The Protectorate (1649-1660)

Its name comes from the title received by Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector, because he had been a hero
during The English Civil War. He governed together with Parliament, which obtained a new organization,
because the fact that The House of Lords was abolished and we had only The House of Commons in
which were also representatives of the middle class. For the first time in the history of England, we have
the rule of the civil power all over the country.

Since there was no monarchy, Cromwell had to replace it with a new institution, the Republic, adopted in
1649. Cromwell also needed a sort of intermediary institution between him and The House of Commons
and he created The Council of State, it was like a sort of Government, made of former commanders of
the New Model Army. They were people trusted by Cromwell, who had been close to him in the most
difficult moments. England found itself in a difficult moment, after a great war, put Cromwell and his
people managed to rule well. The hierarchy was: Cromwell, The Council of State and The House of
Commons. The Lord Protector had also other obligations: to bring back again the stability, the
administration of Government (The Council of State was inferior to Cromwell, the Lord Protector was the
head of this institution and he had to supervise its activity), the chief magistracy (meaning that Cromwell
was also involved in the legal system, he had also legal power; he had the power to call Parliament and if
it didn’t do a good job, he could had dissolve it, organize new elections in order to have new
representatives).

With the execution of Charles we have also the execution of the head of the Anglican Church. Cromwell
was a Puritan and the Puritans did not like the idea that the Anglican Church still had some influences,
other than Reformation. Because of this thing, after he became Lord Protector, he didn’t become head of
the Church. Because he was a Puritan, the Puritanism entered the English society and we had a new way
of living, a more Puritan one. The Puritans were dressed in dark colors (black and grey), were wearing
black pointed shoes and hats and they were very austere. This thing happened also in the English society.
Since the Puritans did not allow any way of entertainment, during the Protectorate all the theatres were
closed, the literature was censored. The Bible became the most important text and it was quoted every
day.

In politics, we have a sort of separation of the powers in the state. The Council was like the executive
power, the House of Commons was the legislative one and Cromwell was above both of them. However,
this thing did not stop the good collaboration between them.

The Protectorate had success because both Parliament and the Council had like members former
commanders of the New Model Army, who respected Cromwell and who trusted him, who responded to
him. Because of this thing we can say that all the power was in the hands of one man. Another thing that
helped the Protectorate was the popularity obtained by Cromwell after he had won the war, after he
delivered the people from the evil king.

We had some changes because all the traditions linked to monarchy disappeared. In September 1644,
Parliament came with a radical change, the constitutional reform. According to this document, England
would have been divided into several military districts, ruled by army officers who responded only to
Cromwell. They formed the regional power, spread in the entire country, which was connected to the
central power because the officers had also the mission to collect taxes for Government. The thing which
was wrong was that those officers were very strict Puritans and they created a state of fear among the
people; fear that they were living a military dictatorship because the officers gained much power and
they became like a sort of independent rulers in their region. During Cromwell’s like, they were kept
under control, but after his death, he was replaced by his son who was not able to keep them under
control.

The foreign policy

We had those changes inside the country but we also had some changes outside the country, in the
foreign policy. There was still to be found a way in which to collaborate with the other countries in the
continent, like Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. In Scotland and Ireland we still had battles between royalists
and civilists and this thing made Cromwell employ the New Model Army to put them an end. Because of
this thing, Scotland and Ireland recognized the English rule and this recognition was stipulated by a
document, called the tender of union (1654), which was saying that for the first time in the history,
Scotland, England, Ireland and Wales became united as a single country, under a single rule, country
called Britain, or more formally, The Commonwealth of Britain. There was still democracy because all
four countries had representatives in the House of Commons and collaborated well and equally in
politics.

Britain became an important power in Europe and France and Spain recognized the unification but there
were still some problems with another country, Holland which had become a great power on the sea and
started challenging England. The two countries had a battle (1652-1654) which took place only on the
sea, called by the historians the battle of the titans. England won because the New Model Army became
part of the Navy. The Navy became again a great and important weapon which helped England to win a
much more difficult war against Spain (1655-1658).

The problem with those wars was that they cost England money and Parliament decided to increase
taxes which made the Puritans unpopular because the people remembered the taxes of king Charles and
they started being afraid. However, this thing did not last for long because England increased also its
power in the colonies and on the sea and the economy flourished again.

All these good things stopped unexpectedly when Cromwell died in 1658 and he was replaced by his son,
Richard Cromwell. He wasn’t able to continue the achievements of his father; he wasn’t able to keep the
officers under control. It seems that the Protectorate had success only because of Cromwell, his
popularity and the fact that he knew how to put together the most important powers in the state. In that
situation, Republic and the Puritan spirit continued to rule for a while, but at some point they
disappeared, they weakened. Parliament forced Richard to give up in 1660 and we had the restoration of
monarchy.

The Protectorate came as a consequence of the English Civil War, but the most important thing that it
brought was the unification of the four countries, forming Britain, unification that exists even today.