PROTECTORATE 1649-1660

• RUMP PARLIAMENT 1649 - 1653:

  Cromwell and his supporters attempted to broaden support for the new government by allowing MP's dismissed during Prides Purge (6/12/48) to return to the House of Commons.

  In May 1649 the Rump abolishes the monarchy alongside the House of Lords, declaring England a Commonwealth.

  Many members of the lower gentry managed to infiltrate the new government.

  Set up the Hale Commission in 1651, to investigate reform of the legal system.
• RUMP PARLIAMENT 1649 - 1653:


  Sold crown lands totalling £90,000 to fund the first Anglo-Dutch war (52-54) and maintain an army.

  Replaced 'ship money' with the 'monthly assessment'.

  The Rump was dismissed on the 20th April 1653, after storming the Commons as Cromwell prioritised the NMA and claimed the Parliament was 'self-serving' rather than addressing issue in other areas.

  The Rump was set to become more conservative when the MP's voted to elect new MP's instead of allowing those who were shunned during Pride's Purge to return.
• To counteract their dissolution the Rump attempted to rush through a Bill for Election to eject Cromwell and hire more Conservative MP's but they were dissolved before the policy was completed.
• A commonwealth is when a state is governed by an elected representative body / single chamber parliament.
• Colonel Thomas Harrison advised that for the new Parliament following the Rump, Cromwell should ask various churches and radical groups to put forward 'good men' to be considered in addition to Council Officers adding more names to the government.
• NOMINATED ASSEMBLY 1653:

  They continued the Anglo-Dutch war as it was vital for England to secure important trade routes with the Netherlands and other countries.

  Civil marriages were allowed and recognised by Justice of the Peace.

  Legal measures to help debtors were introduced.

  Regulations regarding the treatment of lunatics were instilled.

  In total the government passed 26 ordinances.
• NOMINATED ASSEMBLY 1653:

  There were 140 delgates in the assembly, 129 for England, 5 for Scotland and 6 for Ireland (Scottish and Irish representatives were English soldiers who served in those countries).

  13 of the total members were '5th Monarchists'.

  Radical saints '5th Monarchists' felt they could not negotiate with sinners of different religions.

  In December of 1653 moderate members met and voted to dissolve the assembly as disputes over religion over-shadowed other important socioeconomic problems that needed addressing.
• Major General Lambert quickly drew up a new instrument of Government following the failure of the NA that offered a new Protectorate with government by a single person, Cromwell, and a parliament designed by Lambert.
• THE FIRST PROTECTORATE 1654 - 1655:


  Parliament was to be elected every 3 years and to sit for 5 months if necessary.

  Parliament could create any policies and if not addressed by the Protectorate for 20 days proceeding its issue, it would be enforced as law, as long as it did not lessen the pay of the NMA, punish any man for his beliefs or make changes to the instrument of Government.

  Lord Protectorate would have the power of militia by sea and land, would rule alongside his council of 13-21 advisors.
• THE FIRST PROTECTORATE 1654 - 1655:

  84 ordinances were passed in total e.g. banning bull and bear baiting, cock fighting, improving postal services and allowing the maintenance of roads.

  Freedom of worship was granted to all.

  Laws passed to prohibit drunkenness and blasphemy.

  Parliament was elected by voters with at least £200 of personal property.

  Catholics and bishop supporters not granted freedom of worship.
• THE FIRST PROTECTORATE 1654 - 1655:

  Cromwell was blinded by his concern for the New Model Army.

  Republican MP's resented Cromwell for dissolving the Rump Parliament as it was a threat to democracy.

  MP's refused to recognise the instrument of Government put forward by Lambert and 80 voted against it, leading to its dissolution in January of 1655.
• MAJOR GENERALS RULE 1655-56:

  Major General Worsley closed 200 alehouses in Lancashire.

  Major General Whalley suppressed entertainment e.g. stage plays and horse racing in Lincolnshire.

  John Penruddock attempted to lead a royalist uprising in Spring of 1655 that was easily defeated in Wiltshire.

  Cromwell imposed centralised military rule over England in order to gain full control over the provinces.
• Cromwell established the Committee of Triers and Ejectors in 1654, with commissions who served to the members of the clergy and ejected unsuitable individuals, in 5 years judgements were passed on 3500 church appointments.
• General Monk (the English army commander in Scotland) saw the failure of the 4 governments under the protectorate and marched South while encouraging Charles II, residing in France, to move to Protestant Holland and await the English throne.
• Parliament accepted the Declaration without conditions and also voted that the government should be made up of Kings, Lords and Commons.
• Cromwell died on the 3rd of September 1658 and was succeeded by his son, Richard Cromwell who was an incompetent leader.
• The siege of the stronghold of Drogheda took place on the 3rd to 11th of September 1649, where Irish rebels and royalists led by Arthur Aston were massacred by Commonwealth forces.
• On the 11th of October 1649, Cromwell's army marched on from Drogheda to Wrexford where around 2,000 people in the town and surrounding districts were massacred by the New Model Army.
• The RUMP passed 125 Acts in 1649 and only 51 in 1652.
• The RUMP sold off Church and Crown lands in 1649 to raise finance.
• the RUMP passed the Adultery, Blasphemy and Toleration Acts in 1650.
• The Hale Commission set up by the RUMP in 1652 and was led by Sir Matthew Hale to investigate law reform.
• The Banbury mutiny during the RUMP on May 17th 1649 was a leveller revolt over the financial grievances of soldiers after Cromwell raised £10,000 to pay the Parliament.
• The members of the NA were nominated by the Council of Officers and approved by the Council of State and passed 26 ordinances.
• Some of the NA's ordinances include: the requirement that all marriages be carried out by a JP, the compulsory civil registration of births, marriages and deaths within each parish, greater protection for 'lunatics' and provision for the relief of impoverished debtors or prisoners.
• The document that curated the Protectorate government was called the Instrument of Government and was passed in December of 1653.
• The Instrument of Government (1653) was curated by a small council of Army officers e.g. Lambert, where the Protectorate was in charge of negotiating with Parliament and the Army.