Hello, I'm Mr. Marchant, and I'll be your history teacher for today.

I'm really looking forward to starting our learning journey together, and my role will be to make sure that you can meet today's learning objective.

Welcome to today's history lesson where we are gonna be working on explaining what happened during the Restoration and the reign of Charles II.

So this lesson will build on knowledge of what happened after the Civil War and also what was occurring even after the interregnum.

There are five keywords which are gonna help us navigate our way through today's lesson.

Those are exile, Restoration, flattery, Sabbath, and influencing.

Someone who is not allowed to live in their own country lives in exile.

The Restoration was the period of time after monarchy was brought back to England, Scotland, and Ireland in 1660.

Flattery involves saying nice things to someone in order to make them feel good about themselves.

The Sabbath is a day of the week that many religious groups use for prayer and rest.

And influencing involves affecting how others behave or affecting how a situation develops.

Today's lesson is gonna be divided into three parts, and we're gonna begin by focusing on the Restoration.

The image that's on the screen shows the entry of a man into London in 1660 as part of a large parade involving people, carriages, banners, and flags.

Who could the man circled in this image be? Pause the video and press play when you're ready to hear the correct answer.

The man shown in this image is actually Charles II.

King Charles I was executed in 1649.

Charles I's eldest son, who was also named Charles, lived in exile from 1651 until 1660.

In 1660, Charles was crowned king of England as well as Scotland and Ireland, therefore becoming Charles II.

So it was him who was shown in our previous image making his return to England after his exile.

The return of monarchy to England in 1660 is known as the Restoration.

If you think about the word restore, that normally means to bring something back or put something back.

So the Restoration is all about putting back or bringing back the monarchy to England, Scotland and Ireland.

Government in England had been chaotic after the death of Oliver Cromwell in 1658.

The Restoration ended republican rule in England and was supposed to, with it, end the chaos that had occurred after the death of Oliver Cromwell and bring back stability with monarchy.

So let's just check our understanding of what the Restoration was.

My first question for you: What happened during the Restoration? Did England become a democracy again, England became a monarchy again, or England became a republic again.

Pause the video and press play when you're ready to see the correct answer.

Okay, well done for your hard work on that, especially if you said the correct answer was B.

During the Restoration, England became a monarchy again.

So let's try a slightly different question to check our understanding.

Starting with the earliest, I want you to sort these events into chronological order.

Arrange the letters A to D to indicate your answer.

So the four events that you've got to work with are that Charles I's son escapes into exile, that Cromwell dies, that Charles II was crowned king and that Charles I was executed.

So you need to arrange those using the letters into chronological order.

Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the correct answer.

Okay, well done for your hard work on that task.

A lot for us to think about when we are getting our chronology right.

So if we were putting those events into chronological order, our answers should have looked like this: D, then A, B, and then C.

To be a little bit more specific, that meant that Charles I was executed.

That happened in 1649.

Charles I's son escaped into exile.

He had to flee the country.

In 1658, Oliver Cromwell, who'd spent much of the interregnum ruling England, Scotland, and Ireland, died.

And by 1660, Charles II, the son of Charles I, was crowned king, and that was the Restoration.

So now we're in a good position to put all of our knowledge about the Restoration into practise.

I want you to describe how the Restoration changed government in England in one sentence.

So pause a video here and press play when you're ready to reflect on your response.

Okay, well done for your hard work on that task.

So I asked you to describe how the Restoration changed government in England.

Now, your answer may have included, During the Restoration, monarchy returned to England and Charles II was Crown King.

Alternatively, you may have written something that looked more like, The Restoration ended Republican rule in England, which had lasted since the execution of Charles I.

So really well done if you wrote something that looked like either of those two sentences.

And now we are ready to move on to the second part of our lesson today where we are gonna talk about the 'Merry Monarch'.

Charles II was intelligent enough to understand that for the Restoration to be successful, he had to work with and respect Parliament and even show forgiveness to many of those who'd fought against his father and himself during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. This helped the country to move past the divisions of the Civil War and interregnum.

Charles promised to rule with Parliament and allowed the Parliament to sit continuously from 1661 to 1679.

This Parliament was known as the Cavalier Parliament as it was filled with many people who had been royalists during the Civil War.

The Cavalier Parliament lasted longer than any other Parliament before it.

Charles also refused to punish almost all of those who had fought for the Parliamentarians during the Civil War.

Only a small number of regicides who had supported the execution of King Charles I were punished.

This included Oliver Cromwell whose buried body was dug up and beheaded in 1661 to show that he was a regicide.

So let's just check our understanding of that information we've heard.

How did Charles II's treatment of Parliament compare to Charles I treatment of Parliament? Is it that Charles II also ruled for long periods without Parliament? That Charles II also went to war with Parliament? Or that Charles II worked more cooperatively with Parliament? Pause the video here and press play when you are ready to see the correct answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said the correct answer was C, Charles II worked more cooperatively with Parliament than his father Charles I had.

A good example of that is the fact that the Cavalier Parliament lasted from 1661 to 1679, longer than any Parliament before it.

And let's try a second question.

