Stuart Britain - 1653-59 The Protectorate

Question 1

Instrument of Government

Answer 1

Dec - GCO approve
Supreme legislative authority to Lord Protector - OC chosen by parl
Rel toleration given
Creates checks and balances between executive and legislature
No judicials branch and toleration against desire of most

Question 2

OC’s aims

Answer 2

‘Heal and settle’ - turned away from Godly reforms and focuses on support
‘Just and righteous reformation’ - social reformation ie improving quality of school teachers 1654
Religious reformation - outlaw drunkeness, swearing, adultery etc

Question 3

Rule by ordinance 1654

Answer 3

9 months until parl meet Sep 54
Protectorate has opponents - OC controls radical religious threat - army spread thinly, Harrison creator of Nominated Assembly dismissed from Army, Lilburne exiled 1653
Oath of Loyalty much more moderate
Improve finances, triers national body to examine new clergy and religious reform
Ejectors 1654 improve quality of clergy

Question 4

First Protectorate Parliment

Answer 4

12th Sep OC four fundamentals of government
Oath of Recognition to these fundamentals - withdrawal of 100 MPs - Marten, Ludlow, Haselrig opposed rule by a single person
Those who remain still resist
OC dissolves Parl at first opportunity Jan 55

Question 5

Rule by Major Generals

Answer 5

Penruddock’s Rising Mar 55 crushed by Desborough
Defeat by Spanish Apr 55 - OC sees as rebuke by God - morals need to improve urgently
Aug 55 Eng and Wales divided into regions ruled by major-generals - militia paid for by decimation tax 10% on royalist estates
Oct 55 instructions issued to major generals to supress
Oct 55 orders to apply laws v drunkenness, blasphemy, swearing - Worsley shut down 200 alehouses in Lancashire

Question 6

Second Protectorate Parliment

Answer 6

Council of State - tries to avoid rerun of 1st parl by excluding 100 known republicans - another 50 stayed away
Remianing rumy was much more cooperative than predecessor
Naylor Case Oct 56 - entered Bristol riding a donkey a la JC
Arrested and brought to London - branded, flogged and imprisoned for life - OC opposed sympathised with toleration
Jan 57 decimation tax and major-generals gone

Question 7

Humble Petition and Advice

Answer 7

Feb 57 - HP+A by 2nd parl to OC
OC accepts May but retains title of LP rather than King
Army oppossed to title of King by Lambert, Fleetwood, Desborough all would withrdraw support, also wrath of God against taking crown
June Cromwell - LP again

Question 8

Second Protectorate Parliment - session 2

Answer 8

Jan to Feb 1658 - only 2 weeks
Instr of Gov gone, Commonswealthmen return - more moderate men oppose OC
Feb OC dissolves, then dies Sep 1658

Question 9

The New Protector and the Third Protectorate Parliment

Answer 9

Lacked political and military experience
RC called Parl Jan 59 - terrible financial situation clear, and RC sides with Parl Apr 1659 against GCO which refused to be dissolved

Question 10

RC v Army - Richard Defeated

Answer 10

22 Apr GCO dissolves 3rd parl
May RC resigns and leaves country - collapse of the protectorate and rump parliment recalled 7th May

Question 11

Rump v Army - Recalled and Dismissed

Answer 11

42 of 78 original Rump retook their seats - refuse to share power with grandees and dominate new council fo state
Army and parl briefly unite to crush royalist uprising ie Booth’s rising in Cheshire
Oct 1659 - Rump led by Haselrig attempt to take control of army but army simply asserted physical force and dissolve Rump

Question 12

Army v Army

Answer 12

GCO set up Committe of Safety headed by Fleetwood
Protests in London, merchants refuse to pay taxes until ‘free’ parl
General Monck in Scot opposed closing of Rump and moves South
Council of State prepares forces under Lambert to combat Monck

Question 13

Return of the Rump

Answer 13

Committe of Safety dissolves itself - element of army reinstated the Rump
Lambert has to turn back South to deal with this cahllenge - arrested and put in Tower so civil war avoided

Question 14

Return of the Long Parliment

Answer 14

Monck enters Eng Jan 60 - Rump orders him to London
Monck shores up Rump’s position by restoring order in City of London
Monck sides with London, reverses Pride’s Purge
Feb 60 - Mps removed in 1648 return - Long Parl dissolves itself and calls for free elections for Conv Mar

Question 15

Return of the King

Answer 15

Conv parl met Apr - royalists and Prebys - excluded Repubs and Commonwealthsmen
Monck scret negotions results in CII Declaration of Breda
5th May Conv Parl votes for gov by King, Lords and COmmons
CII restored unconditionally and welcomed to London 29th May

Question 16

Radicals: Overview

Answer 16

Radical ideas devlop after collapse of sensorship 1640s - pamphets spread 1649
Older groups grow - ie congregationalists and baptists 1650s 40,000 total baptists
Extreme radicals appear - most short lived but quakers attract significant numbers and survive continuously

Question 17

Radicals: Demise of Levellers

Answer 17

Political threat posed by Lilburne and Levellers crushed 1649
Lilburne returns 1653 but arrested again and becomes Quaker
Different Levellers disagree with each other and outflanked by more radical groups - did not address broader socio-economic inequalities

Question 18

Radicals: Diggers

Answer 18

Mar 1649 - 12 men led by Everard occupy waster land on St George’s Hill Weybridge and plant crops - angering local landowners
Winstanley wrote ‘The New Law of True Righteousness’, 1652 ‘The Law of Freedom’
Aim to achieve socio-economic equality in response to harsh conditions of 49
Everard and Winstanley meet Fairfax but landowners hire men to attack diggers - driven away from Weybridge, Buckinghamshire, Kent etc
Exstensential threat to society and hierachy

Question 19

Radicals: Seekers and Ranters

Answer 19

Reject any and all religious authority outside inner spirit
1649-51 development of more radical ranters - man-made codes of social morality can be ignored
Blashphemy Act 1650 - utilsed against them and leaders in prison 1651

Question 20

Radicals: Quakers

Answer 20

1650-2 Fox preaches across North - some organisation
1654 mission to South - carried out by 60 preachers or ‘First Publishers of the Truth’
1660 50000 quakers
Threatened the social and political structure - Nayler case

Question 21

Radicals: 5th Mons

Answer 21

Christ returns to rule for 1000 years - influence in army and Nominated Assembly - fear in govt as Christ said to return and rule

Question 22

Catholics - Civil War

Answer 22

Anti Catholic laws Long Parl Aug 1643 - all Catholics over 21 Oath of Abjuration denying basic beliefs, pay assessment tax at x2 normal rate
Catholic support for CII causes distrust and offers little support relatively

Question 23

Catholics - Rump

Answer 23

Toleration Act 1650 - removed requirement to attend Anglican church
Catholics estates confiscated and others forced to take oath to keep land - ie Catholic Earl Rivers 49 and Baron Petre 52

Question 24

Catholics - Protectorate

Answer 24

OC not prepared to given Catholic toleration despite friendships with - Kenelm Digby, Henry Vane etc
Jan 54 laws v Catholics under Elizabeth continue
Apr 55 proclaimation demanding laws v Catholic influence in priesthood be adhered to
Sep 55 992 refuse to take oath of abjuration in lancashire - stepped up 1656 fine of £100 for worshipping in Catholic Chapel

Question 25

Catholics - Overall

Answer 25

Catholics able to worship privately if discreet - focus on more radical
Invasion of Ireland 1649 act on Royalists rather than directly on Catholics
Irish Catholics suffered more from ensuing land settlement