{{Short description|1660 restoration of the monarchy in the British Isles}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2012}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2021}}
{{Infobox historical era
|name      = Stuart Restoration
|start     = 1660
|end       = 1688
|image     = Charles II of England in Coronation robes.jpg
|alt       = Refer to caption
|caption   = [[Charles II of England|King Charles II]] in coronation robes by [[John Michael Wright]]
|before    = [[Interregnum (1649–1660)|Interregnum]]
|including =
|after     = [[Georgian era]]
|monarch   = {{unbulleted list
| [[Charles II of England|Charles II]]
| [[James II of England|James II]]
| [[William III of England|William III]]
| [[Mary II]]
| [[Anne, Queen of Great Britain|Anne]]}}
|leaders   = [[Thomas Parker, 1st Earl of Macclesfield|Thomas Parker]]
}}
{{Periods in English history}}
The '''Stuart Restoration''' was the return in May 1660 of the [[House of Stuart|Stuart monarchy]] to the kingdoms of [[Kingdom of England|England]], [[Kingdom of Scotland|Scotland]], and [[Kingdom of Ireland|Ireland]], ending the [[Interregnum (England)|Interregnum]] and the [[Commonwealth of England]] that had been established after the [[execution of Charles I]] in January 1649. The Commonwealth had been governed by the [[Lord Protector]] [[Oliver Cromwell]] and, briefly, his son [[Richard Cromwell]], before political instability and the intervention of General [[George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle|George Monck]] led to the [[Declaration of Breda]] and the return of [[Charles II of England|Charles II]] from exile. Charles landed at [[Dover]] on 25 May 1660 and entered London on 29 May, his thirtieth birthday. He was crowned at [[Westminster Abbey]] on 23 April 1661. The term "Restoration" is also used more broadly to describe the reign of Charles II (1660–1685), and sometimes that of his brother [[James II of England|James II]] (1685–1688).

The Restoration had significant political and legal consequences. The [[Indemnity and Oblivion Act 1660]] granted a general pardon to most former opponents of the Crown, but excluded those directly involved in the trial and execution of Charles I. Ten of these [[regicide]]s were executed in October 1660 at sites including [[Charing Cross]] and [[Tyburn]]. The exhumed bodies of Oliver Cromwell, [[Henry Ireton]], and [[John Bradshaw (judge)|John Bradshaw]] were subjected to [[posthumous execution]] in January 1661. A further nineteen regicides were imprisoned for life. The [[Cavalier Parliament]], which first met in May 1661 and sat for over seventeen years, was strongly [[royalist]] and oversaw the re-establishment of the [[Church of England]] through the [[Clarendon Code]], a series of measures including the [[Act of Uniformity 1662]].

Culturally, the Restoration marked a reaction against the stricter moral and social climate associated with [[Puritanism]] during the Interregnum. Theatres, which had been closed under the Commonwealth, reopened, and [[Restoration comedy]] flourished. [[Actress|Women]] appeared on the public stage as professional performers for the first time in England. The court of Charles II became an important centre of artistic and literary life, contributing to the development of [[Restoration literature]] and distinctive styles in [[English Baroque|art and design]], influenced in part by continental tastes, especially [[Dutch Republic|Dutch]] and [[France|French]].

The Restoration period is commonly considered to have ended with the [[Glorious Revolution]] of 1688. In that year, the Dutch [[stadtholder]] [[William III of England|William of Orange]] intervened in England with the support of Protestant political elites, leading to the flight of James II to France. A [[Convention Parliament (1689)|Convention Parliament]] declared that James had [[abdication|abdicated]] and offered the crown jointly to William III and [[Mary II of England|Mary II]]. The subsequent [[Bill of Rights 1689]] established limits on royal authority and barred [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholics]] from the English throne.

==The Protectorate==
After [[Richard Cromwell]], [[Lord Protector]] from 1658 to 1659, ceded power to the [[Rump Parliament]], [[Charles Fleetwood]] and [[John Lambert (general)|John Lambert]] then dominated government for a year. On 20 October 1659, [[George Monck]], the governor of Scotland under the Cromwells, marched south with his army from Scotland to oppose Fleetwood and Lambert. Lambert's army began to leave him, and he returned to London almost alone whilst Monck marched to London unopposed. The Presbyterian members, excluded in [[Pride's Purge]] of 1648, were recalled, and on 24 December the army restored the [[Long Parliament]].{{Sfn|Chisholm|1911a|p=108}}

Fleetwood was deprived of his command and ordered to appear before Parliament to answer for his conduct. On 3 March 1660, Lambert was sent to the [[Tower of London]], from which he escaped a month later. He tried to rekindle the civil war in favour of the [[Commonwealth of England|Commonwealth]] by issuing a proclamation calling on all supporters of the "[[Good Old Cause]]" to rally on the battlefield of Edgehill, but he was recaptured by Colonel [[Richard Ingoldsby]], a participant in the [[regicide]] of Charles I who hoped to win a pardon by handing Lambert over to the new regime.{{Sfn|Chisholm|1911a|p=108}} Lambert was incarcerated and died in custody in 1684; Ingoldsby was pardoned.{{sfn|Firth|1892|p=10}}

