This work is about the causes and the consequences of the restoration in England.

1. RESTORATIO
N

2. CAUS
ES
Reaction against
Puritanism:
Oliver Cromwell was a
staunch puritan and
propagated Puritanism. But
he was at the same time
honest and sincere, other
puritans were not so. They
were selfish, greedy and
dishonest. Because of their
mean diplomacy the people
were depressed and
unhappy. They wanted to put
an end to Puritanism were
weak and as soon as
Cromwell died, the path for
monarchy was cleared.

3. Cromwell's Despotism:
Oliver Cromwell established
despotism with the help of the
army. He taxed people as he
wished and introduced religious
reforms. He also restricted
social and entertaining
practices of the people.
This very much touched
personal life of the masses for
which they were not prepared.
The people were fed up with
this sort of Government and
came to hate the Government
of Cromwell. Thus the
commonwealth lost people's
sympathy. After Oliver's death
his son, Richard was made the
protector and the commander.
He was not a soldier and
therefore failed.

4. Richard's Rupture with
Parliament:
After Oliver Cromwell's death,
his son became the protector
and Commander. However, the
new Protector, Richard Cromwell
picked up a quarrel with the
army. It proposed to appoint
Fleetwood as their Commander.
Richard turned down this
suggestion with contempt.

5. This led to a quarrel between
Parliament and army. At this
point the Parliament was
dominated by the Republicans,
who also turned against the
commonwealth. In the end,
Richard dissolved the
Parliament. Thus Parliament
and army both girded up their
loins against the protector. A
Parliament was called by the
army which compelled Richard
to resign in 1659. Richard
Cromwell had proved an utter
failure.

6. Stages towards Restoration:
Before his death, Oliver
Cromwell had nominated his
son, Richard, as his successor.
But he proved to be a
worthless person. Since he
was not a soldier, army officers
took under advantage of the
situation. They did not obey
him and started behaving in an
arbitrary manner. The result
was corruption and disorder.
The situation was getting from
bad to worse. Therefore, some
high officials revolted against
Richard Cromwell under the
leadership of General Monk. In
1659 a parliament was called.

7. In this, the members of the
House of Commons
quarreled with the army
officers on the prevailing
system of governance in
the country. After the
dissolution by the protector,
some members of the
Parliament collected
themselves at West
minster, into a ramp and
captured political power.
However, soon it became
clear that the Parliament
would not be able to pull on
for long. General Lambert
dissolved the Parliament
and proposed to set up
military rule.

8. EFFECT
S
Inauguration of a limited
monarchy:
Monarchy was established
again in 1660. The Stuarts
were reseated on the English
throne. However, their
powers were restricted. This
naturally gave recognition to
Parliament.

9. Emergence of a
powerful Parliament:
By the Restoration,
Parliament came to have a
say over the king. In other
words, along with the
monarchy, Parliament was
also restored. The powers
of the Parliament were
extremely limited during
the rule of the
commonwealth and
protectorate. Besides, the
House of Lords was done
away with.

10. Recognition of old
religion:
The old Anglican Church
was taken by the
Parliament under its
control. Before this, the
control used to be
exercised entirely by the
king. Before the
Parliament had a majority
of the king's supporters,
therefore the conviction
Parliament was dissolved
and the cavalier
Parliament was
constituted.
The restoration of the
Anglican Church was
mother result of this
Restoration.

11. Changes in social life:
In order to raise the level of
life, Oliver Cromwell had
placed limitation on the
means of entertainment.
However, as soon as
Charles II ascended the
throne all such restrictions
were lifted. People's life
once again became colorful
and romantic. In social
field, the people started
feeling as comfortable as
they did before the civil
war.

12. However, this had a
degrading influence on
the clergy. Instead of
penance the
clergymen gave
themselves to
gambling, wine and
women. People
became lazy and
immoral. High ideals
were replaced by low
ideals, Thus besides
other monarchical and
Parliamentary
changes, there were
reaching and
sweeping changes in
the social field also.

13. Restoration of Money and
Property:
During the commonwealth's
rule the properties and
estates of the royalists were
forfeited. Besides, those who
opposed Cromwell in any way
or showed their inclination for
monarchy were given
punishments.
When monarchy was restored
in the country the forfeited
lands and properties were
restored to the owners. Thus
the position of the high class
farmers and landlords were
re-established. People started
feeling more comfortable as
the English people are
conservative by temperament.