THE EXCEPTION TO ABSOLUTISM: ENGLAND
HWH UNIT 2
CHAPTER 4.3
A CENTURY OF REVOLUTION
• 1603: Elizabeth dies
• 1642-1649: Civil War
• 1649-1660: Monarchy abolished
• 1660-1688: Monarchy again
• 1688: Glorious Revolution
• Parliament made superior to the king
ENGLAND HAS ISSUES IN THE 17TH CENTURY!
• End of the Tudor Dynasty (ruled since 1485)
• Religious Issues
• What will the Church of England’s beliefs and
practices be?
• Power Struggle
• Parliament wants more authority over the king
(or queen)
JAMES I (r. 1603-1625)
• First of the Stuart dynasty
• Believed in Divine Right absolutism
• Immediately at odds with
Parliament
• Taxes
• Religious Issues
• Anglican, but intolerant
• Upset Puritans
CHARLES I (r. 1625-1649)
• Petition of Right (1628)
• Rules without Parliament,
1629-1640
• The Long Parliament (16401653)
• Refused to grant Charles
new taxes
• Revolt in Scotland
CIVIL WAR, 1642-1649
• 1642: Charles tried to arrest
leaders of Parliament
• STRICTLY ILLEGAL
• Parliament forms an army
• Cavaliers vs. Roundheads
CAVALIERS VS. ROUNDHEADS
CAVALIERS
ROUNDHEADAS
•
FOR THE KING
•
FOR PARLIAMENT
•
NOBILITY
•
MIDDLE CLASS
•
ANGLICANS
•
MANY PURITANS
EXECUTION OF CHARLES I, 1649
THE INTERREGNUM, 1649-1660
The Commonwealth
The Protectorate
• 1649-1653
• 1653-1660
• Rule by parliament
• Direct rule by Oliver
Cromwell (d.1658)
• Imposed Puritan ideas
• Crushed Ireland
• “Lord Protector”
• Puritan dictatorship
• No parliament
CHARLES II (r. 1660-1685) AND THE RESTORATION
• Very popular
• Had Catholic sympathies
• Idolized Louis XIV
• Married a French woman
• Smart enough not to
challenge Parliament
JAMES II (r. 1685-1688) AND THE GLORIOUS
REVOLUTION OF 1688
• James II was overtly Catholic
• William and Mary
• The Glorious Revolution of 1688
• The English Bill of Rights
• Parliament is superior to the
king
• King must call Parliament
• Only Parliament can tax
• Catholics banned from office
CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT
• Limited (or Constitutional) Monarchy
• Political Parties
• Whigs
• Tories
• The Cabinet System
• Prime Minister
• Robert Walpole
• NOT DEMOCRACY