HistoryExtra
type: channel
link: https://www.historyextra.com
description: The official website for BBC History Magazine
date: 2025-08-25T08:01:07.000Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: Jonathan Healey: “A connection was made between the rarefied world of the royal court and the politics of the street”
items: The Restoration: everything you wanted to know
items: 1662: Restoration tragedy
items: Coffee, plague and the Great Fire: the pleasures and perils of living in Restoration London
items: 12 facts about the Stuarts
items: From Nell to Meghan: 10 romances between actors and royals
items: Civil wars and Restoration England
items: History explorer: The Restoration
items: Rebranding Rule: The Restoration and Revolution Monarchy, 1660-1715
items: Paper talk: a newspaper's take on the Restoration

Jonathan Healey: “A connection was made between the rarefied world of the royal court and the politics of the street”
type: item
date: 2025-08-25T08:00:36.000Z
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Stuart
subject: Historical events
subject: Historical people
subject: Stuart kings and queens
description: Jonathan Healey tells Ellie Cawthorne about the dramatic moments that sparked the breakdown of Charles I’s relationship with parliament and the outbreak of the Civil War
encoded: Ellie Cawthorne: Why was the winter of 1641–42 such a pivotal time in British and Irish history? Jonathan Healey: In the heart of that winter came one of the most iconic moments in English political history. On 4 January 1642, angry at dissent from parliament, King Charles I marched down to the House of Commons and tried to arrest five MPs. I wanted to tell the backstory of that dramatic, divisive moment. The lead-up had been a really intense period of political strife, popular protest and gradually growing disorder, all of which fed into a very frightening political crisis. Afterwards, the country descended into civil war. Often when we read books about great revolutions or political events, we look at the deep, long-term causes. However, though that’s important, we also need to recognise trigger moments. Day-by-day or minute-by-minute, it’s often incredibly difficult to see which way things will go – but, as a historian, it’s important to immerse yourself in those turning points. Can you give us a sense of how parliament functioned at the time? In the early 17th century, parliament didn’t sit regularly – it was called only when the king needed it. Its role was essentially twofold: to grant taxes, particularly for war, and to propose legislation. That legislation would then get signed off by the king, which was how new laws were made. But increasingly, in the 17th century, parliament started discussing issues of high politics such as foreign policy. In the view of the king, this went beyond its remit – monarchs in this period believed that they alone had the right to decide on foreign policy. However, because they represented the taxpayers who had to pay for the wars, members of parliament felt that they should have a say. That created a flashpoint. In the 1620s, a series of conflicts had erupted between parliament and the monarchy over issues such as tax, religion and the crown’s right to imprison people without charge. The relationship between king and parliament…

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The Restoration: everything you wanted to know
type: item
date: 2022-05-15T11:51:44.000Z
creator: Elinor Evans
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Stuart
subject: Everything you wanted to know about history (podcast series)
description: Dr Clare Jackson tackles listener questions on the reestablishment of the monarchy in 1660, after 11 years of Republican rule
encoded: How did the Restoration of the monarchy come about, after a period of civil war and 11 years of Republican rule? How smooth was the transfer of power? And what did it mean for the everyday person? Speaking with Elinor Evans, Dr Clare Jackson tackles listener questions and popular internet search queries on Charles II’s ascension to the throne, in the latest episode in our Everything you wanted to know series.

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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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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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12 facts about the Stuarts
type: item
date: 2019-12-13T06:05:00.000Z
subject: Period
subject: Stuart
subject: Family and parenting
description: The Stuart dynasty immediately succeeded the Tudors, and the period witnessed some of the most monumentally changeable times in British history – civil war, rebellion, the beheading of a king, plague outbreaks, the Great Fire of London and a successful foreign invasion – and seven monarchs of Britain. But how much do you know about the Stuarts?
encoded: When was the Stuart period? The Stuart period in Britain was between 1603 to 1714, and witnessed some of the most monumentally changeable times in British history – civil war, rebellion, the beheading of a king, plague outbreaks, the Great Fire of London and a successful foreign invasion. There were seven Stuart monarchs of Britain: James VI and I (1566–1625); Charles I (1600–1649); Charles II (1630–1685); James II and VII (1633–1701); William III and II (1650–1702); Mary II (1662–1694); and Anne (1665–1714). Two lord protectors interrupted this dynastic line in the middle of the 17th century: Oliver Cromwell (1599–1658), followed by his son, Richard (1626–1712). But how much do you know about the Stuarts? Here, writing for History Extra, Andrea Zuvich shares 12 lesser-known facts about the Stuart dynasty… The Stuarts had a nasty habit of losing their heads Mary, Queen of Scots, was beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle, Northamptonshire, in 1587. She was Queen Elizabeth I’s cousin, and when Mary was found guilty of treason [after being accused of involvement in a plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth], the English queen agonised over the signing of the execution warrant. Mary was not the only Stuart to lose her head. Her grandson, Charles I, lost his to the executioner’s axe in the winter of 1649 after two devastating civil wars. Charles I’s grandson, the dashing but doomed Duke of Monmouth, was the eldest illegitimate son of Charles II. In 1685, he led an invasion of England, seeking to overthrow his uncle King James II, in order to take the throne for himself. Monmouth’s rag-tag army suffered a substantial defeat in early July, when their leader was captured, brought to London and imprisoned in the Tower of London. Monmouth’s grisly execution was botched, and remains one of the ghastliest in British history: the executioner's axe was said to have struck several times before Monmouth’s head was severed. And it wasn’t just the executioner’s axe that cost leading Stuarts th…

