HistoryExtra
type: channel
link: https://www.historyextra.com
description: Home of Britain’s bestselling history magazine and award-winning podcast
date: 2026-01-16T15:18:36.000Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: Star witness: how the Royal Observatory transformed our understanding of astronomy and time
items: “Radical ideas that had been preached and published could not be unthought”: Clare Jackson on the legacy of the Restoration
items: Making of a monarch: how the young Charles II endured war, defeat and exile before the Restoration
items: Art, culture and science in the Restoration period
items: Your ultimate guide to the Restoration period
items: A timeline of the Restoration period
items: 1662: Restoration tragedy
items: Your guide to King Charles II, the ‘merry monarch’
items: Nell Gywn: the orange girl who became a king's mistress in Restoration England
items: Coffee, plague and the Great Fire: the pleasures and perils of living in Restoration London

Star witness: how the Royal Observatory transformed our understanding of astronomy and time
type: item
date: 2025-11-26T09:00:37.000Z
subject: General History
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Education
subject: Historical events
subject: Space
subject: The Restoration
description: From the moment it was founded 350 years ago, the Royal Observatory in Greenwich drove our understanding of astronomy, navigation and time. Louise Devoy explores eight milestones in the history of this pioneering scientific institution
encoded: The big bang moment 1675: Charles II sparks a star-gazing revolution In the 17th century, the great maritime nations were vying to solve a puzzle that had confounded philosophers for many centuries: how to determine exact positions on the Earth’s surface. And in Britain, Charles II took a major step to ensure his realm’s position at the head of the pack. On 4 March 1675, the king signed a royal warrant appointing John Flamsteed as the first “astronomical observator”, tasked with “perfecting the art of navigation”. Flamsteed’s specific objective was to devise a method by which sailors could establish their longitude (east–west position) at sea – which involved measuring the positions of celestial bodies – and of knowing the time at a ship’s local position. And Flamsteed would get to carry out this vital research from the surroundings of the country’s first state-funded, purpose-built scientific institution: the Royal Observatory. It was urgent work, because England’s great rival, France, had stolen a march: Louis XIV had established an observatory in Paris nearly a decade earlier. Flamsteed was, in effect, playing catch-up. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/7/2025/11/T809MT-CMYKWeb-Ready-7606aa3.jpg" width="2663" height="1775" alt="an illustration showing a large crowd looking at several artefacts including a globe, a map, and a satellite dish" title="King Louis XIV visits the Royal Academy of Sciences in Paris in 1671. The creation of an observatory in the French capital had left England playing catch-up (Image by Alamy)" /> The size of the task facing the astronomer clearly wasn’t lost on Charles II, for the king appointed none other than the celebrated architect Christopher Wren to design the observatory. Wren’s chosen site was the hilltop ruins of Greenwich Castle – and it was here that the foundation stone was laid on 10 August 1675. With its lofty windows, royal portraits and accurate pendulum clocks, the octagonal ‘star chamber…

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“Radical ideas that had been preached and published could not be unthought”: Clare Jackson on the legacy of the Restoration
type: item
date: 2023-04-20T07:24:55.000Z
creator: Dr Clare Jackson
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Stuart
subject: The Restoration
description: Dr Clare Jackson examines the lasting legacy of the period following the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, and how the return of the king did not immediately imagine away two decades of bloody civil war, religious division and constitutional crisis
encoded: The Restoration of Charles II in 1660 was a monumental turning point in England’s history. It followed 20 years of bloody civil wars and constitutional crisis during which a larger proportion of the British and Irish populations died than in both World War I and World War II combined. Between 1649 and 1660, England had been a republic for the only time in its history. Charles II’s restoration as monarch therefore offers a fascinating case study in post-conflict resolution. Accompanied by official injunctions to forgive and forget, the ‘Act of Free and General Pardon, Indemnity and Oblivion’ (1660) conferred a general pardon on everyone except a small number of named individuals directly involved in his father Charles I’s execution in 1649. Read more | Your ultimate guide to the Restoration period But trying to put back the political clock and imagine away two decades in which worlds had been turned upside down was not straightforward. Radical ideas that had been preached and published could not be unthought, and the popular mood was febrile. As the rector of Bath Abbey, Joseph Glanvill, warned in 1667, a “people that rebelled once, and successfully, will be ready to do so often”, just “as water that has been boiled, will boil again the sooner”. The restored government faced natural disasters, too, such as the Great Fire of London in 1666 – still a popular feature of the Key Stage 1 national curriculum today. Through Samuel Pepys’s eyewitness accounts, primary schoolchildren encounter one of history’s most brilliantly evocative diarists who buried his prized Parmesan cheese in his garden to save it from the flames. Read more | A timeline of the Restoration period Significantly, the fire fanned erroneous suspicions that foreign Catholics had set fire to London, just four years after Charles II’s original hopes of offering “a liberty to tender consciences” had been frustrated by the Act of Uniformity (1662), which imposed harsh penalties on Protestant nonconformists. I…

