Kathye on the Long Parliament

Palace of Whitehall, Execution of Charles I, John Weesop

The Long Parliament (Kathye Macias-Ramirez) 

In order to understand the Long Parliament some background knowledge of the Short Parliament is needed. To begin, the Short Parliament was summoned by King Charles I in 1640, the first of such in 11 years (Short). The king previous to this had entered into what is now known as the Bishops’ War. War erupted due to the king's determination to implement Anglican—the Church of England—on those belonging to the Scottish Church. Meanwhile the Scottish Church wanted to abolish episcopacy (Bishops’), defined by Dictonary.com as a “government of the church by bishops” which includes “ministers, namely bishops, priests or presbyters, and deacons” (episcopacy). Despite the king's efforts he lost and was now out of money and in need of more. Money that only a Parliament could raise to continue funding the war (Long). However, the Parliament brought into question concerns that they had over past actions by the king. This led the king to question the Parliament's willingness to raise the funds to fight the Bishops’ War. Nevertheless, the Parliament set a date for further discussion on the topic on May 7^th, but on May 5^th the king dissolved the Parliament (Short). Shortly after, England was invaded marking the start of the second Bishops’ War.

           It wasn’t until November of later that year that a new Parliament was summoned. This Parliament however was even less adamant to the requests of King Charles I and his power. For example, the Parliament made it “statutory” (Long) to hold repeated meetings, along with an act that would no longer allow for the dissolution of a Parliament unless it had the authorization of its members. This move by the Parliament upset the king and soon led to a series of Civil Wars . By 1646 the king had been defeated (Long). The power then transferred over to the army, led by Thomas Pride who led the arrest of 45 Members and kept out another 186 whom he believed would not be loyal to the cause of punishing the king. The Parliament was then divided by those who remained, known as the Rump, after Pride's Purge (Pride’s). The remaining Rump set the course of the trial and execution of the king (Long). Out of the one hundred and thirty five appointed to the high court of Justice, only fifty-nine signed off on the death warrant (Hughes). The beheading of King Charles I was said to have brought heartache to the people, one bishops described the situation as unique and touching to the point that, ‘. . .women miscarried, [and] men fell into melancholy' (Hughes). In the end, there were two conclusions to the Long Parliament

. The first of those dissolutions was in 1653, however it did not have the formal approval, or royal assent (Long). This technicality was then finally resolved in December of 1660 after twenty years.   

“Bishops' Wars.” Encyclopædia Britannica, 28 Aug. 2017,

           https://www.britannica.com/event/Bishops-Wars

"episcopacy." Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 28 Aug. 2017. <Dictionary.com

Hughes, Ann. “The Execution of Charles I.” BBC,

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/civil_war_revolution/charlesi_execution_01.shtml. Accessed 28 Aug. 2017.

“Long Parliament.” Encyclopædia Britannica, 28 Aug. 2017,

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Long-Parliament

“Pride's Purge, 'the Rump' and regicide.” UK Parliament, 28 Aug. 2017,

http://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/parliamentaryauthority/civilwar/overview/prides-purge/

“Short Parliament.” Encyclopædia Britannica, 28 Aug. 2017,

    https://www.britannica.com/topic/Short-Parliament

Rachel on James II (1685-88)

James II, unknown artist, National Portrait Gallery, London

James II, 1685-88 (Rachel Vachon)

Born on October 14, 1633 to Charles I and Henrietta Maria, James II was only their second surviving son and the last monarch to rule from the direct Stuart family line from 1685 - 1688. He served as the Duke of York and took up refuge in Oxford during the English Civil Wars. After the cities defeat and his father’s execution in 1649, though, James II fled to the continent with his brother and mother and joined the French army where he distinguished himself as a competent soldier and leader almost immediately. Later going on to command the right wing of the Spanish army, as well, at the Battle of the Dunes. But once Cromwell had died and his brother, Charles II, was restored to the English throne as King in 1660, James II returned to England with the title of Duke of Albany and took a special interest in commanding the Royal Navy as Lord High Admiral from 1660 – 1673. At this time, he also married Anne Hyde, daughter of Clarendon, Charles II’s chief minister, with whom he had two surviving children with, Mary and Anne.

