SECTION F: The Restoration Flashcards
Different groups/opinions of 1649-1658
- John Lambert
- Civilian councellors like Sir John Thurloe and Lord Broghill, who were prominent in the Protectorate and supported the offer of the Crown to Cromwell
- ‘Commonwealthsmen’ or ‘Republicans’ who supported rule by Parliament (the Rump) and opposed its dissolution.
(i) Figures included Edmund Ludlow, Arthur Hesilrige, Henry Marten, Thomas Chaloner, Thomas Scott - The Army, opposed Monarchy and crucially dissuaded Cromwell from accepting the Crown in 1657
(i) Main commanders now Fleetwood/Desborough
Blair Worden - A continuing monarchical trend under the new constitution of 1657/
- New talk of trying to Crown Cromwell and calling new Parliament
- Executive Council renamed as Privy Council. Members called “their Lordships”
- But opposed by Fleetwood and Desborough
September 1658 - Key event
- Cromwell dies 3rd September 1658
- Succeeded by Richard Cromwell (under Humble Petition and Advice, the Protectorate became hereditary)
- Used to be seen as a guaranteed failure, nicknamed ‘Tumbledown Dick’ by Royalists. Traditional interpretation accepted this view, but recent Historiography has suggested otherwise
Profile: Richard Cromwell
- Served in Parliamentarian army in Civil War
- Sat in Protectorate Parliaments
- Member of Council of State/new House of Lords in 1657
- Limited ambition and experience of Government
October 1658
- Richard Cromwell appoints Fleetwood as General of the army, but retains his title of Commander-in-chief
January 1659
- Parliament assembles and accepts Richard’s authority
- Indicates willingness to vote supplies
- Discussions about reducing size of standing army and establishing local milita
Republican-army relations Jan-Apr 1659
- Republican MPs in new Parliament are in touch with junior officers to discuss re-establishment of Army Council of Officers to discuss military grievances
April 1659
- Fleetwood persuades Richard to agree to Restoration of the Army Council of Officers
- Four days after their assembly, they petition Richard to Dissolve Parliament, and Fleetwood says that without this, he cannot guarentee the loyalty of the army
- Richard agrees, saying he will not have blood spilt on account of his greatness, “which is a burden to me”
May 1659
- 7th May, army leaders recall the Rump
- Richard agreed to retire on receipt of a pension and payment of his debts
- Exile and poverty from 1660 onwards
- In 1680, returned to Cheshunt until death in 1712
Why did Richard Cromwell fall in May 1659?
- Unable to maintain relations with both civillians and the army which Cromwell had kept in balance for so long
- Richard was not considered in legion with the army in the same way that Cromwell was
- Opposition by army and Republican faction, who even cooperated to form an opposition front
- Fleetwood and Desborough forced him to dissolve the Third Protectorate Parliament of 27 Jan- 22 April
The Return of the Rump (1st time)
Returned Rump from May 1659-October 1959
- the Protectorate Council and Upper House would be replaced with a Senate that would include army officers; MPs would grant freedom of worship and undertake to reform the law; Richard Cromwell’s safety would be guaranteed
- Threat of Royalist risings put down in Cheshire and Lancashire in July and August
- Rump (notably Hesilrige) provoked the Army. Army appointments to Coulcil of State monitored, speaker more powerful than Fleetwood. Lambert petitioned Parliament to implement reforms promised.
