Issued by the future Charles II from exile in the Netherlands, the Declaration of Breda had two intentions: to serve as a manifesto for his restoration and to act as a blue print for a comprehensive settlement after the turmoil of two decades of civil war and unrest.
It showed that the lessons of those years had been well learnt. Its principal argument in favour of the monarchy was the one most powerfully articulated by Charles I at his trial – that is, that the proper rights and power of the king are the guarantor of the rights of everybody else, and that, without the king's rights, nothing and no one was safe.
But the declaration went much further than Charles I could or would have allowed in its conscious moderation and recognition of political realities. It promised to bind up the wounds of a bleeding nation, offering to pardon all save those who had been directly involved in Charles's execution. It also accepted the legislation of the first two years of the Long Parliament, which gave Parliament a monopoly over levying tax and the common law courts a monopoly over justice, and it undertook to settle army pay arrears – a major sticking point in any settlement.
But most strikingly and unthinkably for the heir of Charles I, it also offered religious toleration, perhaps pointing towards an unlinking of politics and religion for the first time since the 15th century.
|
|
 Declaration of Breda 1660
www.british-civil-wars.co.uk/glossary/de
claration-breda.htm
Explains the manifesto issued by Charles II in exile in which he outlined his initial terms for the restoration of the monarchy. There is also a link to the full text.
Channel 4 Television takes no responsibility for the content of third-party sites. |
|
