AQA GCSE History · BD

Restoration England, 1660–1685

50 exam-style questions with answers for BD Restoration England, 1660–1685 in AQA GCSE History (spec 8145). Practise with flashcards, a topic quiz, a random quiz across the course, 5 crosswords, or read every question and answer below. Not official AQA material.

All 50 questions and answers

Question 1 · Spec 3.3.2 BD, Part one
What was the Restoration? [1 mark]
Answer:
The return of the monarchy in 1660, when Charles II became king.
Question 2 · Spec 3.3.2 BD, Part one
What was the Declaration of Breda (1660)? [2 marks]
Answer:
Charles II’s promise before his return of a general pardon (1); of religious toleration and Parliament’s involvement in settling disputes (1).
Question 3 · Spec 3.3.2 BD, Part one
What happened to the regicides after 1660? [1 mark]
Answer:
Several who had signed Charles I’s death warrant were executed; Cromwell’s body was dug up and hanged.
Question 4 · Spec 3.3.2 BD, Part one
Explain why Charles II needed Parliament. [2 marks]
Answer:
Parliament controlled taxation (1); his income was not enough, so he relied on grants (1).
Question 5 · Spec 3.3.2 BD, Part one
What was the Clarendon Code? [2 marks]
Answer:
A series of laws in the 1660s (1); they restricted Nonconformists, eg the Act of Uniformity (1662) required use of the Book of Common Prayer (1).
Question 6 · Spec 3.3.2 BD, Part one
What was the Cabal? [1 mark]
Answer:
A group of five ministers, Clifford, Arlington, Buckingham, Ashley and Lauderdale, who led government around 1667–1673.
Question 7 · Spec 3.3.2 BD, Part one
What was the Test Act (1673)? [1 mark]
Answer:
It required all office holders to take Anglican communion, excluding Catholics; James, Duke of York, resigned as Lord High Admiral.
Question 8 · Spec 3.3.2 BD, Part one
What was the Secret Treaty of Dover (1670)? [2 marks]
Answer:
Charles agreed with Louis XIV to join war against the Dutch in return for French money (1); secretly, Charles promised to convert to Catholicism (1).
Question 9 · Spec 3.3.2 BD, Part one
Define the terms ‘Whig’ and ‘Tory’. [2 marks]
Answer:
Whigs wanted to exclude James from the throne and limit royal power (1); Tories supported the king and James’s hereditary right (1).
Question 10 · Spec 3.3.2 BD, Part one
What was the Popish Plot (1678)? [2 marks]
Answer:
Titus Oates claimed Catholics planned to murder Charles and put James on the throne (1); it was invented, but about 22 innocent Catholics were executed (1).
Question 11 · Spec 3.3.2 BD, Part one
What was the Exclusion Bill (1679)? [1 mark]
Answer:
A bill to stop James, Duke of York, from becoming king because he was Catholic.
Question 12 · Spec 3.3.2 BD, Part one
Why did the Exclusion Crisis fail? [2 marks]
Answer:
Charles dissolved Parliament to block the Exclusion Bills (1); he used French money so he did not need Parliament (1).
Question 13 · Spec 3.3.2 BD, Part one
What was the Rye House Plot (1683)? [1 mark]
Answer:
A Whig plot to assassinate Charles and James; its discovery led to executions and weakened the Whigs.
Question 14 · Spec 3.3.2 BD, Part one
How did Charles II rule after 1681? [1 mark]
Answer:
Without Parliament, funded by customs revenue and French subsidies.
Question 15 · Spec 3.3.2 BD, Part one
State two features of Charles II’s character. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: charming and witty (1); pleasure-loving, with many mistresses (1); politically shrewd (1); interested in science (1).
Question 16 · Spec 3.3.2 BD, Part one
Describe court life under Charles II. [2 marks]
Answer:
The court was lively and extravagant after the Puritan years (1); it was known for theatre, fashion and scandal (1).
Question 17 · Spec 3.3.2 BD, Part one
Explain why the Restoration happened in 1660. [2 marks]
Answer:
After Cromwell’s death in 1658, the Protectorate collapsed (1); General Monck marched on London and the Convention Parliament invited Charles back (1).
Question 18 · Spec 3.3.2 BD, Part one
Explain why James, Duke of York, caused a succession issue. [2 marks]
Answer:
Charles II had no legitimate children, so James was heir (1); James had become a Catholic, which alarmed many Protestants (1).
Question 19 · Spec 3.3.2 BD, Part two
When did the Great Plague strike London? [1 mark]
Answer:
1665.
Question 20 · Spec 3.3.2 BD, Part two
State two contemporary beliefs about the cause of the plague. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: God’s punishment (1); miasma or bad air (1); the position of the planets (1).
Question 21 · Spec 3.3.2 BD, Part two
State two measures taken against the Great Plague. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: houses shut up and marked with a red cross (1); bills of mortality recorded deaths (1); cats and dogs were killed (1); plague pits for burials (1).
Question 22 · Spec 3.3.2 BD, Part two
What were the bills of mortality? [1 mark]
Answer:
Weekly records of burials and causes of death in London parishes.
Question 23 · Spec 3.3.2 BD, Part two
Where did the Great Fire of London (1666) start? [1 mark]
Answer:
In Thomas Farriner’s bakery on Pudding Lane.
Question 24 · Spec 3.3.2 BD, Part two
State two reasons why the fire spread so quickly. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: closely packed timber houses (1); a dry summer (1); a strong east wind (1); flammable goods stored near the river (1).
Question 25 · Spec 3.3.2 BD, Part two
How was the Great Fire finally stopped? [1 mark]
