Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- PART ONE THE RESTORATION CRISIS
- PART TWO THE SHADOW OF THE PAST
- 5 Family politics 1677–83
- 6 European politics 1678–80
- 7 Domestic politics 1678–9
- 8 The Mutinous City 1679–81
- 9 The Vindication of parliaments 1681–3
- PART THREE THE OLD CAUSE
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
- Cambridge Studies in Early Modern British History
6 - European politics 1678–80
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 March 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- PART ONE THE RESTORATION CRISIS
- PART TWO THE SHADOW OF THE PAST
- 5 Family politics 1677–83
- 6 European politics 1678–80
- 7 Domestic politics 1678–9
- 8 The Mutinous City 1679–81
- 9 The Vindication of parliaments 1681–3
- PART THREE THE OLD CAUSE
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
- Cambridge Studies in Early Modern British History
Summary
[The object of Charles II and the Prince of Orange] had been to take into their own hands the decision of European affairs. As matters turned out, their decision was far more dependent on the union of Louis XIV with the aristocracy in Holland and the opposition … in England.
Leopold von Ranke (1875)just at the moment my most intimate liaison is with Mr. Algernon Sidney; he is the man in England who seems to me to have the greatest understanding of affairs; he has great relations with the rest of the Republican Party; And nobody in my opinion is more capable of rendering service than him.
Barillon to Louis XIV, 6 Oct. 1678.STUART AND ORANGE REVIVED
In this chapter we find Algernon Sidney and Charles II reading opposite ends of the same political map. The map is of Europe, centred on France particularly, with offshoots in the Low Countries and the British Isles. It is the geographical ensemble which registers naturally with both returned exiles. The man holding the map is the French ambassador, Barillon.
Sidney's relationship with Barillon, and the European world of which it formed a part, will be the subject of this chapter. It is somewhat artificial however to separate these relationships from their domestic context. Nor did they end in 1681: as we will see, the European dimension of Sidney's activities continued for as long as he did.
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- Information
- Algernon Sidney and the Restoration Crisis, 1677–1683 , pp. 104 - 125Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1991