detailed notes
,Theme 1: KQ2
To what extent did republican rule provide a stable government, 1649-60?
The Rule of the Rump
- Ireland was already a royalist stronghold and, when the news of the execution reached
Scotland, Charles II was immediately proclaimed king there in February 1649, although
he was still in exile in Holland and was not crowned until 1651
- Ireton had attempted to dissolve parliament and hold new elections, but the mood of the
country made that impossible, and power simply had to pass to the MPs, known as the
Rump
- When the few lords who had remained allies refused to return, the assembly declared
itself to be the sole legislative authority and elected a Council of State to govern in its
name
- England declared as commonwealth governed by government
The failure of the Rump
- The fundamental issue facing the new regime was already clear
- The ‘revolution’ of 1649 was the work of a minority, who needed wider support in order
to establish an effective government
- The first task was to restore stability, calm the fears of the men of property and win their
confidence
- Unfortunately the main source of those fears was the very army on which the regime’s
existence depended on
- The problem was clearly demonstrated in the first 2 years of the commonwealth’s
existence
- The army fulfilled its role by suppressing threats from the Levellers, in particular a mutiny
of Leveller soldiers at Burford May 1649 that resulted in several of their leaders being
shot
- The army also continued to counter the threat from the royalists in Ireland and Scotland
- The council of state turned its attention to the reform of government
- Reform of the law, a greater measure of social justice
→ e.g. the ending of imprisonment for debt and an end to high taxation
→ this would help win over opinion across a range of social classes
- While many of the greater gentry and nobility refused to cooperate with the regime, the
lesser gentry had taken over much of the local government
- The distinct lack of support that greeted Charles II’s attempted invasion in 1651
suggested that a combination of reform and stability from the new regime could succeed
in generating the acceptance that it needed
- Charles was easily defeated in the Battle of Worcester, although it served as a reminder
that the threat of royalism was not extinct
2 factors prevented the Rump from providing stability:
, 1. The first was that the proposal reforms involved complex areas such as the law that
could not be agreed upon
- The hale commission was set up in 1651 to investigate reform of the legal system
- The commission met regularly for a year, but its recommendations were never adopted
- The rate of reform in general slowed down with time
- In 1649, 125 acts of parliament were passed, reducing to only 51 in 1652
2. The second was the necessity of maintaining a large standing army, the maintenance of
which was the major reason for high taxation
- Without reliable support from the political nation, the regime could not reduce or
dispense with the army, but as long as the army existed, that reliable support would not
be forthcoming
- In april 1649, the rump began the sale of crown lands to raise money, but wars in Ireland
and Scotland against the Dutch led to a shortfall in revenue of £700,000 in 1653
- Cromwell had landed in Ireland in August in 1649 to suppress Catholic royalist
sympathisers
- He expected a swift victory, but only achieved success after he had stormed through the
strongholds of Drogheda and Wexford, controversially slaughtering thousands of
defenders after they had surrendered, and civilians, in the process
- He returned to england in 1650 to conquer scotland, and left to Ireton to complete the
Irish campaign
- Although they had been parliament’s allies, the Scots had cut ties with the English after
Charles was killed
- After Charles Ii was declared king in Scotland and made peace with the Covenanters,
they assembled an army to invade England
- With fairtax reluctant to take on the task of marching to Scotland to attack first, Cromwell
was appointed commander in chief and, in September 1650, defeated the scots at
Dunbar
- Charles led his army south a year later, hoping to gain support, but a dispirited army was
defeated by Cromwell at Worcester on 3 Sept 1651
- The First Anglo-Dutch war also took its toll on the treasury
- In order to pay for the construction of warships, the monthly assessment was raised to
£90,000
- The assessment alone raised as much as Charles’ entire annual revenue
- In the end, a combination of repressive measures and apparent self-seeking by
parliament drove Cromwell to dissolve the Rump by force in 1653 and take on himself
the role of combining stability with measures of reform
- Since the victory over Charles II at Worcester, he had sought to restrain the demands of
the army council while doing all that he could to persuade the rump to enact reforms, but
in april 1653 he ran out of patience
- The final straw appears to have been the decision taken by MPs to hold new elections to
replace those MPs who had been excluded or had chosen to stay away
,Theme 1: KQ2
To what extent did republican rule provide a stable government, 1649-60?
