Treason, passion and power in England, 1660 – 1685.

Abstract

General rejoicing greeted the Restoration of Charles II to the English throne in 1660; however the twenty-five year reign of the “merry monarch” was to become one characterised by division and dissent. This thesis analyses the passions of the period, which, although hitherto underexplored by historians, played a key role in Restoration politics. Emotions not only defined individual and national identity, but also framed the bond between subject and sovereign. This study illuminates the foundation of this relationship by tracing public expression of the passions in political and print culture surrounding treason trials, from the first decade of the king’s reign to the infamous plots of the Exclusion period. The connection between the king and his people became increasingly fraught as a result of the decreasing popularity of the Stuarts, in conjunction with a changing concept of the English nation, in which the person of the king was seen as distinct from the concept of kingship and the office of the crown. Seventeenth-century individuals and communities revealed themselves to be more than capable of using emotion to both communicate political desires and to renegotiate the balance of power between the supporters and opponents of the king. By establishing that the passions were central to civic and political behaviour, rather than the antithesis of reason, as later perceptions would suggest, this study contributes both to the history of emotions and to the history of politics in Restoration England.