Restoration Research - Part 1

The English Civil War

• Cavaliers: They cavaliers were essentially the royalists, the supporters of King Charles I. They were often seen with leather knee high boots, tunics and hats with plumes. In the day the term Cavalier was seen as a way of life and a specific attitude rather than a specific way of dressing, the style of dress was very ostentatious and aimed to show the wealth and standing of those who wore them. Although the Cavaliers were not as devoted to religion as the way the parliamentarians were their faith was still important to them.
• Roundheads: The Roundheads were the Parliamentarians and supporters of a constitutional monarchy instead of an absolutist monarchy that was sought after by the Cavaliers. The Roundheads gained their name because a lot of the puritans wore their hair flat against their head instead of long and wavy like the Cavaliers, it was a very simple style. 
• 1642-1651: The time that the civil war lasted, it took the country nine years to sort things out within the realms of how the country was to be run. Essentially there were three separate civil wars but historically it is considered as one because of the short amount of time between each one. The end result of this war was that the parliamentarians would win, this would cause the country to become a lot more conservative and the fun that was there such as drinking, theatre and parties were banned putting the entire country into a grim time.
• King CharlesI: King Charles I was bork on the 19th of November 1600 and died on the 30th of January 1949, He was the king in power when the English civil war broke out. He was married to Henrietta Maria of France and had seven children. During the civil war Charles was captured by the parliamentarians and was eventually executed, his head was displayed and then sewn back onto his body before being placed in his coffin. 

The Interregnum

• The Puritans: The Puritans were an english group of protestants from he 16th and 17th centuries, they were more widely known during the English civil war because of their support of the parliamentarians and the aim to stop the horrific lives and ungodly lives of the royalists. They lived plain and simple lives trying to live by the book (The Bible). This caused them to live very boring lives and only eat incredibly plain food and wear very plain clothes.
• Oliver Cromwell: Oliver Cromwell was an English Parliamentarian, Cromwell was a military commander in the first English civil war. He was previously a member of parliament but ceased to be one when the civil war broke out, this lead him to choose a side and so became a parliamentarian and a main leader of the cause. He eventually had his way as King Charles I was executed and the Parliamentarians came into power changing the entire country.
• The Protectorate: The Protectorate was a time when England was being ruled by the Lord Protector who at the time was Oliver Cromwell, who passed the title onto his son who was unable to keep control of the parliament and the army and so was taken out of power as the lord protector and so was the end of the protectorate era 
• Richard Cromwell:  Richard Cromwell was the son of Oliver Cromwell who was known for his involvement in the English Civil War, he was the successor to his father as Lord Protector but was unable to proceed in the title as he could not control Parliament of the Armies and so was the end of the Protectorate era.

Charles II

• Exile: Charles went into exile in 1651 after the loss of the battle of Worcester in 1651. H was unable to return to England until 1660 when he would reclaim his throne, and all those who had signed his fathers death warrant were severely punished, this marked the start of something new as all of the previous restrictions had been lifted.
• Restoration: Charles II was proclaimed king on the 8th of may 1660 and took over the country from the Parliamentarians, he was crowned at westminster abbey on 23rd April 1661. Many of the exiled royalists were returned by the king and given rewards for their loyalty towards the king and his father.
• Theatre Licensing: The Patent Theatres were the ones that were licensed to show spoken drama after the restoration of Charles II in 1660, this meant that only specific theatres could show serious drama and the others could only show comedic and pantomime type performances.
• Merry Monarch: Charles II was known as the Merry Monarch because he was a loveable and liable character, he had dinner parties that would last for days, he re introduced theatre which had been a taboo fro the last two decades. 

SN: All information was gained from either my own knowledge or Wikipedia's.

Women On The Stage

• Nell Gwyn: Nell was the long time mistress of Charles II and was nick named pretty, witty Nell by Samuel Pepys, she was famous as a great actress of restoration and as a comic personality on the stage, she bore Charles II two sons who were both proclaimed as Dukes by the king. She never married but was always with a man and known not only as an actress but also as a lady of the night.
• Elizabeth Barry: Elizabeth Barry was the first ever professional stress as the boy’s who played the girls roles in Shakespeare's day had somewhat died out. She was transformed into a successful actress by her lover John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester. Barry worked for the Duke’s Company in her time for several years playing in King Lear and many others until the Kings companies were combined.
• Susanna Mountfort:  whose final name was Susanna Verbruggen was an english actress who worked in London, she married an actor called William Mountfort and after he was murdered in 1692, she married John Verbruggen. She was a leading actress in the United Company but after the company split in two in 1695 she was not offered a share in the actors’ cooperative only a salary. Because of this she went back to the parent company to be back in the standing she and her husband were in before.
• Breeches Roles: The Breeches role was when an actress would wear male clothing and perform the mans role, this was big in opera because the women could hit the higher notes where the men couldn’t and so fulfilled those roles which was only achieved when Charles II was back in power and the rules were relaxed.