Church settlement

TL;DRAbstract

When in his Declaration of Breda (April 1660) Charles II appealed to his English subjects for unity he knew that religious differences were among the chief causes of disunion. The recently restored upper House, like the court, was not united on religious issues during the summer and autumn of 1660, though divisions between Presbyterians, ‘rigid’ Anglicans and Catholic lords did not become manifest until 1662. There were those peers who thought that religious unity could best be achieved by compelling obedience to a restored Anglican church, and others, including Presbyterians in both Houses, the king and most of his influential advisers, who preferred a relaxation of the laws against dissenters and accordingly proposed concessions on church ceremonial and the liturgy to encourage moderate dissenters to conform to a broad national church. The king's preferred religious settlement ultimately failed because of opposition from both intolerant country gentlemen and many of his own courtiers

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