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Y109: The Making of Georgian Britain 1678–c.1760

Enquiry: The last years of Charles II 1678–1685 — England in 1678 and Anglican Church in 1685

  • 3 things to know
  • Unit group 1

Overview

Recall questions on England in 1678, Shaftesbury and opposition, the succession issue and the Exclusion Crisis, dissolution of the Oxford Parliament, extent of Charles’ power 1681–1685, the Rye House Plot, Tory power and Whig weakness 1681–1685, the Anglican Church in 1685.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

Describe the state of England in 1678.

Evaluation

Why did the succession become a crisis, and what happened over Exclusion?

Who and when

How did Shaftesbury build an opposition?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Describe the state of England in 1678.

    Model answer

    Titus Oates's allegations of a Jesuit plot to murder Charles II, followed by the unsolved killing of the magistrate Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey, produced a national panic in which Catholics were tried and executed and a new Test Act excluded them from Parliament.

  2. 2

    How did Shaftesbury build an opposition?

    Model answer

    The Earl of Shaftesbury organised the first Whig party out of the panic, using mass petitioning, the Green Ribbon Club, pope-burning processions and a flood of cheap print to keep the Catholic danger before the public and force the succession into politics.

  3. 3

    Why did the succession become a crisis, and what happened over Exclusion?

    Model answer

    Charles had no legitimate child, so his heir was his brother James, an open Catholic since resigning office under the Test Act; three parliaments between 1679 and 1681 pressed bills to exclude him, the Commons passing exclusion and the Lords rejecting it in 1680, while Charles refused everything except limitations on a Catholic successor's powers.

  4. 4

    Why did Charles summon Parliament to Oxford in 1681, and how did it end?

    Model answer

    He moved it away from the Whig crowds and militia of London, and having secured secret subsidies from Louis XIV he dissolved it after a week and governed for the rest of his life without Parliament.

  5. 5

    Why did the Whigs lose and the Tories triumph after 1681?

    Model answer

    Memories of the civil war made many fear that exclusion meant renewed rebellion, the Church preached obedience and non-resistance, Shaftesbury's tactics looked like the tactics of 1641, and the King's calm persistence let the loyalist reaction gather behind him.

  6. 6

    How secure was Charles II's position between 1681 and 1685?

    Model answer

    Very secure: booming trade lifted customs and excise, French subsidies and Rochester's Treasury reforms balanced the books, Whig justices and deputy lieutenants were purged so the counties were run by loyal Anglican gentry, and judges who served at pleasure were dismissed until the bench reliably upheld the prerogative.

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