Why did Charles II avoid punishing most of the people who fought against himself and his father during the Civil War? Was it to avoid overcrowding jails, to avoid punishing innocent people, or to move on from Civil war divisions? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the correct answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said the correct answer was C, Charles II avoided punishing most people who had supported the Parliamentarians because he wanted the country to move on from Civil War divisions.

He knew that if he didn't, the Restoration probably wouldn't be very successful.

The Restoration gained its name for more than just the political changes which took place after 1660.

During the interregnum, Puritans had banned many activities such as gambling, attending plays, celebrating Christmas and selling goods on the Sunday, the Sabbath.

Puritan leaders had argued that all of these activities were sinful and ungodly.

The Restoration saw a pushback against these Puritan restrictions and the return of popular activities like theatres, music, dancing, and gambling.

Charles II made it clear that he supported the end of Puritan restrictions.

The king granted permission to acting companies to perform in London again and often gambled, regularly attending horse races.

It was because of this and more that Charles II became known as the 'Merry Monarch'.

So let's just check our understanding of Charles's reputation is the 'Merry Monarch' and how that relates to the Restoration.

We have a statement on the screen that says Charles II behaved like a Puritan during the Restoration.

Is that statement true or false? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the correct answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said the correct answer was false.

Charles II did not behave like a Puritan during the Restoration, but we want to be able to justify our answers here.

So two justifications have appeared on the screen.

The first says that Charles II was known as the 'Merry Monarch' because he'd never went to church.

And the second says Charles II was known as the 'Merry Monarch' because he gambled and went to horse races.

Which one of those two justifications is correct? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay.

Well, to everybody who said the second justification was correct.

Part of the reason why Charles II became known as the 'Merry Monarch' was because he really enjoyed activities such as gambling and attending course races, as well as others like going to the theatre.

And more than that, which meant he had a clear contrast to the Puritans who had led England during the interregnum.

So now we're in a good position to put all of our knowledge about the 'Merry Monarch' into practise.

So firstly, I want you to answer this question.

Which group was likely to be least happy about the actions of the 'Merry Monarch'? Ordinary people, Parliament or Puritans? Once you've answered the first question, I want you to move on to a second one where I'm asking you to justify your answer to question one.

Your justification should include a specific example to support your answer, a clear bit of evidence that shows why your chosen group would be least happy about the actions of the 'Merry Monarch'.

So pause the video here and press play when you're ready to reflect on your responses.

Okay, well done for your hard work on that task.

So the first thing I asked you to do was to tell me which group was likely to be least happy about the actions of the 'Merry Monarch', ordinary people, Parliament, or Puritans.

It is most likely that the Puritans would've been least happy about the actions of the 'Merry Monarch'.

For question two, I asked you to justify your answer to the first question, and I reminded you that your justification should have included a specific example to support our choice of the Puritans being the least happy.

So your answer may have included: Puritans were likely to be the least happy about the actions of the 'Merry Monarch'.

This is because Charles II supported the return of activities like plays and gambling.

Puritans believed that these activities were sinful and ungodly.

So really well done if your answer looked something like that model we've just seen.

We are now ready to move on to the third and final part of today's lesson where we're gonna think about influencing the Restoration and the role of pamphlets in this period.

In 1660, George Willington from Bristol wrote a pamphlet which he addressed to King Charles II at the beginning of his reign.

Willington hoped that the king would read and respond to his pamphlet, which was called the "Welcome Restoration of our King Charles II." In the pamphlet, Willington began by writing, "May Jesus Christ, bless Your Majesty with length of days and an increase of all graces which may make you truly prosperous." That means quite rich.

"In this life and eternally happy in that which is to come.

God in his mercy to these nations brought your sacred royal person after 11 years of exile to the happy enjoyment of your crown and your kingdom to the great joy and comfort of all your loyal subjects." Willington also wrote later in his pamphlet, "I most humbly beg Your Majesty pass laws to ensure that the holy Sabbath is more religiously respected and observed than has been the case up to this point.

Lastly, I beg Your Majesty that the places which generate sin and wickedness may be beaten down.

By this, I mean an end to unlawful places of drinking and gambling and such like which dishonour God, hurt his people and outrage religion.

This will make you famous for the ages as Charles the Good and the Great." So we've seen a little bit of what George Willington wrote in his pamphlet, "The Welcome Restoration of our King Charles II." But it helps for us to focus in a little bit more detail on some of the key passages that we saw in our extracts.

If we focus first on some of the specific things that Willington wrote in the start of his pamphlet, it gives us a good idea about some of his views.

For example, he wrote, bless Your Majesty, and that Jesus Christ would hopefully provide the king with prosperity in this life and eternal happiness.

Now, all of this gives us an impression that Willington was a supporter of the Restoration.

But there are other things that he wrote, that it was a mercy to these nations, to England, Scotland, and Ireland that Charles II should return, and that the subjects of those countries were feeling great joy and comfort at the return of King Charles II.

Now, these parts of the pamphlet give the impression that the subjects of Charles II were lucky to have him as a king.