            Cerca 1669 James II experienced his first significant upset with the public when he converted to Catholicism (supposedly after having been influenced by his time in France and Spain), but he agreed to continue raising Mary and Anne as Protestants and continued to attend Anglican services for quite some time afterwards. In 1677, he even consented to his daughter Mary’s marriage to the Protestant William of Orange. However, this was greatly overshadowed by his marriage to a 15-year-old Catholic princess, Mary of Modena, following Anne Hyde’s dead in 1671 – creating a widespread panic over the possibility of one day producing a Catholic heir to the throne.

            In an attempt to quell this, Parliament pass the Test Act in 1673, excluding Catholics from political office, as well as introducing the Exclusion Bill, which would substitute James’ succession to the throne with Charles’ illegitimate son, the Duke of Monmouth. The hysteria reached its peak around 1678 when a conspiracy theory known as the Popish Plot began to circulate – claiming that Jesuits were planning to assassinate Charles so that James could finally take the throne and Catholic rule would establish itself in England once and for all. Charles dissolved the Parliament before this Exclusion Bill could pass, and made no move otherwise to hinder his brother’s succession, so upon his death James was officially crowned King on April 23, 1685.

And he was immediately met with opposition, having to face two rebellions the summer of that very same year. One led by the Duke of Argyll in attempt to remove his reign over Scotland, and a second, much larger one led by the Duke of Monmouth himself. But the rebellions were swiftly defeated, and the Monmouth rebels were punished by Judge Jeffrey’s notorious Bloody Assizes. King James then issued the Declaration of Indulgence, which suspended the Test Act, and proceeded to appoint Catholic supporters all throughout the government and military, including Parliament, while handing Oxford and various other academic positions over to the church as well. To make matters even worse, it was announced that Mary of Modena had given birth to a son, James Francis Edward, in June of 1688 – solidifying everyone’s fears of a Catholic succession.

            The archbishop of Canterbury and six of his bishops attempted to petition that King James withdraw his orders, but the King simply prosecuted the authors of the petition for “seditious libel” instead. Desperate, a group of Protestant nobles begged William of Orange, James’ son-in-law, to return to England and overthrow the King. So, in November, William arrived with an army and was able to use the fact that a large majority of the Royal army and navy no longer trusted the King to take control. Being abandoned by both Mary and Anne, James fled to France and remained there until his death on September 6, 1701. On February 12, 1689, the Convention Parliament announced that King James had abdicating and Mary had been crowned Queen in his place, meaning William of Orange was in turn the new King.

Paige on the Popish Plot (1678)

The Popish Plot (Paige Hill)

The Popish Plot took place in the summer of 1678. King Charles II looked into some rumors made of a plot against his life, which then would mean his Roman Catholic brother the Duke of York would be placed on the throne by Jesuits. The rumors were given credit because Titus Oates, an Anglican clergyman who faked converting to Catholicism, brought evidence before the Privy Council. Oates made up false accusations about such figures as the Archbishop of Dublin, and even servants of Queen Catherine. These accusations were seen to be true because of letters written between the Duchess of York’s secretary and French contacts. This was considered enough proof to validate Oates’s claims of the plot. However, there was also a lot of tension within England at this time which helped to further the hysteria around the plot because the Whigs (puritans) along with Lord Shaftesbury were trying to get rid of the monarchy through spreading hatred for the Catholics and France in particular. Panic and hysteria would continue to rise because Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey, the man who took a sworn statement from Oates, was found dead, leading many people to continue to think that the claims were legitimate. The hysteria and panic produced by the allegations made would ultimately result in many Jesuits, Catholics, going into hiding because tensions in England were so high. Jesuits were not exactly safe. The first five Jesuits to be arrested were those who had given Oates difficulty. And even though other Jesuits in order to save them would attempt to show that Oates was lying about overhearing Jesuits plotting the supposed attempt through showing that he had not been in London where the supposed plotting had been. But they were not considered credible because they were said to be “able to lie under oath” because as Catholics they could be given exemption from the Law through “papal dispensation” (http://www.jesuit.org.uk). Therefore, the first five Jesuits would lose their lives and be hanged at Tyburn. Before the hysteria of the Popish Plot would die down, many innocent people would lose their lives because of the false accusations. Eventually Titus Oates would be found to have lied and the panic caused by his claims would die. 

