Common Misconceptions
Part of The Restoration — GCSE History
This common misconceptions covers Common Misconceptions within The Restoration for GCSE History. Revise The Restoration in Restoration England 1660-1685 for GCSE History with 8 exam-style questions and 5 flashcards. This topic appears regularly enough that it should still be part of a steady revision cycle. It is section 12 of 15 in this topic. Use this common misconceptions to connect the idea to the wider topic before moving on to questions and flashcards.
Topic position
Section 12 of 15
Practice
8 questions
Recall
5 flashcards
⚠️ Common Misconceptions
Misconception 1: "The Restoration meant everything went back to how it was before the Civil War"
The Restoration was not a return to pre-1640 royal power. The prerogative courts (like Star Chamber) that Charles I had used to bypass Parliament stayed abolished. Charles II could not raise taxes without Parliament's consent, as his father had tried to do. The Restoration Settlement permanently embedded parliamentary control over taxation. Charles II's monarchy was constitutional in ways his father's never was. Students who write "Charles II restored absolute monarchy" are wrong — that is why his son James II's attempts to act more absolutely led to the Glorious Revolution of 1688.
Misconception 2: "Charles II kept all his promises from the Declaration of Breda"
Charles only partially kept his Declaration of Breda promises. The general pardon was mostly kept — but 13 regicides were still executed. Army arrears were paid. The land dispute settlement was partial — Crown and Church lands were returned, but private sales of Royalist estates during the Interregnum were mostly upheld, meaning many Royalist families did not recover their land. Most significantly, the promise of religious tolerance was completely broken — Parliament imposed the Clarendon Code (1661-65), which persecuted Protestant Dissenters. Charles wanted tolerance but could not force Parliament to grant it.
Misconception 3: "Cromwell's body was executed after the Restoration because people hated him"
The exhumation and symbolic "execution" of Cromwell's corpse in 1661 was a political act, not simply an expression of popular hatred. By "executing" Cromwell (and the other Interregnum leaders Ireton and Bradshaw), the Restoration government was making a legal and symbolic statement: the execution of Charles I was retroactively declared unlawful, and its authors were being punished. It was a piece of political theatre designed to delegitimise the Republic, not evidence of widespread popular loathing for Cromwell — who had been genuinely popular with many English people during his lifetime.