Commonwealth and the Protectorate January 1649 to September 1658

Question 1

The Rump parliament activity in reformation

Answer 1

• 1649 - Rump Parliament passed 152 acts showing initially active reform and progress
• 1651 - The Rump only passes 51 acts showing productivity reducing
• The Navigation Acts, establish trade regulations in 1651 and was generally seen as a positive piece of legislation, one of the few laws to be maintained after 1660

Question 2

The Rump Parliament’s inadequacies in the eyes of Cromwell (religious and legal)

Answer 2

Religion
- 1550 - Law of Blasphemy was introduced however the NMA saw this as stripping away toleration

Legal
- December 1651 - The Rump formed a commision to go through and simplify the legal process. However this put under threat many of the MPs legal professions therefore little progress was made in this much needed area. 50 out of 211 were lawyers

Question 3

The Rump Parliament’s inadequacies in the eyes of Cromwell (constitutional)

Answer 3

Constitutional
- May 1652 The Rump announces it will hold elections no later than the 3rd of November 1654, the need for legitimation.

• February 1553 - The Rump draft a bill for constitutional reform. However they plan to narrow the franchise for the next election which angers the NMA and Cromwell who see this as an attempt to get the same MPs re-elected, the elections would just be there to serve to legitimise the Rump not actually get a new parliament.

Question 4

The closure of the Rump

Answer 4

April 19th 1553 - Cromwell calls 20 MPS and senior army officers together to plan for the Rump to elect 40 men to rule the country then dissolve itself.

• April 20th 1553 - The Rump continued to debate the constitutional bill ignoring Cromwell’s offer so Cromwell denounced the MPs and dissolved the parliament

Question 5

Denzil Holles

Answer 5

• Vocal opposition of Charles as an MP, imprisoned by Charles back in 1629 with Eliot
• However in the Long Parliament he fell in more with the moderate group blaming evil advisors above Charles
• A Parliamentary leader in the War he left to form the Peace Party
• He lead the Presbyterian faction against the Independents with Manchester and Essex he was one of the 11 members who were expelled to the continent after Fairfax’s march on London August 1647
• After returning to Parliament by invite after the Second Civil War he had to go into exile again as a victim of Prides Purge December 1648

Question 6

Levellers post the execution

Answer 6

• May 1649 - Leveller mutinies in Bishopsgate and Burford

- At Burford the force of 1,000 men were crushed, Cromwell killing the leaders infront of their men

Question 7

Bulstrode Whitelocke

Answer 7

• Opposer of the Grand Remonstrance in 1651, Whitelocke was a Parliamentarian who remained prominent in politics until 1660 where he was always seen as the very moderate wing of the independents
• He was a supporter of tolerance, favourable to Cromwell
• He advocated the return of the Royal Family throughout the Commonwealth and Protectorate (even trying to persuade Fleetwood to make a deal with Charles as Monck marched south) and opposed the closure of the Rump
• Despite fallings out over these issues he managed to maintain strong relations with Cromwell
• As a non regicide he escaped punishment in 1660 and managed to keep the bulk of his lands and titles

Question 8

Dorothy Osborne

Answer 8

• Political commentator

- Some level of closeness with Oliver Cromwell as she was at one point going to marry his son Henry

Question 9

Edmund Ludlow

Answer 9

• A Parliamentary officer, he sided with the army against Parliament after the war but had Leveller sympathies as a close ally of Marten
• Escaping Prides Purge he was a regicide
• Served as Commander in Ireland between Ireton’s death in January 1651 and Fleetwood’s arrival in September 1652
• Opposer of Cromwell, the closure of the Rump and the Protectorate
• Was arrested for circulating anti protectorate pamphlets
• Ludlow fled the restoration, he was a firm believer in the Good old Cause

Question 10

James Heath

Answer 10

• A Royalist historian, he went into exile with Charles II, returning in 1660

Question 11

The Nominated (barebones Parliaments opening and composition

Answer 11

• July 1653 - Parliament opens
• 140 godly men representing all 3 kingdoms (128 were English 6 Scottish 6 Irish).
• They were accused of being radicals and lower sorts and where it is true that the were very pious they were certainly not lower sorts with 100 as JPs, 40 Lawyers and 40 graduated.

Question 12

The Nominated (barebones) Parliament divisions

Answer 12

Radicals

• No National church
• Abolish Tithes
• No Common Law, a simple code to be written as one complete document of law

Moderates

• National Church
• Support Tithes with crown money
• Preserve Common Law

Question 13

The Barebones Parliament productivity and closure

Answer 13

• However they did make legal progress publishing 30 statutes in just 5 months
• December 1653 - Cromwell closed the Barebones Parliament
• The Parliament had become a battleground between the moderates and the radicals and productivity had ground to a halt
• Seeing this the moderates claimed they were turning up early to Parliament to resign but instead vote on dissolving the assembly whilst Lambert and his men stopped the radicals from entering.

