ABSTRACT
Coming as it seemed suddenly after nearly twenty years of civil war and republican rule, the sheer speed and apparent ease of the restoration of monarchy in 1660 greatly impressed contemporaries, who, in their first retrospective interpretations, stressed supernatural causes ranging from divine providence to the motions of the planets. However, Charles H's cynical judgement on the ecstasy of the crowds which greeted his return, that it proved him a fool for staying away so long, suggests more mundane explanations. The pace and direction of events owed much to three main causes. First, England's existing political order splintered and collapsed. Second, a sufficient number of politicians, both military and civilian, had surfaced who, although adherents to the republican order, perceived a need to work towards a new settlement and proved willing to take the risks involved. Only thirdly do we need to consider the efforts of outright royalists at home and abroad and of the king himself, for however much they would help to define the shape of the settlement, they did little to govern its speed.
