Royal Charles: Charles II and the Restoration.
Fraser, Antonia.
Place Published: New York:
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf,
Date Published: 1979.
Description: STATED FIRST AMERICAN EDITION, FIRST PRINTING. 524 pages with index and 48 pages of black and white and color plates. The book is in VERY GOOD condition with light fading to embossed letters on spine and previous owners inditia stamp on half title page. The jacket is in VERY GOOD condition with minor shelf and edgewear, two small closed tears to back upper edge. NOT price-clipped. NOT remaindered. JMVINTAGE specializes in Books, Magazines and Treasures related to the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and..other curious subjects. The dust jacket reads: "'The Merry Monarch.' Rarely has such a popular catchphrase been so deceptive. England's spirited young prince, 'born the divided world to reconcile,' who spent his youth in penurious exile, a fugitive abroad; whose restoration to the throne after Cromwell's death, without a drop of blood shed in his cause, brought about a return to order and peace; whose reign gave its name to an entire society and culture; and whose private life involved almost countless mistresses and illegitimate children, was a man whose nature, honed by his years in exile, was at heart both melancholy and austere. The brilliant author of Queen Mary of Scots and Cromwell here brings her extraordinary powers of research and synthesis, her strong clear biographer's voice, to Charles II, his court and his time. In Antonia Fraser's vivid and balanced portrait, we see him whole for the first time. We see the happy secure childhood shattered when England plunged into civil war; his inability to rally the Royalist forces to save his father from being beheaded in 1649, making him Charles II, "The poor King, who has nothing of it but the name ... " We see his valiant march on England to regain the throne ("A braver Prince never lived") and his amazing escape after the defeat by Cromwell at Worcester; an escape to a penniless and homeless existence, forced even to leave his mother's court in France, Jiving amidst the tensions of conflicting 19yalties, potential betrayals, and the demands of counter-intelligence. We see the astonishing and dramatic Restoration of 1660, with not one single condition imposed or even suggested to him by Parliament, the flame of revolution had so blown itself out. And we see his reign itself, coloured by a series of dramatic events-the Great Plague, the Fire of London (during which Charles rode from place to place, directing the Guards fighting the fire), the Dutch Wars, the Popish Plot, the intrigues surrounding the legitimate succession, his tempestuous relationship to Parliament. Here is Charles II himself, witty and lovable, tenacious and generous, courageous and resilient, who surrounded himself with a "merry gang," irreverent young Wits who loved a high-spirited frolic and otherwise diverted themselves with poetry and plays and literature. Here is a man of great physical energy who quite simply loved women-and was enthusiastic, too, about tennis, swimming in the freezing waters of the Thames, fishing, walking with his beloved dogs. He was a passionate patron of racing (loved to dine with the jockeys) and of the theatre (many of his friends-and mistresses-were theatre people), an informed planner of parks and palaces, a man renowned for his friendliness, his care for the welfare of his people, the ease of access that he offered to his subjects. But behind the gay appearance was a melancholy that the delights of his court could not dislodge. He was ever watchful for a repetition of revolution, a man with an iron determination to preserve what was his, a man chiefly desirous of 'Peace and Quiet for his own Time.' In her biography-five years in work-Antonia Fraser offers important new judgments on central questions of the reign of Charles II: his relationships to his Catholic brother James and his illegitimate lightweight son Monmouth, and to his neglected but respected wife, Catherine; the complexities of his Secret Treaty of Dover with Louis XIV; his enigmatic religious beliefs and his deathbed acceptance of the Catholic communion. Her Royal Charles is a compelling and richly woven narrative that brings to life once again this fascinating king, who, as Bishop Burnet wrote, was 'the greatest instance in history of the various revolutions of which one man was capable.'"
Edition: First American editionBinding: Cloth
Condition: Very Good in Very Good DJ
ISBN: 039449721X
Book Id: 17856
Price: $20.00
