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London theaters reopen; actresses appear onstage for the first time
English theatres were kept closed by the Puritans for religious and ideological reasons. When the London theatres opened again with the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, they flourished under the personal interest and support of Charles II. Wide and socially mixed audiences were attracted by topical writing and by the introduction of the first professional actresses. -
Period: to
Restoration and Eighteenth Century
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Charles ll is proclaimed king of England (crowned in 1661)
In April 1660 Charles issued the Declaration of Breda, promising a general amnesty and freedom of conscience. Parliament accepted the Declaration and he was proclaimed King on 8 May 1660. Charles landed at Dover on 26 May 1660, and entered London three days later. He was crowned at Westminster on 23 April 1661. -
Plague claims more than 68,000 people in London.
Also Known as th eBlack Death. Many thought is was punishment from a wrathful god; who was displeased with all the sin of man, causeing the Catholic Church to become Corrupted. -
Great Fire destroys much of London
The Great Fire of London began on the night of September 2, 1666, as a small fire on Pudding Lane, in the bakeshop of Thomas Farynor, baker to King Charles II. At one o'clock in the morning, a servant woke to find the house aflame, and the baker and his family escaped, but a fear-struck maid perished in the blaze. At this time, most London houses were of wood and pitch construction, dangerously flammable, and it did not take long for the fire to expand. The fire leapt to the hay and feed -
Glorious (Blodless): Revolution James ll is succeeded by Protestant rulers of William and Mary.
James was forced to open Parliament, because funds that Parliament had granted Charles II had ended automatically with Charles' death. James dreaded it, but the opening of Parliament went well for him, Parliament granting him generous revenue to run his government. James emerged believing that he was home free to exercise the power that he thought the Constitution granted him. -
Alexander Pope publishes part of The Rape of the Lock.
He was one of the foremost British authors and satirists of the 18th century. He, in a highly relatable way, built his reputation on the foundations of a sharp satirical tongue and a love of bringing classical Greek and Roman literature into the modern day. -
Swift publishes A Modest Propsal, protesting English treatment of the poor.
“A Modest Proposal” begins with an account of the impoverished state of many in Ireland. The writer expresses sympathy and the need for a solution. This proposal hopefully will decrease the number of abortions performed by poor mothers. The writer calculates the number of infants born in Ireland and asks what should be done with them. He points out that they are unfit for any employment, being even too young to steal. Neither will merchants buy or sell children. Therefore, it seems like a good i -
Voltaire publishes Candide
a “philosophic tale”, is a clever satire of France in the mid-18th century. He makes fun of religious intolerance, the destructiveness of war, and the foibles of mankind. He concludes with a plea that we should all “cultivate our own gardens”. -
George lll is crowned king of England; becomes known and King who lost the American Colonies.
England’s longest-ruling monarch before Queen Victoria, King George III ascended the British throne in 1760. During his 59-year reign, he pushed through a British victory in the Seven Years’ War, led England’s successful resistance to Revolutionary and Napoleonic France, and presided over the loss of the American Revolution. After suffering intermittent bouts of acute mental illness, he spent his last decade in a fog of insanity and blindness. -
British Parliament passes Stamp Act fro taxing American Colonies.
The American Revolution was precipitated, in part, by a series of laws passed between 1763 and 1775 that regulating trade and taxes. This legislation caused tensions between colonists and imperial officials, who made it clear that the British Parliament would not address American complaints that the new laws were onerous.This position eventually served as the basis for the colonial Declaration of Independence. -
African American poet Phillis Wheatley's Poems on Various Subject, Religious and Moral is published in London.
Wheatley was seized from Senegal/Gambia, West Africa, when she was about seven years old. She was transported to the Boston docks with a shipment of "refugee" slaves, who because of age or physical frailty were unsuited for rigorous labor in the West Indian and Southern colonies, the first ports of call after the Atlantic crossing. In the month of August 1761, she passed. -
Boston Tea Party occurs.
The Boston Tea Party took place on December 16, 1773. The Boston Tea Party happened in 3 British ships in the Boston Harbor. The Boston Tea Party took place because the colonists did not want to have to pay taxes on the British tea. -
Mary Wollstonecraft publishes A Vindication of the rights of Woman.
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman was the first great feminist treatise. Wollstonecraft preached that intellect will always govern and sought “to persuade women to endeavour to acquire strength, both of mind and body, and to convince them that the soft phrases, susceptibility of heart, delicacy of sentiment, and refinement of taste, are almost synonimous with epithets of weakness.” -
Napoleon heads revolutionary government in France.
A watershed event in modern European history, the French Revolution began in 1789 and ended in the late 1790s with the ascent of Napoleon Bonaparte. During this period, French citizens razed and redesigned their country’s political landscape, uprooting centuries-old institutions such as absolute monarchy and the feudal system. Like the American Revolution before it, the French Revolution was influenced by Enlightenment ideals.
