Republican Rule, 1649-53 Flashcards
Historians opinions on the English Revolution
MANNING - Marxist viewpoint, result of long term reasons, desire for change, everyone was responsible
COWARD - unpopular, no mass enthusiasm and carried out by a minority, short term causes (political and religious) lead to regicide
MORRIL - enacted by minority but all were involved in the change, destruction of core structures changed everything and caused a revolution
Who were the radical religious groups and what were their beliefs?
Fifth Monarchists - establishment of the Kingdom of heaven on earth, influential in the army
Ranters - presence of God in every human, true believers couldn’t sin, threatened order
Quakers - directly challenged social order
The establishment of the Rump
Result of Pride’s purge
Key figures were antagonistic to NMA
TWO KEY PROBLEMS
conservative demands for a return to political normality vs radical minority
Relationship between Parliament/State and NMA - couldn’t exist without the protection of the army which held real power
The Rump and the Commonwealth
Voted on 6 February 1649 to abolish House of Lords
7 February - abolish monarchy and monarchical government
19 May - act establishing the Commonwealth of England passed
2 January 1650 - engagement act required all adult males to declare loyalty to the commonwealth, reinforced by the Treason Act of July 1650
Why did the army have a problem with the Rump?
Rump attempt to consolidate its base of support made some regard it has too conservative - Blasphemy Act of August saw it as more religiously conservative than the army
Failed to introduce constitutional reform
Rump in Ireland
Cromwell landed in August 1649 to put down rebellion and to ‘punish Catholics for their 1641 rebellion’
Irish campaign of 1649-50 led to bloody sieges of Irish Catholic strongholds e.g. Drogheda and Wexford
Rump in Scotland
Cromwell had returned from Ireland
3 September 1650 - Cromwell arrived at Dunbar to defeat a large Scottish army
Forced Charles to invade but to limited support
Rump and the Dutch war
Dutch appeared a natural ally
Navigation Act 1651 - only English ships or those of the place of manufacture could bring goods into England and its colonies
Naval engagement in May 1652 pushed the countries to war
Created army resentment: money spent, navy used as a political counter-weight to the army, fighting another Protestant Republic
Repression of the Levellers
Denounced the Rump
Rump retaliated by limiting the freedom of the press
Grandees regarded them as a threat - opinions on extent of religious freedom differed
March 1649 - leading levellers were arrested
Repression of the Diggers
Group occupied St George’s Hill to much hostility and the community collapsed after a year
Failures of the Rump Parliament
Conservative MPs - 22/41 refused to swear an oath approving regicide, majority were lawyers and merchants whom were resistant to reform
Economic factors - came to power at the time of the worst economic crisis of the 17th century, not enough funds to initiate extensive reforms
Security - establishing a regime under the threat of Ireland, Scotland and the animosity of other European States was more of a priority
Bulwark against radicalism - some supported the Rump as a conservative force to counter the army’s radicalism
Fear of radical religious groups - made some MPs fearful of reform
Dutch war - focus of their attention and resources
Cromwell’s dissolution of the Rump
Cromwell did not want political radicalism but recognised that the Rumps conservatism was an issue and resulted in a lack of progress
IN SHORT
fear over what the Rump’s bill for a new representative included
Cutting of the army budget
Parliamentary control of army commands
Preventing the ungodly from returning to political power
Cromwell’s own vision of a godly nation and political settlement
Nominated Assembly/Barebones Parliament
Cromwell didn’t want to be a military dictator
Army officers selected 139 MPs nominated by separatist congregations across the country
Failures of the NA/BP
Looked at many proposals that were ahead of its time but none were overwhelmingly radical
The minority of extreme Fifth Monarchists alienated moderates in and outside of the NA
Cromwell told his parliament of 1647 that if this continued it would result in the “subversion of your laws and of all the liberties of this nation”
Suggestion to cut army pay was the last straw
Never fully supported
12 December - moderates from the NA met to give power back to Cromwell
