On this episode of five minutes in church history, we have a very exciting event to talk about.

We have the great escape of Charles II.

Now to set the stage here, we need to understand a little bit about what's happening with Charles the First and a little bit about what's happening with

Charles the first and a little bit about what's happening with the British

reformation. Charles the second's father was indeed Charles the first and he was

no friend of the reformation very opposed to the reformers very opposed to the Puritans in England and he used his henchman

Archbishop William Laud to enforce his policies against the Puritans. In fact, it was under James, James the first,

the predecessor to Charles the first,

that the Puritans first settled the new world.

But it was under Charles the First that they came by the boat load. In fact, folks in

New England would say almost every week a boat of Puritans were arriving in New England.

That's how difficult Charles the First had made life for the Puritans in England.

And by all accounts, he wasn't an inept ruler, and he plunged the nation into civil war,

and so it was monarchy pitted against the parliament.

And of course, leading the parliamentary forces is Oliver Cromwell, and all over Cromwell,

and those forces managed to route Charles the 1st, and it did not end well for Charles the First.

He was beheaded in 1649.

This of course meant that his son, Charles II, would now be on the throne.

And Charles the Second at this point is 18 going on 19. But there's no real

support for him and his life is in fact in danger and so a number of his associates and

friends and those who were supporters of the monarchy tried to get him out of England.

This was no easy task. Charles II was a tall man for his day. He stood six foot two and a day and age when the average height was five six and he was

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