Restoration: Charles II and his Kingdoms, 1660–1685 by Tim Harris; and Revolution: The Great Crisis of the British Monarchy, 1685–1720 by Tim Harris

Abstract

86 TIM HARRIS. Restoration: Charles II and his Kingdoms, 1660–1685. London: Allen Lane, 2005. Pp. xxi ⫹ 506. $25 (paper). TIM HARRIS. Revolution: The Great Crisis of the British Monarchy, 1685–1720. London: Allen Lane, 2006. Pp. xviii ⫹ 622. $25 (paper). Mr. Harris’s new history of the Glorious Revolution covers all three kingdoms with Scotland and Ireland given almost equal weight with England. The books stress the political participation of the common people. Scotland is better covered than Ireland, but both narratives are written in the voices of the dominant Protestant Episcopalian elites. Dissident Presbyterians in Scotland since they were often in rebellion receive more attention than their counterparts in Ireland , but in neither case is the narrative in their voices. The Catholics of Ireland, who were three-fourths of their country, are even more summarily treated. The first volume tries to establish popular political participation from the evidence of books and pamphlets, the hearing of sermons, and participation in street demonstrations. But most works were written and printed in England, and the literacy rates cited are English. How remote all of this must have been from illiterate Irish speaking peasants. Mr. Harris examines disaffected public comments by the poor, but not many sermons . He covers processions in the streets and the lighting of bonfires well, scrupulously showing that these were often inspired by the elites. Revolution claims that popular participation can be found in local officeholding (one in 20 at all times in England), but the narrative falls back on stories of rioting. Part One of Restoration shows that the general enthusiasm for Charles II’s restoration was frittered away over the next twenty years, ending in the crisis of the Popish plot and the Whig attempt to exclude from the throne the King’s Roman Catholic brother James. Part Two describes the Tory revival of the last six years of Charles’s reign which left him more nearly absolute than any other British monarch of the century. Restoration in England with its population of 5.5 million was less complex than in much smaller Scotland (1.5 million) or Ireland (1.7 million). In England, ten percent of the clergy could not accept the restored Church of England, and several thousand nonconformists died in prison. In Ireland, the Catholic majority had been dispossessed from owning 60 percent of the land in 1641 to nine percent in 1660. The new regime restored a third of this land, but without toleration for Catholics. In Scotland the reestablishment of episcopacy drove a third of the ministry out of the church. Families withdrew from church attendance; some went into rebellion. These events created fears among the English that the King aimed at tyranny. Charles’s response was ruthless. Divine right monarchy was asserted by the Anglican clergy , disaffected officeholders were removed , and the Whig campaign was discredited as likely to lead to civil war. Charles twice sent James to rule in Scotland , cementing the loyalty of the Scottish elite to his family. Ireland became quiescent, but here Mr. Harris is less authoritative . Revolution is also divided in two with a first part on James’s reign and a second on the Revolution, 1688–1691. Some recent historians see James as a successful monarch intent on improving the lot of his coreligionists who was 87 overthrown only by an invading Dutch army and the collaboration of some of the English elite. For Mr. Harris, James was undone by his failure to maintain the alliance with Tory Anglicans that Charles had forged. In overwhelmingly Catholic Ireland under Tyrconnnell, ninety percent of the army and twothirds of the corporations were made Catholic, and the Catholic clergy were pensioned and publicly celebrated the liturgy. In Scotland which was only two percent Catholic, James tried to get Parliament to grant Catholic toleration and, after failing, had to do so by royal indulgence and to include the dissident Presbyterians. He had hoped to establish a precedent for England, but instead split the Scots elite and made an alliance between former Episcopalian and Presbyterian enemies. In England, James kept an army in peacetime larger than had been seen before, failed to call Parliament , and broke the Anglican monopoly...