- •Early britain
- •Prehistoric Britain
- •Cultural Focus: Stonehenge
- •Celtic Invasions
- •Cultural Focus: The Druids
- •The Roman Conquest and Occupation
- •Early History
- •The Romans and the Celts
- •Early History
- •The Fall of Britannia
- •The Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms
- •The Anglo-Saxon Culture
- •The scandinavian invasion First Raids and Battles
- •Danelaw
- •Cultural Focus: King Alfred the Great
- •Restoration of the Saxon Kings
- •The norman conquest The Norman Invasion
- •The House of Normandy
- •The Effect of the Norman Conquest
- •Cultural Focus: The Canterbury Tale
- •Magna Carta. The First Parliament
- •Cultural Focus: Prince of Wales
- •The Wars of the Roses
- •England in the 16th century. The tudor monarchy
- •Henry VII
- •Henry VIII — Beginning of the Reign
- •Henry VIII and the Reformation
- •Edward VI
- •Bloody Mary
- •Mary, Queen of Scots
- •Elizabethan Times
- •Cultural Focus: English Renaissance
- •England in the 17th century. The stuart dynasty
- •James the First
- •Charles the First
- •Civil Wars. Execution of the King
- •Republic of Commonwealth
- •The Restoration Period
- •Glorious Revolution
- •William III
- •The Union with Scotland
- •Building the Empire
- •George III. The American Revolution
- •The Industrial Revolution
- •4) Negotiate, negotiable, negotiator, negotiation
- •7) Stipulate, stipulation
- •8) Smuggle, smuggler, smuggling
- •Britain in the 19th century
- •The Period of Napoleonic Wars
- •Britain after the Napoleonic Wars
- •The Victorian Age
- •British Empire
- •Britain in the first half of the 20™ century
- •The Beginning of the Century
- •Fighting for the Vote
- •Death of Edward VII. King George V
- •The First World War
- •Britain after World War I
- •Britain in World War II: 1939-1943
- •The Crown in World War II
- •Britain in the second half of the 20th century
- •The Commonwealth
- •Domestic Affairs
- •Cultural Focus: Welfare in Britain
- •Britain and Her European Neighbours
- •The Royal Family Today
- •1. Geographical factors:
- •2. Historical factors:
- •Bibliography
The Restoration Period
Charles II began his reign with the promise to pardon the participants of the revolution, but very soon forgot them. The Parliament he summoned mostly consisted of old and new Royalists. This Parliament helped Charles to restore the lands of the Crown and the Church. Puritans were persecuted; Cromwell's body was taken from Westminster Abbey and hung as a traitor's.
By Parliamentary acts all religious meetings except those of the Established Church were forbidden. These measures strengthened Anglicanism, but later caused the protest of English Catholics and Puritans.
The period of Charles IFs reign was connected with three wars with the Dutch colonies. The wars as well as Charles' constant need of money caused the tension between the King and Parliament. But this was only the beginning of trouble. Soon after the start of the second Dutch War, in 1666 the Great Plague — the Black Death came to England. It swept bigger and smaller cities, London was affected most of all. People tried to leave the capital, where houses were full of swollen dead bodies. More than 70,000 Londoners died.
When the plague was almost over, the Great Fire of London began in a baker's house. The flames burned in the centre of London for 4 days and 5 nights. It ruined tens of thousands of buildings but finally stopped the Great Plague.
These severe troubles undermined Charles' power, but the worst effect was made by the King's policy of religious toleration for the Catholics. Charles secretly agreed to restore Catholicism in England if the French King Louis XIV gave him enough money to dissolve the Parliament. This secret agreement was discovered by the Members of Parliament, who in 1679 formed an opposition party. This party opposed Catholicism and fought for the limitation of the Crown power and extending the power of Parliament. This party was called "the Whigs" (a rude Scottish word meaning Presbyterian rebels).
The remaining part of the Parliament united into the other party, which favoured the royal power and the Anglican Church. Later it got the name "Tory" (an Irish word, meaning a Roman Catholic outlaw). The Tories formed the court party, representing the interests of the wealthiest layers of the society. The Whigs as the country party represented the interests of the gentry, merchants and the London City financiers.
These parties developed as real political force in the 19th century and got the names the Conservative party (the Tories) and the Liberal party (the Whigs). In the 17"1 century, these parties were close to the events of the civil wars — the Tory party was mainly Cavalier, believing that the government should be appointed by the King, the Whigs were Protestants (Puritans) believing that King's power should be controlled by the House of Commons.
In 1679, Parliament passed Habeas Corpus Act, which aimed against despotic power of the King. Habeas Corpus means in Latin "You may have the body", this act stated the necessity of a trial to every arrested person. No one could be executed without a trial. This Act contributed greatly to the defending of the interests of an individual.
Task 3. Fill in the table representing two opposing parties that were formed in the 17th century. Trace their development in the following period.
|
Ihe Tories |
The Whigs |
The main political interests and religious beliefs |
|
|
The origin of the name |
|
|
The people who formed the party |
|
|
Present-day name and situation |
|
|