faces down Whitehall to the site of his execution.
THE COMMONWEALTH INTERREGNUM (1649-1660)
Cromwell's convincing military successes at Drogheda in Ireland (1649),
Dunbar in Scotland (1650) and Worcester in England (1651) forced Charles
I's son, Charles, into foreign exile despite being accepted as King in
Scotland.
From 1649 to 1660, England was therefore a republic during a period known
as the Interregnum ('between reigns'). A series of political experiments
followed, as the country's rulers tried to redefine and establish a
workable constitution without a monarchy.
Throughout the Interregnum, Cromwell's relationship with Parliament was a
troubled one, with tensions over the nature of the constitution and the
issue of supremacy, control of the armed forces and debate over religious
toleration. In 1653 Parliament was dissolved, and under the Instrument of
Government, Oliver Cromwell became Lord Protector, later refusing the offer
of the throne. Further disputes with the House of Commons followed; at one
stage Cromwell resorted to regional rule by a number of the army's major
generals. After Cromwell's death in 1658, and the failure of his son
Richard's short-lived Protectorate, the army under General Monk invited
Charles I's son, Charles, to become King.
OLIVER CROMWELL (1649-1658)
Oliver Cromwell, born in Huntingdon in 1599, was a strict Puritan with a
Cambridge education when he went to London to represent his family in
Parliament. Clothed conservatively, he possessed a Puritan fervor and a
commanding voice, he quickly made a name for himself by serving in both the
Short Parliament (April 1640) and the Long Parliament (August 1640 through
April 1660). Charles I, pushing his finances to bankruptcy and trying to
force a new prayer book on Scotland, was badly beaten by the Scots, who
demanded Ј850 per day from the English until the two sides reached
agreement. Charles had no choice but to summon Parliament.
The Long Parliament, taking an aggressive stance, steadfastly refused to
authorize any funding until Charles was brought to heel. The Triennial Act
of 1641 assured the summoning of Parliament at least every three years, a
formidable challenge to royal prerogative. The Tudor institutions of fiscal
feudalism (manipulating antiquated feudal fealty laws to extract money),
the Court of the Star Chamber and the Court of High Commission were
declared illegal by Act of Parliament later in 1641. A new era of
leadership from the House of Commons (backed by middle class merchants,
tradesmen and Puritans) had commenced. Parliament resented the insincerity
with which Charles settled with both them and the Scots, and despised his
links with Catholicism.
1642 was a banner year for Parliament. They stripped Charles of the last
vestiges of prerogative by abolishing episcopacy, placed the army and navy
directly under parliamentary supervision and declared this bill become law
even if the king refused his signature. Charles entered the House of
Commons (the first king to do so), intent on arresting John Pym, the leader
of Parliament and four others, but the five conspirators had already fled,
making the king appear inept. Charles traveled north to recruit an army and
raised his standard against the forces of Parliaments (Roundheads) at
Nottingham on August 22, 1642. England was again embroiled in civil war.
Cromwell added sixty horses to the Roundhead cause when war broke out. In
the 1642 Battle at Edge Hill, the Roundheads were defeated by the superior
Royalist (Cavalier) cavalry, prompting Cromwell to build a trained cavalry.
Cromwell proved most capable as a military leader. By the Battle of Marston
Moor in 1644, Cromwell's New Model Army had routed Cavalier forces and
Cromwell earned the nickname "Ironsides" in the process. Fighting lasted
until July 1645 at the final Cavalier defeat at Naseby. Within a year,
Charles surrendered to the Scots, who turned him over to Parliament. By
1646, England was ruled solely by Parliament, although the king was not
executed until 1649.