Main Source and Picture: http://www.jesuit.org.uk/popish-plot-1678

Secondary Source:   https://www.britannica.com/event/Popish-Plot

Chris on James Scott, Duke of Monmouth

James Scott, Duke of Monmouth and Buccleuch (Circa 1682) By Sir Peter Lely

Source: http://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/1171154

James Scott, Duke of Monmouth (Chris Graham)

James Scott, or James Croft, was born the illegitimate son of King Charles II on April 9^th, 1649 in the Netherlands where his father was hiding in exile following the execution of King Charles I. His mother was a mistress of Charles II, Lucy Walter, otherwise known as Mrs. Barlow. Lucy and young James traveled frequently and in 1656 they found themselves in London and unfortunately captured by the Republican government and imprisoned in the Tower of London. Upon their release they moved to Flanders, where young James was subsequently kidnapped by an agent of Charles and taken to Paris to be placed in the care of his paternal grandmother Henrietta Maria of France live in the house of William Crofts, whose surname young James eventually adopted. In 1662 after James’ father, King Charles II, took the throne, James was brought to London where he was named Duke of Monmouth, Earl of Doncaster, and Baron Scott of Tinsdale. All of this at the tender age of 14. Later, in 1663, James married Anne Scott, the 4^th countess of Buccleuch. The two had seven children, whose decedents are still holding royal positions to this day (Sarah, Duchess of York and Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester). At age 16 James began various careers in the military and government. He served in the Royal Navy under his Uncle, The Duke of York, the future King James II. Charles II also sent James to Paris as an ambassador in 1672. That same year, he commanded British troops in aid of King Louis XIV of France, Charles II’s first cousin, against the Dutch. James’ other various titles included   Lord High Chamberlain of Scotland, Master of the Horse, Chancellor of Cambridge University and Captain-General of all the land forces of England, Scotland, and Wales. Since King Charles II had no legitimate children, his brother, The Duke of York, claimed rightful ownership of the throne. However, there was a public demand for a protestant heir and James of Monmouth fit the bill perfectly. Unfortunately, Charles II issued a proclamation that his only marriage was to his current wife Catherine of Braganza, and since their marriage was childless, James had no right to the throne. He was then sent to Scotland to suppress an uprising which earned him more fame and favor among the people and was therefore sent to the Netherlands in temporary exile. He was in exile on February 6, 1685 when his father died and his uncle became King James II. In retaliation, James gathered an army and planned an invasion of England to secure the throne. He landed in June of 1685 and promptly proclaimed himself King. In July, his army fought that of James II and was soundly defeated. James fled the battlefield disguised as a peasant and was discovered hiding in a ditch three days later. He was arrested and sentenced to death, but not before groveling at the feet of his uncle and begging for his life. James, Duke of Monmouth was beheaded on Tower Hill on July 15, 1685. Sources claim it took anywhere from five to eight blows of the axe before the job was done.

Primary Sources:

http://www.unofficialroyalty.com/april-9-1649-birth-of-james-scott-1st-duke-of-monmouth-illegitimate-son-of-king-charles-ii-of-england/

 https://www.britannica.com/biography/James-Scott-duke-of-Monmouth

Ally on Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell, 1599-1658 (Ally Leedy)

