443 Charles' Great Game

March 29, 2026·46 min·3 clips

An orangist mob lynched, mutilated, and reportedly ate the de Witt brothers after storming a Dutch prison in 1672.

1. Episode 443 of The History of England examines Charles II's 'Great Game' of 1672-74: his secret alliance with Louis XIV to destroy the Dutch Republic and win strategic Zeeland trading ports. 2. The episode is narrated by the show's host (unnamed in the transcript), who delivers the account as a solo analytical narrative, drawing on primary sources including English ambassador William Temple and MP accounts of parliamentary debates. 3. The core thesis is that Charles gambled his entire reign on a quick, glorious military victory that would override parliamentary opposition, fund his court, and cement his authority — and lost on every front. 4. Louis XIV's annual income of 7.5 million pounds — more than seven times Charles's — and his 180,000-strong standing army under Marshal Touraine gave France decisive military superiority over all European rivals in 1672. 5. Charles secured war funding by declaring a Stop of the Exchequer on 2 January 1672, suspending all government bill payments for 12 months and raising 2.3 million pounds in immediate cash. 6. He simultaneously issued a Declaration of Indulgence for dissenters and Catholics, invoking royal prerogative to override Parliament's 1670 Conventicle Act and attempting to build a cross-faith political coalition loyal to the Crown. 7. The combined Anglo-French fleet of 80 ships of the line assembled at Spithead in May 1672 with a numerical advantage of a third over de Ruyter's 61 Dutch ships, and Charles distributed personal gifts to French commanders before their departure. 8. At the Battle of Solebay on 28 May 1672, de Ruyter launched a pre-emptive attack and the French fleet sailed off on the opposite tack, leaving the English alone; James Duke of York moved his flag from ship to ship twice and the Earl of Sandwich was killed, his body identified only by his sash and Star of the Garter. 9. On land, Louis's 120,000 troops bypassed the Maastricht defences and captured Rheinberg, Orsoy, Arnhem, Zutphen, and Utrecht in rapid succession, prompting de Witt to weep that 'the homeland was defeated' — 1672 became known as Rampjaar, the year of disaster. 10. Amsterdam was saved only by opening the sluices on 8 June 1672 in the flood-defence strategy devised by Maurice of Nassau, flooding the surrounding land and halting the French advance, though Louis had already rejected Dutch peace offers with humiliating terms. 11. On 21 June 1672, Johann de Witt was wounded in an assassination attempt and resigned; his brother Cornelis was arrested and tortured at The Hague, and when Johann went to visit him an orangist mob stormed the prison, shot and strung up both brothers' naked bodies, and reportedly ate their livers — after which William of Orange was restored as stadtholder. 12. In February 1673 Parliament forced Charles to revoke the Declaration of Indulgence, with MP Thomas Mears of Lincoln articulating the division between 'this side of the House and that side' — language the host identifies as the birth of the Whig-Tory party system. 13. The Test Act of April 1673 required all officeholders to deny transubstantiation and take Anglican communion; it passed with Charles's apparent acquiescence, yielding a parliamentary grant of one and a half million pounds for the war. 14. James Duke of York flatly refused the Test Act oath and resigned as Lord Admiral, revealing he had converted to Catholicism by 1669; combined with Queen Catherine's repeated miscarriages, this made a Catholic succession appear nearly certain. 15. Three naval battles between June and August 1673 off the Dutch coast all went to de Ruyter; on two occasions the French fleet withdrew entirely and their captains wrote letters praising de Ruyter's genius, which the host notes 'really didn't help relationships.' 16. In autumn 1673, as Charles was preparing to ask Parliament for yet more war funding, someone threw a French clog onto the Parliament floor carved with both the French royal arms and the House of Stuart arms, inscribed 'Who would prefer? French or English — there was no difference.' 17. The episode presents a dry, analytically engaged narrative style, frequently injecting wry asides — including a joke about 'not running out of baguettes, pâté and a glass of Chablis' — while maintaining serious historical analysis of constitutional politics. 18. The pacing moves briskly across diplomacy, land war, naval battle, domestic politics, and mob violence, with the host explicitly noting when he is providing European context before returning to the English story. 19. Listeners who enjoy political history with a constitutional focus and appreciate dry British humour will find this episode particularly rewarding. 20. Listeners who prefer social history, biographical depth, or linear narrative without digression into European power politics may find the episode demanding.

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Solbay turns a failed invasion plan into a sharp study of naval confusion, royal pressure, and strategic defeat.

Charles's failed bid for a quick victory in Zealand gives the review a strong organizing thread. Solbay becomes the pressure point: the French and English ships split, the Dutch fleet arrives, De Rijter goes for the flagships, and James is forced to shift his flag twice under…

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You want to hear Charles's invasion plan come apart once the Dutch fleet appears off England.

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