English society splintered into many factions: Levellers (intent on
eradicating economic castes), Puritans, Episcopalians, remnants of the
Cavaliers and other religious and political radicals argued over the fate
of the realm. The sole source of authority rest with the army, who moved
quickly to end the debates. In November 1648, the Long Parliament was
reduced to a "Rump" Parliament by the forced removal of 110 members of
Parliament by Cromwell's army, with another 160 members refusing to take
their seats in opposition to the action. The remainder, barely enough for a
quorum, embarked on an expedition of constitutional change. The Rump
dismantled the machinery of government, most of that, remained loyal to the
king, abolishing not only the monarchy, but also the Privy Council, Courts
of Exchequer and Admiralty and even the House of Lords. England was ruled
by an executive Council of State and the Rump Parliament, with various
subcommittees dealing with day-to-day affairs. Of great importance was the
administration in the shires and parishes: the machinery administering such
governments was left intact; ingrained habits of ruling and obeying
harkened back to monarchy.
With the death of the ancient constitution and Parliament in control,
attention was turned to crushing rebellions in the realm, as well as in
Ireland and Scotland. Cromwell forced submission from the nobility, muzzled
the press and defeated Leveller rebels in Burford. Annihilating the more
radical elements of revolution resulted in political conservatism, which
eventually led to the restoration of the monarchy. Cromwell's army
slaughtered over forty percent of the indigenous Irishmen, who clung
unyieldingly to Catholicism and loyalist sentiments; the remaining Irishmen
were forcibly transported to County Connaught with the Act of Settlement in
1653. Scottish Presbyterians fought for a Stuart restoration, in the person
of Charles II, but were handily defeated, ending the last remnants of civil
war. The army then turned its attention to internal matters.
The Rump devolved into a petty, self-perpetuating and unbending
oligarchy, which lost credibility in the eyes of the army. Cromwell ended
the Rump Parliament with great indignity on April 21, 1653, ordering the
house cleared at the point of a sword. The army called for a new Parliament
of Puritan saints, who proved as inept as the Rump. By 1655, Cromwell
dissolved his new Parliament, choosing to rule alone (much like Charles I
had done in 1629). The cost of keeping a standard army of 35,000 proved
financially incompatible with Cromwell's monetarily strapped government.
Two wars with the Dutch concerning trade abroad added to Cromwell's
financial burdens.
The military's solution was to form yet another version of Parliament. A
House of Peers was created, packed with Cromwell's supporters and with true
veto power, but the Commons proved most antagonistic towards Cromwell. The
monarchy was restored in all but name; Cromwell went from the title of Lord
General of the Army to that of Lord Protector of the Realm (the title of
king was suggested, but wisely rejected by Cromwell when a furor arose in
the military ranks). The Lord Protector died on September 3, 1658, naming
his son Richard as successor. With Cromwell's death, the Commonwealth
floundered and the monarchy was restored only two years later.
The failure of Cromwell and the Commonwealth was founded upon Cromwell
being caught between opposing forces. His attempts to placate the army, the
nobility, Puritans and Parliament resulted in the alienation of each group.
Leaving the political machinery of the parishes and shires untouched under
the new constitution was the height of inconsistency; Cromwell, the army
and Parliament were unable to make a clear separation from the ancient
constitution and traditional customs of loyalty and obedience to monarchy.
Lacey Baldwin Smith cast an astute judgment concerning the aims of the
Commonwealth: "When Commons was purged out of existence by a military force
of its own creation, the country learned a profound, if bitter, Lesson:
Parliament could no more exist without the crown than the crown without
Parliament. The ancient constitution had never been King and Parliament but
King in Parliament; when one element of that mystical union was destroyed,
the other ultimately perished."
Oliver Cromwell: Lord Protector of England (1599-1658)
There is definitely an association between John Knox and Oliver Cromwell.
Knox, in his book The Reformation of Scotland, outlined the whole process
without which the British model of government under Oliver Cromwell never
would not have been possible. Yet Knox was more consistently covenantal in
his thinking. He recognized that civil government is based on a covenant
between the magistrate (or the representative or king) and the populace.
His view was that when the magistrate defects from the covenant, it is the
duty of the people to overthrow him.
Cromwell was not a learned scholar, as was Knox, nevertheless God
elevated him to a greater leadership role. Oliver Cromwell was born into a
common family of English country Puritans having none of the advantages of
upbringing that would prepare him to be leader of a nation. Yet he had a
God-given ability to earn the loyalty and respect of men of genius who
served him throughout his lifetime. John Bunyan, author of Pilgrim's
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