ABSTRACT
The series of ad hoc decisions made in the early 1660s by the Convention and Cavalier Parliaments, which are traditionally called the Restoration Settlement, settled very little. There was a wide gulf between those who had remained committed royalists throughout the revolution and those who had collaborated with the republican regimes of the 1650s and who had only supported the Restoration as a means of ending the political anarchy of the months following Oliver's death. It is arguable that fear of the more extreme sects, like the Quakers, was the strongest bond uniting people of many different kinds in favour of the restoration of the monarchy in 1659-1660. Gentry memories of the way parliamentary county committees and major-generals had undermined their power combined with continued fears of political instability, which appeared to be the only alternative to monarchical rule. The restored Church and the restored monarchy must stand together.
