Clark, Sir George. The Later Stuarts: 1660-1714. Second edition. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1955. [A thorough and straightforward account; seeks to achieve impartiality but is now somewhat out-of-date.]
Downie, J.A. To Settle the Issue of the State: Literature and Politics, 1678-1750. London: Macmillan, 1995. [Mixes quotation and commentary to provide an effective introduction to political issues of the period and to the public function of literature.]
Greene, Donald. The Age of Exuberance: Backgrounds to Eighteenth-Century Literature. New York: Random House, 1970. [Written for students; a lively and intelligent introduction to the whole period but (necessarily) highly selective and somewhat opinionated.]
Hill, Christopher. The Century of Revolution: 1603-1714. New York: Norton, 1961. [Frankly Marxist in approach, Hill is not (as the Whig historians are) particularly sympathetic to the Restoration. Particularly good on economic history, the book is densely packed.]
Holmes, G.S. British Politics in the Age of Anne. London, 1967. [A thorough treatment of how politics operated in the period and in whose interests.]
Holmes, G.S. and W.A. Speck. The Divided Society: Politics and Parties in England, 1694-1716. London, 1967. [Selected documents (organized around issues and crises) and the historical background needed to interpret them.]
Jones, J.R., Country and Court: England, 1658-1714. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1979. [Chapters 1-5 take up general topics (politics, administration and finance, social trends, foreign policy); the remaining thirteen chapters are a chronological account.]
Macaulay, Lord. History of England (1849). Various editions. [Though distorted both by Macaulay's Whig principles and by his Victorianism, the History of England remains a classic. Especially good is chapter 3, "The State of England in 1685." Unreliable on details.]
Plumb, J.H. The Growth of Political Stability in England, 1675-1725. London, 1967. [An important and influential treatment of the major factors in a period of complex political transition.]
Trevelyan, G.M. England under Queen Anne. 3 vols. Oxford, 1930-34. [Well-written, broad in scope, Whig in approach. The opening chapters are a good introduction to life in the period.]
Weinbrot, Howard D. Britannia's Issue: The Rise of British Literature from Dryden to Ossian. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993. [A lengthy study, not a literary history of the period in a traditional sense, devoted to the various strands of national feeling and ethnic imagery that became literarily embodied by the term British. Covers 1660 to about 1780.]
Kings, Queens, and Also-RansCharles II (reigned 1660-1685). Son of Charles I (beheaded 1649); a notorious womanizer but a wily politician and a secret Catholic, he had no legitimate children.
James Scott, Duke of Monmouth. Beheaded in 1685; an attractive if inept revolutionary leader and illegitimate son of Charles II.
James II (reigned 1685-88). Until 1685 his title was "Duke of York." He was displaced by the "glorious revolution" of 1688. He was the son of Charles I and the overtly Catholic brother of Charles II. He married twice--to Ann Hyde and later to Mary of Modena. He died in 1701.
Mary II (reigned 1688-1694). Daughter of James II (by Ann Hyde), she was a Protestant who married William of Orange. She seems to have been particularly well-liked.
William III (reigned 1688-1702). He married Mary II but had his own claim to the throne, being the son of Mary the daughter of Charles I; his reign intensified English rivalry with France.
Queen Anne (reigned 1702-1714). Protestant daughter of James II (by Ann Hyde), and younger sister of Mary II. She married George of Denmark and had several children, none of whom lived to adulthood. She was the last reigning Stuart.
James Edward (James III, the Old Pretender--born 1688, died 1765). The Catholic son of James II (by Mary of Modena). He consistently refused to change his faith in order to gain the crown. Several rebellions were waged on his behalf, the most important carried on by his son Charles Edward (Bonnie Prince Charlie, the Young pretender) in 1745.
Sophia of Hanover. Granddaughter of James I (through her mother Elizabeth) and wife of the Elector of Hanover. For over a decade (1702-14) she was heir-apparent to the British throne, in the absence of another Protestant successor, but she missed her chance by dying a few weeks before Queen Anne in 1714.
