The Commonwealth (1649 - 1653)

The Situation in 1649
1. Two Sides
  1. Royalists
    1. left during Civil War
  2. Parliamentarians
    1. Presbyterians purged by Pride
    2. Independents created The Rump, 1649
2. Oliver Cromwell
  1. conservative - politically & socially
  2. civilian politician - wanted to serve people
  3. religious radical - religious toleration & godly reform
  4. army general - source of power
  5. these parts of character conflicted when deciding king's fate
The Establishment of New Regime, Jan 1649 - Sept 1650
1. Rump MPs were: divided; conservatives at heart; 'reluctant revolutionaries' without a plan
2. Rumps Actions and Measures
  1. Feb 1649: admitted 80 MPs (kept away since purge) - voted to abolish monarchy & H of L (formed Council of State)
  2. Mar 1649: acts passed abolishing monarchy & lords
  3. May 1649: Eng declared 'Commonwealth' (no new measures = not too radical)
  4. Jan 1650: passed Act of Engagement - demanded oath of loyalty from all adult males
  5. June 1650: 'Mercurius Politicus' (newspaper) issued
  6. July 1650: replaced disloyal JPs & abolished county committees
  7. Sept 1650: unauthorised printing presses closed
  8. the Rump did not:
    1. extend franchise
    2. arrange new elections
    3. reduce taxes (cover cost of army)
    4. introduce radical reforms such as religious toleration, legal or social reforms
Defeat of the Levellers
1. Why did the Levellers fail?
  1. no widespread support - concentrated in London
  2. no support from army 'grandees' who disliked revolutionary ideas
  3. influence only survived in1647 during time of divisions
  4. C's escape from army custody in Nov 1647 raised threat of 2nd CW - Levellers couldn't attack grandees now
  5. army mutinies easily crushed - latter broke movement
  6. continually developing ideas - inconsistent ideas & lack of coordination
  7. support declined with payment to soldiers & better economy
  8. supported by minority of people& not landowners & lower class
2. The Diggers (or True Levellers)
  1. led by Gerrard Winstanly, Diggers established Digger 'communes'
    1. land held in common
    2. products shared
    3. free education given to all
    4. early form of rural communism
  2. Digger community set up on St George's Hill, Surrey on common land - broken up by army in 1650
3. Mar: Rump issued soldiers' 'debentures' (right to land inc. crown, church & Irish land)
4. leaders of Levellers = arrested & imprisoned, Lilburne questioned by Council of State
5. May: army mutinied @ Buford, Oxfordshire - Cromwell & Fairfax crushed upraising: 400 rebels imprisoned in church & 3 ringleaders shot
6. end of Leveller movement
Cromwell and Ireland
1. Why Ireland was invaded
  1. to crush Irish Rebellion (started 1641)
  2. conquer land for soldiers
  3. prevent Irish support fro Charles II
  4. gain support in Eng
  5. allow Rump to focus on administrative affairs without army interference
2. Events
  1. Aug 1649: Cromwell landed @ Dublin with 12,000 men
  2. Sept 1649: attacked Drogheda where 'massacre' took place - similar killings @ Wexford; after this most towns in E. Ireland surrendered
  3. end of 1649: Cromwell had conquered half the country
  4. May 1650: Cromwell returned to Eng, Ireton completed conquest (died of fever, 1651) - employed extreme measures inc, burning crops = 40% of population died
3. Rump's Act of Settlement
  1. confiscated large areas of Catholic land
  2. abolished Irish P = 30 Irish MPs sat in Westminster
  3. imposed Protestant Church of Ireland making Catholicism illegal
  4. left English army occupying Ireland
Cromwell and Scotland
1. Events
  1. June 1650: C II landed in Scot & took oath of loyalty to Presby church
  2. Aug 1650: Cromwell invaded with 15,000 men ( Fairfax had resigned in June)
  3. 3rd Sept: won battle of Dunbar; Scot army destroyed; Crom wrote to Rump (asked for consideration of poor, prison improvements, clergy & legal reforms)
  4. captured Edinburgh but fell seriously ill
  5. Aug 1651: C II invaded Eng with 14,000 Scot, no Eng support - army = inexperienced & poorly supplied
  6. 3rd Sept 1651: Battle of Worcester; C II & Scot = 16,000 men, Crom & NMA = 30,000
  7. C II's army destroyed - 3,000 killed, 10,000 captured ( C escaped) VS 200 dead on Crom's side
2. Result of Charles II's Defeat
  1. in Scot = Scot P abolished - 30 MPs sent to Westminster, religious toleration, Eng army remained (no massacres)
