The Commonwealth (1649 - 1653)

The Commonwealth (1649 - 1653)

1. The Situation in 1649

   • Two Sides
     • Royalists
       • left during Civil War
     • Parliamentarians
       • Presbyterians purged by Pride
       • Independents created The Rump, 1649
   • Oliver Cromwell
     • conservative - politically & socially
     • civilian politician - wanted to serve people
     • religious radical - religious toleration & godly reform
     • army general - source of power
     • these parts of character conflicted when deciding king's fate

2. The Establishment of New Regime, Jan 1649 - Sept 1650

   • Rump MPs were: divided; conservatives at heart; 'reluctant revolutionaries' without a plan
   • Rumps Actions and Measures
     • Feb 1649: admitted 80 MPs (kept away since purge) - voted to abolish monarchy & H of L (formed Council of State)
     • Mar 1649: acts passed abolishing monarchy & lords
     • May 1649: Eng declared 'Commonwealth' (no new measures = not too radical)
     • Jan 1650: passed Act of Engagement - demanded oath of loyalty from all adult males
     • June 1650: 'Mercurius Politicus' (newspaper) issued
     • July 1650: replaced disloyal JPs & abolished county committees
     • Sept 1650: unauthorised printing presses closed
     • the Rump did not:
       • extend franchise
       • arrange new elections
       • reduce taxes (cover cost of army)
       • introduce radical reforms such as religious toleration, legal or social reforms

3. Defeat of the Levellers

   • Why did the Levellers fail?
     • no widespread support - concentrated in London
     • no support from army 'grandees' who disliked revolutionary ideas
     • influence only survived in1647 during time of divisions
     • C's escape from army custody in Nov 1647 raised threat of 2nd CW - Levellers couldn't attack grandees now
     • army mutinies easily crushed - latter broke movement
     • continually developing ideas - inconsistent ideas & lack of coordination
     • support declined with payment to soldiers & better economy
     • supported by minority of people& not landowners & lower class
   • The Diggers (or True Levellers)
     • led by Gerrard Winstanly, Diggers established Digger 'communes'
       • land held in common
       • products shared
       • free education given to all
       • early form of rural communism
     • Digger community set up on St George's Hill, Surrey on common land - broken up by army in 1650
   • Mar: Rump issued soldiers' 'debentures' (right to land inc. crown, church & Irish land)
   • leaders of Levellers = arrested & imprisoned, Lilburne questioned by Council of State
   • May: army mutinied @ Buford, Oxfordshire - Cromwell & Fairfax crushed upraising: 400 rebels imprisoned in church & 3 ringleaders shot
   • end of Leveller movement

4. Cromwell and Ireland

   • Why Ireland was invaded
     • to crush Irish Rebellion (started 1641)
     • conquer land for soldiers
     • prevent Irish support fro Charles II
     • gain support in Eng
     • allow Rump to focus on administrative affairs without army interference
   • Events
     • Aug 1649: Cromwell landed @ Dublin with 12,000 men
     • Sept 1649: attacked Drogheda where 'massacre' took place - similar killings @ Wexford; after this most towns in E. Ireland surrendered
     • end of 1649: Cromwell had conquered half the country
     • May 1650: Cromwell returned to Eng, Ireton completed conquest (died of fever, 1651) - employed extreme measures inc, burning crops = 40% of population died
   • Rump's Act of Settlement
     • confiscated large areas of Catholic land
     • abolished Irish P = 30 Irish MPs sat in Westminster
     • imposed Protestant Church of Ireland making Catholicism illegal
     • left English army occupying Ireland

5. Cromwell and Scotland

   • Events
     • June 1650: C II landed in Scot & took oath of loyalty to Presby church
     • Aug 1650: Cromwell invaded with 15,000 men ( Fairfax had resigned in June)
     • 3rd Sept: won battle of Dunbar; Scot army destroyed; Crom wrote to Rump (asked for consideration of poor, prison improvements, clergy & legal reforms)
     • captured Edinburgh but fell seriously ill
     • Aug 1651: C II invaded Eng with 14,000 Scot, no Eng support - army = inexperienced & poorly supplied
     • 3rd Sept 1651: Battle of Worcester; C II & Scot = 16,000 men, Crom & NMA = 30,000
     • C II's army destroyed - 3,000 killed, 10,000 captured ( C escaped) VS 200 dead on Crom's side
   • Result of Charles II's Defeat
     • in Scot = Scot P abolished - 30 MPs sent to Westminster, religious toleration, Eng army remained (no massacres)
     • in Britain = political unification
     • in Eng = captured Royalists transported & estates confiscated, period of rivalry between Rump & army began

