Restoration

Restoration, name given to the return of Charles II as king of England in 1660, after the fall of the protectorate. Coinciding with a national mood of reaction against the Puritans, the Restoration was widely popular. The Restoration period (1660 to the fall of James II, in 1688) was one of irreverent wit, licentiousness, and scientific and literary achievement. Politically, it was a period of uneasy relations between king and parliament, culminating in the Glorious Revolution (1688–89).

See also: Glorious Revolution.