==Restoration of Charles II==
[[File:Hendrick de Meijer 001.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|The departure of Charles II from Scheveningen (1660)]]
On 4 April 1660, [[Charles II of England|Charles II]] issued the [[Declaration of Breda]], in which he made several promises in relation to the reclamation of the crown of England. While he did this, Monck organised the [[Convention Parliament (1660)|Convention Parliament]], which met for the first time on 25 April. On 8 May, it proclaimed that King Charles II had been the lawful monarch since the [[execution of Charles I]] on 30 January 1649.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Journal of the House of Commons |date=1802 |publisher=His Majesty's Stationery Office |volume=8, 1660–1667 |location=London |pages=[https://www.british-history.ac.uk/commons-jrnl/vol8/pp16-18 16–18 (8 May 1660)]}}</ref> Historian [[Timothy J. G. Harris]] would later argue that "Constitutionally, it was as if the last nineteen years had never happened."{{Sfn|Harris|2005|p=47}}

Charles returned from exile, leaving [[The Hague]] on 23 May and landing at [[Dover]] on 25 May.<ref name="pepysdiary23">[http://www.pepysdiary.com/archive/1661/04/23/index.php Pepys Diary 23 April 1661] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060708122611/http://www.pepysdiary.com/archive/1661/04/23/index.php |date=8 July 2006}}.</ref> He entered London on 29 May 1660, his 30th birthday. To celebrate his return to his Parliament, 29 May was made a public holiday, popularly known as [[Oak Apple Day]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=Journal of the House of Commons |date=1802 |publisher=His Majesty's Stationery Office |volume=8, 1660–1667 |location=London |pages=[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/commons-jrnl/vol8/pp49-50 49–50 (30 May 1660)]}}</ref> He was crowned at Westminster Abbey on 23 April 1661.<ref name="pepysdiary23"/>

Some contemporaries described the Restoration as "a divinely ordained miracle". The sudden and unexpected deliverance from political chaos was interpreted as a restoration of the natural and divine order.{{Sfn|Jones|1978|p=15}} The [[Cavalier Parliament]] convened for the first time on 8 May 1661, and it would endure for over 17 years, finally being dissolved on 24 January 1679. Like its predecessor, it was overwhelmingly [[Cavalier|Royalist]]. It is also known as the Pensionary Parliament for the many pensions it granted to adherents of the King.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wallace |first=David C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mkpl2cBZn3gC&dq=It+is+also+known+as+the+Pensionary+Parliament+for+the+many+pensions+it+granted+to+adherents+of+the+King.&pg=PA175 |title=Twenty-Two Turbulent Years 1639–1661 |date=2013 |publisher=Fast-Print Publishing |isbn=978-1-78035-660-0 |language=en}}</ref>

The leading political figure at the beginning of the Restoration was [[Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon]]. It was the "skill and wisdom of Clarendon" which had "made the Restoration unconditional".{{Sfn|Clark|1953|p=3}}

Many Royalist exiles returned and were rewarded. [[Prince Rupert of the Rhine]] returned to the service of England, became a member of the [[privy council]], and was provided with an annuity. [[George Goring, 1st Earl of Norwich]], returned to be the Captain of the King's guard and received a pension. [[Marmaduke Langdale]] returned and was made "[[Baron Langdale]]". [[William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne|William Cavendish]], Marquess of Newcastle, returned and was able to regain the greater part of his estates. He was invested in 1666 with the [[Order of the Garter]] (which had been bestowed upon him in 1650), and was advanced to a [[William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne|dukedom]] on 16 March 1665.{{Sfn|Chisholm|1911b|p=470}}

==England and Wales==
===Commonwealth regicides and rebels===
{{more citations needed section|date=May 2018}}<!--many paragraphs are not cited-->
[[File:Major-General Thomas Harrison (General) in Cromwell's Army (2).jpg|thumb|[[Thomas Harrison (soldier)|Thomas Harrison]], the first person found guilty of regicide during the Restoration]]
The [[Indemnity and Oblivion Act]], which became law on 29 August 1660, pardoned all past treason against the crown, but specifically excluded [[List of regicides of Charles I|those involved in the trial and execution of Charles I]]. Thirty-one of the [[List of regicides of Charles I#Commissioners|59 commissioners]] (judges) who had signed the death warrant in 1649 were living. The regicides were hunted down; some escaped but most were found and put on trial. Three escaped to the American colonies. [[New Haven, Connecticut]], secretly harboured Edward Whalley, William Goffe and John Dixwell, and after American independence named streets after them to honour them as forefathers of the American Revolution.{{sfn|Weight|Haggith|2014|pp=18–21}}

In the ensuing trials, twelve were condemned to death. The [[Fifth Monarchists|Fifth Monarchist]] [[Thomas Harrison (soldier)|Thomas Harrison]], the first person found guilty of regicide, who had been the seventeenth of the 59 commissioners to sign the death warrant, was the first regicide to be [[hanged, drawn and quartered]] because he was considered by the new government still to represent a real threat to the re-established order. In October 1660, at [[Charing Cross]] or [[Tyburn]], London, ten were publicly hanged, drawn and quartered: Thomas Harrison, [[John Jones Maesygarnedd|John Jones]], [[Adrian Scrope]], [[John Carew (regicide)|John Carew]], [[Thomas Scot]], and [[Gregory Clement]], who had signed the king's death warrant; the preacher [[Hugh Peters]]; [[Francis Hacker]] and [[Daniel Axtell]], who commanded the guards at the king's trial and execution; and [[John Cooke (prosecutor)|John Cooke]], the solicitor who directed the prosecution.  The 10 judges who were on the panel but did not sign the death warrant were also convicted.{{sfn|McIntosh|1982|pp=195–216}}