George I. Son of Electress Sophia. Both King of England and Elector of Hanover, he founded the House of Hanover when he assumed the throne on 1714.
The Whigs and Tories emerged as identifiable political groups in the debate over the
exclusion of James II from the throne that dominated politics from 1679 to 1681. Like most ad-hoc coalitions, these involved a variety of distinguishable interests. The following description of
parties by the contemporary historian Paul de Rapin seems reasonably accurate, though the
categories overlap. (Rapin's description is cited in Christopher Hill, A Century of Revolution, p.
283.)
I. Cavaliers
A. Political or State Cavaliers
1. Arbitrary Tories
2. Moderate Tories
B. Ecclesiastical or Church Cavaliers
1. Rigid Churchmen
2. Moderate Churchmen
II. Parliamentarians
A. Political or State Parliamentarians
1. Republican Whigs
2. Moderate Whigs
B. Ecclesiastical or Church Parliamentarians
1. Rigid Presbyterians
2. Moderate Presbyterians
Events of Note
1660. Restoration of Charles II. Leniency towards all but direct regicides. Earl of Clarendon becomes chief minister.
1661-1665. Parliamentary passage of the "Clarendon Code" (restrictive laws against Puritanism).
1664. John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, received at court by Charles II.
1665. Epidemic of bubonic plague, especially in London. Beginning of the Second Dutch War, in which Rochester volunteers for sea duty.
1666. The Great Fire of London.
1667. The Dutch fleet attacks on the Thames and Medway rivers, forcing England to make peace. Impeachment of Clarendon. A group of politicians called the "Cabal" (after their initials--Clifford, Arlington, Buckingham, Ashley, and Lauderdale) become chief ministers. Probable composition of The Last Instructions to a Painter (published 1689). Jonathan Swift born in Dublin (November 30); his parents were English, and his father (also Jonathan Swift) died before his birth.
1668. Triple Alliance of England, Holland, and Sweden.
1670. Charles II signs the secret Treaty of Dover with Louis XIV, accepting French aid and promising to restore Roman Catholicism as soon as feasible.
1673. Parliament passes the Test Act, by which only Anglicans can hold public office.
1673-1674. The Third Dutch War. Thomas Osborne, Earl of Danby becomes chief Minister.
1677. Marriage of Mary (daughter of James, Duke of York) to William of Orange.
1678. The "Popish Plot." Titus Oakes claims that a Catholic conspiracy plots to murder King Charles, place James on the throne, and massacre Protestants. These charges are backed by forged documents, and after the Justice of the Peace to whom they are made is murdered, Parliament, led by the Earl of Shaftesbury, declares "a damnable and hellish plot, contrived and carried on by Popish recusants."
1679-1681. A period of great tension between King and Parliament over (1) attempts to introduce a bill excluding James from the throne, (2) the impeachment of Danby, (3) introduction of a Habeas Corpus act, (4) the status of the Duke of Monmouth, (5) Charles's attempt to prorogue Parliament.
1680. Death of Rochester, after reconcilement with the Church of England.
1682. Swift enters Trinity College, Dublin.
1682-83. Whigs are arrested; some are executed; others (including Locke) flee to Holland, where Shaftesbury dies.
1685. Charles II dies, declaring himself a Catholic. James II succeeds. Monmouth invades England, is defeated at Sedgemoor and executed. His followers are savagely persecuted by Judge Jeffreys in the "Bloody Assizes." Catholics hold public and military offices, in violation of the Test Act.
1686. Swift receives B. A. degree, speciali gratia [not an honorific degree]; continues at Trinity.
1687. James's Declaration of Indulgence grants political office and public worship to Catholics and dissenters.
1688. Seven Anglican Bishops petition for the withdrawal of indulgence, are imprisoned, are tried for seditious libel, and are acquitted. A Catholic heir (James Edward) is born. William of Orange is invited to invade (and does). James II flees to France. William and Mary become King and Queen. Alexander Pope is born in London.
