Restoration of Charles II 1658-1660

Question 1

when was the rule of Richard Cromwell

Answer 1

sept 1658 to may 1659

Question 2

when did Rich.C call his first parli

Answer 2

Jan 1659

Question 3

why did Rich.C recall parli in Jan 1659

Answer 3

financial pressures due to the cost of maintaining the army forced him to call a new Parliament – the Third Protectorate Parliament. The troops were owed £900,000 and government debt had reached £2,500,000

Question 4

Rich.C’s charcter

applied as pro’s/cons as his role

Answer 4

an unlikely choice to succeed his father. He was not a soldier, he did not fight in the Civil Wars and, although an MP in the First Protectorate Parliament (1654-55) had not played an active role in politics until the last eighteen months of his father’s life. There are doubts whether Oliver intended his son to succeed him, as he did not name him as his successor until the day of his death. However,** he [OLIVER C] may have hoped that Richard’s lack of involvement in the army or Parliament meant that he was not affiliated with any particular faction and therefore could unify all groups under his rule**. Unfortunately, his lack of support in the army proved to be his downfall.

Question 5

election of 3rd protectorate parli

Answer 5

The elections returned a mixed bag of candidates – civilian Cromwellians, army men, republicans, Presbyterians, religious radicals and royalists. The republicans (religious and political radicals) did well but they were outnumbered by the Presbyterians and the royalists who joined forces due to their mutual fear of the disorder they believed the religious radicals would cause.

Question 6

what happened in autumn 1658

Answer 6

leading figures in the army, Desborough and Fleetwood, forced Richard into giving up his position as commander-in-chief of the army.

He was possibly sympathetic to the moderates in Parliament as a way to reduce his dependence on the support of the army. They began to press for the reduction in the size of the army and the repression of religious radicals.

The Presbyterians went further. They** introduced a resolution that the Council of Officers** (ruling group of the army) should only sit with the permission of Parliament and that the local militia should be taken from the army and put under Parliament’s control.

The Grandees in the army – Fleetwood, Desborough and Lambert – all major-generals who had fought with Oliver Cromwell – known as the Wallingford House Group (after the name of Fleetwood’s London home) mobilised the London-based soldiers to prevent these measures. Richard appealed to the army for support but the Grandees were having none of it. Major General Desborough forced Richard to dissolve Parliament and placed him under house arrest – yet **another coup by the army! **

Question 7

army divide following resolution regarding the council of officers

Answer 7

The army was divided about how to proceed. The Wallingford House group supported the protectorate system and considered nominating Lambert as Lord Protector. However, others supported a more Parliamentary, less monarchical form of government.

They called for the return of the Rump Parliament, which took place on 7 May 1659. The Rump was a shadow of its former self, having only 42 regular attenders and lacking legitimacy; its membership having been dictated by Pride’s Purge. Nonetheless, the Rump promptly abolished the Protectorate constitution (Instrument of Government) and forced Richard to resign in return for paying off his debts.

Question 8

when was the rump parli reinstated

Answer 8

7th may 1659

Question 9

how did the rump get Rich.C to retire

Answer 9

resign in return for paying off his debts.

Question 10

who proposed the ‘humble petition and address of the officers’ and when

Answer 10

Lambert in 13 may 1659

Question 11

what was the ‘humble petition and address of the officers’

Answer 11

It recommended the restoration of the Commonwealth (Parliamentary government) in the House of Commons and a Senate rather than a House of Lords to represent the views of the army.

Question 12

response to ‘humble petition and address of the officers’

Answer 12

Haselrig (a republican MP and one of the five members Charles tried to arrest in 1642) opposed the address as a threat to the authority of the Commons and argued for a purge of the army. The Rump also refused the Army’s demand for payment of the soldiers’ arrears. The Commons became deadlocked.