[[Oliver Cromwell]], [[Henry Ireton]], Judge [[Thomas Pride]], and Judge [[John Bradshaw (judge)|John Bradshaw]] were posthumously [[Attainder|attainted]] for high treason. Because Parliament is a court, a [[bill of attainder]] is a legislative act declaring a person guilty of treason or felony, in contrast to the regular judicial process of trial and conviction. In January 1661, the corpses of Cromwell, Ireton and Bradshaw were exhumed and hanged in chains at [[Tyburn, London|Tyburn]].{{sfn|Dakers |2018}}

In 1661 [[John Okey]], one of the regicides who signed the death warrant of Charles I, was brought back from Holland along with [[Miles Corbet]], friend and lawyer to Cromwell, and [[John Barkstead]], former constable of the [[Tower of London]]. They were all imprisoned in the Tower. From there they were taken to Tyburn and hanged, drawn and quartered on 19 April 1662. A further 19 regicides were imprisoned for life.

[[John Lambert (General)|John Lambert]] was not in London for the trial of Charles I. At the Restoration, he was found guilty of high treason and remained in custody in [[Guernsey]] for the rest of his life. [[Henry Vane the Younger]] served on the [[Council of State (England)|Council of State]] during the [[Interregnum (England)|Interregnum]] even though he refused to take the oath which expressed approbation (approval) of the King's execution. At the Restoration, after much debate in Parliament, he was exempted from the Indemnity and Oblivion Act. In 1662 he was tried for high treason, found guilty and beheaded on [[Tower Hill, London|Tower Hill]] on 14 June 1662.

Though regicide was widely condemned and many Regicides were executed or imprisoned after 1660, the revolutionary idea of conditional monarchy endured.{{sfn|Haley|1985|p=5}} In political writings and the debates of the period, the notion that a king should rule in accordance with the will of the people or law became increasingly widespread.{{Sfn|Harris|2005|p=83}} Even Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon and Charles II's chief advisor, acknowledged the need for a balanced constitutional arrangement in his efforts to secure a lasting postwar settlement.{{Sfn|Harris|2005|p=83}}

===Regrant of certain Commonwealth titles===
{{Further|Knights, baronets and peers of the Protectorate}}

The [[Instrument of Government]], [[The Protectorate]]'s written constitutions, gave to the [[Lord Protector (Cromwell)|Lord Protector]] the King's power to grant titles of honour. Over 30 new [[knighthood]]s were granted under the Protectorate. These knighthoods [[Indemnity and Oblivion Act|passed into oblivion]] upon the Restoration of Charles II, but many were regranted by the restored King.

Of the eleven Protectorate [[baronet]]cies, two had been previously granted by Charles I during the Civil War, but under [[Commonwealth (England)|Commonwealth]] legislation they were not recognised under the Protectorate (hence the Lord Protector's regranting of them). When that legislation passed into oblivion these two baronets were entitled to use the baronetcies granted by Charles I, and Charles II regranted four more. Only one now continues: [[Williams-Bulkeley Baronets|Richard Thomas Willy]], 14th baronet, is the direct successor of Griffith Williams. Of the remaining Protectorate baronets one, [[William Ellis (solicitor-general)|William Ellis]], was granted a knighthood by Charles II.

[[Edmund Dunch, Baron Burnell of East Wittenham|Edmund Dunch]] was created [[Baron]] Burnell of East Wittenham in April 1658, but this barony was not regranted. The male line failed in 1719 with the death of his grandson, also [[Edmund Dunch (Whig)|Edmund Dunch]], so no one can lay claim to the title.

The one hereditary [[viscount]]cy Cromwell created for certain,{{efn|Cromwell had intended to make [[Bulstrode Whitelocke]] a viscount, but it is not clear if he did so before he died.}} (making [[Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Carlisle|Charles Howard]] Viscount Howard of Morpeth and Baron Gilsland) continues to this day. In April 1661, Howard was created [[Earl of Carlisle]], Viscount Howard of Morpeth, and Baron Dacre of Gillesland. The present Earl is a direct descendant of this Cromwellian creation and Restoration recreation.

===Venner rebellion (1661)===
On 6 January 1661, about 50 [[Fifth Monarchists]], headed by a wine-cooper named [[Thomas Venner]], tried to gain possession of London in the name of "King Jesus".  Most were either killed or taken prisoner; on 19 and 21 January 1661, Venner and 10 others were hanged, drawn and quartered for high [[treason]].

