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The first king of the House of Stuart, Elizabeths successor James I (1603-1625) proved unable to understand the secret of Tudor absolutism, namely that it was a partnership between king and the upper classes. Although by the close of the century, the Tudors enjoyed semi-divine status, they had never claimed it. James I, for a change, strongly believed that kings were Gods lieutenants on earth, wrote a book explaining the theory of the Divine Right of Kings and frequently lectured on it to Parliament. Extract from King James Is speech before Parliament, 21 March 1609 The state of monarchy is the supremest thing upon earth; for kings are not only God's lieutenants upon earth, and sit upon God's throne, but even by God himself are called Gods Kings are justly called Gods, for that they exercise a manner or resemblance of divine power upon earth: for if you will consider the attributes to God, you shall see how they agree in the person of a king. God hath power to create or destroy, make or unmake at his pleasure, to give life or send death, to judge all and to be judged nor accountable to none; to raise low things and to make high things low at his pleasure, and to God are both souls and body due. And the like power have kings: they make and unmake their subjects, they have power of raising and casting down, of life and of death, judges over all their subjects and in all causes and yet accountable to none but God only 1
Rump and called a new assembly nominated by officers in the army. This was to be called the Barebones Parliament after the man who was head of the list, Praise-God Barebones, a leatherseller. It declared the union of the three countries and introduced civil marriages and other reforms. They decided to return the power to Oliver Cromwell and his army. Cromwell believed in a society based on a certain hierarchy (in 1649 he had personally hunted down and shot the remaining army Levellers) and he had officers in his army draw up an Instrument of Government Englands first written constitution by which he became Lord Protector. The Protector was to rule with the help of a Council of State, guided by laws made by Parliament which had a House of Lords again. However, when a year later the Parliament started questioning his religious tolerance and the necessity of a regular army, Cromwell dissolved it and ruled by himself, just like Charles I. His power was actually even greater than the kings who had not benefited from 1 the support of an army. He divided the country into eleven regions ruled by major-generals who enforced further laws to uphold morality. Any pleasure became illegal alehouses were shut, horse racing, cock fighting and Sunday sports banned, theatres were closed down. Cromwell was offered the crown twice, but he refused. Nevertheless, he named his son, Richard Cromwell, his successor as Lord Protector. He died on 3 September 1658. If his rule had been dominated by rebellions, economic depression and discontent, his sons brief government proved a complete disaster. Richard Cromwell had none of his fathers qualities and did not manage to impose his authority on either the Parliament or the army. It was one of Oliver Cromwells most loyal followers, General George Monk, who decided that the only solution to the crisis was the restoration of monarchy. The Restoration of 1660 was the restoration not only of the king but also of the institutions that had been abolished by the victorious Parliamentarians. The Restoration was popular among ordinary people, and there was much rejoicing. Maypoles*, banned by the Puritans, became a symbol of the Restoration and the rejection of Puritan rule. The Restoration Church of England created new holidays, including January 30 as a day of mourning and repentance commemorating the execution of Charles I and May 29 as a day of rejoicing marking the Restoration of his son, Charles II. The Restoration introduced some Continental culture to Britain. The theater, banned by the Puritans, was restored, and for the first time English theater allowed actresses to appear onstage. Another aspect of foreign culture was the coffeehouse; although first introduced in the 1650s, coffeehouses now became associated with a certain degree of social egalitarianism, political conversation and the availability of news and periodicals. In 1675 conversation in the establishments was deemed so threatening that the government attempted unsuccessfully to close all coffeehouses in England, but this effort was a failure. The Restoration was also a golden age for British science. The worlds oldest existing scientific organization, the Royal Society, received a royal charter in 1662. Its members in the late 17th century included the chemist Robert Boyle (162791) and the physicist and mathematician Isaac Newton (16421727), whose Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (1687) sets forth his theories of universal gravitation and the laws of motion, and is the foundation of physics until the 20th century. Whatever glamour attached to the Restoration was dimmed by disasters, most notably the great plague and fire of London. The year 1665 saw the last major outbreak of the plague in the British Isles, with perhaps 110,000 deaths, a quarter of the London population. The next year saw the Great Fire of London, spread by the citys wooden housing stock and the slowness of the city government to respond. More than 13,000 houses were destroyed, as well as some of Londons most important buildings. The fire created the opportunity for rebuilding, the most important example being Christopher Wrens new St. Pauls Cathedral (Burns, William E."Protestant Britain, 15291689." A Brief History of Great Britain, Brief History. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2010)
* A maypole is a tall wooden pole erected as a part of various European folk festivals, particularly on May Day