Editing Charles II of England (section)

== Restoration ==
{{further|Stuart Restoration}}
After Oliver Cromwell's death in 1658, Charles's initial chances of regaining the Crown seemed slim; Cromwell was succeeded as Lord Protector by his son [[Richard Cromwell|Richard]]. But the new Lord Protector had little experience of either military or civil administration. In 1659, the [[Rump Parliament]] was recalled and Richard Cromwell resigned. During the civil and military unrest that followed, [[George Monck]], the Governor of Scotland, was concerned that the nation would descend into anarchy.{{sfn|Fraser|1979|pp=160–165}} Monck and his army marched into the [[City of London]], and forced the Rump Parliament to readmit members of the [[Long Parliament]] who had been excluded in December 1648, during [[Pride's Purge]]. Parliament dissolved itself, and there was a general election for the first time in almost 20 years.<ref>Diary of [[Samuel Pepys]], 16 March 1660.</ref> The outgoing Parliament defined the electoral qualifications intending to bring about the return of a Presbyterian majority.{{sfn|Miller|1991|pp=24–25}}
[[File:Ball given to Charles II at the Hague on his departure to England.jpg|thumb|Ball given to Charles at [[The Hague]] on his departure to England]]
The restrictions against royalist candidates and voters were widely ignored, and the elections resulted in a [[Parliament of England|House of Commons]] that was fairly evenly divided on political grounds between Royalists and Parliamentarians and on religious grounds between [[Anglicans]] and Presbyterians.{{sfn|Miller|1991|pp=24–25}} The so-called [[Convention Parliament (1660)|Convention Parliament]] assembled on 25 April 1660, and soon afterwards welcomed the [[Declaration of Breda]], in which Charles promised lenience and tolerance. There would be liberty of conscience, and Anglican church policy would not be harsh. He would not exile past enemies nor confiscate their wealth. There would be pardons for nearly all his opponents except the [[regicides]]. Above all, Charles promised to rule in cooperation with Parliament.{{sfn|Haley|1985|p=5}} The English Parliament resolved to proclaim Charles king and invite him to return, a message that reached Charles at [[Breda]] on 8 May 1660.{{sfn|Hutton|1989|p=131}} In Ireland, a [[Irish Convention (1660)|convention]] had been called earlier in the year and had already declared for Charles. On 14 May, he was proclaimed king in Dublin.{{sfn|Seaward|2004}}
[[File:The arrival of King Charles II of England in Rotterdam, may 24 1660 (Lieve Pietersz. Verschuier, 1665).jpg|thumb|left|alt=Seascape of vessels along a low-lying coastline|Charles sailed from his exile in the Netherlands to his restoration in England in May 1660. Painting by [[Lieve Verschuier]].]]

Charles set out for England from [[Scheveningen]], arrived in [[Dover]] on 25 May 1660 and reached London on 29 May, his 30th birthday. Although Charles and Parliament granted amnesty to nearly all of Cromwell's supporters in the [[Act of Indemnity and Oblivion]], 50 people were specifically excluded.{{sfn|Fraser|1979|p=190}} In the end nine of the [[List of regicides of Charles I|regicides]] were executed:{{sfn|The Royal Household|2009}} they were [[hanged, drawn and quartered]], whereas others were given life imprisonment or excluded from office for life. The bodies of Oliver Cromwell, [[Henry Ireton]] and [[John Bradshaw (Judge)|John Bradshaw]] were subjected to [[posthumous execution|posthumous decapitations]].{{sfn|Fraser|1979|p=185}}

The English Parliament granted Charles an annual income to run the government of £1.2&nbsp;million,{{sfn|Falkus|1972|p=94}} generated largely from customs and excise duties. The grant, however, proved to be insufficient for most of Charles's reign. For the most part, the actual revenue was much lower, which led to attempts to economise at court by reducing the size and expenses of the [[royal household]]{{sfn|Falkus|1972|p=94}} and raising money through unpopular innovations such as the [[hearth tax]].{{sfn|Seaward|2004}}