Yes, but they also give the impression that as an author, Willington was trying to flatter his reader, trying to flatter King Charles II, make him feel good about himself by saying quite nice things.

So let's just reflect on what we've heard so far, and let's answer this question.

What did Willington do in his pamphlet? Did he argue with King Charles II, flatter King Charles II, or insult King Charles II? Pause the video here and press play when you are ready to see the correct answer.

Okay, welcome to everybody who said the correct answer was B, George Willington flattered King Charles II in his pamphlet that he wrote in 1660.

So let's return our attention to some of the specific things that George Willington wrote in his pamphlet and think about what they can tell us about politics at the time.

In one extract, Willington began by saying, "I most humbly beg." And this tells us that he was asking the king for help.

Now, as historians, we wanna think about, well, what specifically was Willington asking for help for? Well, we can see he talked about having the holy Sabbath be more religiously respected and having places which generate sin and wickedness being beaten or closed down.

Now this is interesting as it shows us Willington had Puritan concerns.

So he seems to have been asking for help to introduce more Puritan restrictions.

At the end, Willington talked about making you famous for the ages as Charles the Good and the Great.

He was saying this would happen if Charles did what Willington was asking for.

And in this we can see more flattery just like we had earlier, attempts to make Charles II feel good about himself.

So let's reflect on that extract we've just been studying.

I want you to identify the quote which best demonstrates that Willington was asking for something from the king.

Can we tell he was asking for something because he said, "I most humbly beg your majesty pass laws?" Because he said, "May Jesus Christ bless Your Majesty with length of days?" Or because he said, "This will make you famous for the ages as Charles the Good?" Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to reflect on your response.

Okay, well done.

To everybody who said the correct answer was A.

By saying, "I most humbly beg," well begging is an act of asking for something.

So we can see there that Willington is trying to get something from the king as he wrote to him.

And let's think about another question.

Let's pursue this idea of Willington asking for something.

What was it that he was asking King Charles to do in his pamphlet? Was he asking the king to end Puritan restrictions on people's behaviour, to introduce Puritan restrictions on behaviour on the Sabbath, or for him to punish Puritans? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the correct answer.

Okay, welcome to everybody who said the correct answer was B, Willington was asking King Charles II to introduce Puritan restrictions on behaviour on the Sabbath.

In particular, he also asked for things like an end to gambling and drinking, which he said too many people were getting away with.

This shows that he had Puritan concerns because he thought people were being allowed to act in an ungodly way.

So now we are ready to put our knowledge about how people tried to influence the Restoration into practise.

So there are two questions I want you to answer.

The first requires you to provide a quote from George Willington's, "The Welcome Restoration of our King Charles II," which shows that he was trying to flatter King Charles II.

And then the second thing I want you to do is give one reason why George Willington flattered King Charles II in his pamphlet.

So pause the video here and press play when you're ready to reflect on your responses.

Okay, well done for all of your hard work on that task.

I asked you to do quite a lot there.

So the first thing I asked you to do was to provide a quote from George Willington's, "The Welcome Restoration of our King Charles II," which showed that he was trying to flatter the king.

Your answer may have included one of the following quotes: "enjoyment of your crown and your kingdom to the great joy and comfort of all your loyal subjects." Or "make you famous for the ages as Charles the Good and the Great." Both of those quotes show the author trying to flatter the king to make him feel good about himself.

So now thinking about question two, well, if we've seen that George Willington was trying to flatter the king, well I asked you to tell me why was he doing this.

So your answer may have included: That George Willington may have flattered King Charles II in his pamphlet so that the king would be more likely to grant his request to introduce more Puritan restrictions.

So really well done if you wrote an answer that looked something similar to that.

And now I want you to attempt one further question.

Was George Willington's pamphlet successful in influencing Charles II's behaviour at the time of the Restoration? And I want you to explain your answer.

You may use the following sentence starters to help you frame your response.

So our sentence starters say, George Willington's pamphlet was or was not successful at influencing Charles II.

I can tell this because.

So pause the video here and press play when you're ready to reflect on your response.

Okay, really well done for all of your hard work on that task.

Thinking about our answers to the question, was George Willington's pamphlet successful in influencing Charles II during the Restoration? Your answer may have included: George Willington's pamphlet was not successful at influencing Charles II.

I can tell this because Puritan restrictions were ended during the Restoration.

For example, the king himself regularly gambled and went to horse races and was known as the 'Merry Monarch'.

So really well done if you wrote a response that looks something similar to our model there.

We've now reached the end of our lesson for today, which puts us in a good position to summarise our learning.

So we've seen that the monarchy was brought back during the Restoration as Charles II returned from exile and was crowned king.

Charles II tried to help the country move past its divisions by working with Parliament and forgiving most of those who fought for Parliament during the Civil Wars.

Charles II was known as the 'Merry Monarch' and ended Puritan restrictions on things like theatre.

And the Restoration reduced Puritan influence in England.

So thank you very much for all of your hard work during today's lesson.

It's been a real pleasure working through it with yourselves, and I look forward to our future lessons where we'll think further about the English Civil War and about what pamphlets can tell us about English politics in the 17th century.