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The relationship between Charles II and Parliament was one of the defining themes of the Restoration period. Having witnessed his father's conflict with Parliament lead to civil war and execution, Charles II was determined to avoid the same fate. This lesson examines the Convention and Cavalier Parliaments, key legislation, and the ongoing tensions between Crown and Parliament.
The Convention Parliament sat from April to December 1660. It was called a "convention" because it was not summoned by a king — it was arranged by General Monck through free elections. Its main tasks were to formally invite Charles II back and to begin settling the political and financial aftermath of the Civil Wars.
| Act | Date | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Act of Indemnity and Oblivion | August 1660 | Pardoned most people for actions during the Civil Wars; excluded the regicides |
| Disbanding Act | September 1660 | Provided for the disbanding of the New Model Army |
| Navigation Act | 1660 | Strengthened English control of colonial trade |
The Cavalier Parliament was elected in May 1661 and sat for eighteen years, making it one of the longest Parliaments in English history. It was dominated by Royalist and Anglican members and passed a series of laws that shaped the Restoration settlement.
Key Term: The Cavalier Parliament is sometimes called the "Pensionary Parliament" because critics accused Charles of bribing MPs to support him.
The most significant legislation of the Cavalier Parliament was the Clarendon Code, a series of Acts named after Charles's chief minister, the Earl of Clarendon. These Acts were designed to restore the Church of England's dominance and restrict Nonconformists (Protestants who did not follow the Church of England).
| Act | Date | What It Did |
|---|---|---|
| Corporation Act | 1661 | Required all holders of municipal office to take Anglican communion |
| Act of Uniformity | 1662 | Required all clergy to use the Book of Common Prayer; around 2,000 ministers were ejected |
| Conventicle Act | 1664 | Made it illegal for more than five people to gather for non-Anglican worship |
| Five Mile Act | 1665 | Banned ejected ministers from living within five miles of their former parish |
Exam Tip: You must be able to name all four Acts of the Clarendon Code and explain their effects. A common question asks you to evaluate how far the Clarendon Code achieved religious unity. Remember that it drove Nonconformists underground rather than eliminating dissent.
Unlike modern monarchs, Charles II depended on Parliament for much of his income. The Convention Parliament granted him an annual revenue of £1.2 million, but actual receipts frequently fell short of this figure.
| Source | Detail |
|---|---|
| Customs duties | Taxes on imports and exports |
| Excise duties | Taxes on domestic goods such as beer and cider |
| Crown lands | Income from royal estates |
| Hearth Tax (1662) | A tax of two shillings per hearth per year |
| French subsidies | Secret payments from Louis XIV of France (from the 1670s) |
Charles's chronic shortage of money meant he could never be truly independent of Parliament. This financial dependence was a major check on royal power throughout the Restoration.
The Earl of Clarendon served as Lord Chancellor and was Charles's most powerful minister in the early Restoration. However, he became increasingly unpopular due to:
In 1667, Clarendon was dismissed and fled to France, where he died in exile in 1674.
After Clarendon's fall, power was shared among a group of five advisers whose initials conveniently spelled CABAL: Clifford, Arlington, Buckingham, Ashley Cooper, and Lauderdale. This was not a formal cabinet but a loose grouping of ministers with different interests and loyalties.
Key Figure: Anthony Ashley Cooper (later Earl of Shaftesbury) would become one of the most important opposition politicians of the Restoration, leading the campaign to exclude the Catholic Duke of York from the succession.
In 1670, Charles II signed the Secret Treaty of Dover with Louis XIV of France. The treaty had two versions — a public one about military alliance against the Dutch, and a secret one in which Charles promised to:
Exam Tip: The Treaty of Dover is significant because it shows Charles's willingness to act behind Parliament's back. If the secret clauses had been widely known at the time, they would have caused a political crisis. This topic links to later questions about trust between Crown and Parliament.
Question: "The Clarendon Code (1661–1665) was the most important feature of the relationship between Charles II and Parliament." How far do you agree?
A Level 4 answer would weigh the Clarendon Code against the Cavalier Parliament's control of finance, the Secret Treaty of Dover of 1670, and the Test Act of 1673. The Clarendon Code — the Corporation Act of 1661, the Act of Uniformity of 1662, the Conventicle Act of 1664, and the Five Mile Act of 1665 — certainly defined one axis of the relationship: Parliament used legislation to impose Anglican uniformity on a king who personally preferred toleration. Around 2,000 Nonconformist ministers were ejected at the Great Ejection of 24 August 1662, demonstrating Parliament's capacity to override the spirit of the Declaration of Breda. However, the more structurally important feature of the Crown–Parliament relationship was financial dependence. The Convention Parliament granted Charles II an ordinary revenue of approximately £1.2 million, but actual receipts regularly fell below this, compelling Charles to seek additional grants, Hearth Tax revenue from 1662, and — from 1670 — secret French subsidies of around £230,000 per year under the Treaty of Dover. Because Parliament controlled the purse, it could force Charles to withdraw his Declaration of Indulgence in 1673 and accept the Test Act. In that sense, financial dependence was the underlying reality; the Clarendon Code was its most visible legislative expression. A Level 4 response would conclude that while the Clarendon Code shaped religious policy, financial dependence shaped the constitutional balance, and both were manifestations of the same fundamental fact: after 1660 Charles II could not govern without Parliament, however much he might resent the limitation.
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