Edward Hyde Clarendon t earl of (1s)

Clarendon, Edward Hyde, 1st earl of (1609–74), English statesman and historian. He originally opposed King Charles I, but supported him in 1642 when civil war started. Although Clarendon favored religious toleration, Parliament made him enforce the Clarendon Code, which strengthened the position of the Church of England. In 1667 Charles II made him a scapegoat for failures in the second Dutch War. He was forced into exile, from which he wrote the 10-volume History of the Rebellion, defending Royalist activities during the civil war.