Oliver Cromwell, by Robert Walker, National Portrait Gallery, London

Oliver Cromwell—a man of many nobilities and significant honor—began his life as a simple country gentleman when he was born to his parents Robert Cromwell and Elizabeth Steward in 1599. His life of fame and glory began in 1628 when he was elected for Parliament in England at the mere age of 27 under the rule of King Charles I. This position as a statesman helped Cromwell form his own perspective on what a government should look like and how people should behave. Through this realization, he became a highly-outspoken Puritan; and because of his views, he was re-elected into Parliament in 1640. However, a couple years after his election, in 1642, a Civil War broke out of England—primarily between religions but there were other reasons as well. By the time the war broke out, he was a middle-aged man that had no military training whatsoever with five children and a wife to care for. Up until that point, even though he was a statesman, he was almost and average joe. However, after that point, things changed for him; and his life took a completely different turn. He began to help organize fleets of armies for the war which got him involved in the atmosphere of war. On January 14, 1645, he became the deputy commander of the “New Model Army” of which decimated the main Royalist force at the Battle of Naseby against King Charles I and his army. However, the King and his troops surrendered and not long after, the King died. After the King’s death, Cromwell served in the Rump Parliament and set out to reform part of the legal system through the Blue Laws. Cromwell’s power and authority stemmed from his military ability and his unique relationships with his troops, whom he called his “Ironsides.” He always led the cavalry from the front which led to a lot of injuries. Later in the year of 1645 after the King’s death, he pushed for the formation of a standing army with central funding and central direction, of which, after being passed, still stands today. He commanded campaigns in England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales throughout the late 1650s and was known as their “lord protector” from 1653 until he passed in 1658. After Cromwell’s King-like reign ended, the licentious Restoration Period began with King Charles II in 1660 and lasted through 1680. That goes to show that Cromwell really did make a difference in the people’s judgements of how they should be lead.

Main source:http://www.history.com/topics/british-history/oliver-cromwell

Edward Taylor the Water Poet and Sir John Denham, by William Dobson (c. 1664)

Sir John Denham (1615-69)

Denham (on the right) was one of the most highly esteemed writers of the mid-seventeenth century and long after, along with Abraham Cowley and Edmund Waller.  The "long eighteenth century" especially prized these poets, though they are not read much now.  Denham's topographical Cooper's Hill (first edition, 1642) was widely read well into the nineteenth century for its focus on nature and national identity. Its intricate prosody, great use of the "heroic" couplet for special effects, and its framing of the outdoors in artistic space were immensely influential.  John Dryden championed this passage on the Thames:

O could I flow like thee, and make thy stream
My great example, as it is my theme!
Though deep, yet clear, though gentle, yet not dull,
Strong without rage, without o'er-flowing full.  (189-92)

The sound echoes the sense, as Alexander Pope would have it in An Essay on Criticism (1711). Denham's vowels, consonants, and meter are mimetic of the ever-flowing Thames, "the harmony of things." He made the water and the poetry a double-sided entity to explain the greatness of the river and, not inconsequentially, the perfect Augustan poetic style, showing rather than telling exactly
what couplets are supposed to do.

Samuel Johnson, in The Life of Denham, qualifies his praise: "The lines are in themselves not perfect, for most of the words are to be understood simply on one side of the comparison, and metaphorically on the other; and if there be any language which does not express intellectual operations by material images, into that language they cannot be translated. But so much meaning is comprised in so few words; the particulars of resemblance are so perspicaciously collected, and every mode of excellence separated from its adjacent fault by so nice a line of limitations; the different parts of the sentence are so accurately adjusted; and the flow of the last couplet is so smooth and sweet--that the passage however celebrated has not been praised above its merit. It has beauty peculiar to itself, and must be numbered among those felicities which cannot be produced at will by wit and labour, but must arise unexpectedly in some hour propitious to poetry."

Both passages are from Seventeenth-Century British Poetry 1603-1660, ed. Rumrich and Chaplin (New York: Norton, 2006), 483, 739.