Question 14

John Lambert

Answer 14

• A Parliamentarian in the war he was a close ally of Fleetwood
• He was one the the key members of the army throughout the period
• He served as a Major General but was very unproductive
• Always close to Cromwell he was seen by some as his understudy, drafting the instrument of Government, passed December 1653
• He opposed the Humble Petition and Advice passed April 1657
• After practically ruling England with Fleetwood in 1559 we was captured by Monck and lived the rest of his life in prison

Question 15

Charles Fleetwood

Answer 15

• Prominent figure of the NMA
• Governor of Ireland arriving in September 1652 and leaving in in September 1655, in this period Ludlow in his force
• He was a major general
• Unlike Lambert he supported the Humble Petition passed April 1657
• After practically ruling England with Lambert in 1559 we was dismissed upon the restoration

Question 16

The Instrument of Government establishment

Answer 16

• The Instrument of Government drafted in 1653 by John Lambert
• Accepted in December 1653 by the Council of Officers

Question 17

The Instrument of Government key points

Answer 17

• Cromwell as Lord Protector must call Parliament to go to war yet has control of foreign policy, cannot block a Parliamentary bill and controls the militia and the Navy
• The Council of State has 21 members, choses the next Lord Protector and passes the laws of the Protector when parliament isn’t in session
• Parliament must sit every 3 years as well as extra callings, must sit for 5 months when called, has 460 members, 30 from Scotland 30 from Ireland and must be Royalist, Catholic or an Irish Rebel

Question 18

Giovanni Sagredo

Answer 18

Venetian Ambassador

Question 19

First Protectorate Parliament key points

Answer 19

• September 1654 - After 9 months of Cromwell as Lord Protector the first protectorate Parliament was opened, a day Cromwell announced was “the most hopefullest day I ever saw”
• Quickly the Parliament turned sour closing in January 1655, Cromwell claimed the constitution meant 5 lunar months, a poor excuse seeing as it wasn’t even 5 lunar months
• Parliament wanted to cut the monthly cost of the army from £90,000 to £30,000
• The Biddle case in December were Parliament charged a man for blasphemy went against Cromwell’s tolerance
• The Parliament accused him of being another King

Question 20

Edward Whalley

Answer 20

• An officer of the NMA

- He was a very active Major General

Question 21

The rule of the Major Generals main points

Answer 21

• Given powers in October 1655 by the Decimation Bill
• England and Wales was split into 11 military districts each with a major general
• The Decimation Tax of 10% against Royalist estates went against the February 1652 General Pardon
• Lack of consistancy, Worsley was tough, closing ale houses and sports events like bear baiting whilst Lambert did very little to bring about godlyness
• The Second Protectorate Parliament ended the rule with the rejection of the Decimation Bill in January 1657

Question 22

The Penrudock’s uprising

Answer 22

• March 1655
• 400 Royalists rose
• Crushed by an army of 4,000

Question 23

Richard Baxter

Answer 23

• A puritan minister he served briefly as a chaplain in the Parliamentary Army
• He was pro a limited monarchy and advocated the restoration
• He was very much pro toleration and tried to influence the Church of England to this end

Question 24

Sir Lewes Dyves (or Dive or Dives)

Answer 24

• A royalist MP and diarist

- He served with the Royalists in Ireland and remained loyal until the restoration

Question 25

Cromwell in Ireland

Answer 25

• August 1649 - Cromwell arrives in Dublin to start the campaign despite how late it was in the season. This made more eager to rid Ireland of the rebels quickly, he did not want a drawn out conflict of sieges.
• September 1649 - Drogheda falls, 2800 Irish Rebels and allegedly 700-800 civilians were killed in the massacre.
• October 1649 - Wexford was a similar situation to Drogheda and like Drogheda Wexford was made an example of as another major royalist and Irish stronghold. Cromwell was equally as ruthless in spreading his message of intolerance in the face of opposition, killing 2000 Royalists with only 20 casualties to the English force.
• May 1650 - Cromwell leaves Ireland with Ireton in charge

Question 26

Thomas Burton

Answer 26

• A diarist and an MP of the second protectorate Parliament and Richard Cromwell’s Parliament

Question 27

Henry Cromwell

Answer 27

• Ruled over Ireland from September 1655
• Throughout the period correspondence show he took a keen interests in the political happenings of England
• He supported his brother Richard in his claim for Lord Protector in September 1658
• The restoration was kind to him, he lived out the rest of his days in his Irish estates

Question 28

Humble Petition and advice

Answer 28

March 1657
- Cromwell would become King
- The army would be reduced in size
- The army dominated council would be reduced in power
- The Lords would return nominated by the King, called the other house
Cromwell rejected the crown but accepted the petition in April

• He did take up the custom of being called, your highness

Question 29

Second Protectorate Parliament key points

Answer 29

• Recalled in September 1656 the first session ran till June 1657, the second running only for two weeks between January and February 1658
• January 1657 the James Naylor case again highlighted the intolerance of Parliament
• The Decimation Bill was rejected ending the rule of the Major Generals in January 1657
• Over the course of the Parliament 100 MPs were excluded, 50 withdrew in protest and so only 250 MPs actually sat
• The second session was flawed, many of Cromwell’s supporters had been promoted to the Other House leading to the Commons becoming untenable
• Parliament ends in February 1658

Question 30

Oliver Cromwell dies and Richard Cromwell succeeds

Answer 30

• September 1658 Oliver Cromwell dies
• Oliver Cromwell delays naming a successor until the morning of his death, trying to find someone who could find a balance between the army and the Parliament
• Almost reluctantly it seems Richard Cromwell is named Lord Protector
• He owes his support to the landed gentry not the army

Question 31

Lorenzo Paulucci

Answer 31

Venetian Ambassador

Question 32

Samuel Highland

Answer 32

A radical preacher and member of the nominated parliament