England Stuarts: England Under the Stuart Monarchs, 1603-1714
England under the Stuarts, reign by reign from 1603 to 1714: the union of crowns, civil war and republic, the Restoration, the Glorious Revolution and the 1707 union.
Last updated September 2026
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England under the Stuarts was a century of upheaval. Between 1603 and 1714 the country went from a king who claimed divine right to a Crown bound by Acts of Parliament. This page walks through the England Stuarts reign by reign. It gives the dates of the turning points and the one gap in the record.
TL;DR: Stuart England runs from James I in 1603 to Anne in 1714. Charles I's quarrel with Parliament led to civil war. He was executed in 1649. England was a republic until Charles II returned in 1660. James II was driven out in 1688. The deal that followed limited the Crown. England and Scotland became one kingdom in 1707.
England Stuarts at a glance
| Reign | Years | Defining events |
|---|---|---|
| James I | 1603-1625 | Union of the crowns; Gunpowder Plot; King James Bible |
| Charles I | 1625-1649 | Personal Rule; Civil Wars; trial and execution |
| Interregnum | 1649-1660 | Commonwealth; Cromwell's Protectorate |
| Charles II | 1660-1685 | Restoration; plague and fire in London |
| James II | 1685-1688 | Monmouth's rebellion; Glorious Revolution |
| William III and Mary II | 1689-1702 | Bill of Rights; war with France; Act of Settlement |
| Anne | 1702-1714 | Union with Scotland; Marlborough's victories |
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James I, 1603-1625
James VI of Scotland became James I of England on 24 March 1603. He called himself King of Great Britain. But the two kingdoms kept separate parliaments and laws.
A Catholic plot to blow up Parliament and the king was uncovered on 5 November 1605. Guy Fawkes was caught guarding the gunpowder. The failure is still marked each year on Bonfire Night. James also sponsored a new English Bible, the Authorised or King James Version, published in 1611.
Charles I and the Civil Wars, 1625-1649
Charles I shared his father's belief in the divine right of kings. He clashed with Parliament over taxes and religion. From 1629 to 1640 he ruled without calling it at all. A war with Scotland forced him to call Parliament again in 1640.
Civil war broke out in August 1642. Parliament's New Model Army beat the king at Naseby in 1645. After a second war, Parliament put Charles on trial for treason. He was executed outside the Banqueting House in Whitehall on 30 January 1649.
The Interregnum, 1649-1660
A gap in the Stuart record
England without a king, 1649-1660.
Status: Disputed. No monarch. Charles II's reign is still counted from 1649.
Note: Parliament abolished the monarchy and the House of Lords in 1649. It ruled as a Commonwealth. Oliver Cromwell became Lord Protector in December 1653.
He ruled until his death in 1658. His son Richard followed him but resigned in 1659. Parliament then invited Charles II back.
Sources: UK Parliament, "Overview of the Civil War"; UK Parliament, "The end of the Protectorate".
Charles II and the Restoration, 1660-1685
Charles II entered London on 29 May 1660, his 30th birthday. The Restoration brought back the monarchy, the Church of England and the theatres. It also brought revenge. Those who had signed Charles I's death warrant were hunted down.
London suffered twice in two years. The Great Plague of 1665 killed a large share of the city's people. The Great Fire of September 1666 destroyed much of the old city, including St Paul's Cathedral. Charles had many children, but none by his queen. So his Catholic brother James was his heir.
James II and the Glorious Revolution, 1685-1688
James II came to the throne in February 1685. That summer his nephew, the Duke of Monmouth, rebelled. Monmouth was beaten at Sedgemoor and executed.
James then put Catholics in high office. In June 1688 his queen had a son. That raised the prospect of a line of Catholic kings.
Leading politicians invited William of Orange to step in. He was the husband of James's Protestant daughter Mary. William landed at Brixham in November 1688. James's support fell apart, and he fled to France in December.
William III and Mary II, 1689-1702
In February 1689, Parliament declared that James had given up the throne. It offered the crown to William and Mary jointly. The Bill of Rights set limits on the Crown. The monarch could not raise taxes or keep an army in peacetime without Parliament's consent. And Catholics were barred from the throne.
Mary died in 1694. William ruled alone until 1702. The Act of Settlement of 1701 then fixed the crown on the Protestant line of Sophia of Hanover.
Anne, 1702-1714
Anne was the last Stuart monarch. Her armies, led by the Duke of Marlborough, won at Blenheim in 1704, in the War of the Spanish Succession. The Acts of Union took effect on 1 May 1707. They created the Kingdom of Great Britain, with one Parliament at Westminster.
Anne died on 1 August 1714. None of her children outlived her. So George I of Hanover took the throne under the Act of Settlement. For the wider family story, with the Scottish kings and the Jacobite claimants, see the Stuarts page.
To see the Stuarts among all of England's rulers, try the two reference books in our guide to the best books about the royal family. Each covers every monarch in turn.
Verdict: the England Stuarts in brief
The England Stuarts began with a Scottish king who believed in divine right. They ended with a queen whose powers Parliament had set in law. In between, England executed a king and tried a republic.
It restored the monarchy. Then it replaced a king who would not accept its limits. The laws of 1689 and 1701 still shape succession to the British throne today. For every monarch since 1066, see the England royal family hub.
Sources checked for this page
- English Heritage, "An Introduction to Stuart England"
- History of Parliament, "Stuarts"
- The Royal Family, "The Stuarts"
- UK Parliament, "The Convention and Bill of Rights"
- Britannica, "Act of Union, 1707"
- The Royal Family, "William III and Mary II"
Questions people also ask
When was the Stuart period in England?
From James I's accession on 24 March 1603 to Queen Anne's death on 1 August 1714. The years 1649-1660, when England had no king, fall inside it.
What were the main events of Stuart England?
The Gunpowder Plot (1605), the Civil Wars (1642-1651), the execution of Charles I (1649), the Restoration (1660), the Great Plague and Great Fire of London (1665-1666), the Glorious Revolution (1688) and the union with Scotland (1707).
Why is 1688 called the Glorious Revolution?
Because James II was replaced with little fighting in England. William of Orange landed in November 1688, James fled, and Parliament offered the crown to William and Mary in 1689.