Revolution and Restoration

Professor Thatch chronicles the most dramatic century in British monarchical history, when the institution was literally torn apart and rebuilt from the ground up. The episode follows the tragic arc of Charles I's divine right absolutism leading to civil war, regicide, and the unprecedented Commonwealth experiment under Oliver Cromwell. The narrative explores how the monarchy's restoration under Charles II required fundamental compromises, leading to the Glorious Revolution of 1688 that established constitutional monarchy. Key themes include the conflict between royal prerogative and parliamentary authority, the role of religious differences in political crisis, and the revolutionary transformation of the crown from an absolute institution into a constitutional office. The episode demonstrates how the monarchy survived its greatest existential crisis by learning to adapt and accept limitations that would have been unthinkable to earlier generations of rulers.

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