Carl II Stuart biography. Charles II - the ugliest Spanish king and the last of the Habsburgs
Charles II Stuart, King of England. Portrait by Peter Lely
In the veins of Charles II, Scottish blood flowed with an admixture of French (from his mother); like all Stuarts, he was a stranger to England, did not understand her; the memories of his youth could not inspire him with affection for this country, and best years their lives were spent by him in exile, in foreign lands, in the idle expectation of favorable events. Returning to England, Charles II was in a hurry to use the means of his position in order to live cheerfully, not caring about tomorrow, public opinion, or the requirements of morality, and the lack of children further strengthened his selfish aspirations, negligence about the future. A student of the materialist Hobbes, Charles II was indifferent to religion in general, but gave preference to Catholicism; how the master's lessons were put to good use, it was evident from the opinions of Charles II that he did not believe in the chastity of women, nor in the virtue of men, and did not expect true fidelity or commitment from any person. With such a view of people, could Karl consider himself in any way obligated in relation to people? Could he have motives to earn their respect?
In the first two parliaments called by Charles II it met with no opposition, thanks especially to the skill of Hyde, the Earl of Clarendon, the chancellor, author of an important work on the English Revolution (the "History of the Revolt," as he titled it). But in the course of time, the basic character of the king and his aspirations became more and more clear and began to arouse strong displeasure. Constantly in need of money squandered on shameful pleasures, Charles II was not ashamed to take a pension from the French king Louis XIV; France also received money to bribe English voters and members of parliament. The close connection of the king with France, where Louis XIV showed aspirations completely opposite to the order of things that prevailed in England, must have aroused fears here. It came to the point that Charles II sold two cities to Louis XIV - Dunkirchen and Mardik, which belonged to England since the time of Cromwell. As a result of a clash between two trading powers, striving for supremacy at sea, a war broke out between England and Holland in 1665; at first the war went on happily for England, but in 1667 the Dutch admirals Ruyter and Cornelius de Witt entered the Thames with a fleet, destroyed stores and shipyards, burned three battleships first class.
These losses and disgrace increased the hostility towards the king, who used the money allocated by parliament for the war for his own pleasure, and the country remained defenseless. A terrible fire devastated a significant part of London, a pestilence destroyed thousands of its inhabitants - all these disasters together hardened the people. Devoted to pleasure alone, the king, of course, liked to surround himself with people who looked the same way with him on the goal of life; among people close to Charles there was only one honest and serious person, the Chancellor Earl of Clarendon, who shared his exile with him and faithfully served his father. The honest and business-like old man was unbearable to the king and his favorites, especially since he was proud and power-hungry, relying on family ties With royal house: his daughter was married to the heir to the throne, the Duke of York. In 1667 Clarendon's enemies accused him of treason before Parliament. The lower house was against Clarendon, the upper stood up for him; to put an end to the struggle of the chambers, the king ordered the chancellor to go to the continent, and the old man, to whom Charles owed so much, died in exile.
On the removal of Clarendon, a ministry was formed from people who least of all cared about the interests of England; these people were: Clifford, Ashley, Buckingham, Arlington and Lauderdahl; from the initial letters of their surnames, their ministry was called the Cabal-Ministry. Instead of rapprochement with Holland, necessary to counter France, who aspired to dominate Europe, Buckingham did his best to irritate Charles II against Holland. In 1669, the heir to the throne, the king's brother, the Duke of York, apparently converted to Catholicism. Charles II became closer and closer to the French government, from which he took money, promising to convert to Catholicism and destroy the parliamentary form of government in England. Karl wanted both; but it was an impotent desire, for neither Charles nor his ministers had either moral or material resources to do something to make your dreams come true. They could not prevent Parliament from taking defensive measures in view of the imminent danger, they could not prevent Parliament from issuing a bill in 1670 against non-conformists(non-Anglicans): The law imposed a financial penalty on people present at non-Anglican worship and on clergy who celebrated such worship. The king took it into his head to declare that he had the right to exempt dissidents and predominantly Catholics from the fine or reduce it, but after a strong storm raised on this occasion in Parliament, he had to renounce his claims.
Parliament continued to take action against Catholics; a law was issued, known as the Test act, according to which, in order to occupy a military or civil office, it was necessary to swear obedience to the king as the head of the Church and partake of the Holy Mysteries according to the teaching and custom of the Anglican Church. As a result of this law, the Duke of York had to lay down all his posts (he was, by the way, Admiral General), and the Catholic Clifford - to leave the ministry, which finally collapsed in 1674; the most gifted of its members, the Earl of Shaftesbury (Ashley), went over to the opposition.
In 1678, as public opinion became more and more opposed to the Catholic aspirations of the king, rumors spread of a terrible papist conspiracy. Titus Oates, expelled from the Jesuit College, reported on a conspiracy in which the Duke of York allegedly participated. Now the denunciation is considered false, but contemporaries believed him, and parliament raised the persecution of Catholics: 2000 people, among them lords, were imprisoned, even more was expelled from London, many Catholic priests were executed by death; The test act received the strictest application, and all Catholics lost the right to be members of parliament. The king dissolved parliament, but this measure proved useless for him: the new parliament (1679) appeared with the same anti-Catholic trend, and the king was forced to send his brother, the Duke of York, abroad and form a ministry in accordance with the dominant trend in parliament; The most prominent members of the new ministry were Temple and Shaftesbury, who made themselves famous by publishing the famous Habeascorpusact: According to this act, no one could be captured without a written announcement of the reason for the arrest, the arrested person must be brought before the court within a certain period (three days) and cannot be imprisoned anywhere except in his county.
