The Restoration and Glorious Revolution

In May 1660, Parliament invited Charles II to come back from exile in the Netherlands. He was crowned King Charles II of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland and made it clear he had ‘no wish to go on his travels again’. The Church of England was re-established as the official Church, and both Roman Catholics and Puritans were kept out of power.

During Charles II’s reign, in 1665, there was a major outbreak of plague in London. Thousands of people died, especially in poorer areas. The following year, 1666, a great fire destroyed much of the city, including many churches and St Paul’s Cathedral. London was rebuilt with a new St Paul’s designed by the famous architect Sir Christopher Wren. Samuel Pepys wrote about these events in a diary that is still read today.

The Habeas Corpus Act became law in 1679. This guaranteed that no one could be held prisoner unlawfully — every prisoner has a right to a court hearing. Habeas corpus is Latin for ‘you must present the person in court’. This remains an important piece of legislation today.

Charles II was interested in science. During his reign, the Royal Society was formed to promote ‘natural knowledge’. This is the oldest surviving scientific society in the world. Among its early members were Sir Edmund Halley, who successfully predicted the return of the comet now called Halley’s Comet, and Sir Isaac Newton.

Isaac Newton (1643–1727) was born in Lincolnshire and studied at Cambridge University. His most famous work, Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (‘Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy’), showed how gravity applied to the whole universe. Newton also discovered that white light is made up of the colours of the rainbow.

Charles II had no legitimate children. When he died in 1685, his brother James became king: James II in England, Wales and Ireland and James VII of Scotland. James II was a Roman Catholic. He favoured Catholics and allowed them to be army officers, which Parliament had forbidden. He did not seek agreements with Parliament and arrested some bishops of the Church of England.

In 1688, important Protestants in England invited William of Orange, the Protestant ruler of the Netherlands and husband of James II’s daughter Mary, to invade England. When William reached England, there was no resistance. James II fled to France. William took over the throne as William III (William II of Scotland) and ruled jointly with Mary. This event was called the ‘Glorious Revolution’ because there was no fighting in England and it guaranteed the power of Parliament.

The next year, the Bill of Rights of 1689 confirmed the rights of Parliament and the limits of the king’s power. The king could no longer raise taxes or administer justice without Parliament’s agreement. It declared that the monarch must be a Protestant. A new Parliament had to be elected at least every three years (later this became seven years, and it is now five years). The laws passed after the Glorious Revolution are the beginning of what is called ‘constitutional monarchy’.

James II wanted to regain the throne and invaded Ireland with the help of a French army. William defeated James at the Battle of the Boyne in Ireland in 1690 — an event still celebrated by some in Northern Ireland today. James fled back to France.

In Scotland, an armed rebellion in support of James was defeated at Killiecrankie. All Scottish clans had to formally accept William by taking an oath. The MacDonalds of Glencoe were late in taking the oath and were all killed in the Glencoe massacre. This meant some Scots distrusted the new government.

Those who continued to believe James was the rightful king became known as Jacobites. Some joined him in exile in France; others were secret supporters.

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