Author: Fraser, Antonia
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Year: 1979
ISBN: 0297775715
Binding: Hard Cover
Book Condition: As New
Jacket Condition: As New
Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall
Description:
New book, 524 pages. The story of King Charles II is one of enduring fascination if only because, as Bishop Burnet wrote, he was the greatest instance in history of the various revolutions of which one man was capable. The golden childhood of the boy Prince in the Van Dyck pictures gave way to an adventurous youth in Civil War England and abroad, ending traumatically when his father was executed in 1649. Charles II, King at eighteen, succeeded to 'nothing but the name'. After his valiant attempt to regain the throne was defeated by Cromwell at Worcester, the King made his epic escape - to years of exile, poverty and humiliation in Europe. The 'miraculous' Restoration ushered in a reign coloured by a series by a series of equally dramatic events: the Great Plague, the Fire of London, two Dutch Wars, the bizarre Popish Plot, and finally the efforts of the Whigs to exclude his Catholic brother James from the Succession, culminating in the King's unexpected triumph over them at the Oxford Partliament of 1681. This was the man who was to overcome the many problems of his reign and die not only in control of his country but in the affection of his countrymen.