The Restoration in England

Context for Dryden, Pepys, Bunyan, and Behn

The Reformation in England

1517: Martin Luther Protests Catholic Church at Wittenberg

1547-1553 Protestant Edward VI

1553-1558 Catholic Queen Mary I

1558-1603 Protestant Queen Elizabeth I

Queen Elizabeth broadens British “Empire”Britain enters into slave trade

1583: Charter for Colony of Virginia Granted

The Early 17th Century

1603: James I of Scotland ascends to the throne

1611: Publication of King James Bible

1625: James dies; his son Charles I becomes king

Both James and Charles are “absolutist” kings

Increased Tensions between Parliament and Crown King James I

English Civil War

1642: Parliament raises army and civil war begins

Ceremonialists/Monarchists vs. Puritans/Parliamentarians

1649: Charles I tried for tyranny and treachery, beheaded in public on a large scaffold

1653: Oliver Cromwell sworn in as Protector

1653-1660 England is a Commonwealth, not a Monarchy

1658: Cromwell dies and his son replaces him

1660: Charles II (son of Charles I) returns from exile in France and is crowned king; this event is called the “Restoration” of the monarchy

Oliver CromwellKing Charles I

Great Plague of 1665

Bubonic Plague decimates London

Spread by fleas on rats

Rich flee to countryside; Gates of London locked

An estimated 100,000 people die in 1665

The Great Fire of 166680% of London Destroyed, including 13,000 houses

1660: Charles II founds Royal Adventurers into

Africa (Trade Company)

Hundreds of thousands of Africans are sent into

slavery

10-30% die in the Middle Passage

Sugar Trade: Barbados, Surinam, etc.

Abolitionists begin protests in C18

Restoration Daily Life

Theaters re-opened by Charles II

Women allowed to perform onstage

Trade increases

Coffee!

Book of Common Prayer imposed

Catholics and Nonconformists (Puritans) persecuted

Scientific discovery / trade and colonization

Literary interest in refinement and elegance (in contrast to Renaissance extravagance and evocation)

Samuel Pepys

Cambridge-educated

Secretary of the Admiralty

Ladies’ man

Pepys (“Peeps”)