was king, should give an idea of how his government was. Charles government had
endorsed foreign policy of the Commonwealth with the Navigation Acts. This
contributed to the out break, in 1664 to the second of the Dutch Wars. While
the war was on london suffered a great deal from the plague, 1665 along with
the fire in 1666. They fell power, 1667 and the war ended, they were replaced
by the Cabal Ministry .Charles soon after made a Triple Alliance in 1668 with
Holland and Sweden. He sought the support of louis XIV of France. They then
negotiated a secret Treaty of Dover in 1670. This was designed to give king all
the power which would lead to no parliament. Another incident was the Charles II
wanted to adopt Roman Catholicism, change his subjects and start war against
the Dutch. louis was going to give him 6000 men. In 1672 the third Dutch War
began. This was suspected to be a disguise of the introduction of arbitrary
government and Roman Catholicism. He was then forced to revoke in 1672 second
declaration of indulgence toward dissenters, this was approved in 1673 the Test
Act and sign the Peace with the Dutch. Charles reigned form 1660 to1685.
Charles II was a ruler of considerable political skill.
He was born Prince of Whales from birth, so right away he is of royal blood. He
was a schemer so as assumed he thought highly of himself as well. Charles
learned to circumnavigate rather than to manipulate his people, that shows
class! He was a loving guy and set a brilliant restoration period in art and
literature. When Charles was just 12 years of age civil war struck out, he
received very little education. At age 15 he was sent to England in a vain
attempt to rally royalist subjects in England. Charles was said to be a fun
loving guy. This got a lot of the people on to his side and when he got rid of
those Blue laws people were cheering allover England! Since Charles was like
that it got a lot more people liking him so there for trusting and believing in
him. Being the artsy person that he is leads us right to his everyday life.
Charles II was an intelligent, and a patron of
scientific research. He was a lazy ruler however and waited until the last
moment to make a decision. The British attitude towards him was that he was
very merry , but unfortunately he was not much of a king as a monarch. Charles
was very romantic, not very good looking mind you but he was popular and was
able to take throne after the death of Cromwell. Charles being of high standard
ate foods such as venison, and other typed of game. lots of vegetables were in
order like cabbage, savory , kale, cauliflower, broccoli and so on( all those
veggies that we just hate!) Potatoes were a novelty and pudding was very good.
They had three main meals, the first would be very light, consisting of cold
meats, bread with butter, cakes with tea, and coffee or chocolate( this was
only at the end of the century.) Through the day they got heavier. The meals
were served as a buffet style with all kinds of tasty food. Charles was a very
particular dresser. Ribbons and bows accented the male dress. In order to carry
the weight of the garment as they were layers of fabric and ribbons. The shoes
were squared toed high heels, along with abroad brimmed hat. It was only proper
to carry accessories like a walking stick, a muff, and a snuff box, and also a
handkerchief. They over did everything to show off a little. Charles being the
man of style brought a little taste of France to England. Doing this England
became the center of fashion and monarchy turning the medieval state to a
modern powerful state! They enjoyed theatre and other entertainment such as
horse racing, gambling, and jovial company. This leads us to may we say
probably the most important, his main opposition.
Charles was not exactly chummy with the Dutch as he
had two wars against the Dutch. This is when the great plague, and fire of
london happened. Along with the assassination attempt called the Rye house
plot. Charles was not to friendly to the regicides, that is a person who kills
a king, he punished them severely. They were hung, drown, and quartered. When
they were hung they were taken down before death so they were still alive, they
then got their entrails removed. Charles also battled with religious
happenings. He tried to protect religious freedom- catholic. The parliament
made Test Act this made the Church of England Supreme. Therefore, Catholics
were not allowed political office or join professions. James the brother of
Charles II had to give up High Admiral because of the Test Act. The parliament
made it clear to Charles that parliament made laws, not him.
This essay was to provide revolutionary ideas of
Charles II using historical sources, Personal Information, Beliefs about revolution,
Religion, Politics, Everyday life, and his Main Opposition. Hopefully this was
achieved!