===Church of England settlement===
The [[Church of England]] was restored as the national Church in England, backed by the [[Clarendon Code]] and the [[Act of Uniformity 1662]]. People reportedly "pranced around [[May poles]] as a way of taunting the Presbyterians and Independents" and "burned copies of the [[Solemn League and Covenant]]".{{Sfn|Harris|2005|pp=52–53}}

==Ireland==
{{main|Restoration (Ireland)}}
"The commonwealth parliamentary union was, after 1660, treated as null and void".{{sfn| Encyclopædia Britannica |p=1012}} As in England the republic was deemed constitutionally never to have occurred. The Convention Parliament was dissolved by Charles II in January 1661, and he summoned his first parliament in Ireland in May 1661. In 1662, [[Oak Apple Day|29 May]] was made a public holiday known to this day as Oak Apple Day.<ref>{{Cite book |title=English historical documents. Vol. 6: 1660 - 1714 / ed. by Andrew Browning |date=2000 |editor-last=Browning |editor-first=Andrew |edition=Repr |place=London |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-14371-4 |editor2-last=Douglas |editor2-first=David Charles <!--|access-date=2026-06-22-->}}</ref>

Coote, Broghill and [[Maurice Eustace (Lord Chancellor)|Maurice Eustace]] were initially the main political figures in the Restoration. [[George Monck|George Monck, Duke of Albemarle]] was given the position of [[Lord Lieutenant of Ireland]] but he did not assume office. In 1662 [[James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond]] returned as the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and became the predominant political figure of the Restoration period.{{citation needed|date=May 2017}}

==Scotland==
{{main|Restoration (Scotland)}}
Charles was proclaimed King again on 14 May 1660. He was not crowned, having been previously crowned at [[Scone, Scotland#Gaelic coronation site|Scone]] in 1651. The Restoration "presented an occasion of universal celebration and rejoicing throughout Scotland".{{sfn|Jackson|2003|p=14}}

Charles II summoned his parliament on 1 January 1661, which began to undo all that been forced on his father [[Charles I of England|Charles I of Scotland]]. The [[Rescissory Act 1661]] made all legislation back to 1633 'void and null'.{{sfn|Jackson|2003|p=78}}

==English colonies==
{{main|Restoration in the English colonies}}

===Caribbean===
[[Barbados#British colonial rule|Barbados]], as a haven for refugees fleeing the [[Commonwealth of England|English republic]], had held for Charles II under [[Francis Willoughby, 5th Baron Willoughby of Parham|Lord Willoughby]] until defeated by [[George Ayscue]]. When news reached Barbados of the King's restoration, [[Thomas Modyford]] declared Barbados for the King in July 1660.{{sfn|Higham|1921|p=10}} The planters, however, were not eager for the return of the former governor Lord Willoughby, fearing disputes over titles, but the King ordered he be restored.{{sfn|Higham|1921|pp=12–14}}

[[Jamaica]] had been a conquest of [[Oliver Cromwell]]'s and Charles II's claim to the island was therefore questionable. However, Charles II chose not to restore Jamaica to [[Spanish Empire|Spain]] and in 1661 it became a British colony and the planters would claim that they held rights as Englishmen by the King's assumption of the dominion of Jamaica.{{sfn|Monteith|Richards|2001|pp=36–39}} The first governor was [[Thomas Windsor Hickman, 1st Earl of Plymouth|Lord Windsor]]. He was replaced in 1664 by [[Thomas Modyford]] who had been ousted from Barbados.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Pestana |first1=Carla Gardina |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eBhREAAAQBAJ |title=The Early English Caribbean, 1570–1700 Vol 3 |last2=Salinger |first2=Sharon V. |date=2021-12-16 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-000-55960-6 |language=en}}</ref>

===North America===
====New England====
[[New England]], with its [[Puritan]] settlement, had supported the Commonwealth and [[the Protectorate]]. Acceptance of the Restoration was reluctant in some quarters as it highlighted the failure of Puritan reform.{{sfn|Bremers|1995|pp=151–153}} [[Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations|Rhode Island]] declared in October 1660 and [[Massachusetts Bay Colony|Massachusetts]] lastly in August 1661.{{sfn|Middleton|2002|p=111}} [[New Haven Colony|The Colony of New Haven]] provided refuge for [[Regicide#Execution of Charles I of England|Regicides]] such as [[Edward Whalley]], [[William Goffe]] and [[John Dixwell]] and would be subsequently merged into [[Connecticut Colony|Connecticut]] in 1662, perhaps in punishment.{{sfn|Middleton|2002|p=112}}  [[John Winthrop Jr.|John Winthrop]], a former governor of Connecticut, and one of whose sons had been a captain in [[George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle|Monck]]'s army, went to England at the Restoration and in 1662 obtained a [[royal charter]] for Connecticut with New Haven annexed to it.{{citation needed|date=May 2017}}

====Maryland and Virginia====
[[Province of Maryland|Maryland]] had resisted the republic until finally occupied by New England Puritans/Parliamentary forces after the [[Battle of the Severn]] in 1655. In 1660 the Governor [[Josias Fendall]] tried to turn Maryland into a Commonwealth of its own in what is known as [[Josias Fendall#Fendall.27s Rebellion|Fendall's Rebellion]] but with the fall of the republic in England he was left without support and was replaced by [[Phillip Calvert (governor)|Philip Calvert]] upon the Restoration.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tanksalvala |first=Sarah |date=2022-03-03 |title=Restoration 3: Fendall's Rebellion |url=https://americanhistorypodcast.net/restoration-3-fendalls-rebellion/ |access-date=2025-08-29 |website=Rejects & Revolutionaries: The origins of America |language=en-US}}</ref>