6. Rump and the Army

   • Army Generals VS The Rump
     • Army Generals
       • godly Puritans, chosen by God
       • saw Rump as temporary
       • religious toleration & godly reform
       • fairer legal reforms
       • friendship with all Prot countries in Europe
     • The Rump
       • landowners, 'reluctant revolutionaries'
       • legal government, elected 1640
       • majority Presby, wanted ordered church
       • 40 MPs = lawyers
       • commercial rivalry with Dutch - boost Enlgish trade
   • Religious Rivalry
     • June1649: Rump order tithe should continue to be paid
       • radical Puritans = ministers funded by voluntary contribution
     • suggest corruption & self-interest = landowners who benefitted from collection
   • Legal Reforns
     • Oct 1650: Rump ordered all legal proceeding in English
     • Dec 1651: Rump set up Hale Commission to review legal system & make recomendations
     • Dec 1652: Commission recommended
       • county courts (existing couldn't cope - land disputes mainly
       • land registries (offices where legal docs relating to ownership of land stored)
     • neither carried out - expensive & opposed by 40 MPs (lawyers) = inaction frustrated army
   • Trade and Commercial Measures
     • Rump wanted reboost trade - reduce poverty & unemployment & therefore support for radicals
     • Oct 1651: Navigation Act banned imports not brought in on English ships or on ships from country of goods
     • May 1652: Anglo-Dutch war - navy blockaded coast of Holland
     • army didn't support naval war against fellow Prot state
   • New Elections
     • 1651: Rump discussed 'recruiter elections' to sill seats left vacant after Purge; made them look self interested = could automatically stay in power
     • Aug 1652: Rump appointed committee to review election but soon stopped meeting
     • Dec 1652: committee started meeting again
     • 23rd Feb 1653: Rump discussed bull for new elections, contents uncertain (recruit or full elections)
     • 20th April: Rump MPs discussed bull again - angered Crom (viewed it as unacceptable ) - feared Rump trying to rush bill
     • 19th April: Rump MPs & army officials met - Morrison suggested council of 40 godly men until elections could be safely held
   • Dissolution of Rump, 20th April 1653
     • Crom brought soldiers & cleared house
     • Rump MPs claimed Crom acted illegal (P couldn't be closed without consent)
     • ex-Rump MPs = bitter enemies of Crom
     • Crom = no protests to dissolution
     • Crom & generals wanted quick set up of form of civilian government
     • Radical Thomas Harrison = Assembly of Saints - 40/80 godly men would govern temporarily
     • Conservative General John Lambert = Head & Council of Stare, regular Ps
     • army divided; Crom = undecided then supported Harrison

7. Nominated Assembly

   • Opening
     • 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
     • traditional view = members were inexperienced, incompetent, religious extremists & men of low social class
     • Crom gave opening speech, justifying closure of Rump
   • Acts of 'Parliament'
     • Nominated Assembly declared itself to be P & passed 26 Acts in 6 months
     • established new bodies to register births, marriages & deaths
     • civil marriages made legal as long as carried out by JP (religious toleration legal in 1659)
     • improved conditions of poor prisoners
     • reduced legal fees
   • Radical Proposals
     • abolish Court of Chancery
     • simplify laws
     • make punishment more appropriate for crime
     • abolish excise
     • reduce wages of army officials
     • abolish tithe & introduce voluntary contirbutions
     • lawyers, army officers & landowners = alarmed; opposition propaganda exaggerated no. of radicals (appeared more as moderates didn't attend regularly)
   • Closure of Nominated Assembly, 12th Dec 1653
     • moderates arrived early (radicals attended prayer meeting); voted to close Assembly & formally surrender power to Crom as head of army
     • General Lambert presented Instrument of Government to Crom
     • 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