- –> Rump do not permit petitions, commissions of senior officers revoked
- Army dissolved Rump on 13th October 1659
- David Smith accounts that this period is like a series of high-speed playbacks of key episodes from the Civil War
Army Rule: the Committee of Safety
Oct 15th 1659- Dec 23rd 1659
- Army establishes an interim government after the dissolution of the Rump
- This came at a time of…
(i) Gradual breakdown in public order
(ii) Resurgence of leveller literature
(iii) Difficulty in finding common ground between the major groups
December 1659
- General George Monck, commander of the Army in Scotland, begins to march south
- Threat of coup and virtual anarchy in London, Committee of Safety faces a serious threat
Contemporary source: Thomas Rugg’s collection of newspaper cuttings (diurnal)
- virtually anarchy
- horse + foot ordered to march in city to control angry apprentices
- Confrontations between army and apprentices in London, some killed
Anarchy in December 1659
- 23rd December: The Committee of Safety disperses
- No government at all
- 26th December: Three soldiers reinstated The Rump
- Law courts ceased to function
Blair Worden on the significance of the second dissolution of the Rump
- “Its second eviction began the slide to the Restoration”
Monck’s role in the returned Rump, Dec 1659-Feb 1660
- Declares for the dissolved Rump in October 1659
- 1st January 1660, Monck’s army enters England
- Prompts Council of Officers to mobilise Newcastle’s forces, worsening the breakdown in order as it brought the country close to another civil war
- Navy declared for Rump too, and Portsmouth soldiers mutinied
- Monck’s initiative was ‘critical’ for the speedy restoration
- Reaches London on February 3rd and demands readmission of those excluded with Pride’s Purge 6th Dec 1648, made Restoration “inevitable” (Seel)
- –> MPs readmitted 21st February
- Advised Charles of Declaration of Breda
Monck’s role in the returned Rump, Dec 1659-Feb 1660
- 1st January 1660, Monck’s army enters England
- Drives through opposing forces, including Lambert’s
- Monck’s initiative was ‘critical’ for the speedy restoration
- Reaches London on February 3rd and demands readmission of those excluded with Pride’s Purge 6th Dec 1648
- –> MPs readmitted 21st February
Why did Monck oppose the Rump’s dissolution in October 1659 and ride to London in 1660 to reinstate MPs of Pride’s Purge? Two interpretations
- Reverted to Royalist beliefs
- Reacting to lawlessness of 1659
Free Elections on March 16th 1660 by Long Parliament
21st February–> 16tth March 1660
- Readmitted Long Parliament calls free elections and dissolves itself
Declaration of Breda
- 4th April 1660
- Deliberately coincides with elections of April 1660
- Charles II:
(i) A free and general pardon
(ii) Liberty for tender consciences
(iii) All issues relating to land sales/confiscations to be settled by Parliament - Almost certainly drafted by Edward Hyde, soon Earl of Clarendon, Charles’ main advisor 1660-1667
The ‘Convention’ Parliament
- Formed 25th April 1660
- Dissolved 29th Dec 1660
- Elections produced strongly Royalist Parliament
- Rather than say they want Charles back, they say he has been King since January 1649
- Acts from 1660 dated as being in the 11th year of Charles’ reign
- 30th birthday, 29th May 1660, Charles entered London to rejoicing
Impact of the Quakers on the Restoration
- Poor harvests 1657-9, breakdown of authority and infrastructure –> Growth of religious radicalism
- 60 000 Quakers in 1659
- Refusal to pay tithes or take oaths or respect authority
- Resulted in increasingly conservative attitudes from propertied members of society and popular demand for the Restoration
Seel on the origins of the Restoration
- (…has been argued that) “the execution of Charles I was no more than a spasm of revolutionary fervour.”
Graham Seel on the origins of the Restoration
- (…has been argued that) “the execution of Charles I was no more than a spasm of revolutionary fervour.”
Oliver Cromwell’s financial legacy
- Englands annual defecit >£500 000
- Army arrears at £890 000
- Total debts of nearly £2.5 Million with annual income of £1.4 Million
- –> Richard Cromwell inherited financially unstable regime
Oliver Cromwell’s financial legacy
- Englands annual defecit >£500 000
- Army arrears at £890 000
- Total debts of nearly £2.5 Million with annual income of £1.4 Million
- –> Richard Cromwell inherited financially unstable regime
Why was Charles II’s Restoration not strictly conditional?
- Concern that strict conditions might scare Charles away
- Some demanded concessions from Charles, but were persuaded otherwise by the offers in the Declaration of Breda
Differing views from Hutton and Davies (Godfrey) on the popularity of the Restoration
Davies: The restoration “happened because the vast majority of Englishmen wanted it to happen”
Hutton: The unpopular nature of the regime must “survive any revisionary study”
Strength to C. Hill’s claim that the Restoration was brought about by “men of property”
- Monck readmits those MPs excluded in Pride’s Purge on February 22nd
- Dominated by gentry sympathetic to reestablishing the monarchy
Strength to C. Hill’s claim that the Restoration was brought about by “men of property”
- Monck readmits those MPs excluded in Pride’s Purge on February 22nd
- Dominated by gentry sympathetic to reestablishing the monarchy
- Therefore, might be acceptable to argue this