The History of England in the Seventeenth Century

 

In 1603 Queen Elizabeth I was succeded by James I, son of Bloody Mary. In 1605 Catholic extremists, led by Gay Forks, plotted to kill the King. The plot failed and the conspirators were executed.

 

England faced three problems:

-         religious tensions

-         the relationship between Parliament and the Crown

-         class unrest

In 1625 Charles I came to throne. Three years later the Crown needed money and so incresead taxes. Parliament reacted with the “Petition of rights” declaring “No taxation without rapresentation”. The King sospended Parliament from 1629 to 1640. In 1642 the King was expelled by the population of London: Civil War started. Two forces faced each other: the Cavaliers and the Roundheads. On one side the Royalists supported by the Anglican Church and the Catholics, on the other the parliamentarians supported by the Gentry, the Puritans and the population of the cities. The leader of the Parlamientarian forces, called Ironsides, was Oliver Cromwell. He developed the “New Model Army”, which was the key to his success in the Civil War. In 1649 the King was condamned to death. England became a Republic with the name of “Commonwealth”.

 

Cromwell became a military dictator. Within the army two extreme factions had to be repressed: the Levellers (demanding universal sufferagie and religious freedom) and the Didgers (asking for a comunist division of property).

In 1651 Cromwell introduced the Navigation Act, to obstruct Dutch commerce. Provoking a maritime conflict, which concluded with the English victory.

Cromwell became Lord Protector.

 

After Cromwell's death, Charles II became King. With Test Act he banned Catholics from public amministration; and the with the Exclusion Bill he prevented a Catholic monarch from ascending to the throne.

In 1685 Charles II died and the Catholic James II seized the throne. Parliament

called James's Protestant daughter, who was married to William of Orange. William and Mary arrived in London and became King and Queen without the use of fource: this became known as the Glorious Revolution. They accepted the “Bill of Rights”, which ruled that the monarchy regned but didn't govern.