Clarendon, Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon
1609-1674. English politician and historian,
chief adviser to Charles II 1651-67. A member
of Parliament 1640, he joined the Royalist
side 1641. The Clarendon Code (1661-65), a
series of acts passed by the government, were
directed at Nonconformists (or Dissenters)
and were designed to secure the supremacy of
the Church of England. In the Short and Long
parliaments he attacked Charles I's
unconstitutional actions and supported the
impeachment of Charles's minister Strafford.
In 1641 he broke with the revolutionary party
and became one of the royal advisers. When
civil war began he followed Charles to
Oxford, and was knighted and made chancellor
of the Exchequer. On the king's defeat in
1646 he followed Prince Charles to Jersey,
where he began his History of the Rebellion,
published 1702-04, which provides memorable
portraits of his contemporaries. In 1651 he
became chief adviser to the exiled Charles
II. At the Restoration he was created earl of
Clarendon, while his influence was further
increased by the marriage of his daughter
Anne to James, Duke of York. His moderation
earned the hatred of the extremists, however,
and he lost Charles's support by openly
expressing disapproval of the king's private
life. After the disasters of the Dutch war
1667, he went into exile. In retirement he
wrote the History of the Rebellion and Civil
Wars in England 1702-04.