The Restoration of the monarchy began in 1660. The

Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

(1649–60) resulted from the

Wars of the Three Kingdoms The Wars of the Three Kingdoms were a series of related conflicts fought between 1639 and 1653 in the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland and Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland, then separate entities united in a pers ...

but collapsed in 1659. Politicians such as

General Monck George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle JP KG PC (6 December 1608 – 3 January 1670) was an English soldier, who fought on both sides during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. A prominent military figure under the Commonwealth, his support was cru ...

tried to ensure a peaceful transition of government from the "Commonwealth" republic back to monarchy. From 1 May 1660 the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under King Charles II. The term ''Restoration'' may apply both to the actual event by which the monarchy was restored, and to the period immediately before and after the event.

End of the republic

With the collapse of

The Protectorate The Protectorate, officially the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland, refers to the period from 16 December 1653 to 25 May 1659 during which England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and associated territories were joined together in the Com ...

in England during May 1659 the

republic A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...

which had been forced upon Ireland by

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three Ki ...

quickly began to unravel. Royalists planned an uprising in Ireland and sought to turn

Henry Cromwell Henry Cromwell (20 January 1628 – 23 March 1674) was the fourth son of Oliver Cromwell and Elizabeth Bourchier, and an important figure in the Parliamentarian regime in Ireland. Biography Early life Henry Cromwell – the fourth son of Oli ...

and

Lord Broghill Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery (25 April 1621 – 16 October 1679), styled Lord Broghill from 1628 to 1660, was an Anglo-Irish soldier and politician who sat in the House of Commons of England at various times between 1654 and 1679. Boyle fough ...

(who was in contact with the King's court in the summer of 1659) towards the cause but the plan came to naught. Henry Cromwell left Ireland in June 1659. Broghill showed reluctance to declare for the King, but nevertheless republicans were suspicious of him following Booth's revolt in England in 1659. Sir Theophilus Jones, a former soldier under

Charles I of Ireland Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until Execution of Charles I, his execution in 1649. He was born into the House of Stuart as the second son of King James VI of ...

and governor of Dublin during the republic, seized

Dublin Castle Dublin Castle ( ga, Caisleán Bhaile Átha Cliath) is a former Motte-and-bailey castle and current Irish government complex and conference centre. It was chosen for its position at the highest point of central Dublin. Until 1922 it was the se ...

with a group of officers and declared for Parliament. Acting in Charles II's interest, Sir Charles Coote seized

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...

while Lord Broghill held firm in Munster. On 9 January 1660 a council of officers declared

Edmund Ludlow Edmund Ludlow (c. 1617–1692) was an English parliamentarian, best known for his involvement in the execution of Charles I, and for his ''Memoirs'', which were published posthumously in a rewritten form and which have become a major source f ...

a traitor, and he fled to England. The

regicide Regicide is the purposeful killing of a monarch or sovereign of a polity and is often associated with the usurpation of power. A regicide can also be the person responsible for the killing. The word comes from the Latin roots of ''regis'' ...

Hardress Waller Sir Hardress Waller (1666), was an English Protestant who settled in Ireland and fought for Parliament in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. A leading member of the radical element within the New Model Army, he signed the death warrant for the Exe ...

re-took Dublin Castle in February 1660 but with little support he surrendered to Sir Charles Coote. Waller along with fellow regicide John Cook was arrested and sent to England. The officers in Dublin supported

. The army was purged of radicals and a Convention Parliament called. Coote sought to move the Convention Parliament towards restoration, but his rival Broghill did not openly declare for the King until May 1660. In February 1660 Coote sent a representative to King Charles II in the Netherlands and invited him to make an attempt on Ireland, but the King regarded it as inexpedient to try and reclaim Ireland before England. At the same time Broghill sent his brother to invite the King to land at

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

. In March 1660 a document was published asking for the King's return, "begged for his forgiveness, but stipulated for a general indemnity and the payment of army arrears". Following

events in England Event may refer to: Gatherings of people * Ceremony, an event of ritual significance, performed on a special occasion * Convention (meeting), a gathering of individuals engaged in some common interest * Event management, the organization of e ...

Charles was proclaimed King of Ireland in Dublin on 14 May without any dissent. The

Royal Irish Army Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a cit ...

was reestablished.