The Ministry and Parliament continued to persecute Catholics and insisted on the removal of the Duke of York from the throne. This question of succession has caused many to ponder; it was dangerous to have a Catholic king, to wait for the resumption of the times of Mary Tudor, to see the triumph of hated papism, but it seemed even more dangerous for many to break the lawful order of succession to the throne, to set foot on a terrible revolutionary path, to give rise to evil strife; no matter how dissatisfied they were with the behavior of Charles II, no matter how they were afraid of the Duke of York, but most of all they were afraid of the return of unrest. This fear of a revolution in the event of a break in the legitimate order of succession caused many to disapprove of the conduct of Parliament and the Ministry; two directions, two parties, were formed: one, out of fear of the revolution, wanted to strengthen the monarchical power, proclaiming the beginning of unconditional obedience to it, as coming from God; the other looked at the state system as a mutual agreement between the king and the people, and if the king violated the agreement, then the people had the right to resist. The first party was called the Tories, the second - the Whigs. The opposing views that divide these two parties emerged in England under the Stuarts, in revolutionary times. The English constitution was formed in the Middle Ages by fact; the first king of the Scottish dynasty, James I Stuart, put forward the theory of royalty; according to this theory the rights of the English people were the gifts of the supreme power. The answer to the theory of James I was a revolution, during which the people were inspired that they had the right not only to rebel against the king, but to judge and execute him.
The execution of Charles I made a strong and mournful impression on the Continent; The famous philologist Salmazy, professor at the University of Leiden, wrote the essay "Defense of King Charles 1st", where he accused the English people of the unjust and criminal murder of the king. He was answered by the English poet Milton, the author Lost paradise. Milton's doctrine of the origin of power was as follows:
“People are by nature free beings, created in the image and likeness of God, and God gave them power over every creature. When people multiplied and began to oppress each other, there was a need for public life, in cities. They saw the need to establish power and give it the power to protect peace and law and punish their violators. They established power in order to have people authorized to judge and judge with truth, and not in order to have masters and masters over them. To avoid arbitrariness, laws were issued that limited the people who were entrusted with power. The people, from which all authority originally proceeds, with the aim of serving its well-being, the people have the right to elect kings and overthrow them.
Long before Milton, the Jesuit Bellarmine stated the position: “Power is originally in the hands of the people, who transfer it to one person or to many, and if there is a just reason, the people can turn the monarchy into an aristocracy or democracy.” Bellarmine's doctrine could not attract as much attention as Milton's doctrine, which appeared in defense of the events of the English revolution.
But if the revolution and the republic found their defender in the republican Milton, then the royal power found its defender in the Englishman, the royalist Hobbes, who published two important political writings: 1) On the Citizen; 2) Leviathan. Hobbes views the state as an artificial creation. In his opinion, the natural state of man before the state was war, due to the selfish desires of each. What each considers useful to himself becomes the measure of right for him, and since at this time each is a judge in his own case, people constantly quarrel with each other and resort to weapons to resolve disputes, and so war all against all is the natural state of mankind. In order to get out of such an intolerable situation, people try to secure and strengthen themselves by mutual union. Fear of the disasters of the natural state is real reason the origin of the state, and the purpose of the state, as opposed to the natural state of war of all against all, there is peace. But in order to maintain peace, it is necessary that individual wills merge into a single general will, and this is possible only when everyone submits his will to the will of one person or one assembly: this is how the artificial person that we call the state comes into being. Sovereignty, according to Hobbes, must necessarily be unlimited. The supreme ruler alone retains the original right over everything, the right that others have renounced. If the supreme power is limited, then the unity of the state collapses, and in the clash of unbridled forces, the former state of war of all against all will be resumed. Whoever wants to limit the supreme power must himself have supreme power. The supreme ruler cannot be likened to a head in a state body, but a soul in a body. Thus, in the political literature of England, as a result of the revolution, two opposite theories were formed, which formed the basis of the views of two famous political parties.
The Whigs (Shaftesbury and his comrades), insisting on the removal of the Duke of York from the throne, put forward the Duke of Monmouth, the natural son of King Charles II, as a candidate for the throne, but this revolutionary aspiration of the Whigs provoked opposition from people who were most afraid of the revolution; Relying on this opposition, Charles II got the opportunity to fight the Whigs, with the Parliament, which was under their influence. In the middle of 1679 he dissolved Parliament. Shaftesbury and Temple resigned from the ministry; the king formed another ministry (Halifax, Zanderland, Hyde, Godolphin), which contributed to a gradual turn public opinion. The Duke of York returned from abroad, although he was sent to Scotland. Monmouth, on the other hand, was to retire to solid ground. Parliament, convened in October 1679, was again adjourned for a whole year; the duke of Monmouth, summoned by Shaftesbury, appeared again in England, and the whole country came into a violent movement; requests and addresses were sent to the king with complaints about the postponement of parliament; seemed to be coming new revolution. But it was then that the fear of the revolution was revealed: the king began to receive requests of a different kind, they began to ask him to keep his right to postpone parliament; spoke out against Shaftesbury and Monmouth, thanked for the return of the Duke of York. But this conservative party did not have a majority in the Parliament, which met in October 1680; here the majority was again for a bill removing the Duke of York from the succession to the throne; The bill passed in the House of Commons but was stopped in the House of Lords.
After this, the House of Commons acted in such a way that it more and more frightened the renewal of the revolution and thereby strengthened the Conservative Party; the House of Commons demanded the removal of certain members of the Royal Privy Council, and when the rumor spread about the postponement of Parliament, it announced that the people who advised the King of this postponement were traitors to the King, religion and fatherland, working in the interests of France and receiving a salary from her for this. Parliament was dissolved at the beginning of 1681, and a new one was to meet not in London, but in Oxford. Meanwhile, the king, wanting to provide himself with money, so as not to depend on parliament, concluded a secret agreement with the French king Louis XIV: the latter promised to send Charles II two million livres in 1681 and half a million each for the next two years; Charles II for this pledged not to intercede for Spain. At Oxford, the King proposed to Parliament the following deal: on his death, the Duke of York would be King in name only, and would not live in England; his name will be ruled by his eldest daughter Maria, the wife of the Dutch stadtholder, William III of Orange, and after her, her sister Anna; but Parliament did not agree, continuing to insist on the unconditional exclusion of the Duke of York from the succession, and was dissolved.