Answer:
By blowing up houses with gunpowder to make firebreaks, and as the wind dropped.
Question 26 · Spec 3.3.2 BD, Part two
Who was blamed for the Great Fire? [1 mark]
Answer:
Foreigners and Catholics; Robert Hubert, a Frenchman, falsely confessed and was hanged.
Question 27 · Spec 3.3.2 BD, Part two
Describe the rebuilding of London after 1666. [2 marks]
Answer:
The Rebuilding Act (1667) required brick or stone buildings and wider streets (1); Wren rebuilt St Paul’s Cathedral and over 50 churches (1).
Question 28 · Spec 3.3.2 BD, Part two
What was Restoration comedy? [2 marks]
Answer:
Witty, bawdy plays about upper-class life and relationships (1); eg works by William Wycherley and Aphra Behn (1).
Question 29 · Spec 3.3.2 BD, Part two
What change happened on the Restoration stage regarding women? [1 mark]
Answer:
Women were allowed to act on stage for the first time, eg Nell Gwyn.
Question 30 · Spec 3.3.2 BD, Part two
Who was Aphra Behn? [1 mark]
Answer:
One of the first women to earn a living as a professional playwright.
Question 31 · Spec 3.3.2 BD, Part two
Explain why coffee houses were important. [2 marks]
Answer:
They were places to read news, discuss politics and do business (1); the government saw them as centres of opposition and tried to close them in 1675 (1).
Question 32 · Spec 3.3.2 BD, Part two
What was the Royal Society? [2 marks]
Answer:
A scientific society given a royal charter by Charles II in 1662 (1); members, eg Robert Hooke and Isaac Newton, promoted experiment (1).
Question 33 · Spec 3.3.2 BD, Part two
Why is Samuel Pepys important to historians? [1 mark]
Answer:
His diary (1660–1669) gives an eyewitness account of the plague, the fire and court life.
Question 34 · Spec 3.3.2 BD, Part two
Who was Christopher Wren? [2 marks]
Answer:
An architect and scientist, a founder of the Royal Society (1); he designed St Paul’s Cathedral and many London churches after the Great Fire (1).
Question 35 · Spec 3.3.2 BD, Part two
How did the plague end in London? [1 mark]
Answer:
Deaths fell in late 1665 and 1666 as the weather cooled, and the plague did not return on a large scale after the Great Fire.
Question 36 · Spec 3.3.2 BD, Part three
How did England gain Bombay? [1 mark]
Answer:
As part of the dowry of Catherine of Braganza on her marriage to Charles II in 1662.
Question 37 · Spec 3.3.2 BD, Part three
State two powers Charles II gave the East India Company. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: to acquire territory (1); to make war and peace (1); to mint money (1); to raise forces (1).
Question 38 · Spec 3.3.2 BD, Part three
What was the Hudson’s Bay Company? [1 mark]
Answer:
A company given a royal charter in 1670 to trade furs in North America.
Question 39 · Spec 3.3.2 BD, Part three
Why was Tangier abandoned in 1684? [1 mark]
Answer:
It was too expensive to defend against Moroccan attacks.
Question 40 · Spec 3.3.2 BD, Part three
Who was Henry Morgan? [2 marks]
Answer:
A Welsh privateer who attacked Spanish settlements, including Panama in 1671 (1); he was later knighted and became Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica (1).
Question 41 · Spec 3.3.2 BD, Part three
Define the term ‘mercantilism’. [1 mark]
Answer:
The belief that a country grows rich by exporting more than it imports and controlling trade with its colonies.
Question 42 · Spec 3.3.2 BD, Part three
What were the Navigation Acts? [2 marks]
Answer:
Laws requiring colonial goods to be carried on English ships (1); to build English trade and sea power at the expense of the Dutch (1).
Question 43 · Spec 3.3.2 BD, Part three
What was the Royal African Company? [1 mark]
Answer:
A company chartered in 1660 (re-founded 1672) that traded enslaved Africans to the Americas.
Question 44 · Spec 3.3.2 BD, Part three
Why did England fight the Dutch? [2 marks]
Answer:
Trade rivalry, eg over the Navigation Acts (1); competition for colonies and sea power (1).
Question 45 · Spec 3.3.2 BD, Part three
What happened in the Raid on the Medway (1667)? [2 marks]
Answer:
The Dutch sailed up the Medway and burned English ships at Chatham (1); they towed away the flagship Royal Charles, a national humiliation (1).
Question 46 · Spec 3.3.2 BD, Part three
How did England gain New Amsterdam? [1 mark]
Answer:
It was captured in 1664 and confirmed by the Treaty of Breda (1667); it was renamed New York.
Question 47 · Spec 3.3.2 BD, Part three
Describe naval warfare tactics in the Dutch Wars. [2 marks]
Answer:
Fleets fought in the line of battle, firing broadsides (1); fireships were also used (1).
Question 48 · Spec 3.3.2 BD, Part three
Describe Charles II’s relations with France. [2 marks]
Answer:
He secretly allied with Louis XIV in the Treaty of Dover (1); he took French money, which allowed him to rule without Parliament (1).
Question 49 · Spec 3.3.2 BD, Part three
Explain why Jamaica was valuable to England. [2 marks]
Answer:
It grew sugar on plantations worked by enslaved Africans (1); Port Royal was a base for trade and privateers (1).
Question 50 · Spec 3.3.2 BD, Part three
State two reasons why English sea power grew under Charles II. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: Pepys reformed naval administration (1); more warships were built (1); the Navigation Acts boosted shipping (1); experience in the Dutch Wars (1).

← BC Elizabethan England, c1568–1603

Restoration England, 1660–1685

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