This is the first comprehensive study of the House of Lords in the reign of Charles II. It examines the House's institutional and political activities, and reveals the vital role played by the peerage in Caroline parliaments. Andrew Swatland also describes the emergence of political parties, reinterpreting the origins of "Toryism" and "Whiggism". This detailed and balanced study is both a major institutional history and an important contribution to the history of Restoration politics and political culture.