Key Terms You Must Know

📖 Key Terms You Must Know

CABAL ministry

The informal grouping of five chief ministers who advised Charles II between 1667 and 1673: Clifford, Arlington, Buckingham, Ashley Cooper, and Lauderdale. Their initials happened to spell CABAL — the word for a secret political group. They were not a united cabinet but five powerful individuals with different religious and political views. Charles deliberately kept them divided, ensuring he remained the final arbiter. The CABAL collapsed over the Declaration of Indulgence (1672) and the Test Act (1673).

Secret Treaty of Dover (1670)

A secret agreement between Charles II and Louis XIV of France, negotiated without Parliament's knowledge. Charles promised to convert England to Catholicism and support France's wars against the Dutch, in return for £160,000 per year and French military support if needed. Only the most trusted Catholic ministers knew the full terms. When elements of it leaked during the Exclusion Crisis, it massively damaged Charles's credibility. It is one of the most controversial acts of the reign — evidence of Charles's deceptiveness and his financial desperation.

Stop of the Exchequer (1672)

Charles's decision to suspend repayment of government debts to English bankers in January 1672, in order to save money for the Third Dutch War. It effectively defaulted on approximately £1.3 million of debt. Several bankers were ruined. It showed how chronic the Crown's financial problems were, and damaged trust between the Crown and the City of London.

Earl of Clarendon (Edward Hyde)

Charles II's chief minister from 1660 to 1667, responsible for designing the Restoration Settlement. He was also Charles's father-in-law (his daughter Anne Hyde married the Duke of York). He fell from power in 1667, blamed for the failures of the Second Dutch War — particularly the Medway disaster. He fled to France and died in exile. The Clarendon Code (the series of acts persecuting Dissenters) was named after him, though he was not solely responsible for all of it.

Earl of Danby (Thomas Osborne)

Charles II's chief minister from 1673 to 1678. An Anglican Tory who tried to build a royalist-Anglican political alliance against the Whigs. He was impeached in 1678 over his involvement in negotiations with France, and imprisoned in the Tower. He later played a key role in the Glorious Revolution of 1688 by signing the invitation to William of Orange.

Royal touch

The belief that the monarch could cure scrofula (a tuberculosis-related skin disease) by touching the afflicted person. Charles II performed this ceremony throughout his reign, touching over 90,000 people in total. It was an important ritual reinforcement of divine right — the idea that God had specially chosen the king. Charles's willingness to touch thousands of ordinary sufferers also reinforced his image as an accessible, caring monarch, unlike the remote Charles I.