Return of Charles II

"The commonwealth parliamentary union was, after 1660, treated as null and void". As in England the republic was deemed constitutionally never to have occurred. The Convention Parliament was dissolved by Charles II in January 1661, and he summoned his first parliament in Ireland in May 1661. In 1662,

29 May Events Pre-1600 * 363 – The Roman emperor Julian defeats the Sasanian army in the Battle of Ctesiphon, under the walls of the Sasanian capital, but is unable to take the city. *1108 – Battle of Uclés: Almoravid troops under th ...

was made a public holiday. Coote, Broghill and

Sir Maurice Eustace Sir Maurice Eustace (c. 1590 – 22 June 1665) was an Irish landowner, politician, barrister and judge of the seventeenth century who spent the last years of his career as Lord Chancellor of Ireland. This was an office for which he felt himself to ...

were initially the main political figures in the Restoration. George Monck, Duke of Albemarle was given the position of

Lord Lieutenant of Ireland Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (), or more formally Lieutenant General and General Governor of Ireland, was the title of the chief governor of Ireland from the Williamite Wars of 1690 until the Partition of Ireland in 1922. This spanned the Kingdo ...

but he did not assume office. In 1662 the 1st Duke of Ormonde returned as the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and became the predominant political figure of the Restoration period.

Religious Settlement

Irish people were encouraged by the

Declaration of Breda The Declaration of Breda (dated 4 April 1660) was a proclamation by Charles II of England in which he promised a general pardon for crimes committed during the English Civil War and the Interregnum for all those who recognized Charles as the la ...

(1660), by which Charles declared for religious toleration: ".. that no man shall be disquieted or called in question for differences of opinion in matter of religion which do not disturb the peace of the kingdom." The declaration was then markedly reduced by the

Clarendon Code In English history, the penal laws were a series of laws that sought to uphold the establishment of the Church of England against Catholicism and Protestant nonconformists by imposing various forfeitures, civil penalties, and civil disabilities ...

acts of 1661–65. The

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the second ...

was restored as the national Church. "On 22 January 1661 the King issued a proclamation declaring all meetings by papists, Presbyterians, Independents and separatists illegal". Parliament later passed the Act of Uniformity 1666 similar to an Act in England of the same name. Whilst the religious settlement was satisfactory neither to Catholic nor Presbyterian, there was some degree of toleration, penal laws were laxly enforced and there was no equivalent of the

Conventicle Act 1664 The Conventicle Act 1664 was an Act of the Parliament of England (16 Charles II c. 4) that forbade conventicles, defined as religious assemblies of more than five people other than an immediate family, outside the auspices of the Church of E ...

. Catholics and Dissenters were allowed to take their seats again in the

Parliament of Ireland The Parliament of Ireland ( ga, Parlaimint na hÉireann) was the legislature of the Lordship of Ireland, and later the Kingdom of Ireland, from 1297 until 1800. It was modelled on the Parliament of England and from 1537 comprised two chamb ...

session of 1666.

Land Settlements

The most controversial aspect after the Restoration was the expected revision of the 1652 Cromwellian land settlement. Prior to the Republic, 60% of Irish land was owned by the Catholic

landed gentry The landed gentry, or the ''gentry'', is a largely historical British social class of landowners who could live entirely from rental income, or at least had a country estate. While distinct from, and socially below, the British peerage, th ...

, but much had been forfeited ''de jure'' under the 1642

Adventurers Act The Adventurers' Act is an Act of the Parliament of England which specified its aim as "the speedy and effectual reducing of the rebels in His Majesty's Kingdom of Ireland". The Irish Rebellion of 1641 had broken out five months earlier, a ...

and ''de facto'' after the

Cromwellian conquest of Ireland The Cromwellian conquest of Ireland or Cromwellian war in Ireland (1649–1653) was the re-conquest of Ireland by the forces of the English Parliament, led by Oliver Cromwell, during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Cromwell invaded Ireland wi ...

in 1649–53. Irish Protestants who had helped guarantee the Restoration in 1660, expected to retain the lands they had paid the State for in the 1650s without further interference, relying on

privity of contract The doctrine of privity of contract is a common law principle which provides that a contract cannot confer rights or impose obligations upon any person who is not a party to the contract. The premise is that only parties to contracts should be ab ...

