Charles II: The Last Rally

Rating:
Summary: A Unique Interpretation of the Restoration King
Review: I've read several biographies of Charles II, the best of them Antonia Fraser's, with Stephen Coote's more recent Royal Survivor much less so. Almost all treat their subject as intelligent, but lazy, at best, feckless and disloyal at worst. Belloc takes the unique view that Charles had a strong and well developed set of principles that were reasonably adapted to a free and just society, but which were irreconcilable with the nouveau riche elements of his economy. This treatment was quite reasonable and fairly convincing, but most of all made good reading. As with much of Belloc's work, there is a strong institutional Roman Catholic orientation. Belloc does downplay the licentiousness of the Restoration Court in general and its monarch in particular, but those details can be readily found elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: A Unique Interpretation of the Restoration King
Review: I've read several biographies of Charles II, the best of them Antonia Fraser's, with Stephen Coote's more recent Royal Survivor much less so. Almost all treat their subject as intelligent, but lazy, at best, feckless and disloyal at worst. Belloc takes the unique view that Charles had a strong and well developed set of principles that were reasonably adapted to a free and just society, but which were irreconcilable with the nouveau riche elements of his economy. This treatment was quite reasonable and fairly convincing, but most of all made good reading. As with much of Belloc's work, there is a strong institutional Roman Catholic orientation. Belloc does downplay the licentiousness of the Restoration Court in general and its monarch in particular, but those details can be readily found elsewhere.