1649–1689: England kills its king, tries to rule without one, brings back a merry monarch, survives plague and fire, and discovers constitutional monarchy
♦ ♦ ♦Before we meet Cromwell and the Glorious Revolution, let's recall the civil war that came before.
Where did the Tudors go? Henry broke with Rome, dissolved the monasteries, and lived from 1509 to 1547. What was his greatest legacy — good or bad?
In 1215, barons forced King John to sign a document that said: the king is not above the law. Fast forward 400 years. Now, in 1649, the English will go one step further. They will put the king on trial.
By 1649, after years of civil war, England is divided. Parliament has won. They have captured the king. And now they will do something unprecedented in European history:
They will try him for treason against the people.
They will execute him.
What comes next? A kingdom without a king. A military general in power. A ban on Christmas. Theatres shut. A Puritan dream turned to stone.
And then? A restoration so sudden and so beloved that the king who returns will be called the Merry Monarch.
Charles I was tried and found guilty of treason. On 30 January 1649, outside the Palace of Whitehall, in front of thousands, he was beheaded. It was the most shocking moment in British history.
With the king dead, Parliament had to create something new: a republic. They declared England a Commonwealth, ruled by a council of parliament and a military commander. That commander was Oliver Cromwell.
Cromwell was a Puritan — a Christian who believed the Church of England was still too grand, too full of ceremony and colour. Under his rule, England became a much grimmer place.
Yet Cromwell was no tyrant. He was honest, fearless, and genuinely believed he was serving God. He even offered to be crowned king — and refused.
Cromwell ruled for nine years. In 1658, he died. His son Richard inherited the title of Lord Protector, but he lacked his father's force of will. The military fractured. Parliament weakened. The nation fell into chaos.
And then, General Monk — who had been Cromwell's trusted general in Scotland — made a fateful decision: it was time to bring back the king.
Charles II had spent his exile in France, living in poverty, selling his jewels to eat. Now, after eleven years, he was returning home.
Charles II earned the name "Merry Monarch" for good reason. He loved theatre, music, art, and pleasure. He married Catherine of Braganza, a Portuguese princess. He patronised scientists (he founded the Royal Society). And he made people smile again after the grey years of Puritan rule.
But Charles II was also cunning. He had learned a hard lesson from his father's fate: never let Parliament feel threatened. Keep them happy. Keep the nobles content. Never push too hard, even when you disagree with them.
Just five years into the Restoration, catastrophe struck. A plague — the bubonic plague, the same disease that killed millions in the Middle Ages — broke out in London. Within months, tens of thousands were dead.
The wealthy fled. The king left London. Scientists like Isaac Newton went home to Cambridge to escape the contagion. Those left behind — the poor, the sick, the brave — endured.
If the plague was not enough, London faced an even more catastrophic disaster. On 2 September 1666, a fire started in a bakehouse in Pudding Lane. But it did not stop there.
The fire destroyed much of the medieval City of London. But from the ashes came something new. A young architect named Christopher Wren was commissioned to rebuild the city. The result was a masterpiece: a new London of straight streets and classical buildings, crowned by a new St Paul's Cathedral — which still stands today, more than 350 years later.
Charles II died in 1685 without a legitimate heir. The throne passed to his brother, James II. This was dangerous. James had secretly converted to Catholicism.
In England, Catholics meant suspicion and fear. England had fought Spain (Catholic) and France (Catholic). Catholics were seen as foreign, as agents of the Pope. And now, a Catholic king sat on the throne.
In 1688, James II made a fatal mistake. His wife gave birth to a son — a Catholic heir to the throne. This was the moment Parliament had feared. They faced the prospect of a Catholic dynasty ruling forever.
But this time, they did not call for war. Instead, they made an unprecedented move: they invited James's own daughter, Mary, and her Dutch Protestant husband, William of Orange, to come and take the throne.
Now came the key moment. Parliament did not simply hand the crown back to a king. Instead, they made William and Mary accept a contract: the Bill of Rights.
This document said:
The Glorious Revolution changed the nature of monarchy itself. No longer would kings rule by Divine Right. No longer could they claim to answer only to God. Now, the king answered to the law — and Parliament made the law.
This was not democracy. Parliament was still small, and only men with property could vote. But it was a crucial step toward democratic government. And it established a principle that would spread around the world: no one is above the law, not even the king.
Three pivotal years: the moment a monarchy ends, the moment London burns, and the moment Parliament seizes supremacy.
