In 1660, the Restoration of the Monarchy made the question of remembering and memorialising the English Revolution not only controversial, but also dangerous.
In that year, the Act of Oblivion and Indemnity pardoned those other than the regicides who had rebelled against the crown during the Civil Wars and the Interregnum. The Act commanded the people to forget the wars. It forbade the settling of old scores and reserved the right to take revenge on former enemies to Charles II himself.
Controversial from the outset, the Act of Oblivion failed to prevent or heal disputes over the people’s different memories of the wars and revolution. Professor Ted Vallance, Dean of Research and Doctoral Studies at the University of Roehampton, explains how the revolution was remembered in this programme.
