Cambridge Studies in Early Modern British History Series

The Cavalier Parliament and the Reconstruction of the Old Regime, 1661-1667

by Paul Seaward

Published 16 February 1989

This is an account of English politics in the 1660s, the years immediately following the Restoration of Charles II, after the Civil Wars and Interregnum in the course of which the monarchy had been abolished and Charles I executed. It is the first detailed study of Westminster politics in the 1660s for over twenty years, and the first ever in-depth study of the legislation of the 1660s. Dr Seaward shows how these drastic and dramatic events had changed perceptions and attitudes in British politics. He analyses the policies followed by the Restoration government (and in particular those of Charles II's chief minister, Clarendon) in attempting to restore royal power, and the effect of the Civil Wars' legacy of partisan bitterness on relations between government and parliament. The book also describes the breakdown in those relations, which occurred in 1666-7 and during the earlier crisis in 1663, and attempts to discover why relations were soured so quickly after the euphoria of the Restoration in 1660.