Restoration (England)

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Restoration in English history, the reestablishment of the monarchy on the accession (1660) of Charles II after the collapse of the Commonwealth (see under commonwealth ) and the Protectorate . The term is often used to refer to the entire period from 1660 to the fall of James II in 1688, and in English literature the Restoration period (often called the age of Dryden) is commonly viewed as extending from 1660 to the death of John Dryden in 1700.

Restoration of Charles II

After the death of Oliver Cromwell in Sept., 1658, the English republican experiment soon faltered. Cromwell's son and successor, Richard, was an ineffectual leader, and power quickly fell into the hands of the generals, chief among whom was George Monck , leader of the army of occupation in Scotland. In England a strong reaction had set in against Puritan supremacy and military control. When Monck marched on London with his army, opinion had already crystallized in favor of recalling the exiled king.

Monck recalled to the Rump Parliament the members who had been excluded by Pride's Purge in 1648; the reconvened body voted its own dissolution. The newly elected Convention Parliament, which met in the spring of 1660, was overtly royalist in sympathy. An emissary was sent to the Netherlands, and Charles was easily persuaded to issue the document known as the Declaration of Breda, promising an amnesty to the former enemies of the house of Stuart and guaranteeing religious toleration and payment of arrears in salary to the army. Charles accepted the subsequent invitation to return to England and landed at Dover on May 25, 1660, entering London amid rejoicing four days later.

Politics under Charles II and James II

Control of policy fell to Charles's inner circle of old Cavalier supporters, notably to Edward Hyde, 1st earl of Clarendon , who was eventually superseded by a group known as the Cabal . The last remnants of military republicanism, as exemplified in the Fifth Monarchy Men , were violently suppressed, and persecution spread to include the Quakers. The Cavalier Parliament, which assembled in 1661, restored a militant Anglicanism (see Clarendon Code ), and Charles attempted, although cautiously, to reassert the old absolutist position of the earlier Stuarts.

The crown, however, was still dependent upon Parliament for its finances. The unwillingness of Charles and his successor, James II, to accept the implications of this dependency had some part in bringing about the deposition (1688) of James II, who was hated as a Roman Catholic as well as a suspected absolutist. The Glorious Revolution gave the throne to William III and Mary II .

England during the Restoration

The Restoration period was marked by an advance in colonization and overseas trade, by the Dutch Wars, by the great plague (1665) and the great fire of London (1666), by the birth of the Whig and Tory parties, and by the Popish Plot and other manifestations of anti-Catholicism. In literature perhaps the most outstanding result of the Restoration was the reopening of the theaters, which had been closed since 1642, and a consequent great revival of the drama (see English literature ). The drama of the period was marked by brilliance of wit and by licentiousness, which may have been a reflection of the freeness of court manners. The last and greatest works of John Milton fall within the period but are not typical of it; the same is true of John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress (1678). The age is vividly brought to life in the diaries of Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn, and in poetry the Restoration is distinguished by the work of John Dryden and a number of other poets.

Bibliography

See A. Nicoll, A History of Restoration Drama (1923); B. Willey, The Seventeenth Century Background (1934); D. Ogg, England in the Reign of Charles II (2 vol., 2d ed. 1955); G. N. Clark, The Later Stuarts (2d ed. 1956); C. V. Wedgwood, Seventeenth-Century English Literature (2d ed. 1970).

Restoration, the return in 1660 to the thrones of England, Ireland, and Scotland of Charles II (1630–85), exiled following the defeat of the royalists in the English civil wars (1642–6, 1648). In May 1659 English army leaders had deposed Oliver Cromwell's son Richard, who had succeeded his father as lord protector, thus initiating a series of complex ideological and factional struggles. On 13 December Col. Theophilus Jones and other Irish officers, quickly supported by Sir Charles Coote and Viscount Broghill (later Ist earl of Orrery), seized Dublin Castle, and declared their support for those in England and Scotland demanding a recall of parliament. They also began to purge the Irish army of religious and political radicals. Over the next few months support for a return to monarchy, seen as the only alternative to anarchy or military dictatorship, grew in all three kingdoms. On 15 February Coote and Broghill defeated an attempted counter‐coup by Sir Hardress Waller, a Co. Limerick landholder and one of the ‘regicides’ who had sentenced Charles I to death. An elected convention then awaited events in England, proclaiming Charles king on 14 May 1660, six days after London.