Question 13

growing unrest after the ‘humble petition and address of the officers’

Answer 13

Throughout the 1650s, opposition to the Commonwealth and Protectorate had been growing. There had been an uprising in Wiltshire in March 1655 called Penruddock’s Rising and numerous assassination plots against Oliver Cromwell. Prince Charles was watching for his opportunity to regain the throne. In the early summer of 1659, in an attempt to limit the power of the Army the Rump had placed religious radicals in charge of local militias in certain counties. This* created an atmosphere of panic which encouraged Royalists to revolt*.

In August 1659 a series of uprisings were planned in Surrey, Oxfordshire, and Cheshire, but they were more demonstrations of annoyance with the Rump than demands for the return of the monarchy. The Cheshire uprising under the leadership of George Booth was the only one that came to anything but it was comprehensively defeated at the Battle of Winnington Bridge 19 August 1659. Charles had set sail in the hope of joining the uprising but turned back when he received news of its defeat.

Question 14

Dismissal and return of the 2nd Rump

Answer 14

Having defeated the Booth uprising, Parliament could now return to the issue of how to restore the full complement of MPs to the House of Commons, 42 being too few to properly represent the nation. The obvious solution was to call for elections, but in October 1659 the Rump decided to try and increase its membership without elections. There were also pressing issues, such as how to pay the army arrears. The army continued to drain government resources and wield a great deal of influence, leading Parliament to consider replacing the New Model Army with a more conventional militia that was loyal to the Commonwealth.

Junior officers and rank and file soldiers, fearing that they would not receive their arrears and lose influence, joined forces to petition Parliament for payment, godly reform and the protection of the army’s role in politics. Fearing military intervention, Haselrig ordered the closure of the doors to the House of Commons and* persuaded his fellow MPs to support a motion to expel the ringleaders of the army* – Lambert, Desborough and eight others. Lambert was singled out because he had supported the army petition. The vote passed by 50 votes to 15. Parliament then appointed seven Army Commissioners, including Fleetwood, Haselrig, Monck and Ludlow, which would be under the control of Parliament.

Lambert who had since returned to London from defeating Booth’s uprising and** finding himself dismissed from the army and threatened with arrest called on troops based in London to support him**.

On 13 October, the army surrounded Parliament and prevented the Rump Parliament from meeting. By 27 October a provisional government, called the Committee of Safety, was formed under the leadership of Fleetwood and including Lambert and Desborough.

Question 15

why was the Committee of Safety formed

Answer 15

bc the army surrounded Parliament and prevented the Rump Parliament from meeting

Question 16

recall and dissolution of the long parli

Answer 16

Within two months the Committee of Safety was in trouble. There was significant opposition to it but it was unwilling to suppress critics or clamp down on disorder. People were refusing to pay tax and demands were growing for the secluded members (those expelled by Pride’s Purge back in 1648) to return to Parliament.

Divisions were also appearing in the army. General George Monck’s who had been commander-in-chief of the Parliamentary army in Scotland protested at the dissolution of the Rump. After negotiations with the members of the abolished Rump, he accepted the position of commander-in-chief of the army and marched south with his former army, claiming that he was doing so, ‘to assist and maintain the liberty and being of Parliaments, our ancient constitution, and therein the freedom and rights of the people from arbitrary and tyrannical usurpation’. Another force was rallying around the retired General Fairfax in Yorkshire, while the army in Ireland and the Navy were calling for a ‘free Parliament’. Fleetwood resigned at the end of December 1659, allowing the return of the Rump.

