For "The Honour and Welfare of the City": London's Gift to King Charles II on His Coming into His Kingdom, May 1660

Abstract

Sometimes the account of a single small episode, especially when seen in conjunction with the great, dramatic, and eminently notable events of which it was itself a minor part, can be highly revealing. In the early days of May 1660, when Englishmen were looking forward to the restoration of King Charles II, the Common Council of London voted to send the king a gift of money, a public mark and manifestation of the city's hopeful confidence in him and in the prospect of monarchy restored. The very fact of the gift itself tells something about politics and finance in the 1660 City of London; the difficulties involved in raising the money, the questions posed, and the protests made by those called upon to contribute tell more. The episode reveals something about the city's Lord Mayor, Common Council, gilds and companies, and the giving of public gifts. And it provides a short, sharp glimpse into what Londoners, or at least those Londoners who had to do with presenting the gift, or with paying for it, really thought about the king's return. When at last Charles II returned to England late in May 1660 he was met by his subjects with all but universal joy. Only the most devoted of republicans, and they were few, did not look with hope and expectation to the restoration of the crown. Certainly no Englishmen were more enthusiastic than the Londoners, who cheered as the king and his two brothers rode into the city on May 29th, his thirtieth birthday. Some four weeks before this, on the first day of May 1660, John, Lord Mordaunt and Sir John Grenville had presented to the Lord Mayor of London, Thomas Alleyn, the Aldermen, and the Common Council a letter from Charles II together with a copy of the king's Declaration from Breda. Charles had high hopes and his subjects high expectations that monarchy would soon