Irish Catholic hopes that the restored monarchy would improve their position were only partially fulfilled. Individual proprietors with a personal claim on the king's favour were restored to their estates. For others, however, the Acts of Settlement and Explanation modified rather than overturned the Cromwellian land settlement. Overall Catholics were left with just over 20 per cent of Irish land, compared with 59 per cent in 1641. The Protestant landed class, a newly united blend of Cromwellian and older elements, was now dominant, enjoying an effective monopoly of public office, central and local, until the reign of James II, when the fate of the Restoration land settlement became central to Catholic hopes and Protestant fears.

The king's personal religious sympathies remain unclear. A short period of open toleration under Baron Berkeley of Stratton, lord lieutenant 1670–2, may reflect Charles's own preferences, but might also be seen as an adjunct to the pro‐French foreign policy he had embarked on at that time. The position of Catholics was further complicated during the 1660s by the Remonstrance issue, while after 1673 and again during the Popish Plot pressures in England led government to adopt a tougher anti‐Catholic policy.

Bibliography

Hutton, Ronald , Charles II (1989)
Miller, John , Popery and Politics in England 1660–88 (1973)

Restoration. The restoration of the monarchy in 1660 was due more to the failure of alternative republican regimes than to the efforts of loyalists. An army junta dispersed the Rump Parliament in October 1659 but failed to rally civilian support. Dissident garrison soldiers restored the Rump and General Monck invaded England with the army of occupation in Scotland. He quickly realized that the Rump no longer possessed the consent of the nation; he therefore restored the MPs who had been excluded from the Commons in 1648, on condition that they dissolved Parliament so that new elections could be held. The resulting Convention—so called because it had not been summoned by the crown—invited Charles II to return. Suggestions that conditions should be attached came to nothing.

Restoration meant the return of legality, ending arbitrary or ‘sword’ government and changes enforced by a politicized army. Arbitrary high courts disappeared and Charles I's prerogative courts were not revived. Parliaments were again to be elected on the traditional franchises and by the old constituencies. The Lords returned. Levels of taxation fell sharply as most of the army was disbanded. An amateur militia replaced it. An Indemnity Act pardoned all except the regicides. The Convention contained a majority of former parliamentarians but old cavaliers in the 1661 Parliament tried to modify what had been done. Charles successfully resisted their attempts to exclude from office all who had fought his father and to restore estates to cavaliers who had lost them. This Parliament strengthened the crown with new treason laws, a Licensing Act establishing censorship, and a purge of urban corporations. It also enacted the Clarendon code restoring the church and it was this narrow settlement that provoked bitterness and lasting division.

J. R. Jones

Restoration in French history, the period from 1814 to 1830. It began with the first abdication of Emperor Napoleon I and the return of the Bourbon king, Louis XVIII, but was interrupted (1815) by Napoleon's return (the Hundred Days ). After Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo, Louis XVIII was again restored as king of France. The Bourbon regime was responsible for considerable French economic recovery and expansion and for the restoration of French prestige abroad. These years also saw the growth of the romantic movement in French literature and arts. However, the period marked the failure of the attempt to reconcile the royalist and Revolutionary traditions. Increasing political influence was exerted upon the moderate Louis XVIII by the ultraroyalists, dominated by his brother, the comte d'Artois, who succeeded (1824) Louis as King Charles X . The ultraroyalists sought a return to the ancien régime. They were aware, however, that this could not be achieved and acted instead to ensure their own political and social predominance. Their power was finally broken by the July Revolution of 1830.