The Rump met on 26 December but was unable to agree about how to proceed. Meanwhile, Monck crossed into England on 1 January 1660 and linked up with Fairfax’s army and together they marched on London. The Army Council had tried to discourage Monck, but when that did not work, it despatched Lambert’s forces to stop him. The rank and file soldiers, however, refused to fight and drifted away. Haselrig thought that Monck was marching to support the Rump government and called for Parliament to issue ‘Letters of Thanks’ for his ‘faithful service’. Monck was then appointed ‘Captain General and Commander-in-Chief under the Parliament of all land forces of England, Scotland and Ireland’. During this period, petitions inundated the Committee of Safety, the City of London and** Monck as he made his way south, complaining about the state of the economy, the tyranny of army rule and the need for a ‘free Parliament’ or the restoration of monarchy. The Army recognised the extent of opposition to its influence and allowed the Rump to reassemble in December 1659. **

On arriving in London, Monck allowed the Rump to meet on 21 January 1660, with the help of his political ally in Parliament, Anthony Ashley Cooper, to reinstate the excluded members. The result was the resurrection of the Long Parliament of November 1640. Many of the original members had died in the intervening years but its restoration was highly significant as the only truly legitimate Parliament of the Commonwealth and Protectorate era. The Parliament met for its first session on 21 February and promptly set about dissolving itself to allow for elections to a Convention Parliament to negotiate the return of the King. The Long Parliament was finally dissolved 16 March 1660, nearly twenty years after its first sitting!

Question 17

Declaration of Breda

Answer 17

Charles had** hoped to be restored to the monarchy through the summer uprisings of 1659 **but Monck’s army march on London gave him cause to believe that he could be returned to the throne peacefully. He used his contacts in London, people like Viscount Mordaunt who had been tried for treason for his part in the summer uprisings and whose wife had bribed the judges to acquit him, began to cultivate members of the excluded Presbyterian faction, such as the Earl of Manchester and Denzil Holles. Monck also made his own contacts with Charles to protect the interests of the army – an indemnity from prosecution, prompt payment of arrears and religious toleration. He also advised that Charles move his court from Catholic Spain to the Protestant Dutch Republic to calm concerns about the King’s religious ideas.

To pave the way for his restoration, Charles issued the Declaration of Breda to the House of Lords and the House of Commons, the army, the navy and the City of London on 4 April 1660.** It addressed concerns about the return of the monarchy without making any specific commitments. **

Question 18

when did C issue teh Declaration of Breda

Answer 18

4th april 1660

Question 19

convention parli

Answer 19

fresh elections** returned a new House of Commons to Westminster on 25 April 1660** but it was not yet fully a Parliament as it had not been called by the monarch. Therefore, it became it was known as the Convention Parliament until an act was passed in June 1660 with the royal assent.

About half the membership were old-style Parliamentarians and the rest were a mixture of new MPs and Royalists. The Convention Parliament debated the Declaration of Breda and on 8 May 1660 declared Charles as king. He regained all of the powers his father had enjoyed prior to the Long Parliament of 1640, in particular free choice of his own ministers and control of the militia.

One of the first actions of Charles’ Parliament was to pass the Act of Indemnity and Oblivion. This pardoned all those who had opposed Charles I except the regicides, of which 33 were still alive. They were put on trial and executed, although some had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment, such as General Lambert. The Marquis of Argyll was executed in 1661 for leading the Scots Covenanters. Oliver Cromwell’s body was disinterred and hung, drawn and quartered as a traitor.

Question 20

Reasons for the failure of the Commonwealth and Protectorate

Answer 20

Divisions within Parliament and the army over the constitutional settlement

A struggle for power between the army and Parliament

Unpopularity of the cost of the army and its influence

London turned against Parliament – protest of the London Apprentices against the Committee of Safety and the tax boycott by London merchants in the autumn of 1659

Monck’s march on London which showed his ability to control the army to allow the re-establishment of civilian government

Widespread support for the monarchy due to a desire for stability

Question 21

The legacy of the Commonwealth and Protectorate

The Restoration swept away some Commonwealth and Protectorate reforms

Answer 21

**The unification of the three kingdoms **of England, Ireland and Scotland ruled by a Council and Protector allowing representatives from all three kingdoms to sit in the House of Commons (1654-1658)

Parliamentary sovereignty (Parliament as the ultimate authority rather than the monarch), with guaranteed sessions and only able to be dissolved by the MPs consent (Triennial Act of 1641)

Uniformity of legal practice across the three kingdoms

Religious tolerance for all Protestants

Electoral reform – more county seats, fewer borough seats and a wider county franchise

Question 22

The legacy of the Commonwealth and Protectorate

stayed same/developments that started under the early Stuarts continued

Answer 22

The right to freedom of speech. Pamphleteering had thrived during the interregnum and continued to be tolerated in the new reign.

