THE POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS WINDS OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY FROM CHARLES I TO OLIVER CROMWELL.
The Restoration, a period of constantly changing ideals, shows how the change in government from Charles I to Oliver Cromwell affected the people of that time, shows the Child of Hope, shows the shift in winds of religion, compares and contrasts Absolutism and Constitutionalism, shows how the influence of the English people on the world, and shows a new era being heralded in without which we would not exist. The seventeenth century, started with the Ascension of Charles I to the throne of his father James II. It was a relatively stable period under Charles I, yet it soon became engrossed in a civil war, of which. Oliver Cromwell and Dissenters led. They formed an improvised republic, which later collapsed. This led to restoration of Charles II, whose new models of government helped to change ideals in religion not only in Europe, but also in the world.
James I handed the reigns of the commonwealth to his only male heir Charles, who at the age of 25 still had no wife, and therefore was not bringing any legitimate heirs to the throne with him (Chapman 17). Charles I was a firm believer in divine right. During his reign he rarely asked for help, believing his decisions as those ordained by god (Kagan 451). As stated by Howard Tomlinson: "The most high and sacred order of kings is of divine right, being the ordinance of God himself, founded in the prime laws of nature, and clearly established by expressed texts both of old and new testaments" (4). During the reign of Charles I problems with parliament escalated to a point at which confusion erupted (Wright 187). Problems with money had plagued this monarchy for several centuries, though later it would see wealth coming from its colonies (Buchan 9). The Tudors (before the Stuarts) were better able to confront parliament, and had much more success in doing so (Wright 186).
