The end of the Commonwealth and the Protectorate reign of Oliver Cromwell closed a dour, gloomy epoch in English history. Theatres were reopened, dancing was permitted once again, and other English revelries were welcomed back into society. The people of England longed for a return to familiarity, stability, heritage, and the restoration of the monarchy. In a way it was not Charles II that reclaimed the crown, rather it was the Cromwellian Protectorate regime that fell apart. It invited the return of the king. After more than a decade of Puritanical religious extremism, the new Carolinian age hailed a rebirth of literature, science, the arts, and theatre in England.
This was the era of Dryden, Farquhar, Vanbrugh, and Congreve; the reconstruction of London took place after the Great Fire under Christopher Wren’s capable architectural administration; and a Royal Society charter carried with it the promise of the Enlightenment under Newton’s…
View original post 2,771 more words
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
Recent Comments