28 May 2020
The Dating Game
The Stuarts.
By Chin Chin
As we move into the seventeenth century, the Dating Game gets more relevant and rewarding. James 1, an anti-smoking fanatic? It’s easy to slip that into a 21st century conversation. Charles II knighting a loin of beef so that it became known as a sirloin? What an opportunity to dazzle a dinner party with your knowledge. Remember your part is to learn the dates of each monarch and of one event (to be chosen by you) from each reign – which does not have to come from our suggestions.
James I, 1603-1625
James had been King of Scotland for many years before Elizabeth’s death, and the fact that he was a great great grandchild of Henry VII put him on the English throne. Although he always wanted to govern England and Scotland as a single kingdom, Parliament would have none of it. Still, he was a capable and well-educated ruler. A protestant who had no objection to Catholicism practised in private, he compared well to the lunatics who were unleashing the unbelievably destructive 30 Years War on the continent.
Widely believed to have gay relationships with his favourites, he sired seven children by his wife. What about:
The Gunpowder plot 1605? “Remember, remember 5 November, gunpowder treason and plot…” Bonfire night has kept the spectacular attempt by Roman Catholic Guy Fawkes to blow up King and Parliament in the public memory.
The foundation of Jamestown, Virginia in 1607? It opened up the British colonisation of North America.
The Authorised Version of the Bible published in 1611? Still in common use.
Charles I, 1625-1649
The Van Dyck portraits are good but the king himself had no judgement, relying on his “Divine Right” to rule and upsetting and alienating everyone. He tried to marry a Spanish Princess but went on to declare war on Spain; he married a French princess but went on to help the protestants against the French Crown; he insulted the Scots who then invaded as far as Newcastle and Durham; he upset all the rival factions in Ireland; worst of all he and his favourites upset Parliament by trying to ignore it and to raise money by tax systems to which it had not agreed. It could not go on. Favourites were assassinated or executed and, when he was forced to summon the long parliament in 1640, he created an enemy with which he was going to have to fight, losing both his throne and his head in the civil war that followed. What about:
The Triennial Act 1641 under which Parliament could be summoned without the King’s permission? This locked his enemies into place.
Battle of Naseby 1645? The turning point of the civil war. A successful charge by Charles’s general Rupert of the Rhine was wasted by the cavalry going on to loot the town rather than turning back to win the battle.
Charles sold by the Scots, 1647? Charles was sold to Parliament by the Scots to whom he had surrendered, for £100,000 plus a promise of more to come. Then began the negotiations between him and Parliament which, by treacherous dealing and general bungling, he managed to turn into his own execution.
Commonwealth, 1649-1660
From one hopeless regime to the next. England has never liked zealots and the puritan, image breaking Puritans kept power for as long as the iron grip of Cromwell, the Lord Protector, endured. When he died in 1658 the writing was on the wall. His son did not have the support to follow him and in the end it fell to General Monck, Commander of his new Model Army, to work out the compromises under which the monarchy could resume. What about:
Cromwell’s invasion of Ireland in 1649 which marked the beginning of campaigns by him and his generals of such unparalleled viciousness that he is still hated there to this day? So much so that in 1997 the Irish leader refused to start a meeting in the foreign office until a portrait of Cromwell was removed from the wall.
Charles II, 1660-1685
A woman-loving, pragmatist Charles had the right instincts when it counted. Restored to the throne in 1660 he took no reprisals against anyone apart from those who had actually signed his father’s death warrant. During the Great Fire of London he himself organised the struggle to contain the blaze, at times joining the bucket chains in the streets. A man of many mistresses he ensured that his wife was duly respected. Inclined towards Catholicism to which he converted on his deathbed, he supported the established church.
What about:
The Great Plague 1665 which killed about one quarter of the population of London?
The Fire of London 1666? Most of the City burned including St Paul’s which was replaced by the current cathedral designed by Wren.
The secret treaty of Dover 1670? In return for £160,000 a year Charles promised to supply troops to Louis XIV and to convert to Catholicism when “the welfare of the country did permit”.
James II, 1685-1688
Now back to the zealots and a riddle. How can a popular King of England lose the throne within three years? Try to force the country to become Catholic, that is how. James was known to be Catholic but Charles had successfully resisted his exclusion from the succession. James however could not resist trying it on. What about:
Monmouth’s rebellion, 1685? An illegitimate but protestant son of Charles, Monmouth saw his cause destroyed on the battlefield of Sedgemoor and, after his execution, his followers were mercilessly punished by Judge Jeffreys in the bloody assizes, many of them being transported to the West Indies. Among the commanders of the King’s forces at Sedgemoor was John Churchill, one day to be better known as the Duke of Marlborough.
Declaration of Indulgence 1688? Although a measure of religious toleration, the effect would have been to remove the bar on Catholics holding high office, alarming to those who saw Catholicism as a threat. Popular rejoicing at the acquittal of seven bishops who refused to read it from their pulpits meant the skids were under James.
Birth of a male heir, 1688? Charles had insisted on James’s daughters being brought up protestants but a new male heir, James Francis, raised the spectre of a catholic dynasty. Civil war? No, James’s support evaporated and he fled the country.
William III and Mary II, 1688-1702
James’s daughter Mary would only take the throne jointly with her husband the Dutch stadtholder William of Orange, so that after Mary’s death in 1694 England was ruled by a Dutch king. What about:
The Battle of the Boyne 1689, at which James was defeated in Ireland?
The Bill of Rights 1689 restricting the royal prerogative and entrenching the rights of Parliament?
England joins the grand alliance with the Netherlands and Austria against Louis XIV, also 1689?
Anne, 1720 -1714
James’s second daughter Anne was a woman with a worry. Was James’s son, James Francis, her brother and the rightful king? Luckily it was rumoured that James Francis was not the son of James at all but had been smuggled into his wife’s bedroom in a warming pan. Unlikely, but enough to ease Anne’s conscience. Meanwhile the struggle against Louis XIV grew hotter with his attempt to put his grandson onto the vacant throne of Spain and to annihilate the Austro-Hungarian empire. He succeeded in the first, although the new dynasty acted quite independently of France. But he failed in the second. What about:
Battle of Blenheim 1702 when coalition forces led by the Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene of Savoy destroyed the French army that threatened Vienna? It is no coincidence that the Dukes of Marlborough now live in Blenheim Palace. More victories followed at Oudenarde, Ramillies and Malplaquet and, when Marlborough was finally recalled, he was a threat to Versailles.
Act of Union 1707 which fused England and Scotland into a single kingdom of Great Britain, to be administered by Parliament in Westminster? Before that they had simply been two countries with the same monarch.
England signs up to Peace of Utrecht in 1713? The “Peace” was a series of treaties to end hostilities between France, Spain, Holland, Portugal, Britain, Savoy and others. As part of the Peace, Spain ceded Gibraltar to Britain.
Links to