Meanwhile, the Conservative Party grew stronger and stronger and supported the king, who found it possible to return his brother to England (May 1682). This return caused the opposing party to form a conspiracy, of which Shaftesbury was the head, and the main participants were Essex, Grey, Rossel, the Earl of Leicester and his brother Sidney - people imbued with the concepts of antiquity, dreaming of Roman freedom. The purpose of the conspiracy was to instigate a general uprising in England and Scotland, but the conspiracy was discovered, Shaftesbury fled to Holland, where he soon died, Rossel and Sydney were captured and executed (1683). The main provisions of both parties, Whigs and Tories, were expressed in this case: Lord Rossel defended the doctrine at the trial that subjects were not obliged to obey a sovereign who violated his duties in relation to them, but on the day of Rossel's execution, Oxford theologians issued an edict on the passive obedience of subjects sovereign; they expressed in this edict that it is contrary to Christian theology to assert that secular power is based not on the divine right of the sovereign, but on some kind of agreement between the people and the ruler, on some kind of agreement, according to which the sovereign loses his right if he rules in a wrong way. , properly. This time in England the majority was in favor of the Oxford position.
The Tories were jubilant. The Duke of York received his former position as Grand Admiral and a seat on the Privy Council. Under the pretext of religious tolerance, the king clearly patronized the Catholics, parliament was not convened. In the midst of complete calm, Charles II died in February 1685.
Life story
Charles was born on May 29, 1630. With a charming face, he resembled his mother, and in character he was like his grandfather, King Henry IV. Amorous in childhood, insatiably voluptuous in youth and in adulthood, depraved in old age - Charles II gradually turned from an Epicurean into a cynic, setting an example of extreme unbridled morals throughout the court.
When Charles I began to quarrel with the people, the young Prince of Wales was sent to The Hague and placed in the care of William of Orange. The news of the course of the struggle of the king of England with his subjects became more alarming day by day; the unfortunate Queen Henrietta went to France to beg for help to the wife of the almighty Richelieu, and then to Cardinal Mazarin. Almost all European sovereigns sympathized with the English king, but none of them provided him with significant assistance.
While his father was languishing in captivity with his subjects, his eighteen-year-old son spent time in love affairs, winning victories over the beauties of easy virtue.
In 1648, the Prince of Wales met the mistress of Colonel Robert Sidney, the charming Lucy Walter, in The Hague, and fell head over heels in love with her. Moreover, he did not immediately achieve reciprocity. Colonel Sidney treated the piquant situation philosophically: having learned about the king's feelings for his kept woman, he generously decided that Lucy was free to do as she saw fit.
The Prince of Wales immediately took Lucy to him, and she was not slow to announce her pregnancy soon. In 1649, the favorite gave birth to Karl's son Jacob. According to the testimony of the king's inner circle, the real father of the newborn was not the prince, but Robert Sidney, to whom the child was strikingly similar, even on the cheek was marked with a mole, just like Lucy's benefactor ... But love blinds. It was not difficult for the courtesan to convince the Prince of Wales that he was the father of her child, and Charles did not hesitate to recognize him as his.
He spent whole days in the company of his mistress, obeyed her unquestioningly, forewarned her slightest desires; spent on her whims the last money from the modest subsidies issued to him by William of Orange. The news of the execution of Charles I interrupted this idyll for a while and forced the prince - who now inherited after his father royal title- do things befitting his rank.
In the spring of 1649, after tenderly saying goodbye to Lucy Walter, Charles II went to Ireland, where royal crown fought the Marquis of Ormonde. From here, with a small detachment of soldiers, Charles crossed to Scotland. As if wishing to make amends for the recent betrayal and betrayal of Charles I, the Scots enthusiastically met his son, welcoming him as the rightful king.
Returning from Scotland, Charles II granted his son by Lucy Walter the title of Earl of Orkney, Duke of Monmouth and Knight of the Garter. The dearest Lucy was long forgotten by Charles II - during his trip to Scotland, she behaved unacceptably freely in The Hague and finally earned herself a reputation as a corrupt woman.
It must be said of the king that in his sexual desires he was indomitable. It was indifferent to him how to achieve a woman; he dealt with husbands quickly and simply. Ugly as a mortal sin, the king could, having taken possession of a woman, immediately reject her. He changed women like gloves. But at the same time, Charles II took care of his health, summer evenings he went to the river at Putney to swim, and in the mornings, when all the rest were resting in bed, exhausted by the excesses of the night, he would rise in the sun and play tennis for two hours on the palace court. He was engaged in many cases, was a smart and subtle politician and economist. The king could successfully carry on a conversation about astronomy, architecture, horticulture, antiques and beekeeping.
But at the same time, with the accession of Charles II, talk about abstinence and the dangers of illegal relationships stopped. The venerable Kapfig, a good-natured panegherist of the blessed old times and of all favorites in general, describes the court of Charles II in this way: “It was difficult to find a court more elegant, more frivolous, richer in intrigues and beauties. the Countess of Shrewsbury, the Countess of Middleton, the maiden Hamilton, who married the Count of Gramont, and Miss Franziska Stewart, the king's mistress. All these brilliant ladies could boldly compete with the first beauties of the court of Versailles, which they took as a model. The court was occupied with the forthcoming marriage of the king with the Infanta of Portugal ( Catherine), whose hand the king officially asked the court of Lisbon.
The Infanta was not distinguished by either beauty or intelligence: in this choice of Charles II leading role politics played; in addition, they gave her an excellent dowry in full-weight doubloons, and the king was constantly in need of money. He was extravagant, but he was tired of begging for subsidies from Parliament, which each time entered into an argument when it came to issuing money.
