![]() Vividly chronicled in the diaries of Samuel Pepys, Charles II’s reign (1660–85) is remembered for its racy court, the revival of theatres, and new developments in art, daily life and architecture, exemplified by Sir Christopher Wren’s London churches. Many castles were pressed into active service for the first time since the Middle Ages and many – like Scarborough in North Yorkshire – underwent epic sieges. They killed a far greater proportion of the populations of England, Scotland and (especially) Ireland than the First World War. The civil wars and their aftermath were calamitous. Both sides armed themselves, and despite a widespread desire for compromise, civil war broke out in August 1642. Frustration boiled over as Charles refused to give Parliament real power in State and Church. His subjects became increasingly exasperated by the taxes he levied on them, and by the suppression of Puritanism by William Laud, the Archbishop of Canterbury.Īfter the fiasco of the Bishops’ Wars with the Scots of 1639–40 (provoked by the imposition of Charles’s religious reforms), the king was forced to recall Parliament in a bid to raise money. ![]() ![]() Impatient with parliamentary control, Charles ruled by royal decree (without Parliament) from 1629 until 1640. ![]()
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