Tayla on the Great Plague of 1665

The Great Plague, 1665-1666 (Tayla Skidgel)

The most devastating outbreak of bubonic plague to ravage London rose in April 1665 and fell by February 1666. Black rats that had stowed away on cargo ships arriving from foreign countries carried the fleas that hosted the deadly Yersinia pestis bacteria. Once on land, the rats gravitated to poor city regions with filthy, overcrowded streets. After the rats succumbed to the disease, the infested fleas found new human hosts. Generally, the poor were left to fend for themselves while the more affluent citizens escaped to the country. Victims of the plague endured treacherous pain and odds. The disease caused lymph nodes in the neck, armpits, and groin to swell and turn black; symptoms included vomiting, headache, and fever. Within two weeks of infection, sufferers had a thirty-percent chance of dying. At the height of the plague in September, over seven thousand Londoners died in one week alone. Modern estimates suggest that the disease took over 100,000 lives inside and outside of the city’s walls. In concurrence with the devastating loss of life, London experienced profound economic and social repercussions. All intercountry trade was halted and countless jobs were lost. King Charles II and Parliament were forced to flee to Oxford while the Lord Mayor of London and his alderman stayed in the city to uphold the King’s official edicts to contain the disease. The homes of the infected were locked, marked, and guarded by watchmen. Searchers scoured the city for the dead, collected the bodies in wagonloads, and buried them in communal pits each night. Public funeral services were strictly prohibited. Countless remedies were pursued to counteract the plague: thousands of cats and dogs were killed as suspected hosts; fires were lit to cleanse the air; and sores were bled to rid the body of sickness. Contemporary studies suggest that a combination of factors led to the eventual end of the outbreak. Both rats and humans may have developed a stronger immunity to the disease as the cold winter months and improved quarantine measures discouraged fleas and their rodent hosts. While the Great Fire of 1666 did not eradicate the plague, the destruction brought on by the fire did—ironically—provide Londoners with a chance to thwart future epidemics. Streets were rebuilt with wider passages to avoid overcrowding and sewage systems were modified to promote cleanliness.

Main source: http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/contagion/plague.html

Supplemental source: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/great-plague/

Picture source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/famouspeople/samuel_pepys/

Tara on the Great Fire of London, 1666

http://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/greatfire.jpg

The Great Fire of London (Tara Olivero)

What came to be known as the Great Fire of London started in the early hours of September 2, 1666, in Pudding Lane near London Bridge, at the house of a baker named Thomas Farynor. His family fled when they discovered the flames; the fire soon spread towards warehouses housing flammable goods near the Thames. The mayor of London, Sir Thomas Bloodworth, received news of the fire but didn’t take it seriously, and flames continued to spread north but were luckily stopped from spreading south across the river by an open space on the London Bridge. The most viable solution to fighting a fire of this size was to destroy the buildings in its path as the fire moved north, but the mayor wavered because of his concerns over the cost of rebuilding. Samuel Pepys, a diarist of the time period and a clerk of the Royal Navy, recommended to King Charles II that the buildings should indeed be pulled down; unfortunately, the strong wind allowed the fire to jump gaps of up to twenty houses, so bringing down single buildings didn’t help much. Londoners began to panic and started to flee as the fire continued to move through different neighborhoods of the City of London, towards the wealthy Cheapside and even towards St. Paul’s Cathedral, built in the Middle Ages. Pepys then suggested that widespread demolishment of the houses in the fire’s path might be more efficient to widen the gap and stop the fire from jumping so far from house-to-house, so the Navy began using gunpowder to demolish huge blocks of buildings in the fire’s future path. The demolition plans widened the break between flames when the fire reached a brick wall and a now-slowing wind began blowing the fire back south towards the river. The fire that began on a Sunday wasn’t fully extinguished until Thursday. With an official death toll of four, over 1/6th of the population of London was left homeless and 373 acres of the City were destroyed. The one positive effect of the fire is that many of the plague-infested rats were destroyed, slightly slowing the spread of the disease. Who was at fault for the fire was highly contested; it was blamed on foreigners at first and on Roman Catholics during the Popish Plot a decade later, though most now agree it was a result of the original baker or his maid not properly raking the ashes in their oven.