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Making of a monarch: how the young Charles II endured war, defeat and exile before the Restoration
type: item
date: 2023-04-19T07:59:17.000Z
creator: Spencer Mizen
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Stuart
subject: The Restoration
description: At the age of 12, the prince was present at a battle; before he was 20 his father, King Charles I, had been executed and the monarchy abolished; and his attempt to take back his birth right ended in disaster and exile on the continent. Spencer Mizen explores the events before Charles II returned in glory in 1660
encoded: It’s the early hours of 15 October 1651, and most of the residents of the West Sussex town of Shoreham-by-Sea are asleep in their beds. But not all of them. Two men walk silently across a beach and board a boat. A couple of hours later, before the Sun has crept above the horizon, the vessel slips out to sea. And barely anyone has even noticed. As turning points in English history go, the duo’s departure made for a fairly unremarkable scene. Yet a turning point it undoubtedly was. One of the men was, in fact, the future King Charles II. And he was fleeing for his life. A few months earlier, Charles had launched a bid to win back the kingdoms that Oliver Cromwell’s forces had seized from his father, Charles I, in the Civil Wars that raged across the British Isles. That bid had ended in defeat and so the younger Charles was forced to beat a silent retreat back across the Channel – accompanied by his close friend, Lord Wilmot – before Cromwell’s forces caught up with him. And catch up with him they nearly did. Hours after Charles departed for the continent, his pursuers swept into Shoreham in search of their prey. They would have good reason for rueing this nearest of misses, for Charles wouldn’t be down and out forever. Nine years later, he would return to English shores – this time not as a hapless fugitive but as the master of all surveyed. Read more | Your ultimate guide to the Restoration period As his boat pulled away from Shoreham on that October morning, Charles could have been forgiven for wondering how he found himself in this perilous predicament. This was not how it was meant to be. When he was born at St James’s Palace in May 1630, his inheritance was the three crowns of England, Scotland and Ireland, and the awesome power that came with being a divinely appointed ruler in the 17th century. On the day on which he was born, a brilliant star shone brightly in the daytime skies over London. Today, this is believed to have been a supernova; back in 1630, it was…

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Art, culture and science in the Restoration period
type: item
date: 2023-04-18T07:41:35.000Z
creator: Elinor Evans
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Stuart
subject: The Restoration
description: King Charles II may be remembered for his hedonism, but he supported a wide range of scientific and artistic endeavours that would help shape the modern world. Elinor Evans explores the strides made in the Restoration, from safer navigation at sea to putting women on the stage
encoded: While Charles II has gone down in history as the ‘Merry Monarch’ due to his well known pleasure-seeking proclivities, that nickname belies his dedicated patronage of science and the arts during his nearly 25-year reign. What’s more, it was a connection to his pursuit of pleasure that spurred him on to one of his most significant commissions. In the mid-17th century, many minds were concerned with the ‘longitude problem’. The challenge of finding a ship’s precise longitude at sea had haunted sailors for centuries. While latitude – the measurement of distance north or south of the Equator – was known, when out of sight of land, ships’ crews had no method of telling how far east or west they were, meaning terrible consequences for many vessels. Read more | Your ultimate guide to the Restoration period One of Charles II’s mistresses, a Frenchwoman named Louise de Kéroualle, was aware of the puzzle. She heard a rumour through the French court that an astronomer and fellow countryman, Sieur de St Pierre, had devised a means of determining longitude at sea by observing the moon’s position in relation to the background stars. Intrigued, she pressed the king to investigate, leading Charles II to set up a Royal Commission to examine the new proposals. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/7/2023/04/GettyImages917704228-25c9d7c-e1681202985132.jpg" width="620" height="415" alt="A portrait of Charles II, wearing his robes of the Sovereign of the Order of the Garter, by Dutch artist Peter Lely (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)" title="A portrait of Charles II, wearing his robes of the Sovereign of the Order of the Garter, by Dutch artist Peter Lely (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)" /> This commission marked the start of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich – the oldest scientific institution in Great Britain, founded by the king in 1675 – and the appointment of John Flamsteed to the role of astronomical obser…

