Political divisions and experiments: republicanism and the Rump; millenarianism and the Nominated Assembly Flashcards
What does the Rump Parliament refer to?
MPs who remained after Pride’s Purge on 6 December 1648
- it as viewed as illegitimate by many as it was unrepresentative, as it only existed as the result of a military coup
How were the low levels of support for the new regime?
- Within weeks of the execution the government faced threats from Royalists abroad and Levellers at home
- Although the army in these years did not interfere directly in politics (Cromwell was away fighter for most of 1649-51), the new regime could not survive without military support
What did military support make harder for the government?
Made it harder for the government to gain the confidence and support of the traditional ruling class, whose participation in local government and social leadership made them essential allies
What made it difficult for the army win support?
- The army was expensive to maintain and radical in its politics - a toxic combination when it came to winning popular support
- The initial impetus to reform was soon blunted; most members were shocked to discover how thoroughly unpopular their regime was - and this weakened their morale
How did the Rump try to broaden appeal?
- By reaching out to former MPs who had been purged (numbers increased from about 70 to 150 by March 1649)
- By covering up the regime’s revolutionary origins
- By being slow to innovate especially in relation to religion
- By being relatively conservative
- By delegating as little power as possible
- By keeping the Army out of politics
Did the Rump try to become conservative?
- Yes, don’t want an overhaul of the social order
- healing and settling -> not want LoC, prefer uniformity
- made up of gentry, landowning aristocracy
What did the Rump imposed in 1650?
By Rump imposed on all men over 18 the Oath of Engagement to be faithful to the Commonwealth, but this was no guarantee of their loyalty
Why were the Rumpers so inactive?
They could not reduce the weight of taxation or disband the army for the young king Charles was planning to use Ireland as a springboard for invasion and the reconquest of that country was clearly an urgent priority
When was Charles II proclaimed King?
On 5 February 1649 in Scotland
What did the Rump declare in march 1649?
That it would dissolve and make way for a newly elected parliament ‘so soon as may possibly stand with the safety of the people’
- This though proved an empty promise
- Any new election was very likely to return a parliament hostile to the very continuance of the Commonwealth
What did the Army put pressure on the Rump to do in May 1649?
To make way for a ‘new representative’
- it responded with an alternative proposal to hold regulated top-up elections while the active Rumpers would continue to sit indefinitely
- Cromwell’s opposition persuaded the Rump to shelve this plan
What were the Rumpers anxious of doing?
To conciliate the men of substance throughout the country, so it smothered proposals for reform that would offend the conservative prejudices or cost the taxpayer money
What were the threats from the left to the Rump?
The Levellers briefly revived in 1649 asking for a more representative and accountable parliament to meet every 2 yrs, a reform of law, and religious toleration
What threats from the right did the Rump face?
- 5 Feb 1649: The Covenanter Parliament of Scotland proclaimed Charles II King of the three kingdoms in Edinburgh
- Military threats from royalists, prepared to engage in a Third Civil War (May 1650 - September 1651)
When did Cromwell have to engage in military conflict with Royalist armies?
Between 1649 and 1651 - in Scotland, Ireland and in England
What comprised the Rump regime?
Parliament and the Army
- The Rump = conservative, the Army = radical
- basic contradiction meant the regime would find it difficult to succeed and even survive
What kind of period was 1649 in England?
A time of great social unrest
- many people became active in politics, suggesting alternative forms of government, ways of living and belief systems to replace old ones
How did the Diggers emerge?
In Late 1648: Gerrard Winstanley and 14 others published a pamphlet in which they called themselves the ‘True Levellers’
Who were the Diggers?
- Another response to the political, economic and social effects of the Civil Wars
- established a commune outside London and saw communes as a solution to social inequalities
What were the beliefs of the Diggers?
- They wanted to see the abolition of private property rights in favour of the communal ownership of land (agrarian communism)
- Believed in true social and political equality - society without money and wages
- regarding the earth as a ‘common treasury,’ the Diggers took direct action to put their ideals into practice
- elected individuals annually
What communities were established by the Diggers?
Communities were established in parts of southern + central England to cultivate waste and common land
-> hoping to begin process of restoring the land to its rightful owners, the common people, rather than the king, nobility and gentry who usurped it
-> once they put their ideas into practice, started to cultivate common land
What influence did the Diggers have?
- Less than the Levellers; relatively small number of followers
- Their commune lasted only a year before being destroyed by troops
How did Cromwell view the Diggers?
‘What is the purpose of the levelling principle… you must cut these people in pieces or they will cut you in pieces’
-> Oliver Cromwell (1649)
Where did the Diggers set up a colony?
At St George’s Hill, Weybridge, Surrey in April 1649, enraging local property-owners - used arson, violence and the courts to destroy the movement
What was found of the Diggers in a court case and what was its impact?
- Following a court case, Diggers were forbidden to speak in the own defence, they were found guilty of being Ranters sp abandoned St George’s Hill in August 1649
- led to rapid spread of the movement - there was a settlement in Barnet which provoked a fierce reaction
What happened to the Digger’s shelters in April 1650?
- burned down and their crops destroyed
- other communities met a similar fate to Surrey
- movement effectively suppressed by the end of 1650
How did the Rump suppress the Levellers in early 1649?