Main Resources: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/civil_war_revolution/great_fire_01.shtml; http://www.pepys.info/fire.html;http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/great-fire-of-london.asp

Examples for L322, Spring 2019

Charles II by John Michael Wright

Charles II (1630-85)

Charles II was king of England between 1660-85.  He is important as a monarch because his personality and governing style helped define the era of the Restoration, when the monarchy was reintroduced to England after an eighteen-year absence.  Several events occurred that had an important impact on Great Britain and influenced the founders of the United States of America in some ways.  The Restoration (1660) obviously reintroduced the monarchy after eighteen years of a Commonwealth and Protectorate.  In the same year, the king founded the Royal Society, which encouraged the spread of scientific knowledge and empiricism. In 1665, the last great outbreak of bubonic plague ravaged London. The Great Fire of 1666 destroyed most of what was left of medieval London, including St. Paul's Cathedral.  There were two wars with the Dutch (1667, 1672), and an enormous constitutional crisis in 1678 known as the Popish Plot, which involved the possible succession of his Catholic brother, James II.  Charles loved drama and supported the reopening of the theatres at the Restoration.  He was famously libertinish, with four titled mistresses and several illegitimate children. He tried to be an absolute ruler and closed Parliament in 1681, but this kind of governing style did not work.  He was indeed succeeded by his brother James on his death in 1685.

Main source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/charles_ii_king.shtml

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Stanzas from Dryden's poem, photo from St. John's College, Cambridge, U.K.

Annus Mirabilis

The Latin phrase means "year of wonders," but in the present context, it refers to an important poem by John Dryden (1631-1700), the most important English poet and playwright in the second half of the seventeenth century.  It was published in 1667, and at first seems to be about the Great Fire of London, which destroyed four-fifths of the old city, spread by heat and tinder, since most of London was still made of wood. But the poem is mostly about the war with the Dutch, ruminates on history and events and is certainly occasional.  It's a public utterance about something of public concern. Though much Restoration and eighteenth-century poetry is in "heroic" couplets, Annus Mirabilis is in pentameter quatrains rhyming abab. Clearly Dryden thought this form was better for telling a story. The website I consulted mentions the above stanzas as important because they give a message of hope after such a disaster.  I would add that the poet uses simple language, almost colloquial, to get this message across.  It is not a short poem, and must have been interesting to its original audience.

Sources:  the poem itself:   https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/d/dryden/john/annus_mirabilis/poem.html

the site Historic UK on the fire:  http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryMagazine/DestinationsUK/Survivors-of-the-Great-Fire-of-London/

the St. John's College page on the poem: http://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/john-dryden-annus-mirabilis-1666

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King Charles II being presented with the symbol of hospitality, the pineapple that had just been grown in his hothouse, the first in England. In the background is a formal garden c1675-80 – Oil on Canvas, artist unknown courtesy Royal Collection © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

The Restoration


The term Restoration usually refers to two things in English history. A dictionary definition would tell us that it is the year the monarchy was restored in England, 1660. But it is more than this. Mainly it signifies a very definite period from 1660 to about 1680, centering on the king at the time, Charles II, and several important events like the Plague of 1665 and the Fire of 1666. It was a definite culture and perspective shift after nearly twenty years of Puritan rule by Oliver Cromwell and Parliament, who were victors in the English Civil War and who executed Charles's father Charles I in 1649 and abolished the monarchy. Morals were different, and it was allegedly a more licentious time. The king was open about his mistresses and had an aristocratic attitude toward marriage and relationships. The Puritans in this way were probably more like us. They didn't like adultery and hypocrisy and were in favor of companionate marriage, where men and women were more equal and tried to be faithful and godly. Plays were very frank about these same matters, making fun of old Puritans but also the new Restoration types.  Comedies tended to be satirical and critical of society. The Earl of Rochester wrote obscene verse that commented on the court and broke literary conventions.  Yet there were other developments.  Aphra Behn, the first professional woman writer in England, wrote plays and competed in a male-dominated arena.  Mary Astell was an important feminist who argued that women should avoid marriage because it was bad for them, and that they should empower themselves through education. The Royal Society was founded in 1660, which helped spread the new science. During this time there were important discoveries like cells, germs, and the circulation of the blood.

source:
http://www.encyclopedia.com/history/modern-europe/british-and-irish-history/restoration-england