Charles II's mistress Miss Franziska Stewart deserves special attention. Cavalier Gramont, for the edification of posterity, who left precious information about the court of Charles II, wrote: “She had a childishly funny character; a penchant for fun, decent only for a twenty-year-old girl. the time when she was in the house big game, and helpful courtiers supplied her building materials and showed her the buildings new architecture. She also loved music and singing. The Duke of Buckingham was good at building houses of cards, he sang beautifully, composed songs and children's stories, which Miss Stewart was crazy about; but he was particularly successful in noticing the funny features in the manners and in the conversation of others, and skillfully imitating them. In a word, Buckingham was such an unsurpassed actor and pleasant conversationalist that not a single meeting could do without him. Miss Stewart was inseparable from him in her amusements, and if he did not come to her with the king, she immediately sent for him. "The king, his brother James and Charles Stewart's cousin, the Duke of Richmond, were in love with this girl at the same time. Minx cohabited with all three, so that no one will be offended. In addition to three admirers from the royal family, her lovers were: Buckingham - a card architect, Mondeville, Carlington and Digby, who committed suicide out of love for her. Carl's connection with Miss Stewart did not interfere with him at that time to cohabit with Lady Castleman and actresses Nellie Gwyn and Molly Davis...
Francis lived in White Hall Palace, where Charles II visited her quite often. Ruining the treasury for the construction of St. James, the king said that it was hard for him to live in the palace where his father was executed. However, these noble feelings of respect did not prevent Charles II from visiting White Hall almost daily, where such orgies were held that even Messalina could blush. One night, Francis, Lady Barbara Castleman, Nellie Gwyn, Molly Davis, and a whole harem of girls, in the presence of the king, parodied the wedding. Lady Castleman acted as the groom, Franziska Stewart as the bride, and the rest as priests and witnesses. The rite was accompanied by all church and public ceremonies; the newlyweds were laid by the bed, where they indulged in amorous pastimes. The king himself sang free songs, accompanying himself on the guitar, naked favorites danced before him, shaking their hips; the wine flowed like a river, and the holiday ended in a perfect bacchanalia ...
The Duke of Richmond, blinded by passion for Francis, finally decided to secretly marry her. Then jealousy arose in the heart of Charles II. He disbanded his harem; spent days and nights with Francisca. It was even rumored that he wanted to divorce the queen and marry his beloved. Francis immediately realized that it was much more profitable for her to marry Richmond than to live with the king. She pretended to be ill, stopped accepting Charles II, preparing to run away with Richmond. Disappointed, Charles II complained about her to his other favorite, Lady Castleman. She advised him to visit the patient and meet with the attending physician Babiani. Carl, following her advice, literally broke into the bedroom of the favorite and saw ... Francis in the arms of Richmond. The king burst into cursing like a drunken sailor. The lovers froze in horror.
Richmond from the bedroom was sent to the Tower, where he spent three weeks (from March 31 to April 21, 1655). Immediately after the release, Richmond and Francis Stuart fled to Kent and secretly married there. Miss Stewart returned to the king all the diamonds they had given him.
Charles II did not sulk for long at the traitor, then took steps towards reconciliation, and the Duchess of Richmond, the young wife, again found herself in the arms of her lover, assuring the king of unfailing fidelity and, on occasion, robbing him. Francis's husband died in 1670, and she died in 1700 or 1701, leaving behind a huge fortune.
Before Charles II English theaters female roles in plays were performed by young men, and sometimes by adult men; prim Presbyterian women considered it a mortal sin to go out on the stage. In the first year of his reign, Charles II expressed a desire that women should also be included in theatrical troupes. Among the first to enter the stage were the charming Nellie Gwyn and Molly Davis, who almost immediately found themselves in the royal harem. Beauty and talent replaced them with noble diplomas. Noble ladies looked with disdain at comedians who dared to compete with them in the struggle for the attention of the king. It took the intervention of Charles II to get his noble mistresses to reconcile with the plebeians. They sat at the same table. Nelly, dexterous, graceful, danced and sang beautifully. Her influence on the king was so great that if she asked Charles II to execute someone, the king would no doubt fulfill her whim. Fortunately, Nellie was not bloodthirsty, and together with Molly Davis lured jewelry and gifts from the king ..
Nellie Gwyn, according to chroniclers, was born in an attic; as a child, she sold fish, then she sang on the street and in taverns. Finally, the actors Garth and Lacey noticed her, with their help she ended up in the royal theater. Here Lord Dorset noticed her and took her into his care. Charles II, having given him a place at the embassy in France, lured the beauty to him for an annual reward of 500 pounds. Four years later, this salary increased to 60,000. It is noteworthy that the king sympathized with Nelly until his death in 1685 and, thanks to her concerns, patronized the theater. Theater artists, at the behest of Charles II, were called courtiers and were registered in the public service. When the issue of taxing the actors was considered in Parliament, this proposal was rejected on the pretext that the actors serve for the amusement of the king.
"Actors or actresses?" - carelessly joked one of the members of the lower house. Why careless? Yes, because for this impudent joke, a member of parliament had his nose cut, which replaced him with a hard labor stigma.
The actress Molly Davis was in the care of the Duke of Buckingham, who recommended her to Charles II. She was famous for singing songs of frivolous content, accompanying them with completely indecent body movements. But this is exactly what the English padishah liked. Molly Davis had a daughter from Charles II, named Mary Tudor and subsequently married to an earl.
Two titled ladies competed with the actresses: the famous Miss Francis Stuart and the Countess Barbara Castleman, with whom the king had become close during a trip to Holland. Countess beauty and debauchery, at least not inferior to rivals.
Barbara devoted herself to the service of Venus from the age of fifteen. Her seducer was Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield, a married man and monstrously ugly; but this beauty has always had a special propensity for freaks. Barbara, not in the least embarrassed, asserted that ugly people are more passionate than beautiful people indulge in love. They idolize a woman, cherish her, are jealous ... while handsome men, even loved by beautiful women, are rarely constant. In a word, Barbara had her own philosophy.
