The seventeenth century, as much as any, was a century in which Europe
seethed with war: peace reigned on the continent for only seven years of the
hundred.For England it was a century of change and revolution, both peaceful
and bloodstained. James I died in 1625, to be succeeded by his son Charles
I, who was beheaded in 1649 after seven years of civil war.For the following
four years England was a republic until Oliver Cromwell took power.Eventually
he assumed dictatorial powers and ruled until his death in September of 1658.
Cromwell was succeeded by his son, who resigned the following May.A year
later the son of Charles I, Charles II, was proclaimed king by Parliament
and died without legitimate issue in 1685. His younger brother, James II,
a Catholic, assumed the throne but was driven from it three years later, to
be replaced by William and Mary, who were crowned in 1689. The previous
year Parliament had assumed many of the powers of the Crown and made
England a constitutional monarchy.On Mary's death in 1694, William
continued to rule alone until his death in 1702.

Newton's life was also filled with warfare, primarily against his fellow
scientists, and with change.He followed the trend of his century in another
respect: he had one foot in the modern world and one in the medieval. For
the average European, religion was an integral part of everyday life that both
explained reality and directed personal conduct.In England heretics and
blasphemers were executed as late as 1612, and they continued to be killed
in France until 1748. Newton's own interest in religion amounted to an

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