Greatest things about the 1600's

[nofuture]

'Twas t'riffichttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4c/Gunpow1.jpg">

[House of Usher]

I'll put in a vote against witch hunts, plagues and live executions.

:-P

[longmanshort]

THE MOST INTERESTING THING ABOUT KING CHARLES I IS THAT HE WAS 5'6" TALL AT THE START OF HIS REIGN, BUT ONLY 4'8" AT THE END OF IT...
BECAUSE OF...

Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protecteur of England
PURITAN
Born in 1599 and died in 1658
SEPTEMBER
Was at first
ONLY
MP for Huntingdon
BUT THEN
He led the Ironside Cavalry at Marston Moor
in 1644 and won.
Then he founded the new model army
And praise be, beat the Cavaliers at Naseby
And the King fled up North like a bat to the
Scots.

SPOKEN: BUT UNDER THE TERMS OF JOHN PIMM'S SOLEMN LEAGUE AND COVENANT, THE SCOTS HANDED KING CHARLES I OVER TO...

Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protecteur of England
AND HIS WARTS
Born in 1599 and died in 1658
SEPTEMBER
But alas
OY VAY!
Disagreement then broke out
BETWEEN
The Presbyterian Parliament and the Military who meant
To have an independent bent.
And so...

The 2nd Civil War broke out
And the Roundhead ranks
Faced the Cavaliers at Preston, Lancs
And the King lost again, silly thing
STUPID GIT

SPOKEN: AND CROMWELL SEND COLONEL PRIDE TO PURGE THE HOUSE OF COMMONS OF THE PRESBYTERIAN ROYALISTS LEAVING BEHIND ONLY THE RUMP PARLIAMENT...

Which appointed a High Court at Westminster
Hall
To indict Charles I for...tyranny
OOOOHHH!
Charles was sentenced to death
Even though he refused to accept that the court
had...jurisdiction
SAY GOODBYE TO HIS HEAD

Poor King Charles laid his head on the block
JANUARY 1649
Down came the axe, and...

SPOKEN: IN THE SILENCE THAT FOLLOWED, THE ONLY SOUND THAT COULD BE HEARD WAS A SOLITARY GIGGLE,
FROM...

Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protecteur of England
OLE
Born in 1599 and died in 1658
SEPTEMBER
Then he smashed
IRELAND
Set up the Commonwealth
AND MORE
He crushed the Scots at Worcester
And beat the Dutch at sea
In 1653 and then
He dissolved the Rump Parliament
And with Lambert's consent
Wrote the instrument of Government
Under which Oliver was Proctector at last
The end!

[Dark Jimbo]

The contiuning career of Shakespeare.

Samuel Pepys.

When Cromwell's short-lived, badly planned Commonwealth died a well-deserved death, and Charles II came back to reclaim his throne. Huzzah! Long live the King!*

*This also produced a rather nice side-effect; although we had to endure some miserable puritan rule, when Charles returned from the continent he brought back with him a fashionable new drink that all the French were going crazy for - Tea. If England didn't have tea today, I don't know what I'd do, so 1652 stands as a good year.

Then again, I could really have done without the plague, and that pesky fire in London... what was it called?

[longmanshort]

*This also produced a rather nice side-effect;

That's as maybe, but we also have to live with the negative legacy of his return - Restoration theatre, the most pointless, annoying and pathetic excuse for some T&A in the history of Western civilisation.

Well, until Big Brother came along ...

[Wake]

It recently gave me a rare excuse for a fry-up breakfast.

Cheers,

Wakehttp://www.2000ad.org/oscar/photos/sealedknot/wetherby06_breakfast.jpg">

[longmanshort]

Royalist scum ;)

[+rufus+]

Gibbets.
 London should still have them at every bridge.

[Wils]

Dysentery!

[DavidXBrunt]

Which Joan Collines pronounces Die-sentry.

[Floyd-the-k]

In Australia the 1600s were completely brilliant, due to the place having not yet been discovered

[Tanky]

PIRATES!

[Floyd-the-k]

the discovery of potatoes must have been brilliant.  What did everybody eat before potatoes?

[SamuelAWilkinson]

Turnips, Floyd. Many, many turnips.

[Cthulouis]

'In Australia the 1600s were completely brilliant, due to the place having not yet been discovered'

Apart from by the the native Aboriginies, but they so totaly don't count.