To hide the consequences of her association with the Earl of Chesterfield, she married Rogers, Earl of Castleman, a hideous dwarf but fabulously wealthy; only in religious convictions could these lovely spouses converge, since both were Catholics. Soon after the wedding, the couple went to Holland to live with Charles II, who was in exile. The husband opened his wallet to him, the wife - a passionate embrace.
Upon his arrival in London, Charles II rewarded the good cuckold by giving him, at his request, the post of warden of the prison of the king's bench; then made him a baron, and finally an earl of Castleman. Two months later, his son was born. The countess, hoping that Charles II would recognize him as her own, wanted to christen him according to the Protestant rite, the count - according to the Catholic. Despite Barbara's protests, the baby was anointed with myrrh and baptized, giving catholic name. The offended mother complained to the king, and he ordered his son to be baptized a second time as a Protestant, and he himself was his godfather, and the godmother was the Countess of Suffolk.
Perhaps King Solomon himself could not have resolved this dispute better. The newborn had two fathers: a Catholic and a Protestant - and he had to be baptized twice. True, it was not entirely Christian when one's own father was also a godfather, but in the eyes of Charles II it was a trifle unworthy of attention. Soon the couple quarreled and parted. The husband went to France, the wife moved to her brother in Richmond.
Three years later, Earl Castleman returned to his homeland and was met by his wife, who presented him, in addition to the eldest son, one more - Henry, Earl of Grifton, and two months later she gave him a third - George ... It was already too much, and the count demanded a formal divorce, to which Charles II expressed his gracious consent, but on the condition that the earl immediately go abroad and on no pretext return to England. Castleman obeyed; however, six months later he came to London to publish with the English Jesuits the "Apology of the English Catholics", written in a rather outrageous spirit.
The author was arrested and imprisoned in the Tower. Charles II was outraged not so much by the book as by the unauthorized return of the count. The arrest of Castleman served as a signal to the ill-wishers of the king: a lot of lampoons and caricatures appeared on the shelves, on which the royal favorite deigned to pout. Fearing her wrath, Charles II ordered the release of the prisoner, and the count retired to Holland.
During this time, Barbara Castleman changed lovers daily, almost hourly; like Messalina, disguised, she went around the brothels, choosing beautiful sailors, artisans, lackeys as lovers, buying their caresses for the gold generously squandered on her by the king. Blinded by love, he unquestioningly obeyed her. She demanded money - and golden rain fell on her; wished to be a duchess - the ducal crown was granted to her; asked the king to recognize her children born to her unknown from whom - Charles II legitimized them, giving them ducal titles. This lovely lady died at an advanced age in the reign of William III. Before the appearance at the court of Charles II, Louise de Kerual (later the Duchess of Portsmouth), Barbara Castleman had a huge influence on him.
Saint Evremont, Gramont and the Duke of Buckingham were servants and servants of the royal mistresses. For Nellie Gwyn and Molly Davis, Buckingham composed songs and danced with them at royal orgies; to the pretty Miss Stewart he built houses of cards, told funny stories, and kissed her feet; Barbara Castleman kissed her hands and took care of her dogs...
Until 1668, the king was content with homegrown beauties. He recklessly spent the treasury on them, and in orgies with them - health. At the end of 1668, a great upheaval took place in his harem, which had a tremendous impact both on himself and on state affairs. And it was like this...
Parliament tried with all its might to persuade the king to enter into an alliance with Holland, a recent enemy and rival of England. This supposed alliance was dangerous to France, and Louis XIV decided to thwart it at all costs. His envoy in England, the Marquis of Tallard, informed that Charles II was leaning on the side of parliament, and advised taking emergency measures, Louis XIV turned to the mediation of Charles II's sister, who lived in France, Henriette of England, Duchess of Orleans. He counted, firstly, on the tender friendship of a brother to his sister, secondly, on her diplomatic abilities, and thirdly, on her ladies-in-waiting, beautiful, coquettish and crafty. Among them, Mademoiselle Louise de Kerual stood out, a Brittany noblewoman, her family descended almost from the Druids. Judging by the portraits that have come down to us, Louise was a fiery brunette, with cheerful black eyes, a childlike plump face and luxurious, curly hair. She entered the court of Henrietta very young, and this school of debauchery went to her use. The theory (and partly the practice) of coquetry, the maiden Kerual studied to perfection; she had no end to her admirers, but she was so smart and knew her own worth that all the efforts of the court womanizers to win the beauty's heart were in vain. She was waiting for a profitable buyer, and soon such a buyer was found. To disguise the true reason for Henrietta's trip to England, Louis XIV invited her to accompany him to the newly conquered Flemish regions. Arriving in Ostend, the Duchess of Orleans, with her best ladies-in-waiting, boarded a ship and arrived in London, where Charles II, notified in advance by letter, was already waiting for her. From the very first meeting, his amorous eyes rested on Louise Kerual. He was captivated and fascinated. The graceful manner of the Frenchwoman, her clever, lively speech, coquettish bashfulness and appropriate swagger - all these qualities, which neither Miss Stewart, nor Nellie, etc., could not fail to catch the eye of Charles II. The obliging sister offered him the maiden Kerual as a reward for an alliance with France, and the king was unable to resist the temptation. The Chevaliers Gramont and Saint-Evremont successfully assumed the roles of pimps, and the Anglo-French alliance was completed. "The silk belt of the damsel Kerual connected France with England!" Saint-Evremond wrote. For a courtesan, women's belts and garters served as bonds that connected the powers among themselves! .. Leaving the girl Kerual in England, Henrietta returned to France and a few months later, poisoned on June 30, 1670, she died.
On the instructions of the Duchess of Portsmouth (Louise Kerual), the king declared freedom of religion. He gave permission to Presbyterians, Puritans, and Catholics everywhere to build churches and preach sermons. The Duke of York, the king's brother, who had attended English churches for five years, declared himself a follower of the Roman Catholic Church. Neither the parliament nor the people could take this royal decree in a friendly manner. English priests spread rumors that Charles II, obeying his Catholic mistress, intends to change the faith of his parents.