Bibliography: See N. Hudson, Ultra-Royalism and the French Restoration (1936); G. de Bertier de Sauvigny, France and the European Alliance (1958), D. P. Resnick, The White Terror and the Political Reaction after Waterloo (1966); J. H. Stewart, The Restoration Era in France (1968).

Restoration, the re-establishment of monarchy in England, with the return of Charles II (1660); also the period marked by this event of which the chief literary figures are Dryden, Rochester, Bunyan, Pepys, Locke, and the Restoration dramatists. One of the characteristic genres of the period is Restoration comedy, or the comedy of manners, which developed upon the re-opening of the theatres. Its principal writers were Congreve, Etherege, Farquhar, Vanbrugh, and Wycherley, and its predominant tone was witty, bawdy, cynical, and amoral. The plays were mainly in prose, with passages of verse for the more romantic moments; the plots were complex and usually double, sometimes triple, though repartee and discussions of marital behaviour provide much of the interest, reflecting the fashionable manners of the day. The playwrights came under heavy attack for frivolity, blasphemy, and immorality (see Collier, Jeremy): they and their subsequent admirers defended their works as serious social criticism, and mirrors to the age. During the 18th cent. the plays were presented in more ‘genteel’ versions, and in the 19th cent. hardly at all: the 20th cent. saw a considerable revival of interest, with such notable productions as The Way of the World, one of the masterpieces of the period, in 1924 with Edith Evans as Millamant. (See also heroic drama and comedy.)

res·to·ra·tion / ˌrestəˈrāshən/ • n. 1. the action of returning something to a former owner, place, or condition: the restoration of Andrew's sight. ∎  the process of repairing or renovating a building, work of art, vehicle, etc., so as to restore it to its original condition: the altar paintings seem in need of restoration. ∎  the reinstatement of a previous practice, right, custom, or situation: the restoration of capital punishment. ∎  Dentistry a structure provided to replace or repair dental tissue so as to restore its form and function, such as a filling, crown, or bridge. ∎  a model or drawing representing the supposed original form of an extinct animal, ruined building, etc. 2. the return of a hereditary monarch to a throne, a head of state to government, or a regime to power. ∎  (the Restoration) the reestablishment of Charles II as King of England in 1660. ∎  (Restoration) [usu. as adj.] the period following this, esp. with regard to its literature or architecture: Restoration drama.

Restoration The restoration of the monarchy in 1660 was due more to the failure of alternative republican regimes than to the efforts of loyalists. An army junta dispersed the Rump Parliament in October 1659 but failed to rally civilian support. Dissident garrison soldiers restored the Rump and General Monck invaded England with the army of occupation in Scotland. He quickly realized that the Rump no longer possessed the consent of the nation; he therefore restored the MPs who had been excluded from the Commons in 1648, on condition that they dissolved Parliament so that new elections could be held. The resulting Convention invited Charles II to return.

Restoration meant the return of legality, ending arbitrary or ‘sword’ government and changes enforced by a politicized army. Arbitrary high courts disappeared and Charles I's prerogative courts were not revived. Parliaments were again to be elected on the traditional franchises and by the old constituencies. The Lords returned. Levels of taxation fell sharply as most of the army was disbanded. An Indemnity Act pardoned all except the regicides.

Restoration In English history, the re-establishment of the monarchy in 1660. After the death of Oliver Cromwell, his son and successor, Richard, was unable to prevent growing conflict or restrain the increasing power of the army. He resigned (1659), and the crisis was resolved by the march of General George Monck from Scotland. Army leaders backed down, and a new Parliament was elected. From exile, Charles II issued the Declaration of Breda (1660), promising an amnesty to opponents (except those directly responsible for the execution of Charles I), payment of the arrears in the army's wages, and religious toleration. He was invited by a new Parliament to resume the throne. The term Restoration is often extended to the period following 1660, and is especially associated with a flowering of English literature, notably in Restoration drama. In French history, it refers to the restoration of the Bourbons (1814–30) after the defeat of Napoleon.

restoration In the NT the concept is of putting things in order. John the Baptist (in the role of the new Elijah) has done that (Mark 9: 12), in the sense of having accomplished his mission successfully. The writer to the Hebrews (Heb. 13: 19) hopes to be ‘restored’ to the readers, either by being released from prison, or perhaps by a simple return visit.

