Introduction.

As the C. 16th was all Tudors, so the C. 17th was all Stuarts: - James I, Charles I, and James II were all just as convinced as their predecessors of their right to rule as they chose. The rising middle class contested this 'divine right of kings', so Charles I lost his head and James II his crown. Charles II ensured that he did not have to go on his travels again. The major social events of his reign were the Great Plague and Fire of London, but they are not the theme of this essay.