The subsidies paid by Louis XIV to Charles II finally dropped the king in the eyes of the people. Ministers urged him to act with the people in the Cromwellian way, in other words, to take him in iron claws; the Duchess of Portsmouth was of the same opinion; and what could the enamored king refuse her? Could he argue with her, especially at the time when she announced to him about her interesting position. The son born to her received the ducal titles of Richmond, Lennox at birth, he was granted the royal coat of arms.
The king's affection for the Duchess of Portsmouth increased day by day. Blinded by love, he left his former favorites ... He had long forgotten to think about his wife. She, poor thing, attributed her husband's indifference to her not to his voluptuousness, but solely to the fact that she bore him no heirs. In the most difficult moments of loneliness, the queen consoled herself with the thought that Charles II would become emotionally attached to her if she would please him with the birth of a son; but could she be a mother, being a wife in name only? She prayed constantly, went on a pilgrimage to Tiburn in the hope that God would manifest a miracle, and Charles II would burn with love for her. But these hopes were not destined to come true. The rivals of the Duchess of Portsmouth were jealous of the king for her and would not spare money, if only to overthrow the mighty favorite. Francis Stewart and Barbara Castleman, themselves unfaithful to Charles II, loudly reproached him for treason and inconstancy; but Nellie Guin, in her indignation, was more just and logical than they were. She dared to enter into an open struggle with a foreign beauty, and at first she was a dangerous rival to Louise de Kerual in her fawning and wooing the king.
The rapprochement with Holland was quickly reflected in the social and court life of England. The king, and after him the nobles, ceased to imitate the French in dress and lifestyle; patriarchal simplicity supplanted recent luxury; velvet, lace, brocade, diamonds disappeared, and they were replaced by cloth, linen, woolen fabrics, steel, ivory. Balls and performances, recognized as demonic amusements, were replaced by sermons, reading "Paradise Lost", the Bible.
Charles II from a sybarite turned into almost a Stoic, or even more surprising - a trapist. Almost all of the royal mistresses were married by this time, with the exception of the Duchess of Portsmouth. She, imitating the favorite of King Louis XIV Lavalier, told Charles II about her repentance, about her desire to enter a monastery ... As for the favorites who got married, it is noteworthy that they chose their pimps as their spouses; so Lord Lytleton married Miss Temple, the Chevalier Gramont married Miss Hamilton...
When Parliament passed a bill for the expulsion of Catholics from England, Charles II was indignant. Did the Queen and Duchess of Portsmouth have to leave the country according to this bill? Of course, it was not the fate of the queen that worried Charles II. The subtle politician, without mentioning her, the king stood up for his wife: "I am not Henry VIII," he declared to the House of Commons, "I will not divorce my good and honest wife for her infertility ..." "And I will not let go of my mistress!" his tender heart told him.
Having dissolved parliament, the king again entered into friendly relations with France, corresponded with Louis XIV, and the duchess with the latter's mistress, the Duchess of Montespan.
Decrepit from debauchery and drunkenness, in the last two years of his life, Charles II looked like a living, tinted and toasted mummy: he moved his legs with difficulty, walked hunched over and generally was a living or, rather, half-dead example, to which debauchery can bring a person.
On February 6, 1685, a stroke of paralysis cut short the life of Charles II in his fifty-fifth year from birth and in his twenty-fifth reign. The Duchess of Portsmouth played her role to the end: during the life of Charles II, she forced him to change the oath given to the people, on his deathbed she persuaded him to change his religion. At her insistence, the king, dying, confessed to a Catholic, almost Jesuit priest, and the Duchess of Portsmouth said with tears after his death: “For all the favors of my late benefactor, I saved his soul, turning him from heresy and returning to the bosom of the one-saving Church!"
CARL II Stewart CARL II Stewart
CARL II (Charles II) Stuart (May 29, 1630, London - February 6, 1685, ibid.), King of England and Scotland from 1660. Eldest son of Charles I Stuart (cm. Charles I Stuart) and Henrietta Maria of France, daughter of Henry IV of Bourbon (cm. HENRY IV Bourbon). The proclamation of Charles II as king meant the restoration of the monarchy in England.
At the beginning of the English Revolution (cm. ENGLISH REVOLUTION) Prince Charles of Wales was taken to Holland in the care of William II of Orange. After the execution of his father in 1649, Charles was proclaimed the head of the English royalists and Irish rebels who fought against the government of Oliver Cromwell. (cm. Cromwell Oliver). In the autumn of 1649, the Prince of Wales, signing an agreement with the Scottish Presbyterians on the recognition of the Covenant (cm. COVENANT) was proclaimed King of Scotland. In response, Cromwell's troops invaded Scotland and defeated the Scottish army at the Battle of Denbar on September 3, 1650.
The Presbyterian government of Scotland fell, and Charles II, having united around himself the Scots of different political and religious beliefs, on January 1, 1651, he was crowned in Scone. Having collected new army he moved on to England. But the inhabitants of the northern English counties did not join him, and on September 3, 1651, the army of Charles II was completely defeated in the battle of Worcester. Charles II himself narrowly escaped capture and was forced to hide for a month and a half before he managed to leave Britain and reach the continent.
Before Cromwell's death, the royalist efforts were in vain. But his son and successor, Richard Cromwell, could not control the army, in which many were inclined to restore the monarchy. At the beginning of 1660, General Monck occupied London with his army, and the Long Parliament restored by him (cm. LONG PARLIAMENT) declared illegal all the decisions adopted after 1648, including the bill on the abolition of the monarchy. And in May 1660, the new parliament decided to transfer power to Charles II. May 29, 1660 the new king entered London.
Restoration
Charles II returned to England, providing his subjects with guarantees of the impossibility of returning to royal arbitrariness. In the Breda Declaration signed by him even before his accession to the throne, he promised amnesty to all participants in the revolution, guaranteed the new owners of those confiscated during civil war land ownership rights, as well as religious tolerance. After the return of the king, parliament confirmed the provisions of the declaration by issuing a statute on amnesty, from which 30 people were excluded (the Republicans who had once sentenced Charles I to death).