In the latter half of 1660, Charles's joy at the Restoration was tempered by the deaths of his siblings [[Henry Stuart, Duke of Gloucester|Henry]] and Mary of [[smallpox]]. At around the same time, [[Anne Hyde]], the daughter of Lord Chancellor [[Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon|Edward Hyde]], revealed that she was pregnant by Charles's brother James, whom she had secretly married. Edward Hyde, who had not known of either the marriage or the pregnancy, was created [[Earl of Clarendon]] and his position as Charles's favourite minister was strengthened.<ref>{{harvnb|Fraser|1979|pp=210–202}}; {{harvnb|Hutton|1989|pp=155–156}}; {{harvnb|Miller|1991|pp= 43–44}}.</ref>

=== Clarendon Code ===
[[File:Charles II by John Michael Wright.jpg|thumb|Coronation portrait: Charles was crowned at [[Westminster Abbey]] on 23 April 1661.<ref>Diary of [[Samuel Pepys]], [http://www.pepys.info/coronation.html 23 April 1661] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180429202445/http://www.pepys.info/coronation.html |date=29 April 2018}}</ref>|alt=Charles wearing a crown and ermine-lined robe]]
The Convention Parliament was dissolved in December 1660, and, shortly after Charles's [[Coronation of the British monarch|English coronation]], the second English Parliament of the reign assembled. Dubbed the [[Cavalier Parliament]], it was overwhelmingly Royalist and Anglican. It sought to discourage [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)|non-conformity]] to the [[Church of England]] and passed several acts to secure Anglican dominance. The [[Corporation Act 1661]] required municipal officeholders to swear allegiance;{{sfn|Hutton|1989|p=169}} the [[Act of Uniformity 1662]] made the use of the [[Book of Common Prayer (1662)|1662 ''Book of Common Prayer'']] compulsory; the [[Conventicle Act 1664]] prohibited religious assemblies of more than five people, except under the auspices of the Church of England; and the [[Five Mile Act 1665]] prohibited expelled non-conforming clergymen from coming within five&nbsp;miles (8&nbsp;km) of a parish from which they had been banished. The Conventicle and Five Mile Acts remained in effect for the remainder of Charles's reign. The Acts became known as the [[Clarendon Code]], after Lord Clarendon, even though he was not directly responsible for them and even spoke against the Five Mile Act.{{sfn|Hutton|1989|p=229}}

The Restoration was accompanied by social change. [[Puritanism]] lost its momentum. Theatres reopened after having been closed during the [[Interregnum (England)|protectorship]] of Oliver Cromwell, and bawdy "[[Restoration comedy]]" became a recognisable genre. Theatre licences granted by Charles required that female parts be played by "their natural performers", rather than by boys as was often the practice before;{{sfn|Hutton|1989|p=185}} and [[Restoration literature]] celebrated or reacted to the restored court, which included [[libertine]]s such as [[John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester|Lord Rochester]]. Of Charles II, Rochester supposedly said:

{{Poemquote|We have a pretty, witty king,
Whose word no man relies on,
He never said a foolish thing,
And never did a wise one<ref>Papers of [[Thomas Hearne (antiquarian)|Thomas Hearne]] (17 November 1706) quoted in {{harvnb|Doble|1885|p=308}}.</ref>}}

To which Charles is reputed to have replied "that the matter was easily accounted for: For that his discourse was his own, his actions were the ministry's".{{sfn|Hume|1778|p=212}}

=== Great Plague and Great Fire ===
In 1665, the [[Great Plague of London]] began, peaking in September with up to 7,000 deaths per week.{{sfn|Fraser|1979|p=238}} Charles, his family, and the court fled London in July to [[Salisbury]]; Parliament met in [[Oxford]].{{sfn|Miller|1991|p=120}} Plague cases ebbed over the winter, and Charles returned to London in February 1666.{{sfn|Falkus|1972|p=105}}

After a long spell of hot and dry weather through mid-1666, the [[Great Fire of London]] started on 2 September 1666 in [[Pudding Lane]]. Fanned by strong winds and fed by wood and fuel stockpiled for winter, the fire destroyed about 13,200 houses and 87 churches, including [[St Paul's Cathedral]].{{sfn|Porter|2007}} Charles and his brother James joined and directed the firefighting effort. The public blamed Catholic conspirators for the fire.<ref>{{harvnb|Fraser|1979|pp=243–247}}; {{harvnb|Miller|1991|pp=121–122}}.</ref>