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From Nell to Meghan: 10 romances between actors and royals
type: item
date: 2018-05-17T09:45:56.000Z
creator: Catherine Curzon
subject: 20th Century
subject: Edwardian
subject: Georgian
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Stuart
subject: Victorian
subject: Royal weddings
subject: Stuart kings and queens
subject: The royal family
subject: Valentine's Day
description: On 19 May 2018, the American actress Meghan Markle married into British royalty when she wed Prince Harry in a ceremony at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. The wedding was the latest in a long tradition of romances between members of royal family and the acting profession. There are 10 such relationships from the 17th century to today, from all across the world – though not all of them ended happily…
encoded: Writing for History Extra, Catherine Curzon examines 10 famous relationships between actors and royals… Margaret ‘Peg’ Hughes (c1630–1719) Better known as Peg, Margaret Hughes holds the distinction of being one of the first recorded actresses to grace the London stage, appearing as Desdemona in Shakespeare’s Othello on 8 December 1660 at the Vere Street Theatre. Up until this point, women had been forbidden to act on stage at all, and it wasn’t until King Charles II issued a royal warrant declaring that female roles must be played by women in 1662 that actresses became a common sight, as opposed to young men dressed up to look like them. Peg was no young man though, and she not only bewitched her audience, but managed to steal the heart of Rupert of the Rhine, cousin to Charles II. Read more Royal wedding traditions through history: etiquette, menus and the dress code When royals marry 'commoners': a brief history <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/7/2018/05/Elizabeth-II-wedding-2-5136340.jpg" width="1200" height="730" alt="The future Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, at Buckingham Palace following their wedding, 20 November 1947. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)" title="The future Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, at Buckingham Palace following their wedding, 20 November 1947. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)" /> After Rupert’s death in 1682, Peg gambled away much of his bequest to her and sold off many valuables, including a necklace which was bought by the infamous Nell Gwynne. Peg died in 1719, having never regained the lifestyle she once enjoyed. Nell Gwynne (1650–1687) Perhaps the most famous of all England’s royal mistresses, Nell Gwynne began her career selling oranges to the patrons of a theatre on London’s Brydges Street, Charles II’s royal playhouse. By the time she was 14 years old, Nell was treading the boards as an actress and she found h…

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Civil wars and Restoration England
type: item
date: 2017-05-25T12:57:50.000Z
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Stuart
description: David Armitage explores how internal conflicts have changed through history, while Ian Mortimer guides us through life in the late 17th century.
encoded: Harvard professor David Armitage explores how internal conflicts have changed through history and considers what lessons can be learned for the wars of today. Meanwhile, bestselling popular historian Ian Mortimer guides us through life in England following Charles II’s Restoration – a time of sweeping changes throughout society.

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History explorer: The Restoration
type: item
date: 2014-12-04T21:17:07.000Z
creator: Professor Ronald Hutton
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Stuart
subject: Stuart kings and queens
description: Dr Ronald Hutton and Daniel Cossins visit Banqueting House in London to explore the overthrow of the British Commonwealth and Charles II's perilous path to the throne in 1660...
encoded: This article was first published in the December 2014 issue of BBC History Magazine The road from Blackheath to London was lined with people. Tapestries hung from windows, trumpets parped and church bells peeled, and wine flowed freely. It was 29 May 1660. Charles II, turning 30 that day, rode at the front of a great procession heading for the political heart of the capital. He had come to reclaim the thrones of three kingdoms after more than a decade of republican government, and he was welcomed as a redeemer by a restless public that had seen the Commonwealth collapse from within. “The public was tired of years of political insecurity, crushing over-taxation and military rule,” says Ronald Hutton, professor of early modern history at the University of Bristol. “They imagined that, whatever the king stood for, he was bound to be better than that.” The press of the crowd was such that the cavalcade took seven hours to get through London. Finally, at 7pm, Charles reached the Palace of Whitehall, where English royalty had resided for more than a century before the monarchy was swept away following the Civil War. In the opulent surroundings of Banqueting House, both houses of parliament declared their loyalty to the king. In response, Charles made a promise: “I find my heart set really to endeavour by all means for the restoring of this nation to freedom and happiness; and hope by the advice of my parliament to effect it.” Commissioned by James VI and I and completed in 1622, Banqueting House was the first major classical building in England – and, with its Palladian facade, it certainly stood out from the Tudor-style brick buildings that made up the rest of the palace. It was designed by Inigo Jones to provide the setting for banquets and court masques, extravagant mélanges of poetry, dance, music and song performed for (and often involving) kings, queens and their courtiers. By the time Charles II was resident at Whitehall, Banqueting House no longer played host to m…

