Dangerous Treasons, Julian WHITEHEAD

Charles II's father was executed, his brother James managed to stay on the throne for only four years, yet Charles died in his bed having ruled for a quarter of a century. Although welcomed back as king in 1660, the honeymoon of the Restoration soon passed with plots and uprisings to follow. Dangerous Treasons describes the sinister and murky world of espionage, plots and treason in the Restoration period, with former intelligence officer and security adviser Julian Whitehead telling the darker side of the Merry Monarch's reign. Charles survived plots and rebellions with a mixture of guile, espionage, propaganda, covert operations and military oppression. Conspiracy and sedition are revealed in places as different as the glittering extravagance of the Court with its scheming mistresses and power hungry aristocrats to back street taverns frequented by rogues and rebels. Welcome to a world of spies, kidnap, assassination, censorship, false witness, and judicial murder.