Cavalier Parliament

Cavalier Parliament
Sodacan · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Name	Cavalier Parliament
Type	English Parliament
Country	Kingdom of England
Term start	8 May 1661
Term end	24 January 1679
Preceding	Long Parliament
Succeeding	Habeas Corpus Parliament
Notable members	Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury, Sir Edward Hyde, Sir Robert Hyde

Cavalier Parliament

The Cavalier Parliament sat from 1661 to 1679 during the reign of Charles II of England. Dominated by Royalist and Anglican interests after the English Restoration, it enacted a series of statutes shaping Restoration England, addressing issues raised by the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the settlement of the Anglican Church and the monarchy. Its long duration and legislative output influenced subsequent developments such as the Test Act 1673 and the succession debates culminating in the Glorious Revolution.

Background and Election

The 1661 election followed the return of Charles II of England in 1660 and the dissolution of the Convention Parliament (1660), occurring within a political environment molded by the English Civil War, the execution of Charles I of England, the rule of Oliver Cromwell and the Protectorate, and the collapse of the Commonwealth of England. Royalist sentiment surged after events like the Penruddock uprising and the general reaction against the Rump Parliament and Barebone's Parliament. Voter rolls and burgess returns in boroughs such as Winchelsea and Hastings favored candidates aligned with Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon and other former Cavaliers, producing a chamber packed with Cavaliers and conservative Anglicans.

Composition and Political Alignments

Membership included peers and commoners drawn from landed gentry, borough corporations, and former Royalist families; notable figures included Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury, Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle, and legal luminaries connected to the Court of King's Bench and the Court of Common Pleas. Factions shifted among Court, Country, Anglican high churchmen, and moderate Presbyterians; alignments often reflected local ties to counties like Hertfordshire and Somerset and patronage networks centred on estates such as Clarendon Park. The Parliament included defenders of the Council of State’s legacy and critics of the Protectorate, producing cross-currents involving figures associated with the Royal Society and commercial interests tied to City of London merchants.

Legislative Activity and Major Acts

The assembly passed sweeping legislation shaping post-Restoration settlement: statutes to indemnify Royalists and to punish regicides stemming from the aftermath of Trial of the Regicides and the execution ofThomas Harrison. Significant statutes included laws restoring episcopal structures, revising the legal penal code, and addressing finance through subsidy acts to fund Anglo-Dutch Wars expenditures. The Parliament enacted measures relating to succession and oaths culminating in the Test Act 1673, navigation and trade statutes influenced by Navigation Acts, and statutes concerning property and the land settlement after sequestrations during the Interregnum. It also addressed security after the Great Fire of London and responded to maritime conflicts such as the Second Anglo-Dutch War with provisions for the Royal Navy and naval impressment.

Relationship with Charles II and the Crown

Initially supportive of Charles II of England and the restoration of the monarchy, many members trusted advisors like Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon and George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle while expecting the king to uphold Anglican settlement and reward Royalist creditors. Over time tensions emerged between Parliament and Crown over patronage, financial supply, and foreign policy especially as Charles II of England pursued secret diplomacy with France and Louis XIV of France exemplified by later agreements that produced controversy. Conflicts involved ministers such as John Maitland, 1st Duke of Lauderdale and agents like Sir William Temple; patrons including James, Duke of York and opponents like Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury shaped confrontations about corruption, influence, and prerogative, presaging later disputes in the reign.

Religious Policy and Impact on Dissenters

Religious settlement favored the Church of England with legislation reinforcing episcopacy and clerical conformity, reflecting influence from bishops like Gilbert Sheldon and legal decisions from ecclesiastical courts. The Parliament moved against nonconformists—Puritans, Quakers, Baptists, and Presbyterians—through the implementation of penal laws and the extension of the Clarendon Code which included the Corporation Act 1661, the Act of Uniformity 1662, the Conventicle Act 1664, and the Five Mile Act 1665. Dissenters faced fines, loss of office, and exclusion from civic life, prompting migration, emigration to colonies like New Amsterdam and New England, and clandestine worship that fed social tensions exploited by later political figures including Shaftesbury and John Locke.

Decline, Dissolution, and Legacy

By the late 1670s parliamentary cohesion eroded under pressures from wars, fiscal strains, and the rise of issues over succession following the conversion of James, Duke of York to Catholicism. The Parliament’s authority waned as opposition groups coalesced into proto-Whig elements and figures aligned with the Country party demanded redress of grievances, leading to its dissolution in 1679 and the summoning of the Habeas Corpus Parliament. Its legacy includes cementing the post-Restoration Anglican order, enacting statutes that framed later constitutional controversies such as the Popish Plot crisis, shaping debates that culminated in the Glorious Revolution (1688) and influencing political thinkers including Hobbes, Locke, and later historians of the English Revolution.

Category:17th century in England Category:Parliaments of England