By compromise, the issue of the redistribution of property that occurred in 1642-1660 was settled: all lands confiscated in favor of the government were returned to their former owners, but those that were sold privately remained with the new owners. In this way, Charles II managed to partially return the property to his supporters, without at the same time alienating those who enriched themselves during the revolution.
Charles II defended the interests of the Anglican Church (cm. ANGLICAN CHURCH). Her ranks were purged of former Puritans (cm. PURITANS). In turn, the Anglican Church became a loyal support of the Stuarts. The day the king returned to England, May 29, was celebrated as a holiday, along with January 30, the memorial day of Charles I, celebrated with an annual fast. Charles II had no inclination to engage in state affairs, usually entrusting them to his ministers. In the first years of his reign (1660-1667), the Earl of Clarendon, an associate of Charles from the time of exile, was prime minister. Then his government was replaced by the Cabal government, named after the first letters of the names of the ministers. The king himself intervened only in matters foreign policy, as well as in matters of religion, considering them their prerogative. But it was these actions that gradually deprived him of the popularity that he enjoyed in the first years of his reign.
Anglo-Dutch Wars
Since the time of Cromwell, England has entered into a protracted conflict with Holland, caused by the rivalry between the two maritime powers, fighting among themselves for colonies and trade privileges. Having come to power, Charles II at first continued the confrontation, which resulted in the Second Anglo-Dutch War of 1665-1667. But military operations were not very successful for the British, besides, the country was suffering from an epidemic of bubonic plague and the consequences of the London fire of 1666. Under pressure from public opinion, the king was forced to conclude peace with Holland and later, in 1668, enter into an alliance with her.
However, already in 1670, Charles II, who needed money to pay for the entertainment of his court, concluded a secret agreement with the French king Louis XIV (cm. LOUIS XIV of Bourbon): in exchange for granting subsidies, the English king became an ally of France and undertook to oppose Holland. The Third Anglo-Dutch War (1672-1674) was extremely unpopular in English society; although the Dutch were rivals of the English merchants, they remained brothers in faith, unlike Catholic France. In addition, the British rightly feared an excessive increase in the power of France and the deprivation of England of an independent role in political affairs.
Charles II and Catholicism
The religious policy of Charles II also aroused fears of the British. The king himself remained an adherent of the Anglican Church, but in 1662 a Catholic, the Portuguese princess Catherine (1638-1705), became his wife. There were also many Catholics among the ministers and courtiers of the king, and in 1668 the Duke of York converted to Catholicism - younger brother and heir to the childless Charles II. Many Englishmen, not without reason, suspected Charles II himself of Catholic sympathies. Therefore, all his attempts to repeal or suspend repressive anti-Catholic legislation were perceived with hostility.
In 1672, the king issued the Declaration of Toleration, which granted freedom of worship to Catholics and sectarians. It caused a protest from the majority of Parliament and Charles II was forced to cancel the declaration. In addition, in 1673 the Parliament passed a statute according to which any official or officer of the royal army had to take an oath of allegiance to the Church of England. Many Catholics were forced to leave their posts, including one of the king's ministers, as well as the Duke of York, who headed the admiralty.
Having defeated the king, parliament intervened in foreign affairs. New war with Holland did not bring victory to England and caused a financial crisis in the country. In 1674, Charles II was forced to conclude a peace treaty with Holland and gave his eldest niece Mary to the ruler of Holland, William of Orange (cm. WILHELM III of Orange)(1677). But the authority of the king's government remained extremely low. The Cabal government collapsed, some of its members (Duke of Buckingham (cm. Buckingham George (son)) joined the ranks of the opposition.
The new government, headed by the Earl of Danby, tried to rectify the situation and raise the prestige of the monarchy. The new minister managed to improve the country's finances; he also tried to create in the eyes of his subjects the image of the king - the defender of the Protestant faith. To do this, he again began to apply punitive laws against Catholics. However, dispelling prejudice proved impossible. The minister tried to break the unpopular alliance with France in the country, but he failed, and in 1678 he resigned.
The so-called disclosure of the Catholic conspiracy in 1678 also contributed to a further decline in the authority of the monarch and the court. Appeared before the Privy Council in August 1678, the former Catholic priest Titus Oates spoke of an alleged Catholic conspiracy to kill Charles II and put the Duke of York on the throne. Although the information reported by Oates was unreliable, they caused a wave of anti-Catholic hysteria in the country.
Whig fight
The parliament that gathered for meetings after the elections of 1679 consisted mainly of oppositionists - the Whigs (cm. VIGI in the UK). In the wake of anti-Catholic sentiment, Parliament began considering a bill to deprive the Duke of York as a Catholic of the rights of succession to the throne. Charles II, ready to make compromises for the sake of maintaining power, in this case went against parliament in the name of the principles of legitimism. He dissolved parliament and called new elections. But the new composition of Parliament in 1680 turned out to be recalcitrant and again returned to the bill against the Duke of York. Having dissolved parliament, the king called new elections and moved the meetings of the chambers to Oxford, famous for its royalism.
The Parliament of 1681 again consisted of Whigs, who also arrived in Oxford accompanied by armed supporters. It seemed that the country was on the brink of a new civil war. In this environment, Charles II dissolved parliament and did not convene again for the rest of his reign.
IN last years the reign of Charles II, his government, headed by Lord Hyde, and in fact the Duke of York, managed to suppress the resistance of the Whigs. Its success was facilitated by the position of the population of the country, who feared a repetition of the horrors of the revolution. Many accused the Whigs of exceeding their authority. The leadership of the army and most of the officers remained on the side of the king. Charles II deprived the charters of many cities where the Whigs were especially influential, appointed new judges from among the Tories.
Outside the walls of parliament, the Whigs lost their legal opportunity to oppose the king. Some of them turned to conspiratorial activity. In 1683 the so-called conspiracy of the Republicans was uncovered. Their ideologue, Whig Algernon Sidney, was executed, Whig leaders were forced to emigrate, and the opposition was disorganized.
