This article argues for a reconsideration of the origins of Restoration sexual politics through a detailed examination of the effusive sexual polemic of the English Revolution (1642–1660). During the early 1640s, unprecedented political upheaval and a novel public culture of participatory print combined to transform explicit sexual libel from a muted element of prewar English political culture into one of its preeminent features. In the process, political leaders at the highest levels of government—including Queen Henrietta Maria, Oliver Cromwell, and King Charles I—were confronted with extensive and graphic debates about their sexual histories in widely disseminated print polemic for the first time in English history. By the early 1650s, monarchical sexuality was a routine topic of scurrilous political commentary. Charles II was thus well acquainted with this novel polemical milieu by the time he assumed the throne in 1660, and his adoption of the “Merry Monarch” persona early in his reign represented a strategic attempt to turn mid-century sexual politics to his advantage, despite unprecedented levels of contemporary criticism. Restoration sexual culture was therefore largely the product of civil war polemical debate rather than the singular invention of a naturally libertine young king.

中文翻译：

---

致命的通奸：英国革命中的性政治

本文通过对英国革命（1642-1660）热情洋溢的性论战的详细考察，主张重新考虑恢复性政治的起源。在 1640 年代初期，前所未有的政治动荡和参与式印刷的新颖公共文化相结合，将露骨的性诽谤从战前英国政治文化的一个无声元素转变为其卓越特征之一。在此过程中，政府最高层的政治领导人——包括亨利埃塔·玛丽亚王后、奥利弗·克伦威尔和查理一世国王——在英国历史上第一次在广泛传播的印刷品辩论中就他们的性史进行了广泛而生动的辩论。到 1650 年代初期，君主制的性行为已成为粗俗政治评论的常规话题。因此，查理二世在 1660 年登上王位时已经非常熟悉这种新颖的辩论环境，他在统治初期采用了“快乐的君主”角色，这代表着将世纪中叶的性政治转向他的优势的战略尝试，尽管当代批评的程度空前。因此，恢复性文化在很大程度上是内战辩论的产物，而不是一个天生放荡的年轻国王的独特发明。