The Restoration period English literature

The Restoration period

(1660-1700)

The restoration of monarchy was remarkable in this period. The English literary tradition was re-established in this period. So this period is called the Restoration period.

It began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under King Charles II. ... The term Restoration is used to describe both the actual event by which the the the monarchy was restored and the period of several years afterwards in which a new political settlement was established.

The Restoration refers to the restoration of the monarchy when Charles II was restored to the throne of England following an eleven-year Commonwealth period during which the country was governed by Parliament under the direction of the Puritan General Oliver Cromwell.

Restoration. Restoration, Restoration of the monarchy in England in 1660. It marked the return of Charles II asking (1660–85) following the period of Oliver Cromwell's Commonwealth. The bishops were restored to Parliament, which established a strict Anglican orthodoxy.

Restoration literature is the English literature written during the historical period commonly referred to as the English Restoration (1660–1689), which corresponds to the last years of Stuart reign in England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland.

Industrialization developed in this period in England. The printing press was made free in order to enjoy the freedom of writing. The Bill of rights was approved in 1689.Royal society was set up in order to encourge scientific research.

Milton, John Bunyan, John Dryden, and William Congrive were powerful and influential writers in this period. Paradise lost, Samson Agonistes, The way of the World, Pilgrim’s Progress, Absalom and Achitophel are some remarkable creations of this age. The major literary works of the age were satiric.

•     1660: Restoration–Charles II, Stuart monarchy

•     1662: Royal Society established

•     1685: James, Duke of York, succeeds his brother Charles II

•     1688: Glorious Revolution–James II deposed, William and Mary share the English throne

•     1689: Bill of Rights–limits crown, affirms supremacy of Parliament

•     1689: Toleration Act–religious freedom for dissenters

•     1690: John Locke’s Essay Concerning Human Understanding

•     1707: Act of Union–England and Scotland for Great Britain

•     1745: Last Jacobite uprising

Restoration literature is the English literature was written during the historical period commonly referred to as the English Restoration(1660–1689), which corresponds to the last years of Stuart reign in England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. In general, the term is used to denote roughly homogenous styles of literature that center on a celebration of or reaction to the restored court of Charles II. It is a literature that includes extremes, for it encompasses both Paradise Lost and the Earl of Rochester's Sodom, the high-spirited sexual comedy of The Country Wife and the moral wisdom of The Pilgrim's Progress. It saw Locke's Treatises of Government, the founding of the Royal Society, the experiments and holy meditations of Robert Boyle, the hysterical attacks on theaters from Jeremy Collier, and the pioneering of literary criticism from John Dryden and John Dennis. The period witnessed news become a commodity, the essay develop into a periodical art form, and the beginnings of textual criticism.

•     The dates for Restoration literature are a matter of convention, and they differ markedly from genre to genre. Thus, the "Restoration" in drama may last until 1700, while in poetry it may last only until 1666 (see 1666 in poetry) and the annus mirabilis; and in prose it might end in 1688, with the increasing tensions over succession and the corresponding rise in journalism and periodicals, or not until 1700, when those periodicals grew more stabilized. In general, scholars use the term "Restoration" to denote the literature that began and flourished under Charles II, whether that literature was the laudatory ode that gained a new life with restored aristocracy, the eschatological literature that showed an increasing despair among Puritans, or the literature of rapid communication and trade that followed in the wake of England's mercantile empire.

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The Protectorate (1653–1659), might have continued if Oliver Cromwell's son Richard, who was made Lord Protector on his father's death, had been capable of carrying on his father's policies. Richard Cromwell's main weakness was that he did not have the confidence of the army. After seven months, an army faction known as the Wallingford House party removed him on 6 May 1659 and reinstalled the Rump Parliament and the second period of Commonwealth rule.

•     Charles Fleetwood was appointed a member of the Committee of Safety and of the Council of State, and one of the seven commissioners for the army. On 9 June 1659, he was nominated lord-general (commander-in-chief) of the army. However, his leadership was undermined in Parliament, which chose to disregard the army's authority in a similar fashion to the post-First Civil War Parliament. A royalist uprising was planned for 1 August 1659, but it was foiled. However, Sir George Booth gained control of Cheshire; Charles II hoped that with Spanish support he could effect a landing, but none was forthcoming. Booth held Cheshire until the end of August when he was defeated by General Lambert.

•     The Commons, on 12 October 1659, cashiered General John Lambert and other officers  and installed Fleetwood as chief of a military council under the authority of the Speaker. The next day Lambert ordered that the doors of the House be shut and the members kept out. On 26 October a "Committee of Safety" was appointed, of which Fleetwood and Lambert were members. Lambert was appointed major-general of all the forces in England and Scotland, Fleetwood being general.[6] The Committee of Safety sent Lambert with a large force to meet George Monck, who was in command of the English forces in Scotland, and either negotiate with him or force him to come to terms.[6]

•     It was into this atmosphere that Monck, the governor of Scotland under the Cromwells marched south with his army from Scotland. Lambert's army began to desert him, and he returned to London almost alone. Monck marched to London unopposed. The Presbyterian members, excluded in Pride's Purge of 1648, were recalled, and on 24 December the army restored the Long Parliament.[6] Fleetwood was deprived of his command and ordered to appear before Parliament to answer for his conduct. On 3 March 1660, Lambert was sent to the Tower of London, from which he escaped a month later. He tried to rekindle the civil war in favor of the Commonwealth by issuing a proclamation calling on all supporters of the "Good Old Cause" to rally on the battlefield of Edgehill, but he was recaptured by Colonel Richard Ingoldsby, a participant in the regicide of Charles I who hoped to win a pardon by handing Lambert over to the new regime.[6] Lambert was incarcerated and died in custody on Guernsey in 1694; Ingoldsby was indeed pardoned.