THE RESTORATION OF THE MONARCHY

1.1 Charles II

Charles II (1660-85), Charles I's son, had spent his exile in France; he was an admirer of Sun King, Louis XIV, and he had French tastes.

In 1660 the monarchy was restored and he came back to England.

In 1662 Charles patronised the Royal Society, which was an association of scientists and intellectuals. The motto of the society, nullius in verba (= "on the word of no one") was a direct challenge to the dependence of the old philosophy on authorities.

A series of acts were passed, like the Corporation Act (1661), which excluded the dissenters from public offices; the Act of Uniformity (1662), which imposed the use of the Book of Common Prayer and the Test Act (1673), which required all public employees to conform to the Church of England.

1.2 The Great Plague and the Great Fire

In 1665 there was a devastating outbreak of bubonic plague and in 1666 the Great Fire of London raged for five days, destroying nine-tenths of the buildings within the City's medieval walls. Charles II asked the architect Sir Christopher Wren to re-build the old insanitary City. Wren presented a plan for a new City with wide streets and squares, buildings and churches in the neoclassical style.