Articulate and restless London citizens were at the heart of political and religious confrontation in England from the Interregnum through the great crisis of Church and state that marked the last years of Charles II's reign. The same Reformed Protestant citizens who took the lead in toppling in toppling the Rump in 1659-60 took the lead in demanding a new Protestant settlement after 1678. In the interval, their demands for liberty of conscience challenged the Anglican order, whilst their arguments about consensual government in the city challenged loyalist political assumptions. Dissenting and Anglican identities developed in specific locales within the city, rooting the Whig and Tory parties of 1679-83 in neighbourhoods with different traditions and cultures. London and the Restoration integrates the history of the kingdom with that of its premier locality in the era of Dryden and Locke, analysing the ideas and the movements that unsettled the Restoration regime.
List of figures; Map; List of tables; Preface; List of abbreviations; Part I. Crisis, 1659-60: Introduction to parts one and two: London and the nation; 1. London and the origins of the Restoration, 1659-60; Part II. Settlement and Unsettlement, 1660-79: 2. The Restoration settlement and an unsettled city, 1660-70; 3. Protestant dissent and the emergence of a civic opposition, 1670-9; Part III. Crisis, 1679-82: Introduction: London and the Restoration crisis, 1679-82; 4. Parliament and Protestantism in crisis: the emergence of parties in London, 1679-81; 5. The contest for the city, 1681-2; 6. Party matters: communities, ideas, and leaders in a divided city, 1679-82; Part IV. Crisis and Conspiracy, 1682-3: Introduction: Whig conspiracy and historical memory; 7. The London Whigs between law and resistance: conscience, consent, and conspiracy, 1682-3; Conclusion: London and the end of the Restoration; Appendices; Bibliography; Index.