[[Colony of Virginia|Virginia]] was the most loyal of King Charles II's dominions. It had, according to the eighteenth-century historian [[Robert Beverley Jr.]], been "the last of all the King's Dominions that submitted to the Usurpation".{{sfn|Beverley|2018|p=51}} Virginia had provided sanctuary for [[Cavaliers]] fleeing the [[Commonwealth of England|English republic]]. In 1650, Virginia was one of the Royalist colonies that became the subject of Parliament's [[An Act for prohibiting Trade with the Barbadoes, Virginia, Bermuda and Antego]]. [[William Berkeley (governor)|William Berkeley]], who had previously been governor up until 1652, was elected governor in 1660 by the [[House of Burgesses]] and he promptly declared for the King. The [[Episcopal Church (United States)#Colonial era|Anglican Church]] was restored as the [[established church]].{{citation needed|date=May 2017}}

====Carolina====
In 1663 the [[Province of Carolina]] was formed as a reward given to [[Lords Proprietors#Lords Proprietary of Carolina|some supporters]] of the Restoration. The province was named after the King's father, [[Charles I of England|Charles I]].{{citation needed|date=May 2017}} The town of [[Charleston, South Carolina|Charleston]] was established in 1669 by a party of settlers from Bermuda (some being Bermudians aboard Bermudian vessels, others having passed through Bermuda from as far as England) under the same William Sayle who had led the Eleutheran Adventurers to the Bahamas. In 1670, Sayle became the first Colonial Governor of the [[Province of Carolina]].

====Bermuda====
The Somers Isles, alias [[Bermuda]] (originally named ''Virgineola''), was originally part of Virginia, and was administered by the [[Somers Isles Company]], a spin-off of the [[Virginia Company]], until 1684. The already existing contest between the mostly Parliamentarian Adventurers (shareholders) of the company in England and the Bermudians, who had their own [[House of Assembly of Bermuda|House of Assembly]] (and many of whom were becoming landowners as they were sold the land they had previously farmed as tenants as the profitability of the tobacco farmed exclusively for the company fell), placed the Bermudians on the side of the Crown despite the large number of Puritans in the colony.

Bermudians were attempting to shift their economy from tobacco to a maritime one and were being thwarted by the company, which relied on revenue from tobacco cultivation. Bermuda was the first colony to recognise Charles II as King in 1649. It controlled its own "army" (of militia) and deposed the Company appointed Governor, electing a replacement. Its Independent Puritans were forced to emigrate, settling the Bahamas under prominent Bermudian settler, sometime Governor of Bermuda, and Parliamentary loyalist [[William Sayle]] as the [[Eleutheran Adventurers]]. Although eventually reaching a compromise with the Commonwealth, the Bermudians dispute with the company continued and was finally taken before the restored Crown, which was keen for an opportunity to re-assert its authority over the wealthy businessmen who controlled the Somers Isles Company.

The islanders' protest to the Crown initially concerned the mis-treatment of Perient Trott and his heirs (including [[Nicholas Trott]]), but expanded to include the company's wider mismanagement of the colony. This led to a lengthy court case in which the Crown championed Bermudians against the company, and resulted in the company's Royal Charter being revoked in 1684. From that point onwards the Crown assumed responsibility for appointing the Colony's governors (it first re-appointed the last company governor). Freed of the company's restraints, the emerging local merchant class came to dominate and shape Bermuda's progress, as Bermudians abandoned agriculture en masse and turned to seafaring.

==Culture==
The Restoration and Charles' coronation mark a reversal of the stringent Puritan morality, "as though the pendulum [of England's morality] swung from repression to licence more or less overnight".{{sfn|Baker|1994|p=85}} Theatres reopened after having been closed during the protectorship, Puritanism lost its momentum, and bawdy comedy became a recognisable genre.  In addition, women were allowed to perform on the commercial stage as professional actresses for the first time. In Scotland, the bishops returned as the [[Episcopacy]] was reinstated. To celebrate the occasion and cement their diplomatic relations, the Dutch Republic presented Charles with the [[Dutch Gift]], a fine collection of old master paintings, classical sculptures, furniture, and a yacht.

===Literature===
{{Main|Restoration literature}}
Restoration literature includes the roughly homogenous styles of literature that centre on a celebration of or reaction to the restored court of King Charles II. It is a literature that includes extremes, for it encompasses both ''[[Paradise Lost]]'' and the [[John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester]]'s ''[[Sodom, or the Quintessence of Debauchery|Sodom]]'', the high-spirited [[Sex comedy|sexual comedy]] of ''[[The Country Wife]]'' and the moral wisdom of ''[[The Pilgrim's Progress]]''. It saw [[John Locke|Locke]]'s ''[[Two Treatises of Government|Treatises of Government]]'', the founding of the [[Royal Society]], the experiments and holy meditations of [[Robert Boyle]], the hysterical attacks on theatres from [[Jeremy Collier]], and the pioneering of [[literary criticism]] from [[John Dryden]] and [[John Dennis (dramatist)|John Dennis]]. The period witnessed news become a commodity, the [[essay]] develop into a periodical art form, and the beginnings of [[textual criticism]].{{sfn|Sutherland |1969 |p=?}}{{page needed|date=March 2026}}