1689. The Bill of Rights limits the power of the Crown; the Act of Toleration grants freedom of worship to Protestants. Swift enters the household of Sir William Temple, a former politician and man of letters (and relative of Swift).
1689-97. The War of the League of Augsberg; England, Spain, and Austria against France, ending with the Treaty of Ryswick.
1690. William defeats the Irish in the Battle of the Boyne. Swift returns to Ireland but rejoins Temple's household in the next year
1694. Queen Mary dies. The Bank of England is founded to finance the war. Swift receives an M.A. degree from Oxford. He goes to Ireland where he is ordained Deacon and then Priest in the Church of Ireland (the Irish equivalent of the Church of England). He remains in Ireland, performing clerical duties, until May 1696.
1696-1699. Swift returns to Sir William Temple's household, where he acts as Temple's private secretary and remains until Temple's death in 1699. Probable composition of significant parts of A Tale of a Tub.
1699-1707. Swift pursues his clerical career in Ireland, with occasional visits to London; Stella (Esther Johnson, whom Swift had tutored at Temple's) and Rebecca Dingley (her companion) join him in Ireland, which becomes their permanent home. Swift receives a Doctor of Divinity from Trinity College in 1701.
1701-1713. The War of Spanish Succession, occasioned in part by Louis's support of James Edward's claim to the English throne, following the death of James II in 1701.
1701. Act of Settlement provides that on the death of Anne the throne will go to the Electress Sophia or her heir and that the monarch and his or her consort must be Protestants.
1702. William III falls off his horse and dies. Queen Anne succeeds. John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough becomes the commander of English and allied forces. His wife Sarah becomes Anne's advisor and closest friend.
1704. Marlborough defeats the French at the Battle of Blenheim. Sidney Godolphin becomes Lord Treasurer. Whig ascendancy. Publication of A Tale of a Tub (and other pieces).
1707. The Act of Union between England and Scotland abolishes the Scottish Parliament; the country becomes Great Britain.
1707-1709. Swift lives in London as emissary of the Church of Ireland, to seek the remission of "first fruits" [a fee paid the government by Irish clergymen]; composition of Argument against Abolishing Christianity and other religious and political tracts.
1708. Peace negotiations with France fail.
1709. Whig prosecution of Henry Sacheverell (a High Tory Churchman) causes the Whigs to lose favor. Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough quarrels with Queen Anne and is dismissed. The country generally tires of the war. Alexander Pope's first major poem, the Pastorals. His political mission unsuccessful, Swift returns to Ireland.
1710. The Whigs are dismissed, and the Tories, led by Robert Harley, later Earl of Oxford, and Henry St. John, later Viscount Bolingbroke, assume power and begin to negotiate peace with France. Tories win a Parliamentary election, but Whigs control the House of Lords.
1710-1714. Swift, again in London, becomes a leading Tory political propagandist, taking a leading role in arguing for the end of the War of Spanish Succession (especially in his tract The Conduct of the Allies); he becomes especially close friends with John Gay, Alexander Pope, William Congreve, John Arbuthnot, and Esther Vanhomrigh [Vanessa]; as tensions develop between the leading Tory ministers, Harley and Henry St. John, Swift tries, with indifferent success, to mediate.
1711. Queen Anne creates twelve new members of the House of Lords, to assure passage of a peace treaty. Marlborough is dismissed as general. Publication of Pope's An Essay on Criticism.
1712. Publication of the first (two-canto) version of Pope's The Rape of the Lock.
1713. The Treaty of Utrecht ends the War of Spanish Succession. (It is negotiated by Matthew Prior.) England gains major colonial rights in Canada and the West Indies, as well as bases in the Mediterranean and rights over the slave trade.
1714. Harley and St. John become rivals, despite Swift's efforts to mediate. Queen Anne dies, and with the ascension of George I a long period of Whig power begins. Swift returns to Ireland, where, with a few relatively brief intervals, he remains the rest of his life. Publication of the five-canto version of The Rape of the Lock.