The Commonwealth

The Commonwealth of England was the republic which ruled first England, and then Ireland and Scotland from 1649 to 1660. Between 1653–1659 it was known as the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland. After the English Civil War and the execution of Charles I, the republic's existence was initially declared by "An Act declaring England to be a Commonwealth" adopted by the Rump Parliament, on 19 May 1649. Executive power had already been entrusted to a Council of State. The government during 1653 to 1659 is properly called The Protectorate, and took the form of direct personal rule by Oliver Cromwell and, after his death, his son Richard, as Lord Protector; this arrangement led to the state being labelled a "crowned republic". The term Commonwealth is, however, loosely used to describe the system of government during the whole of 1649 to 1660, when England was de facto, and arguably de jure, a republic (or, to monarchists, under the English Interregnum).

The Restoration of monarchy

The Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. The term Restoration may apply both to the actual event by which the monarchy was restored, and to the period immediately following the event

The Great Plague

The Great Plague (1665–1666) was the last major epidemic of the bubonic plague to occur in the Kingdom of England. It happened within the centuries-long time period of the Second pandemic, an extended period of intermittent bubonic plague epidemics which began in Europe in 1347, the first year of the "Black Death" and lasted until 1750. The Great Plague killed an estimated 100,000 people, about 20% of London's population. Bubonic plague is a disease caused by the Yersinia pestis bacterium which is usually transmitted through the bite of an infected flea, the prime vector for Y. pestis. The 1665-1666 epidemic was on a far smaller scale than the earlier "Black Death" pandemic it was only remembered afterwards as the "great" plague because it was the last widespread outbreak of bubonic plague in England during the four-hundred year timespan of the second pandemic

The Great Fire of London

The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through the central parts of the English city of London, from Sunday, 2 September to Wednesday, 5 September 1666. The fire gutted the medieval City of London inside the old Roman City Wall. It threatened, but did not reach, the aristocratic district of Westminster, Charles II's Palace of Whitehall, and most of the suburban slums. It consumed 13,200 houses, 87 parish churches, St. Paul's Cathedral, and most of the buildings of the City authorities. It is estimated that it destroyed the homes of 70,000 of the City's 80,000 inhabitants. The death toll from the fire is unknown and is traditionally thought to have been small, as only six verified deaths were recorded. This reasoning has recently been challenged on the grounds that the deaths of poor and middle-class people were not recorded anywhere, and that the heat of the fire may have cremated many victims, leaving no recognizable remains.

GLORIOUS REVOLUTION 1688

1673Test Act which prevented any Catholic from holding public office. Fear of Charles's 2 interest in the Catholic Church and of the monarchy becoming too powerful also resulted in the first political part ies in Britain."Tories" and "Whigs

1685 Jarnes 1I became king

1688Tories, Whigs and Anglican s invited William of Orange to invade Britain. Will iam had obtained the crown

Parliament was now more powerful than the king Its power over the monarch was written into the Bill of Rights in 1689.

1701 Parliament finally passed rhe Acr of Settlement, to make sure only a Protestant could inherit the crown.

King William landed in Ireland in 1690, and defeated Jarnes's army at the River Boyne. in 1714, When Queen Anne, the last of the Stuarts, died the Protestant

ruler of Hanover, George became king.

As king from 1727, George exercised little control over British domestic policy, which was largely controlled by Great Britain's parliament. a new king, George Ill, came to the throne in 1760. In 1763 George III made peace with France Unlike his father and grandfather he had no interest in Hanover

NORTH AMERICAN COLONISTS

The British government continued to think of the colonists as British subjects

Some American colonists decided that it was not lawful for the British to tax them without their agreement.

In 1773 a group of colonists at the port of Boston threw a shipload of tea into the sea rather than pay tax on it. The event became known as "the Boston Teapartv".

War of Independence in America lasted from 1775 until 1783.