RESTORATION

CAUSES

Reaction against Puritanism:

Oliver Cromwell was a staunch puritan and propagated Puritanism. But he was at the same time honest and sincere, other puritans were not so. They were selfish, greedy and dishonest. Because of their mean diplomacy the people were depressed and unhappy. They wanted to put an end to Puritanism were weak and as soon as Cromwell died, the path for monarchy was cleared.

Cromwell's Despotism:Oliver Cromwell established despotism with the help of the army. He taxed people as he wished and introduced religious reforms. He also restricted social and entertaining practices of the people.This very much touched personal life of the masses for which they were not prepared. The people were fed up with this sort of Government and came to hate the Government of Cromwell. Thus the commonwealth lost people's sympathy. After Oliver's death his son, Richard was made the protector and the commander. He was not a soldier and therefore failed.

Richard's Rupture with Parliament:After Oliver Cromwell's death, his son became the protector and Commander. However, the new Protector, Richard Cromwell picked up a quarrel with the army. It proposed to appoint Fleetwood as their Commander. Richard turned down this suggestion with contempt.

This led to a quarrel between Parliament and army. At this point the Parliament was dominated by the Republicans, who also turned against the commonwealth. In the end, Richard dissolved the Parliament. Thus Parliament and army both girded up their loins against the protector. A Parliament was called by the army which compelled Richard to resign in 1659. Richard Cromwell had proved an utter failure.

Stages towards Restoration:Before his death, Oliver Cromwell had nominated his son, Richard, as his successor. But he proved to be a worthless person. Since he was not a soldier, army officers took under advantage of the situation. They did not obey him and started behaving in an arbitrary manner. The result was corruption and disorder.The situation was getting from bad to worse. Therefore, some high officials revolted against Richard Cromwell under the leadership of General Monk. In 1659 a parliament was called.

In this, the members of the House of Commons quarreled with the army officers on the prevailing system of governance in the country. After the dissolution by the protector, some members of the Parliament collected themselves at West minster, into a ramp and captured political power. However, soon it became clear that the Parliament would not be able to pull on for long. General Lambert dissolved the Parliament and proposed to set up military rule.

EFFECTSInauguration of a limited monarchy:Monarchy was established again in 1660. The Stuarts were reseated on the English throne. However, their powers were restricted. This naturally gave recognition to Parliament.

Emergence of a powerful Parliament:By the Restoration, Parliament came to have a say over the king. In other words, along with the monarchy, Parliament was also restored. The powers of the Parliament were extremely limited during the rule of the commonwealth and protectorate. Besides, the House of Lords was done away with.

Recognition of old religion:The old Anglican Church was taken by the Parliament under its control. Before this, the control used to be exercised entirely by the king. Before the Parliament had a majority of the king's supporters, therefore the conviction Parliament was dissolved and the cavalier Parliament was constituted.The restoration of the Anglican Church was mother result of this Restoration.

Changes in social life:In order to raise the level of life, Oliver Cromwell had placed limitation on the means of entertainment. However, as soon as Charles II ascended the throne all such restrictions were lifted. People's life once again became colorful and romantic. In social field, the people started feeling as comfortable as they did before the civil war.

However, this had a degrading influence on the clergy. Instead of penance the clergymen gave themselves to gambling, wine and women. People became lazy and immoral. High ideals were replaced by low ideals, Thus besides other monarchical and Parliamentary changes, there were reaching and sweeping changes in the social field also.

Restoration of Money and Property:During the commonwealth's rule the properties and estates of the royalists were forfeited. Besides, those who opposed Cromwell in any way or showed their inclination for monarchy were given punishments.When monarchy was restored in the country the forfeited lands and properties were restored to the owners. Thus the position of the high class farmers and landlords were re-established. People started feeling more comfortable as the English people are conservative by temperament.