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Text File  |  1998-03-19  |  645b  |  14 lines
  1. THE RESTORATION
  2. In 1660, after 20 years of instability and violence, England
  3. returned to the pre-war status quo - with a free Parliament
  4. and a new monarch, Charles II. Unlike his father, 
  5. Charles I, the new king was a shrewd politician, 
  6. prepared to sacrifice policies if needs be - though still 
  7. convinced of the divine right of kings. 
  8.  
  9. Parliament, in turn, had a new sense of its own power, 
  10. and was able to impose some limits on the king - for example by
  11. forcing him to dismiss unpopular ministers. However, no formal
  12. conditions were imposed - and the question of where power lay
  13. remained unanswered for a further thirty years.
  14.