===Style===
{{Main|Restoration style}}
The return of the king and his court from exile led to the replacement of the Puritan severity of the Cromwellian style with a taste for magnificence and opulence and to the introduction of Dutch and French artistic influences. These are evident in furniture in the use of floral [[marquetry]], [[walnut]] instead of oak, twisted turned supports and legs, exotic [[Wood veneer|veneer]]s, cane seats and backs on chairs, sumptuous [[tapestry]] and [[velvet]] [[upholstery]] and ornate carved and gilded scrolling bases for cabinets{{sfn|Arakelin|1979|pp=227–245}} Similar shifts appear in prose style.{{sfn|Egan|1999|pp=17–40}}

===Comedy===
{{Main|Restoration comedy}}
Comedy, especially bawdy comedy, flourished, and a favourite setting was the bed-chamber.{{sfn|Webster|2012|pp=77–96}} Indeed, sexually explicit language was encouraged by the king personally and by the rakish style of his court. Historian [[George Norman Clark]] argues:

{{Blockquote|The best-known fact about the Restoration drama is that it is immoral. The dramatists did not criticize the accepted morality about gambling, drink, love, and pleasure generally, or try, like the dramatists of our own time, to work out their own view of character and conduct. What they did was, according to their respective inclinations, to mock at all restraints. Some were gross, others delicately improper....The dramatists did not merely say anything they liked: they also intended to glory in it and to shock those who did not like it.{{sfn|Clark|1956|p=369}}}}

The socially diverse audiences included both aristocrats, their servants and hangers-on, and a substantial middle-class segment.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Love |first=Harold |date=1986 |title=Who Were the Restoration Audience? |journal=The Yearbook of English Studies |volume=10 |pages=21–40|doi=10.2307/3506932 |jstor=3506932 }}</ref> These playgoers were attracted to the comedies by up-to-the-minute topical writing, by crowded and bustling plots, by the introduction of the first professional actresses, and by the rise of the first celebrity actors. This period saw the first professional female playwright, [[Aphra Behn]].{{sfn|Dobrée|1924}}

===Spectacular===
{{Main|Restoration spectacular}}

[[Image:Settle-Morocco-detail.png|thumb|250px|This naval battle was one of the sets for [[Elkanah Settle]]'s ''Empress of Morocco'' (1673) at [[Dorset Garden Theatre|the theatre in Dorset Garden]].]]
The '''Restoration spectacular''', or elaborately staged '''machine play''', hit the London public stage in the late 17th-century Restoration period, enthralling audiences with action, music, dance, moveable scenery, [[baroque illusionistic painting]], gorgeous costumes, and special effects such as trapdoor tricks, "flying" actors, and fireworks. These shows have always had a bad reputation as a vulgar and commercial threat to the witty, "legitimate" Restoration drama; however, they drew Londoners in unprecedented numbers and left them dazzled and delighted.<ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Bakewell |first=Lyndsey |title=Changing scenes and flying machines: re-examination of spectacle and the spectacular in Restoration theatre, 1660–1714 |date=2016 |s2cid=193368353 |degree=PhD. Diss. Loughborough University }}</ref>

Basically home-grown and with roots in the early 17th-century court [[masque]], though never ashamed of borrowing ideas and stage technology from [[French opera]], the spectaculars are sometimes called "English opera". However, the variety of them is so untidy that most theatre historians despair of defining them as a genre at all. Only a handful of works of this period are usually accorded the term "opera", as the musical dimension of most of them is subordinate to the visual. It was spectacle and scenery that drew in the crowds, as shown by many comments in the diary of the theatre-lover [[Samuel Pepys]].{{Sfn|Hume|1976|pages=205–209}}

The growing cost of scenic productions exposed the two competing theatre companies to considerable financial risk.  The poor commercial performance of [[John Dryden]]'s ''[[Albion and Albanius]]'' would leave a company in serious debt, while successful productions, like [[Thomas Shadwell]]'s ''Psyche'' or Dryden's ''[[King Arthur (opera)|King Arthur]]'' would substantially improve a company's finances.{{sfn|Milhous|1979|pp=47–48}}

==End of the Restoration==
{{Main|Glorious Revolution}}
[[File:William III Landing at Brixham, Torbay, 5 November 1688.jpg|thumb|Equestrian portrait of [[William III of England|William III]] by [[Jan Wyck]], commemorating the start of the [[Glorious Revolution]] in 1688]]
The Restoration was ended by the Glorious Revolution, which overthrew King James II of England, propelled by a union of English Parliamentarians with the Dutch stadtholder [[William III of England|William III of Orange-Nassau]] (William of Orange).  William's successful invasion of England with a Dutch fleet and army led to his accession to the English throne as William III of England jointly with his wife Mary II of England, James's daughter.{{sfn|Miller|2014|p=?}}{{page needed|date=March 2026}}