  2. in Britain = political unification
  3. in Eng = captured Royalists transported & estates confiscated, period of rivalry between Rump & army began
Rump and the Army
1. Army Generals VS The Rump
  1. Army Generals
    1. godly Puritans, chosen by God
    2. saw Rump as temporary
    3. religious toleration & godly reform
    4. fairer legal reforms
    5. friendship with all Prot countries in Europe
  2. The Rump
    1. landowners, 'reluctant revolutionaries'
    2. legal government, elected 1640
    3. majority Presby, wanted ordered church
    4. 40 MPs = lawyers
    5. commercial rivalry with Dutch - boost Enlgish trade
2. Religious Rivalry
  1. June1649: Rump order tithe should continue to be paid
    1. radical Puritans = ministers funded by voluntary contribution
  2. suggest corruption & self-interest = landowners who benefitted from collection
3. Legal Reforns
  1. Oct 1650: Rump ordered all legal proceeding in English
  2. Dec 1651: Rump set up Hale Commission to review legal system & make recomendations
  3. Dec 1652: Commission recommended
    1. county courts (existing couldn't cope - land disputes mainly
    2. land registries (offices where legal docs relating to ownership of land stored)
  4. neither carried out - expensive & opposed by 40 MPs (lawyers) = inaction frustrated army
4. Trade and Commercial Measures
  1. Rump wanted reboost trade - reduce poverty & unemployment & therefore support for radicals
  2. Oct 1651: Navigation Act banned imports not brought in on English ships or on ships from country of goods
  3. May 1652: Anglo-Dutch war - navy blockaded coast of Holland
  4. army didn't support naval war against fellow Prot state
5. New Elections
  1. 1651: Rump discussed 'recruiter elections' to sill seats left vacant after Purge; made them look self interested = could automatically stay in power
  2. Aug 1652: Rump appointed committee to review election but soon stopped meeting
  3. Dec 1652: committee started meeting again
  4. 23rd Feb 1653: Rump discussed bull for new elections, contents uncertain (recruit or full elections)
  5. 20th April: Rump MPs discussed bull again - angered Crom (viewed it as unacceptable ) - feared Rump trying to rush bill
  6. 19th April: Rump MPs & army officials met - Morrison suggested council of 40 godly men until elections could be safely held
6. Dissolution of Rump, 20th April 1653
  1. Crom brought soldiers & cleared house
  2. Rump MPs claimed Crom acted illegal (P couldn't be closed without consent)
  3. ex-Rump MPs = bitter enemies of Crom
  4. Crom = no protests to dissolution
  5. Crom & generals wanted quick set up of form of civilian government
  6. Radical Thomas Harrison = Assembly of Saints - 40/80 godly men would govern temporarily
  7. Conservative General John Lambert = Head & Council of Stare, regular Ps
  8. army divided; Crom = undecided then supported Harrison
Nominated Assembly
1. Opening
  1. set up with some congregations nominated members, but most chosen by army's Council of Officers (140 members inc. 5 from Scot, 6 from Ire & 6 from Wales
  2. traditional view = members were inexperienced, incompetent, religious extremists & men of low social class
  3. Crom gave opening speech, justifying closure of Rump
2. Acts of 'Parliament'
  1. Nominated Assembly declared itself to be P & passed 26 Acts in 6 months
  2. established new bodies to register births, marriages & deaths
  3. civil marriages made legal as long as carried out by JP (religious toleration legal in 1659)
  4. improved conditions of poor prisoners
  5. reduced legal fees
3. Radical Proposals
  1. abolish Court of Chancery
  2. simplify laws
  3. make punishment more appropriate for crime
  4. abolish excise
  5. reduce wages of army officials
  6. abolish tithe & introduce voluntary contirbutions
  7. lawyers, army officers & landowners = alarmed; opposition propaganda exaggerated no. of radicals (appeared more as moderates didn't attend regularly)
4. Closure of Nominated Assembly, 12th Dec 1653
  1. moderates arrived early (radicals attended prayer meeting); voted to close Assembly & formally surrender power to Crom as head of army
  2. General Lambert presented Instrument of Government to Crom
  3. 16th Dec: Crom approved Instrument - introduced new system of government, the 'Protectorate' which inc. Lord protector, a Council of State & regular Ps - written & approved by army generals

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