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Your ultimate guide to the Restoration period
type: item
date: 2023-04-17T08:22:03.000Z
creator: Dr Clare Jackson
subject: Period
subject: Stuart
subject: The Restoration
description: What was the Restoration? How did it come about? What was the reaction to Charles II? And what was life like in Restoration England? Dr Clare Jackson answers key questions about the historical period that was shaped by the restoration of the monarchy
encoded: What was the Restoration? In short, the Restoration was the re-establishment of Charles II as king of England following more than a decade of different types of constitutional regime. Charles II’s father, Charles I, had acceded to the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland in 1625, but his reign had been tumultuous. In the late 1630s, his authority had started to collapse, and he’d faced increasing challenges to his rule in all three kingdoms, which blew up into what we think of now as the Civil Wars. The conflict lasted through the 1640s until the decision was taken by a purged parliament and army leaders to put Charles I on trial, and he was executed in 1649. At that point, his eldest son, Charles, Prince of Wales, who was 18, was immediately named as his father’s successor in Scotland, thereby becoming King Charles II. The Scots very pointedly declared the young man to be not only king of Scotland, but also of England and Ireland. He spent the next 11 years in exile, trying to support royalist attempts to re-establish the monarchy during the unstable years of first the English Commonwealth, and then the Cromwellian Protectorate. There was a bewildering succession of short-lived regimes that followed Oliver Cromwell’s death in 1658, but in the spring of 1660, parliament made the decision to invite Charles II back as king of England. Today, we tend to date the Restoration from the re-establishment of the monarchy in 1660, but Charles II always dated the start of his reign as the moment of his father’s death on 30 January 1649. How did the Restoration come about? You might think that the Interregnum – the period between Charles I’s death and Charles II’s restoration – would have been a time of settling down following years of upheaval, but the reality was that there was never any real security about what the next year might look like. Part of the reason for Oliver Cromwell’s popularity was that he appeared to bring stability. I think most historians would probably…

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A timeline of the Restoration period
type: item
date: 2023-04-17T08:21:01.000Z
creator: Charlotte Hodgman
subject: Period
subject: Stuart
subject: The Restoration
description: Discover the most important moments in the story of the Restoration period with our handy timeline...
encoded: Chart the most pivotal moments in the Restoration period with our timeline, from Charles II's homecoming to the highs and lows that came to define his quarter-century reign: 30 January 1649 King Charles I is beheaded outside the Banqueting House in Whitehall. 1 January 1651 Charles II is crowned king of Scotland at Scone Abbey having already, in June 1650, reluctantly promised to establish Presbyterianism (a branch of Protestantism originating in Scotland) across all three kingdoms. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/7/2023/04/GettyImages173339552-57d2957-e1680780186912.jpg" width="620" height="411" alt="King Charles I on his way to be executed, 30 January 1649, in a 19th-century painting by Ernest Crofts (Photo by Culture Club/Getty Images)" title="King Charles I on his way to be executed, 30 January 1649, in a 19th-century painting by Ernest Crofts (Photo by Culture Club/Getty Images)" /> 3 September 1651 Hoping to take back the English crown, Charles II and his mainly Scottish army take on Oliver Cromwell’s superior forces at Worcester and lose. The young king narrowly evades capture and is forced to flee to France, disguised as a servant. Read more | Your ultimate guide to the Restoration era 3 September 1658 Oliver Cromwell dies, aged 59. His eldest son, Richard, succeeds him as lord protector. May 1659 With little political or military experience, Richard Cromwell is unable to command the respect or confidence of the army and parliament. Nine months after his father’s death, he resigns, ending the Protectorate. 4 April 1660 The exiled king issues the Declaration of Breda, outlining his terms for a restoration of the monarchy, including freedom of religious conscience and a “general pardon” for those who swear loyalty to him. It is made public on 1 May. 29 May 1660 Charles II triumphantly enters London on his 30th birthday. His huge procession makes its way to Whitehall, where the king meets with peers and MPs, who queue to kiss …