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Rebranding Rule: The Restoration and Revolution Monarchy, 1660-1715
type: item
date: 2013-11-15T10:30:16.000Z
subject: Period
description: Daniel Szechi has high praise for a study of the bond between England’s monarchy and subjects in the 17th and 18th centuries
encoded: Reviewed by: Daniel Szechi Author: Kevin Sharpe Publisher: Yale University Press Price (RRP): £45 Very sadly, this book will be the late Kevin Sharpe’s final contribution to our vision of early modern England. It is a sombre finale in another sense, too, for it was the last volume in his great trilogy of works exploring the presentation of the English monarchy from the 16th to the 18th century. Like many works not yet in the publication pipeline at the time of the author’s death, it could easily have been lost to us if Sharpe’s friend and colleague Mark Knights had not seen it through its final stages. We all owe Knights a debt of gratitude, both because of the book’s quality and the fact that it is a fitting monument to one of the foremost British historians of the early modern world. In typically down-to-earth vein, Sharpe explains that he was moved to explore the presentation of the English monarchy in the early modern era by watching New Labour’s spin doctors at work. The grand question that he has now addressed is a fundamental one: how did the English monarchy engage effectively with its subjects? Put more coarsely: how did successive monarchs persuade them to be loyal and obedient? There is no doubt that this is a hugely important issue for historians, especially given the massive breakdown in loyalty and obedience that characterises both the mid- and late 17th century. The English were a damnably obstreperous lot and the three kingdoms were a volatile and unstable conglomeration of polities, yet they were all internally at peace most of the time. Although Sharpe does not shy away from the moments when the bond between ruler and ruled dissolved, he is far more interested in the way in which it was created and sustained over the long term, and this book offers some profound insights into the process. Manufacturing and shoring up allegiance was nothing short of a major cultural industry. Sharpe writes beautifully, and the book is a long, lush walk through the p…

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Paper talk: a newspaper's take on the Restoration
type: item
date: 2010-04-30T17:49:08.000Z
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Stuart
subject: Stuart kings and queens
description: Andrew Green is producer of a Radio 4 Random Edition programme on the Restoration. Here he explains how a newspaper, published in 1660, informed its readers of the imminent return of the future king from exile
encoded: This article was first published in the April 2010 issue of BBC History Magazine Restoration 1660 Archive newspapers allow us to sniff history in a unique way. The sense of immediacy they invariably convey allows us to fully grasp that events in the ever-receding past actually happened. Over its many Radio 4 series since the mid-1990s, Peter Snow's Random Edition has explored stories of all kinds found in individual newspapers, dating as far back as the 1650s. A Parliamentary Intelligencer newspaper (or 'newsbook') from the spring of 1660 is the subject of a Random Edition special to mark the 350th anniversary of the Restoration of Charles II to the throne, 11 years after his father lost his head. On its pages we see the work of some of the very first professional journalists in Britain. Yet there's no sophisticated computer page-setting here – the news tumbles onto the printer's tray as it arrives. Somehow, that very rough-and-readiness helps give the events the Intelligencer relays a particular authenticity, even if the slant of the paper (Printed by John Macock and Tho. Newcomb) is clearly royalist at a time when the country was still far from drained of radical political sentiment. The key scene reported is the appearance before both Houses of Parliament of Sir John Grenville, who had just hopped across the North Sea from Breda in the Netherlands, Charles’s place of continental residence after a decade in exile. The House being informed that Sir John Greenvil [sic], a Messenger from the King, was at the dore, it was resolved that he be called in, who being called in accordingly, at the Bar after obeisance made, said, “Mr Speaker, I am commanded by The King my Master, to deliver this Letter to you, and his desire is that you will communicate it to the House”. Enclosed within the letter was what we know as Charles's 'Declaration of Breda', offering guarantees should he be restored as king: a "free general pardon" for (almost) all those deemed to have offended agai…

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