The Rule of the Rump
- Ireland was already a royalist stronghold and, when the news of the execution reached
Scotland, Charles II was immediately proclaimed king there in February 1649, although
he was still in exile in Holland and was not crowned until 1651
- Ireton had attempted to dissolve parliament and hold new elections, but the mood of the
country made that impossible, and power simply had to pass to the MPs, known as the
Rump
- When the few lords who had remained allies refused to return, the assembly declared
itself to be the sole legislative authority and elected a Council of State to govern in its
name
- England declared as commonwealth governed by government
The failure of the Rump
- The fundamental issue facing the new regime was already clear
- The ‘revolution’ of 1649 was the work of a minority, who needed wider support in order
to establish an effective government
- The first task was to restore stability, calm the fears of the men of property and win their
confidence
- Unfortunately the main source of those fears was the very army on which the regime’s
existence depended on
- The problem was clearly demonstrated in the first 2 years of the commonwealth’s
existence
- The army fulfilled its role by suppressing threats from the Levellers, in particular a mutiny
of Leveller soldiers at Burford May 1649 that resulted in several of their leaders being
shot
- The army also continued to counter the threat from the royalists in Ireland and Scotland
- The council of state turned its attention to the reform of government
- Reform of the law, a greater measure of social justice
→ e.g. the ending of imprisonment for debt and an end to high taxation
→ this would help win over opinion across a range of social classes
- While many of the greater gentry and nobility refused to cooperate with the regime, the
lesser gentry had taken over much of the local government
- The distinct lack of support that greeted Charles II’s attempted invasion in 1651
suggested that a combination of reform and stability from the new regime could succeed
in generating the acceptance that it needed
- Charles was easily defeated in the Battle of Worcester, although it served as a reminder
that the threat of royalism was not extinct
2 factors prevented the Rump from providing stability:
, 1. The first was that the proposal reforms involved complex areas such as the law that
could not be agreed upon
- The hale commission was set up in 1651 to investigate reform of the legal system
- The commission met regularly for a year, but its recommendations were never adopted
- The rate of reform in general slowed down with time
- In 1649, 125 acts of parliament were passed, reducing to only 51 in 1652
2. The second was the necessity of maintaining a large standing army, the maintenance of
which was the major reason for high taxation
- Without reliable support from the political nation, the regime could not reduce or
dispense with the army, but as long as the army existed, that reliable support would not
be forthcoming
- In april 1649, the rump began the sale of crown lands to raise money, but wars in Ireland
and Scotland against the Dutch led to a shortfall in revenue of £700,000 in 1653
- Cromwell had landed in Ireland in August in 1649 to suppress Catholic royalist
sympathisers
- He expected a swift victory, but only achieved success after he had stormed through the
strongholds of Drogheda and Wexford, controversially slaughtering thousands of
defenders after they had surrendered, and civilians, in the process
- He returned to england in 1650 to conquer scotland, and left to Ireton to complete the
Irish campaign
- Although they had been parliament’s allies, the Scots had cut ties with the English after
Charles was killed
- After Charles Ii was declared king in Scotland and made peace with the Covenanters,
they assembled an army to invade England
- With fairtax reluctant to take on the task of marching to Scotland to attack first, Cromwell
was appointed commander in chief and, in September 1650, defeated the scots at
Dunbar
- Charles led his army south a year later, hoping to gain support, but a dispirited army was
defeated by Cromwell at Worcester on 3 Sept 1651
- The First Anglo-Dutch war also took its toll on the treasury
- In order to pay for the construction of warships, the monthly assessment was raised to
£90,000
- The assessment alone raised as much as Charles’ entire annual revenue
- In the end, a combination of repressive measures and apparent self-seeking by
parliament drove Cromwell to dissolve the Rump by force in 1653 and take on himself
the role of combining stability with measures of reform
- Since the victory over Charles II at Worcester, he had sought to restrain the demands of
the army council while doing all that he could to persuade the rump to enact reforms, but
in april 1653 he ran out of patience
- The final straw appears to have been the decision taken by MPs to hold new elections to
replace those MPs who had been excluded or had chosen to stay away