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1662: Restoration tragedy
type: item
date: 2021-12-27T07:14:21.000Z
creator: Professor John Morrill
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Stuart
subject: The Restoration
subject: Turning points in British history
description: Part fourteen in our 20-part series looking at decisive moments of the last 1,000 years in British history explores 1650–1699. Charles II had been on the throne since 1660 and civil war scars were fading. But now, says John Morrill, attempts to restore a national church set the scene for 200 years of political turmoil
encoded: The year 1662 was a warm, bright year: the warmest winter and spring of the whole half century and one of the warmest overall – only dwarfed by the scorching summer of 1686. The scars of civil war, the buildings burned and wrecked by war, were being repaired and replaced. Carpenters and masons were reconverting churches from whitewashed auditoria into sacramental spaces and theatres were being built at an unprecedented rate. Samuel Pepys was able to see a new show most weeks, including The Knight of the Burning Pestle, The French Dancing Master and the first recorded Punch and Judy show. The king was to be seen at many of these plays with his pregnant mistress, a casual insult to the reformation of manners at the heart of Interregnum high-mindedness. A grimmer kind of theatre was enacted at Tyburn where the procession of Regicides dragged there to be half-hanged, eviscerated and cut into pieces was completed. The Restoration made an example of those who took part in Charles I’s trial and execution but passed a wide-ranging indemnity that protected everyone else from prosecution for what they had done over the past 20 years. Read more | Your ultimate guide to the Restoration period But a series of parliamentary acts revealed an on-going neurosis: in late 1661 an Act “against tumultuous petitioning” required all but the humblest petitions to be initiated by JPs and grand juries at quarter sessions; the Licensing Act of 1662 brought in a tougher regime for the control of the press than had existed even before the Revolution – one of its results was effectively to drive newspapers off the streets for most of the next 30 years. Later in 1662, “an Act for the relief of the poor” allowed local officials to forcibly remove all newcomers from a parish if they were “likely to be chargeable” to the poor rate and to return them to their previous place of residence. This was motivated as much by fear of sedition as of vagrancy. But for the better off, 1662 was a good year. The s…

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Your guide to King Charles II, the ‘merry monarch’
type: item
date: 2021-10-11T05:08:26.000Z
creator: Dr Clare Jackson
subject: Period
subject: Stuart
subject: Family and parenting
subject: The Restoration
description: How did Charles II come to the throne? How many children did he have? And why is the title the ‘merry monarch’ less flattering than you might think? Clare Jackson presents a guide to the royal and the Restoration…
encoded: On the day on which the future Charles II was born at St James’s Palace in Westminster – 29 May 1630 – a brilliant star shone brightly in the daytime skies over London. Now thought to have been a supernova, this 'royal star' was regarded as an auspicious sign. The new Stuart prince was the first surviving son of King Charles I and his French wife, Queen Henrietta Maria, and the first child born as heir to the three crowns of England, Scotland and Ireland. Charles spent much of his childhood at Richmond Palace in Surrey, and was joined by two younger brothers, James and Henry (later the dukes of York and Gloucester respectively) and four younger sisters, Mary, Elizabeth, Anne and Henrietta Anne. Charles II: key dates and facts Born: 29 May 1630 Died: 6 February 1685 Reigned: Following the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, Charles II ruled as King of England, Scotland and Ireland until his death in 1685. He was also King of Scotland from 1649 to 1651. Coronation: Crowned King of Scotland on 1 January 1651 at Scone; then King of England, Scotland and Ireland on 23 April 1661 at Westminster Abbey Parents: Charles I and Henrietta Maria of France Spouse: Catherine of Braganza, daughter of King John IV of Portugal Children: No legitimate children, and at least 13 illegitimate children by seven mistresses by the time of his death Cause of death: Either a stroke or an illness brought on by chronic kidney disease Succeeded by: King James VII and II What was Charles II’s childhood like? Charles’s childhood was cut short prematurely when his father’s royal authority started to unravel in the late 1630s, first in Scotland, and subsequently in Ireland and England, as civil war broke out in all three kingdoms. While Charles I confronted his Scottish Covenanter opponents during the summers of 1639 and 1640, his eldest son remained at Whitehall. Even when Queen Henrietta Maria departed for the continent in 1642, the young Charles remained with his father on campaign, being given …