Encode "16" and "60" from your PAO. Link the combined image to a laughing, dancing king arriving in London with crowds cheering, musicians playing, theatres opening after years of silence.
Encode "16" and "66" from your PAO. Link to a great roaring wall of flame consuming wooden buildings, St Paul's Cathedral silhouetted against the inferno.
Encode "16" and "88" from your PAO. Link to William of Orange arriving on a beach, Parliament inviting him to take the throne, a king fleeing without a battle, a new constitutional order emerging.
Cover the dates above. Can you recall all three?
1. When was Charles II restored?
2. When did London burn?
3. When was the Glorious Revolution?
You have now walked through 15 rooms. Room 16 holds the 40 years of tumult between the Civil War and the Glorious Revolution: regicide, Cromwell's austere rule, a beloved king's return, catastrophe and rebuilding, and finally the moment when Parliament seized supreme power.
1. Oliver Cromwell in black armour, refusing a crown — the soldier who could have been a king but believed only in God's law. Stern-faced, iron-willed. Behind him, a grey, joyless city: no music, no dancing, no Christmas.
2. Charles II arriving in London on horseback — crowds cheering, musicians playing, flags waving. The Merry Monarch returning. Joy and colour flooding back into the nation after years of Puritan grey.
3. Red crosses on doors, bodies being carried in carts — the Great Plague of 1665. Death creeping through the streets. The shadow of medieval horror returning to a modern city.
4. London burning: St Paul's Cathedral silhouetted against a wall of flame — 1666. Three days and nights of fire. Then, from the ashes, Christopher Wren's new cathedral and a new London rising.
5. William of Orange landing on a beach, James II fleeing to France, Parliament holding up the Bill of Rights — 1688. The bloodless revolution. No king can be above the law again.
Describe exactly where you place each image. Make it bizarre, sensory, unforgettable.
Choose 2–3 of these questions to reflect on.
He refused a crown, saying only God could rule. But he acted like a king, and his rule was harsh. Should he have accepted the crown? Would he have been a better monarch than Charles II?
After Cromwell's grim years, England wanted laughter and music again. Charles II gave them theatres, art, and pleasure. Is a king who brings joy better than a stern ruler who may be more just?
People in 1665 believed the plague was God's judgment on the nation's sins. People believed the Fire was divine punishment. How do we explain disasters today?
It was bloodless — which was remarkable. But Catholics lost rights, Scots and Irish had their own wars, and change was slow. For whom was it "glorious"?
1688 saw no battles in England. But it was possible partly because James II chose to flee. What if he had chosen to fight? Would that have changed everything?
It says the king cannot levy taxes without Parliament, elections must be free, and the king must obey the law. How have these ideas changed over 330 years?
Start the timer. Write everything you can remember — no looking back.
Don't look back. Retrieve from memory.
1660 — Restoration of Charles II (the Merry Monarch)
1666 — Great Fire of London (three days of burning, Wren's cathedral rebuilt)
1688 — Glorious Revolution (William and Mary invited, James II flees, Bill of Rights established)
What did Cromwell's Commonwealth teach the English people about government?
The Commonwealth taught that you cannot rule a nation by fear and austerity alone. People need joy, culture, and hope. They also taught that one man, even a brilliant military leader, cannot rule without consent. And they showed that replacing a bad king with a stern general does not create a just society. The lesson was hard-earned: England would eventually learn that stable government requires both a limit on power (through law) and the consent of the governed (through Parliament).
Why was 1688 called "glorious"? What was truly revolutionary about it?
It was glorious because it was bloodless. A king was removed and replaced without warfare or public execution. What was revolutionary was the principle it established: the king is not above the law. The Bill of Rights made it clear that the monarch serves at the pleasure of Parliament, that power is shared and limited, and that even the highest person in the realm must answer to the law. This was genuinely revolutionary — most European monarchs still claimed Divine Right and absolute power.
Walk through Room 16. List the 5 images and where you placed them:
Of all the figures in this lesson — Cromwell, Charles II, Wren, William of Orange — who do you think made the greatest difference to English history? Why?
In Lesson 17, we enter the Georgian Age. The turmoil is over. Parliament and monarchy have learned to coexist. Now, England will become a global empire. Tea, sugar, and the slave trade. Science and industry. And a long, complex relationship with the American colonies that ends in revolution.
This lesson's content should reappear in: Lesson 19 (+3) and Lesson 23 (+7 — if extended).