In April 1688, James reissued the ''[[Declaration of Indulgence (1687)|Declaration of Indulgence]]'' and ordered all Anglican clergymen to read it to their congregations.  When seven bishops, including the Archbishop of Canterbury, submitted a petition requesting the reconsideration of the King's religious policies, they were arrested and tried for seditious libel.  On 30 June 1688, a group of seven Protestant nobles invited William to come to England with an army. By September it became clear that William would invade England.{{sfn|Harris|2008|pp=763–775}}
When William arrived on 5 November 1688, James lost his nerve, declined to attack the invading Dutch and tried to flee to France.  He was captured in Kent. Later, he was released and placed under Dutch protective guard.  Having no desire to make James a martyr, William let him escape on 23 December.  James was received in France by his cousin and ally, [[Louis XIV]], who offered him a palace and a pension.{{sfn|Harris|2008|pp= 763–775}}

William convened a [[Convention Parliament (1689)|Convention Parliament]] to decide how to handle the situation.  While the Parliament refused to depose James, they declared that James, having fled to France had effectively abdicated the throne, and that the throne was vacant. To fill this vacancy, Parliament declared Mary to be Queen and William to be King, to rule jointly. The English Parliament passed the [[Bill of Rights 1689]] that denounced James for abusing his power.{{sfn|Pincus|2005|p=?}}{{page needed|date=March 2026}}

The abuses charged to James included the suspension of the [[Test Acts]] after having sworn as king to uphold the supremacy of the Church of England,{{Sfn|Wakeling|2015|p=91}} the prosecution of the [[Seven Bishops]] for merely petitioning the crown, the establishment of a [[Standing army (Great Britain)|standing army]], and the imposition of cruel punishments. The bill also declared that henceforth no Roman Catholic was permitted to ascend the English throne, nor could any English monarch marry a Roman Catholic.{{sfn|Pincus|2005|p=?}}{{page needed|date=March 2026}}

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist|25em}}

=== Sources ===
{{Refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Arakelin |first=Paul G. |date=1979 |title=The Myth of a Restoration Style Shift |journal=The Eighteenth Century |volume=20 |issue=3 |pages=227–245 |jstor=41467197}}
* {{Cite book |last=Baker |first=Roger |url=https://archive.org/details/draghistoryoffem00bake |title=Drag: A History of Female Impersonation in the Performing Arts |date=1994 |publisher=New York University Press |isbn=978-0-8147-1253-5 |location=New York City |page=[https://archive.org/details/draghistoryoffem00bake/page/n313 85] |url-access=registration}}
* {{Cite book |last=Beverley |first=Robert |title=The History and Present State of Virginia|publisher= Creative Media Partners |date=2018|orig-date=1722 |page=51|isbn=978-1-3797-7288-0}}
* {{Cite book |last=Bremers |first=Francis J. |title=The Puritan Experiment: New England Society from Bradford to Edwards |date=1995 |publisher=University Press of New England|pages=151–153|isbn=0-8745-1728-1}}
* {{cite EB1911|ref={{SfnRef|Chisholm|1911a}} |wstitle=Lambert, John (general) |display=Lambert, John |volume=16 |pages=108,109}}
* {{cite EB1911|ref={{SfnRef|Chisholm|1911b}} |wstitle=Newcastle, Dukes of|display=Newcastle, Dukes of s.v. William Cavendish|volume=19|pages=470, 471 |editor-mask=2}}
* {{Cite book |last=Clark |first=George |title=The Later Stuarts 1660–1714 |date=1953 |publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|edition=2nd |page=3}}
* {{cite book|last=Clark|first=George|date=1956|title=The Later Stuarts, 1660–1714|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford}} 
* {{Cite book |last=Dakers |first=Caroline |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_OFaDwAAQBAJ&dq=In+January+1661,+the+corpses+of+Cromwell,+Ireton+and+Bradshaw+were+exhumed+and+hanged+in+chains+at+Tyburn.&pg=PA240 |title=Fonthill Recovered: A Cultural History |date=2018 |publisher=UCL Press |isbn=978-1-78735-047-2}}
* {{Cite book |last=Dobrée |first=Bonamy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZhlaAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA9 |title=Restoration Comedy, 1660–1720 |date=1924 |publisher=Oxford University Press |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200818161818/https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=lang_en&id=ZhlaAAAAMAAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA9&dq=%22Restoration+style%22+severity+england+puritanism&ots=7XVt96Cwd9&sig=4_EZpAi3tZTsT9Sh-iySC9T1nKE |archive-date=18 August 2020}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Egan |first=James |date=1999 |title='For mine own private satisfaction': Marvell's aesthetic signatures in the rehearsal Transpros'd. |journal=Prose Studies |volume=22 |issue=3|doi=10.1080/01440359908586683}}
* {{Cite DNB|last=Firth |first=Charles Harding |wstitle=Ingoldsby, Richard (d.1685) |volume=29 |pages=9–11}}
* {{cite book|last=Haley|first=K.H.D.|title=The First Earl of Shaftesbury|location= Oxford|publisher=Oxford University Press|date=1985|isbn=0-1982-1369-7}}
* {{Cite book |last=Harris |first=Tim |title=Restoration: Charles II and His Kingdoms 1660–1685 |date=2005 |publisher=Allen Lane|isbn=0-7139-9191-7}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Harris |first=Tim |date=2008 |title=James II, the Glorious Revolution, and the destiny of Britain |journal=Historical Journal |volume=51 |issue=3 |pages=763–775 |doi=10.1017/S0018246X08007012 |jstor=20175194}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Higham |first=C.S. |date=1921 |title=The Development of the Leeward Islands under the Restoration 1660–1688 |journal=The Geographical Journal |volume=58 |issue=4 |pages=10, 12–14 |bibcode=1921GeogJ..58..311B |doi=10.2307/1781045 |jstor=1781045}}
* {{cite book|last=Hume|first=Robert D.|date=1976|title=The Development of English Drama in the Late Seventeenth Century|publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford}}
* {{Cite book |last=Jackson |first=Clare |author-link=Clare Jackson |title=Restoration Scotland, 1660–1690: Royalist Politics, Religion and Ideas |date=2003 |publisher=Boydell Press |location=Woodbridge|isbn=0-8511-5930-3|pages=14, 78}}
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* {{Cite book |last=Middleton |first=Richard |title=Colonial America: a history, 1565-1776 |date=2002 |publisher=Blackwell |edition=3rd |pages=111–112|isbn=0-6312-2141-7}}
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* {{Cite book |last=Milhous |first=Judith |title=Thomas Betterton and the Management of Lincoln's Inn Fields 1695–1708 |date=1979 |publisher=Southern Illinois University Press |isbn=0-8093-0906-8}}
* {{cite book|last=Miller|first=John|date=2014|title=The Glorious Revolution|publisher=Tyler & Francis|location=London|isbn=1-3178-8718-2}}
* {{Cite book |last=Pincus |first=Steven C. A. |title=England's Glorious Revolution 1688–1689: A Brief History with Documents |date=2005|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|location=London|isbn=1-4039-7154-4}}
* {{cite book|last=Sutherland|first=James Runcieman|date=1969|title=Restoration Literature, 1660–1700: Dryden, Bunyan, and Pepys|publisher=Clarendon Press}} 
* {{Cite encyclopedia |title=Restoration |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |edition=15th |volume=21|isbn=1-5933-9292-3|publisher=Encyclopedia Britannica|date=2002|ref={{SfnRef|Encyclopædia Britannica}}}}
* {{Cite book |last=Wakeling |first=George Henry |title=King and Parliament (A.D. 1603–1714) |date=2015 |publisher=Scribner |isbn=978-1-3306-2213-1 |language=en |orig-date=1896}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Webster |first=Jeremy W. |date=2012 |title=In and Out of the Bed-chamber: Staging Libertine Desire in Restoration Comedy |journal=Journal for Early Modern Cultural Studie |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=77–96|doi=10.1353/jem.2012.0016 }}
* {{Cite journal |last1=Weight |first1=Richard |last2=Haggith |first2=Toby |date=February 2014 |title=Reluctant Regicides |journal=History Today |volume=64 |pages=18–21 |number=22}}
{{Refend}}

