The History of England

453 Royal Indulgence

1686 had seen progress for James - but he was puzzled and frustrated by Anglican opposition from the English and Scottish parliaments. 1687 saw a continuation of the old

452 A New Reformation

From a happy start in 1685, James had begun to hit resistance in England to his campaign for Catholic emancipation. In 1686, he planned to accelerate the process. He expe

451 Exodus

As the English parliament was preparing to sit, news came in of a protestant cataclysm in the making in October 1685, and soon after refugees started arriving with horror

450 Beat Your Drums

At the parliament on April 1685, Scotland demonstrated how loyal subjects should treat their king - an example which was duly followed by their southern neighbours soon a

449 King James II of Great Britain

The reign of James II and the Glorious Revolution was a central part of the national story built by Whig historians. But since the 20th century the picture has been heavi

AAG 1666-1685 How Merrie is your Monarch?

The Dutch raid on the Medway effectively brought the Second Anglo Dutchto an end, and also the honeymoon period. From 1667 to 1681, Charles sought to play off factions in

AAG 1660-1666 Restoration

The settlements following the Restoration didn't turn out exactly as the Three Kingdoms or indeed Charles imagined, but nonetheless for the moment king and his parliament

448 Not So Merrie

After dismissing parliament of Oxford in 1681, Charles pursued alliance with the Tories and emasculation of the Whigs and Dissenters at all political levels. He pursued a

English Objects with the Three Ravens

Eleanor and Martin of the Three Ravens podcast and I have one (probably last) walk round some objects that we think make us lie back and think of England.   For maps, re

447 The Exclusion Brouhaha

In 1680 and 1681, Shaftesbury led an increasingly shrill and effective campaign, asppeling to popular opinion to force Charles into calling a new parliament. There he cou

446 The Popish Plot

In 1678 a fantasist and charlatan, Titus Oates, made a series of wild and dramatic accusations of a Catholic plot to assasinate the king. A series of extraordinary co-inc

445 Carnage

In 1677, Danby finally seemed to have cracked Charles' problem with parliament - until a diplomatic game of will-he-won't-he in the Anglo Dutch war rose to the level of f

444 Danby's New Way

Thomas Osborne, Earl of Danby had a plan as Charles' new 'Prime Minister', to repair the damage from the disastrous Third Anglo Dutch War. To rebuild his master's prestig

443 Charles' Great Game

In 1672, Charles sought to put the Treaty of Dover into operation; to join Louis XIV in making war on the Dutch Republic. The plan was to replace de Witt's government wit

Roifield and David's Stories of England in 50 Objects

Roifield and David talk about 5stories of England as part of the Very English Chat project, to tell stories of England in 50 objects. ‘A very English chat’ works is a wo

442 The Treaty of Dover

After a half an episode on the really important stuff - Nell Gwyn, Aphra Behn and Restoration theatre, we reach possibly the most remarkable treaty any British monarch ha

441 The Duellist

1667 had not been a great year for Charles, with the humiliation at the Medway, and his pro French strategy in ruins. So he needed a scapegoat, and he needed to re-assert

The Rage of Party with George Owers

The period from 1670 to 1714 is a period of astounding and dramatic change; the Exclusion crisis, the Glorious Revolution, years of war, the formation of Geat Britain - a

440 The Kingdom is Undone

In the wake of the Great Fire, Charles worked with parliament to prepare for the 1667 campaigning season in the Second Anglo Dutch war. But there was a problem, and the p

439 London Reborn

'Where there's muck, there's brass', and that was certainly the case with rebuilding London from the mess of ash and rubble that remained. And developers like Nicholas Ba