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Nell Gywn: the orange girl who became a king's mistress in Restoration England
type: item
date: 2021-03-06T07:26:25.000Z
subject: Period
subject: Stuart
subject: The Restoration
description: From penniless orange seller to wealthy mistress of Charles II, Nell Gwyn’s wit and charm endeared her as a darling of society and a symbol of a more fun-loving and lavish England. Hers is story of rags to riches and back again...
encoded: Before the restoration of the monarchy, Britain was under the yoke of strict Puritan principles. For 18 years, all theatre was banned – the stage was, to Puritan eyes, immoral and sinful – so when Charles II was crowned king in 1660, the monarchy wasn’t the only thing to make a triumphant return. Read more | Your ultimate guide to the Restoration period Theatres re-opened, and playwrights and actors were intent on enjoying their new incarnation. Plays were infamously graphic and sexually explicit, much to Charles II’s liking. And, for the first time, women were allowed to tread the boards. One such actress who ascended to the stage, and far beyond, was Nell Gwyn. Who was Nell Gwyn? Little is known about Eleanor ‘Nell’ Gwyn’s childhood but it is thought that her mother owned a brothel where Nell served drinks to the booze-soused patrons and, despite being a young girl, there is a chance she also became a prostitute. With theatres opening around London, however, there were other opportunities for a job. A teenage Nell and her sister Rose found work at the King’s Theatre on Drury Lane as orange girls – selling fruit to the audiences. Bold, witty and a beauty, Nell caught the eye of actor Charles Hart and with his help, the pair were sharing the stage before long, as well as a bed. Read more | A timeline of the Restoration period Gwyn’s first recorded play was alongside Hart in a drama, The Indian Emperour by John Dryden, but she always knew her acting future was in comedies, not serious plays. For several years, Gwyn was a star in play after play, from her role as Florimel in Secret Love – which won the plaudits of renowned diarist Samuel Pepys, who had previously called her “pretty witty Nell” – to All Mistaken by James Howard. Supposedly, it was while rolling around the floor in the latter that she wowed Lord Buckhurst, Charles Sackville, and the two became lovers, even though Hart appeared in the play. The affair didn’t last long, and Gwyn was soon back on stage. He…

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Coffee, plague and the Great Fire: the pleasures and perils of living in Restoration London
type: item
date: 2020-06-10T11:00:51.000Z
creator: Nick Rennison
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Stuart
subject: Death
subject: London’s history
subject: The Restoration
description: What was life like for a 17th-century Londoner? From avoiding the plague to coping with the Great Fire, Londoners in the Stuart period had a lot to deal with. Here, author Nick Rennison investigates the perils and the pleasures of living in the nation's capital...
encoded: Two of the greatest disasters in London’s history both occurred in the 1660s: plague and fire struck the city in successive years. Neither was a novelty. The bubonic plague was endemic – there were outbreaks in 1603 and 1625 that killed tens of thousands – but neither was as bad as the Great Plague of 1665. By some estimates it caused the deaths of a quarter of London’s population. Fire, meanwhile, was a permanent danger in a 17th-century city but it is difficult to exaggerate the damage caused by the Great Fire. “In three days the most flourishing city in the world is a ruinous heap,” one official wrote, and he was right. More than 13,000 houses were gone and so too were 87 parish churches, St Paul’s Cathedral, 44 Livery Company halls and three of the city gates. Almost miraculously there was only a handful of deaths recorded – less than 10 according to most authorities. If you were a Londoner in the 17th century, however, death was an ever-present possibility. All sorts of things could carry you off. Examination of just one of the weekly ‘bills of mortality’, the official death statistics of the day, for 1665 is revealing. Given the year it is no surprise that by far the greatest number of fatalities – more than 7,000 – were caused by the plague. Other diseases, however, also took their toll. Just over 100 deaths were ascribed to ‘spotted fever’; 134 to ‘consumption’; 64 to ‘convulsion’ and 51 to ‘griping in the guts’. Three unfortunates were so troubled by ‘wind’ that it proved fatal to them. Some 43 women died in childbirth. In addition there were the one-off accidents: one man was “burnt in his bed by a candle at St Giles Cripplegate”; another was “killed by a fall from the belfry at All-Hallows-the-Great”. Read more | Your ultimate guide to the Restoration period Disease in 17th-century London Plague was only the scariest of an assortment of diseases that might befall you. Smallpox was prevalent, killing thousands and disfiguring many more. The unmistakable ‘p…

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