==Further reading==
* {{Cite encyclopedia |title=Restoration |encyclopedia=The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia |publisher=Columbia University Press |url=http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0841607.html |access-date=15 April 2012 |date=2007 |edition=6th |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120925002215/http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0841607.html |archive-date=25 September 2012 |author=CEE staff}}
* {{Cite book |last=Hutton |first=Ronald |title=The British Republic 1649–1660 |date=2000 |publisher=Macmillan |edition=2nd |page=121}}
* {{Cite book |last=Keeble |first=N. H. |title=The Restoration: England in the 1660s |date=2002 |publisher=Blackwell Publishers |isbn=978-0-631-23617-7 |series=History of Early Modern England Series |location=Oxford}}
* {{Cite book |last=Lockyer |first=Roger |title=Tudor and Stuart Britain: 1485–1714 |date=2004 |publisher=Pearson/Longman |isbn=978-0582771888 |edition=3rd}}
* {{Cite web |last=Yadav |first=Alok |date=18 July 2010 |title=Historical Outline of Restoration and 18th-Century British Literature |url=http://mason.gmu.edu/~ayadav/historical%20outline/overview.htm |access-date=15 April 2012}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050707081040/http://www.debretts.co.uk/royal_connections/sovereigns_england_17_century.html Sovereigns England – 17th century] (archived)
* [http://www.socialistreview.org.uk/article.php?articlenumber=8704 Review of 'Revolution and Counter-Revolution in England, Ireland and Scotland 1658–60', by Brian Manning] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070210055851/http://www.socialistreview.org.uk/article.php?articlenumber=8704 |date=10 February 2007}}
* [http://www.uni-mannheim.de/mateo/camenaref/cmh/cmh505.html Chapter V. The Stewart] [http://www.historyonthenet.com/civil_war/civilwarmain.htm Restoration] by [[Charles Harding Firth]]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00547bx "The Restoration"], BBC Radio 4 discussion with Mark Goldie, Richard Ollard and Clare Jackson (''In Our Time'', 15 February 2001)

{{Kingdom of England}}
{{United Kingdom topics}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Restoration}}
[[Category:Stuart Restoration| ]]
[[Category:1660 establishments in England]]
[[Category:1660 establishments in Ireland]]
[[Category:1660 establishments in Scotland]]
[[Category:1714 disestablishments in Great Britain]]
[[Category:1714 disestablishments in Ireland]]
[[Category:Restorations (politics)|England]]
[[Category:1660 in politics]]
[[Category:History of the British Isles]]
[[Category:English royalty]]
[[Category:Stuart England]]
[[Category:Charles II of England]]