Exiled to France during the English Civil Wars and Interregnum, Charles II returned to England in 1660 to be crowned king, bringing French court culture as well as artistic and cultural sophistication with him to inaugurate a reign of relative political stability and flourishing arts but characterized by detractors as profligate and immoral.

Member of the French Capetian dynasty, King of Sicily and Naples, also known as "Charles of Anjou." Charles I created an impressive empire through his exploits in Italy, though it dissolved prior to his death.

King of England, Scotland, and Ireland of the House of Stuart, son of King James VI of Scotland. Charles I's authoritarian rule led to the English Civil War which resulted in his execution.

King of the Franks from 768 and legendary figure of La Chanson de Roland (The Song of Roland) (c. 1100), which narrates the Battle of Roncesvalles (Roncevaux) in 778.

Born Hester Mulso, Chapone became a significant figure in Elizabeth Montague's eighteenth-century bluestocking circle. Her Letters on the Improvement of the Mind (1773) proposed a rigorous course of self education for women.

English dramatist, poet, and translator. Chapman's translations of Homer remained the standard for centuries.

A clergyman and literary critic, Channing was friend to a number of important literary figures of the American Renaissance.

Apothecary and translator of Arabic medical treatises.

English physician, dramatist, and poet, who fought on the Royalist side at the Battle of Newberry.

Lesser-known English poet whose work has been compared to that of William Chamberlayne. Chalkhill authored two poems in Izaak Walton's The Compleat Angler and a pastoral poem, Thealma and Clearchus, published posthumously by Walton.