. Against this, many Irish Catholic Royalists not only had supported Charles I but also supported Charles II during his exile and now expected their lands back. Other dispossessed Catholic landlords had been given lands in

Connacht Connacht ( ; ga, Connachta or ), is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, Conmhaícne, and Delbhn ...

that were confiscated from landlords there, who naturally wanted all of ''their'' land back. A Declaration was made on the land issue in 1660, followed by the

Act of Settlement 1662 The Act of Settlement 1662 was passed by the Parliament of Ireland, Irish Parliament in Dublin. It was a partial reversal of the Oliver Cromwell, Cromwellian Act for the Settlement of Ireland 1652, which punished Irish Catholics and Royalists f ...

. As this did not settle the matter there followed the Act of Explanation 1665. The result was a compromise; Charles needed the continuing support of the former republicans and Catholics ended up with about 20% of the land. Charles II also gave some of the Irish land taken from the

regicides Regicide is the purposeful killing of a monarch or sovereign of a polity and is often associated with the usurpation of power. A regicide can also be the person responsible for the killing. The word comes from the Latin roots of ''regis'' ...

to his (Catholic) brother the

Duke of York Duke of York is a title of nobility in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. Since the 15th century, it has, when granted, usually been given to the second son of English (later British) monarchs. The equivalent title in the Scottish peerage was Du ...

. Likewise he gave Irish land to his Catholic mistress Barbara, née Villiers, and an Irish title ''

Earl of Castlemaine The Earldom of Castlemaine was a title created in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created for Roger Palmer, the husband of Barbara Palmer (née Villiers), mistress to King Charles II. The Earl was also given the title ''Baron Limerick''. The ea ...

'' to her Catholic husband Roger Palmer. The issue of the religion of landowners was complicated by examples like the

Earl of Inchiquin Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. The title originates in the Old English word ''eorl'', meaning "a man of noble birth or rank". The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form ''jarl'', and meant "chieftain", particular ...

, who had been a Protestant parliamentarian during the war and converted to Catholicism in 1656; or the

Marquess of Clanricarde A marquess (; french: marquis ), es, marqués, pt, marquês. is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman wi ...

, a Catholic who lost his lands in the 1650s, that were restored to his Protestant

heir Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Officiall ...

in 1662. The past focus on religion has changed to a realisation that the main beneficiaries were the grander English and Irish nobility, regardless of their religion, and the losers were the smaller

. The Catholic

Earl of Clancarty Earl of Clancarty is a title that has been created twice in the Peerage of Ireland. History The title was created for the first time in 1658 in favour of Donough MacCarty, 1st Earl of Clancarty, Donough MacCarty, 2nd Viscount Muskerry, of th ...

increased his lands from 82,000 acres in 1641 to 161,000 acres by 1670. In

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...

however, "Cromwell's settlement was not overturned". Landless Catholics who struggled against the Protestants who had bought their confiscated lands were known as ''tóraidhe'' or

tories A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. Th ...

. They were "perceived as dispossessed Catholics waging a war of revenge against the new social order created by the land confiscations of the 1640s and 1650s". Some Ulster royalists were compensated with land elsewhere; the hopelessly over-mortgaged viscount

Magennis Magennis ( ga, Mac Aonghusa), also spelled Maguiness, Maginnis, Magenis, McGinnis, or McGuinness, is an Celtic_onomastics#Surnames, Irish surname, meaning the "son of Angus", which in eastern Ulster was commonly pronounced in Irish as ''Mac Aong ...

lost his land in

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to the ...

but was instead given 4,000 acres in

Roscommon Roscommon (; ) is the county town and the largest town in County Roscommon in Ireland. It is roughly in the centre of Ireland, near the meeting of the N60, N61 and N63 roads. The name Roscommon is derived from Coman mac Faelchon who built ...

and Limerick by Charles II in the 1670s.Viscount Magennis had mortgages worth over £4,000 on County Down land valued at £1,500. (). There were exceptions to the rule, as Randal MacDonnell, 1st Marquess of Antrim had also received land in Connaught in 1652, but had all his

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...

estates restored in 1665. Sir Henry O'Neill " of the Fews" and his brother Shane also had their lands confiscated and were given estates in

County Mayo County Mayo (; ga, Contae Mhaigh Eo, meaning "Plain of the Taxus baccata, yew trees") is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Conn ...

End of the republic

Return of Charles II

Religious Settlement

Land Settlements

See also

References

Further reading