Charles II's court

Model answer

Charles II loved horse racing at Newmarket, where he rode in races himself, and he was fascinated by science, keeping his own laboratory at Whitehall.

Model answer

Interpretation A is convincing about the court as the centre of patronage. The King lived at Whitehall, where the Privy Council met and where ministers, courtiers and foreign ambassadors gathered every day. Offices, pensions and titles all came from the King, so anyone seeking them needed a patron near him: Samuel Pepys, for example, owed his post at the Navy Board in 1660 to his cousin and patron, the Earl of Sandwich. Ministers did rise and fall at court. Clarendon was brought down in 1667 partly by court enemies such as Lady Castlemaine, the Duke of Buckingham and Arlington, and the men of the Cabal owed their power to the King's favour. People with private access, such as the Gentlemen of the Bedchamber and the Duchess of Portsmouth, were courted by ministers and by the French ambassador.

However, the interpretation is less convincing when it calls the court the 'real centre of power'. The Cavalier Parliament met in most years between 1661 and 1679 and controlled taxation, and Charles's income was never enough without it. Parliament forced him to withdraw the Declaration of Indulgence and accept the Test Act in 1673, impeached Clarendon and Danby, and during the Exclusion Crisis of 1679-81 tried to change the succession itself. Politics also happened outside the court, in coffee houses, pamphlets and London crowds. Even at court, Charles often made decisions alone and in secret, as with the Treaty of Dover in 1670.

Overall, Interpretation A is convincing about how careers were made and broken through access to the King, but it exaggerates the court's power because it ignores Parliament's control of money and the growing importance of public opinion.

Model answer

The public ceremonies of Charles II's court were important because they helped to restore the authority and popularity of a monarchy that had been abolished in 1649.

First, touching for the King's Evil showed that the monarchy was sacred again. Scrofula was a disease of the glands which people believed the touch of a true king could cure. Sufferers were brought before Charles, touched and given a gold coin or medal on a ribbon. Charles touched tens of thousands of people during his reign, more than any other monarch. This mattered because, after the execution of Charles I, it showed ordinary people that the King had been chosen by God and that the rightful line had returned.

Second, ceremonies displayed the power and splendour of the Crown. The coronation procession through the City on 22 April 1661 passed under triumphal arches, and the coronation in Westminster Abbey on St George's Day used new regalia, because the old crown jewels had been melted down after 1649. Garter ceremonies at Windsor and later the splendid rebuilding of Windsor Castle let the court compete with Louis XIV's.

Third, ceremonies made the King visible and linked him with the Church and the nation. Charles dined in public on set occasions and walked in St James's Park. His birthday, 29 May, the day he had entered London in 1660, became a public holiday, Oak Apple Day, while 30 January was kept as a day of mourning for his father. Services in the Chapel Royal and the Abbey tied the monarchy to the restored Church of England.

Ceremonies were costly and could not silence criticism of the court, but touching for the Evil was the most important because it reached ordinary people and showed that God had restored the monarchy.

Model answer

Displaying the power of the monarchy was an important role of Charles II's court, especially after the shock of the regicide, but I think its main role was political: it was the place where power was actually exercised through decision-making, patronage and access to the King.

The case for display is strong. In 1660 the monarchy had to be re-established in people's minds after the execution of Charles I and eleven years of republic. Charles entered London on his birthday, 29 May 1660, to huge crowds, and the day became a public holiday. His coronation was a great piece of theatre: a procession through the City under triumphal arches on 22 April 1661 and a coronation in Westminster Abbey on St George's Day with new regalia, because the old crown jewels had been melted down. Throughout the reign he touched tens of thousands of people for the King's Evil, which presented him as a sacred, God-given king, and held Garter ceremonies at Windsor. Peter Lely's portraits, the King's violins and John Dryden's poems glorified the monarchy, and Dryden's Absalom and Achitophel of 1681 defended the King against the Whigs. Late in the reign Hugh May rebuilt the state rooms at Windsor, with Verrio's painted ceilings, and Wren began a palace at Winchester to rival Versailles.

However, the court was also the centre of government. The Privy Council met at Whitehall, and ministers rose and fell according to the King's favour and the struggles of court factions. Clarendon was brought down in 1667 partly by court enemies such as Lady Castlemaine and Arlington, the Cabal governed from 1667 to 1673, and Danby rose by winning the King's trust. Secret diplomacy, such as the Treaty of Dover of 1670, was arranged at court through Charles's sister and the French ambassador.

Patronage was closely linked to this. Offices, pensions, titles and grants all came from the King, so ambitious men and women competed for access to him through the Gentlemen of the Bedchamber and his mistresses. This bound the nobility and gentry to the Crown and gave Charles a way to reward loyalty, as when Pepys gained his Navy Board post through his patron.

The court had other roles too. It encouraged culture and science, through theatre patents, the Royal Society and the Royal Observatory. It was also Charles's home and playground, and his mistresses, gambling and wits often damaged the image of royal power rather than displaying it. Lack of money limited display as well: the Winchester palace was unfinished at his death.

Overall, I only partly agree. Display was vital, especially in the early 1660s and again during the Tory reaction after 1681, but it served a deeper purpose. The court's main role was to be the centre of power, where the King governed, handed out patronage and kept the loyalty of the political nation.