‘From absolutism to constitutional monarchy.’ Assess the validity of this view of the monarchy in the years 1678 to 1702.
Introduction: briefly define 'absolutism' and 'constitutional monarchy'/ context - who was on the throne: Charles II til 1685, James II til 1688, William and Mary til 1702, Anne from 1702/ was it a complete shift? Paragraphs: Influence of Civil War and Republic 1642 - 1660/ Crisis of 1678 - war with France, Exclusion Bill = Charles losing authority over Parliament/ Glorious Revolution and Bill of Rights 1688/ Rise of Tory - Whig parliamentary politics/ Charles II proroguing and dissolving parliament/ Bill of Rights didn't set parliamentary terms Historiography: Paul Seaward - Charles II's approach to the war with France and subsequent re-election of MPs caused his authority over parliament to decline/ David Starkey - Glorious Revolution and B of R was a Revolution Conclusion: sum up but don't repeat/ Is the shift entire? How far is the statement valid? Is it too simple?/ opinion with evidence from above - most compelling
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