Cracked down on petitioning and agitation within the army
- a series of Leveller pamphlets accused Cromwell of betraying the revolution
- e.g. Lilburne’s ‘England’s New Chains Discovered’
When did Digger influence collapse?
After a year of continued hostility, the Digger community at St George’s collapsed
What did Lilburne’s pamphlet appeal to?
Soldiers and citizens to unite in rejection of the unconstitutional rule of the Grandees, the Council of State and the Rump parliament
What were the Levellers convinced the army had done?
Installed an oligarchy of hostile, anti-democratic politicians as partners in a military tyranny
- According to Lilburne, Cromwell was determined to destroy the Levellers, telling the Council of State: ‘If you do not break them, they will break you’
When were Lilburne and other Leveller leaders arrested?
In March 1649
- Same month Cromwell and Fairfax suppressed a Leveller inspired rising Burford in Oxfordshire
When was Lilburne brought to trial and what did it entail?
October 1649
- at the Guidhall and charged with high treason, and inciting Leveller mutinies
- Lilburne conducted his on defence, where he raised strong objections to all aspects of prosecution
- Quoted directly from Sir Edward Coke’s Institutes
What did the jury rule for Lilburne?
Found him not guilty, to the dismay of Cromwell, who then refused to release him from prison
When was Leveller influence in the army effectively over?
After September 1649, political radicalism as represented by the levellers was largely extinguished, though the new regime was intermittently threatened by sects such as the Ranters, Diggers and Quakers
- ended any real threat the Levellers may have posed to the state
What were the Levellers hopeful of?
That the execution of Charles I would lead to a truly democratic republic
- their ideas were too radical for the 1650s
Why did the Levellers fail?
- They lacked a clear strategy and were reluctant to use force to pursue their aims - more interested in ideas than power
- MPs were alienated by their many petitions that contained democratic ideas that threatened their own interests - esp male suffrage and demands for elections in the counties
- Always strongest in London and popular radicalism in the mid 17th century had a more religious focus - did not tend towards democracy
What did the Levellers failure guarantee?
That the political revolution which had led to regicide would not develop into a social revolution
What were the Ranters beliefs?
- Social, political and religious reform
- Abolition of the monarchy and the House of Lords
- Votes for all men, liberty of conscience, annual elections and the end of censorship
- Predestination - everything is sanctioned by God
- the common people were being oppressed by the ruling elite
Who were the Ranters popular with?
Popular amongst ordinary people, but unorganised and lacked leadership
How were the Ranters perceived as?
- A threat to social order as they rejected the concept of obedience and argued that believers were free from restraint
- Disrupted Cromwell’s plans for healing and settling
- Ranters rejected conventional morality, and in their view, sin only existed in their mind
- Threatening because of their ideas, not militarily
What was Millenarianism?
The belief that the second coming of Christ as imminent - and when it did come, it would mean 1000 years of saintly rule (prophesised by Book of Daniel)
Who were the most extreme millenarians?
The Fifth Monarchists, whose rise began in 1649 and who were led by Major-General Thomas Harrison, a sometime close associate of Oliver Cromwell
- they had no time for leveller democracy - believed that all just power derived from the people
What did the key millenarian in the army become?
Colonal Thomas Harrison became the leading figure in developing the Fifth Monarchists movement
- central role derived from his prominent position in the army leadership + links to influential millenarian preachers of South Wales and London
- In later 1640s, he lead a more coherent grouping of religious and political millenarianism
Who of the radical groups came closest to political power in 1653?
The Fifth Monarchists came closest to political power through the influence of Thomas Harrison and the establishment of the Nominated Assembly
- reflection that the radical millenarianism that was their dynamic as a derivative of the millenarianism that was a core element of the Puritanism of men like Cromwell
What did the Quakers believe?
That people could have a direct relationship with God through the ‘inner light,’ and emphasised the need to read and study the bible
- They believed a liturgy and the sacraments of baptism and communion were unnecessary
- Founded by George Fox, dissatisfied with the established Church + believed it possible to have a direct relationship with God without the need for priests
What Acts did Parliament pass to deal with radicals?
- May 1650: The Adultery Act, passed by the Rump parliament
- August 1650: The Blasphemy Act was passed
-> Crushed the Ranters who believed that everything was sanctioned by God; predestination
Did the Diggers, Levellers and Fifth Monarchists achieve their political and religious objectives?
They failed to achieve their political and religious objectives
- Both the Diggers and Levellers were ruthlessly crushed by the NMA
What happened to the most notorious Ranters and what impact did this have?
Arrested and brought to trial
- The Quakers would remain problematic for the Interregnum regimes
How could the Rump reconcile establishing a stable gov with demands for ‘godly’ reformation and religious independency?
- Impossible challenge
- Religious tensions and unpopularity were to cause major problems during the interregnum (1649-60)
What percentage of the population made up independent sects?
2-4% of the population - not marginal people
- majority within the Army - powerful, particularly after defeat of Royalist forces
- Their leaders were at the heart of the new regime
Why was 1651 a turning point?
- Cromwell returned victorious from defeating Charles II and eradicating the royalist threat (Ireland, Scotland and Worcester)
- Bolstered by these victories, he returned to the Rump to demand more radical reform
