page_title: Restoration (Scotland)
section_title: Middleton (1661–1663)
hierarchical_section_title: Restoration (Scotland) / Charles II's commissioners (1661–1685) / Middleton (1661–1663)
caption_attribution_description: English: Portrait of John Middleton (c.1608–1673), 1st Earl of Middleton, Governor of Tangier (1608-1674) English: (c) National Trust, Castle Ward; Supplied by The Public Catalogue Foundation
context_page_description: The Restoration was the return of the monarchy to Scotland in 1660 after the period of the Commonwealth, and the subsequent three decades of Scottish history until the Revolution and Convention of Estates of 1689. It was part of a wider Restoration in the British Isles that included the return of the Stuart dynasty to the thrones of England and Ireland in the person of Charles II.
  As military commander of the Commonwealth's largest armed force, George Monck, governor-general in Scotland, was instrumental in the restoration of Charles II, who was proclaimed king in Edinburgh on 14 May 1660. There was a general pardon for offences during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, but four individuals were excepted and executed. Under the eventual political settlement Scotland regained its independent system of law, parliament and kirk, but also regained the Lords of the Articles and bishops, and it now had a king who did not visit the country and ruled largely without reference to Parliament through a series of commissioners. These began with the Earl of Middleton and ended with the King's brother and heir, James, Duke of York.
context_section_description: The King's first political action in Scotland was to appoint officers of state and members of the privy council without reference to parliament. The royalist William Cunningham, 9th Earl of Glencairn became Chancellor and John Leslie, Earl of Rothes became President of the Council. A new Scottish Council was created in London, which was headed by James Maitland, Earl of Lauderdale. Former Covernanter and royalist soldier John Middleton, newly raised to be Earl of Middleton, was appointed as Commissioner. A new parliament met on 1 January 1661, later known by its presbyterian critics as the "drunken parliament", it passed 393 Acts, particularly supporting the episcopalian structure of the church favoured by Middleton and the authority of the king over government and parliament. In 1663 Middleton attempted to pass an act that would have compelled all office holders to declare that the two covenants were unlawful and seditious. This was a direct attack on former covenanters like the King's favourite Lauderdale and as a result Middleton was recalled and replaced with Rothes.
caption: Earl of Middleton, Charles II's first Commissioner in Scotland
exif: {}