The idea of a ‘universal restoration’ (Acts 3: 21) when God will re-establish the whole cosmos to its initial state of perfection (Rom. 8: 21) is expressed in terms of a new heaven and a new earth (Rev. 21: 1) and the salvation of all (Rom. 5: 18).

Restoration. The re-establishment of the Stuart Monarchy in Great Britain and Ireland in 1660, so the period following this event, later in the reign of King Charles II (1660–85) referred to as the Carolean period. Restoration architecture was strongly influenced by Continental fashion, the dominant style being Baroque derived from French and Netherlandish precedents. Typical Restoration buildings were the symmetrical houses of Pratt and Hugh May, the grander works of Talman, and the great contribution of Wren, whose chief sources were French and Italian.

restoration. Process of carrying on alterations and repairs to a building with the intention of restoring it to its original form, often involving reinstatement of missing or badly damaged parts, so it usually includes replication, that is new work in an old style. While often necessary after a disaster, it is generally regarded as more drastic than conservation, which suggests retention, repair, and maintenance. Wyatt's interventions at Hereford (1788–96), Salisbury (1789–92), and Durham (from 1794) Cathedrals were so ruthless that they provoked antiquarian outrage (mostly Carter's) and were later to enrage A. W. N. Pugin. Wyatville's work (1824–37) at Windsor Castle recased almost the whole ensemble, so that what we see now is virtually a creation of the Regency and William IV periods. The revival of interest in medieval ecclesiastical architecture in C19, and researches into liturgy, had a darker side, for often medieval fabric was destroyed to make the building conform to an architect-approved style (e.g. ‘Great’ Scott's ‘restoration’ of the north nave-arcade at the Church of St Mary de Castro, Leicester). Many churches were stripped of C17 and C18 furnishings, often with unfortunate results. In France, Viollet-le-Duc attempted to give several medieval buildings a stylistic unity they never had, and his work at Pierrefonds, Oise (1858–70), and Carcassonne (1844 on-wards—where he rebuilt the walls and fortifications), owed more to his own creative powers than to an archaeological approach. Another drastic (though less successful) French example was Abadie's work at St-Front, Périgeux. Ruskin, Morris, Webb, and others deplored such activities, and, prompted by Scott's proposals for Tewkesbury Abbey, Glos., and drastic Italian notions of ‘restoring’ the Church of San Marco, Venice, the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) was founded in order to promote a greater sensitivity to the retention of ancient fabric. Although architects such as Boito urged that ‘restoration’ should be less comprehensive and destructive, many churches were altered to make them conform to what was regarded as their ‘original’ state: this often involved the removal of Baroque and other accretions (even whole façades) and their replacement with conjectural designs. See also reconstruction.

Bibliography

Casiello (ed.) (1996);
Chamberlin (1979);
Crook (1995);
J. Fawcett (ed.) (1976a);
Morris (1966);
Pevsner (1972);
Pugin (1841, 1843, 1973);
Ruskin (1903–12)

Restoration (1660) The re-establishment in England and Scotland of the Stuart monarchy by placing Charles II, the exiled son of Charles I, on the throne. The Restoration was accompanied by the revival of the Church of England, the growth of Cavalier fortunes (although those who had sold their estates to pay fines could not get them back), and a flourishing cultural and social life. The Restoration did not restore the absolute authority of the Stuart monarchy, as Charles II was soon to discover.

restoration The addition of nutrients to replace those lost in processing, as in milling of cereals. See also fortification.