This blog from Paul Seaward, British Academy/Wolfson Research Professor at the History of Parliament Trust, is part of our Named Parliaments series. He explores the so-called exclusion crisis of the late seventeenth century. You might also be interested in Paul’s recent blog on the Cavalier Parliament.
Three short Parliaments – those that assembled in March 1679, in October 1680, and March 1681 – are collectively referred to as the ‘Exclusion’ Parliaments, for they were dominated by the issue of the exclusion from the throne of Charles II’s heir, his brother, James, Duke of York. The astonishing revelation that York had undergone conversion to the Roman Catholic faith – confirmed in 1672, but widely known well before – was the central element in a political crisis that destabilised the English government for much of the rest of Charles II’s reign. The issue of how England’s Protestant church could be…
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