It seems I am very taken up by the Stuart period in English history these days. It all started when I read Diane Purkiss'
The English Civil War: A People's History
, followed by Antonia Fraser's
King Charles II
, and now this. And, largely because Uglow's book is so good, I find that I still have an appetite for more!
Anyway, although the 'bare facts' of Charles' life were already known to me from Fraser's (also excellent) book, it was fascinating to read about the same man from another author's perspective, and concentrating largely on the first decade after the Restoration (1660 - 1670). And what a fascinating, vibrant time that must have been! Wouldn't it be great to have known and mixed with people as different as Samuel Pepys, John Bunyan, Dryden, Hobbes and Milton? To gossip with cronies in the coffee shops about Barbara Castlemaine and Nell Gwyn? To hear about the experiments conducted by the newly founded Royal Society? And perhaps witness the Great Fire of London? I would sign up any day for a trip back to those days (provided I can also get the guarantee I will not be operated for 'the stone' - or anything else for that matter...).
The more I read about Charles II the better I like the man. It is of course a matter of debate to what degree we can ever know the man (or anyone for that matter). After all, he's been dead for over 300 years, and he was as Uglow terms it a gambling man that kept his cards close to his chest. But still, she succeeded brilliantly in writing a very lucid, entertaining and insightful book that made me feel she knows all there is to know about him, and has real empathy with both his public and private self. For someone whose father was beheaded when he (Charles II that is) was just 19, and then spent 11 years in exile, I found that Charles was in fact a surprisingly normal person, approachable to all and sundry, with real wit and (often) a surprising 'joie de vivre'. Did he not have a darker side then? I'm sure he did, the way in which some of his mistresses were dumped, and the way for instance in which he disposed of his Chancellor Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon testifies he could be ruthless when necessary or provoked.
Looking at Charles II as a 'gambling man' is very apt too. In a way, we all need to gamble from time to time in our lives (should I marry this girl? Should I have children with her? Should I change jobs? Move house?) but, in Charles' case, it must have felt often that the stakes were very high indeed. The court was alive with factions and intrigues, international alliances constantly shifted, and betting on the wrong horse could cost you your life: Charles needed only to think of his own father to be reminded of the fact. In these circumstances to stay on the throne for 25 years and die as a popular king must have taken exceptional qualities.
In short, I immensely enjoyed this book, and, last but not least, feel that praise is definitely also due to Uglow for the clarity of her writing. At a certain point Uglow quotes John Wilkins, bishop of Chester in saying 'the greatest learning is to be seen in the greatest plainness.' The very same can be said of Uglow's fabulous book.
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![A Gambling Man: Charles II and the Restoration by [Jenny Uglow]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51QAF-m0FYL._SY346_.jpg)
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