Although non-conformists were excluded from public office, the freedom to practice their religion was allowed. Policy towards Catholics, however, remained one of intolerance until the early nineteenth century.

Women continued to enjoy a **more prominent role in public life **and, particularly, in the non-conformist religions, for example the Quakers.

The continued rise of Parliament, especially in the sense of a social contract between the monarch and his people. Increasingly, Parliament’s role became the representation of the people’s interests and a check on the power of the monarch. The idea of divine right lost all credibility. A new set of political ideas began to emerge, such as individualism, natural rights and rationalism, which led to the **development of Liberalism. **

The continued shift in the balance of power from the Lords to the House of Commons

The development of a modern system of taxation controlled by Parliament. The Protector was given an allowance of £200,000 a year by Parliament. At the Restoration, Charles II was granted £1.2 million a year

The creation of a standing (permanent) army to replace the militia.

The centralisation of government – an incomplete process by 1660 but nonetheless a trend was developing of trying to improve governance of the three kingdoms with James’ failed attempt at union between England and Scotland, Laud and Strafford’s policy of Thorough in Charles’ reign and Cromwell’s rule of the Major-Generals.

Changing relations between the three kingdoms with England emerging as by far the most important, as seen by Cromwell’s brutal and effective suppression of Ireland in 1649 and then Scotland in the early 1650s.

Question 23

when was the 3rd protectorate parli dissolved

Answer 23

april 1659

Question 24

when did R crom resign a lord protectior

Answer 24

may 1659

Question 25

what were the terms of the humble petition and addresses of the officers

Answer 25

• Republic [without single person with power]
• Creation of a Senate of ‘godly people’ [effectively army controlled]
  The proposal would have ensured that the grandees continued to hold authority.

Question 26

when was booth’s uprising

Answer 26

august 1659

Question 27

what was booths uprising

Answer 27

• A major pro-Royalist uprising took place involving around 4,000 men.
• Lambert [of the New Model Army] was commissioned to gather forces to march against Booth.
• he mustered a small army of around 1,200 horse and 3,000 foot. General Lambert was able to suppress the uprising
• uprising showed broad discontent with the republic

Question 28

oct-dec 1659

chaos!!

Answer 28

army loses authoriry
1. Army’s rule was illegitimate, deeply unpopular, and they lost control
2. People stopped paying their taxes, riots broke out in London, law courts stopped functioning.
army divisions emerge
– meant prospect of 3rd CW [pro-parli VS NMA] was real

Question 29

when was general monck’s advance

Answer 29

jan - feb 1660

Question 30

general monck’s advance

jan-feb 1660

Answer 30

• 10,000 loyal men
• in feb, arrives in london + recalls long parli
• all members who had been elected in November 1640 were allowed to return to the house, reversing Pride’s Purge

Question 31

when does long parli vote to dissolve itself

Answer 31

16th march 1660

Question 32

terms of declaration of breda

Answer 32

• There would be legal amnesty to all but a few regicides [allaying fears of Royal retribution]
• Liberty of Conscience [no punishments for religious opinion]
• Parliament would resolve land disputes
• All of General Monck’s soldiers would be paid and be retained as soldiers.

Question 33

when was c2 declared king and what were the terms of restoration

Answer 33

8th may 1660
* Parliamentary reforms of 1641 and all laws passed 1642-1659 that were not consented to by Charles were null and void

Question 34

factors in why was C2 restored as king

listed

Answer 34

• The role of the army
• The role of General Monck
• The role of Charles II
• The role of the Convention Parliament
• The failure of the Commonwealth