In the reign of Charles II, England recovered from the troubles of the middle of the century. The country's economy experienced a period of rapid growth, which was facilitated by the development navy and protectionist government policies. The peaceful period contributed to the development of culture, especially natural sciences. Charles II himself provided patronage to the Royal Society established in 1662. (cm. ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON), which united in its ranks the best scientists of the country (including Isaac Newton (cm. NEWTON Isaac)), who developed a new experimental science. The court of Charles II was marked by a love of the theatre, and the Restoration saw a revival of the drama so unpopular with the Puritans. The revival of English drama is associated with the names of Dryden (cm. DRYDEN John), Kongriva (cm. CONGRIVE William), Wicherly (cm. WICHERLY William).
Despite the complexity of the political situation in the post-revolutionary period and strong, sometimes militant opposition, Charles II managed to maintain his power. This was greatly facilitated by the personality of the monarch himself, who had the ability to win over people. Charles II was an intelligent and amiable man, with an uncommon personal charm. He loved festivities and knew how to communicate easily with ordinary people, who forgave him extravagance and endless love affairs (for which he received the nickname The Jolly King, The Merry Monarch). The experience of exile taught Karl to find allies, take into account the interests of different political forces, to make compromises with his opponents, although in general he strove for unlimited power. Charles II died in 1685 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. (cm. WESTMINSTER), in the Chapel of Henry VII.
encyclopedic Dictionary. 2009 .
See what "CARL II Stuart" is in other dictionaries:
- (Charles I Stuart) (November 19, 1600, Dunfermline, Scotland January 30, 1649, London), the English king from 1625, the first monarch in European history condemned to public execution. The second son of the Scottish King James VI Stewart and Anne of Denmark. Start… … encyclopedic Dictionary
James Francis Edward Stuart James Francis Edward Stuart ... Wikipedia
Prince Charlie Charles Edward Stuart (eng. Charles Edward Stuart, December 31, 1720 January 31, 1788), also known as Handsome Prince Charlie (eng. Bonnie Prince Charlie) or The Young Pretender, the penultimate representative ... ... Wikipedia
This term has other meanings, see Charles I. Charles I Charles I Teàrlach I ... Wikipedia
King of England and Scotland from the Stuart dynasty, who ruled in 1625-1648. Son of James 1 and Anna of Denmark. Woman: from June 12, 1625 Henrietta Maria, daughter of King Henry IV of France (b. 1609, d. 1669). Genus. November 29, 1600, d. Jan 30 1649… … All the monarchs of the world
King of England and Scotland from the Stuart dynasty, who ruled in 1660-1685. Son of Charles I and Henrietta of France. Woman: from 1662 Catherine, daughter of King João IV of Portugal (b. 1638, d. 1705). Genus. May 29, 1630, d. Feb 16 1685 In the very ... All the monarchs of the world
Charles I of Anjou Charles I d Anjou Statue of Charles of Anjou on the facade royal palace in Naples ... Wikipedia
King of Spain from the Bourbon dynasty, who ruled in 1788 1808. Woman: from 1765 Maria Luisa, daughter of Philippe, Duke of Parma (b. 1751, d. 1819) November 11, 1748, d. Jan 19 1819 Before taking the throne, Charles lived completely idle ... All the monarchs of the world
Wikipedia has articles about other people with the name Karl. Charles VI Mad Fr. Charles VI le Fol, ou le Bien Aimé ... Wikipedia
This term has other meanings, see Charles II. Charles II Carlos II ... Wikipedia
Execution of the dead
Charles II, heir to the English throne, spent his younger years in exile. And this is not surprising: his father, Charles I, was put on trial and executed in 1649. The triumphant return of the eldest son of the deposed monarch to England took place only after more than ten years. He ascended the throne only in 1660, being already thirty years old.
Anthony Van Dyck. Charles I from three sides
First of all, the newly-made king granted amnesty to everyone who was part of the Cromwell government, with the exception of those who spoke out in court in favor of the murder of Charles I. Charles II sent politicians who wanted reprisal against the king to the scaffold. Even those who had previously died due to natural causes were not saved: their remains were exhumed, their bodies were hung, and then quartered. Such a fate awaited the body of Oliver Cromwell.
Tori and Whigs
Tories and Whigs appeared under Charles II
Two famous English parties, which exist to this day, took shape during the reign of Charles II. The first - the Tories - advocated an absolute monarchy, while the Whigs insisted that relations between the king and the people should be based on certain agreements that the monarch has no right to violate.
Another important event under Charles II was the passage of the Habeas Corpus Act in 1679. The entire law was called the “Act for the Better Ensuring of the Liberty of a Subject and for the Prevention of Imprisonment Beyond the Seas” and determined the rules of arrest.
Charles II
Charles II almost provoked the wrath of the parliamentary Anglicans - he did not hide his sympathy for the Catholics. The king even concluded a secret treaty with France, according to which he promised to return the country to Catholicism and disperse parliament in exchange for a round sum paid annually. At the same time, Charles himself formally remained an Anglican all his life and only a few days before his death he converted to Catholicism.
royal hobbies
However, politics did not occupy Charles II as much as the opportunity to use his position and have fun with his mistresses, of whom there were so many that even the most devoted servants of the monarch could hardly list them and not stray. Charles had fourteen illegitimate children - and these are only those whom the king recognized. From the official wife, Catherine of Braganza, Charles had no children, therefore, after his death, Charles's younger brother Jacob, Duke of York, became king.
James II
Another hobby of Charles II was alchemy. He was so passionately eager to learn the secret of turning mercury into gold that he ordered to equip a laboratory right in the palace. Experiments have led to the fact that after death in the hair of the king, as scientists have established, the concentration of mercury exceeded the norm by dozens of times. Perhaps this by no means harmless hobby brought the day of his death closer: Charles II died at the age of 54.
