Lecture 05 the puritan revolution and after

5.1. The Civil War.

5.1.1. The English Renaissance reached its apex around the year 1600, and concluded roughly during the Restoration in the 1660s. After Shakespeare's death, the poet and dramatist Ben Jonson was the leading literary figure. A tradition of Bible translation into English which began with the work of William Tyndale resulted in the publication of the King James Version of the Bible on 1611. It became the standard Bible. Other important figures of the period are the poet John Milton and the philosopher John Locke.

5.1.2. In 1603 Elizabeth died, she left the new king James I with a huge debt. James had to ask Parliament to raise a tax to pay the debt. Parliament agreed, but in return in­sisted on the right to discuss James's home and foreign policy. James managed to rule the country without Parliament between till 1621. The situation in the country was not simple. The history of the Gunpowder Plot and the fate of Guy Fawkes (1570 – 1606) show that clearly. Fawkes was one of the people involved in the Gunpowder Plot to blow up the British Houses of Parliament. He is the most famous of the conspirators because he was caught with the gunpowder, tortured, and later killed. Since then, there is a tradition in Britain of burning ‘guys’ representing him every year on Guy Fawkes Night, November 5.

5.1.3. The next king Charles I relied with Parliament even more bitterly than his father had done. More than once Charles dis­solved Parliament, but had to recall it again be­cause he needed money. In 1628, in return for mon­ey, Parliament wanted Charles to sign a docu­ment known as the Petition of Rights, which would give Parliament the right to control the national budget and the law. Charles dissolved Parliament again and successfully ruled without Parliament.

5.1.4. But the religious situation in Britain was aggravated. There were people in the country who disagreed with the teachings of the Church of England. They thought that the services of the Church of England was too complicated and too rich and took too much money. They were called Puritans. Catholics disliked Puritans that's why some tried to find a new paradise in America. The first group of Puritans left England for good in August 1620 on board the Mayflower.

5.2. The Republican rule

5.2.1. That time Ireland exploded in rebellion against the Protestant English settlers. 3.000 people were killed. Parliament quarreled over who should lead an army to defeat the rebels, Many MPs were afraid to give an army to Charles; they thought that Charles would use the army in or­der to dissolve Parliament by force and to rule alone again. Most of the House of Lords and a few from the House of Commons supported Charles. The Royalists were known as Cavaliers, controlled most of the north-west. Parliament controlled the east and south-east, including London. Their short hair gave the Parliamentarian soldiers their popular name of Roundheads. The two armies clashed eventually. The first battle, fought in October 1642, was indecisive. The king rejected Parliament’s conditions for his return to power; his intransigence aggravated the divisions among the victors. The army, more independent in religion and radical in politics than the Presbyterians who dominated Parliament, seized the king. Found guilty, Charles I was executed on January 30, 1649.

5.2.2. Several MPs had commanded the Parliamentarian army during the Civil War. One of them was a gentleman farmer named Oliver Cromwell. He had created a new "model" army. Instead of country people or gentry Cromwell invited into his army educated men wanted to fight for their beliefs. Cromwell and his advisers created the Republic called the Commonwealth. From 1649 till 1660 Britain was the republic.

5.2.3. The tragic thing was that Cromwell and his associates created a government which was far more severe than Charles had been. They got rid of the monarchy, and now they got rid of the House of Lords. The need for a permanent, settled government remained, and the power resided in Cromwell and the army. In December 1653 Cromwell accepted the Instrument of Government, a written constitution, which created a protectorate consisting of himself as Lord Protector and a one-house Parliament.

5.2.4. The Scots were shocked by the King’s execution. They invited his son, whom they recognized as King Charles II, to join them and fight against the Parliamentarian army. But they were defeated; the young Charles himself had to escape to France. So land was brought under English republican rule. Cromwell also took an army to Ireland "to punish them for killing Protestants in 1641. Soon Cromwell became unpopular because of his politics, severe rules and forbids of celebrating Christmas and Easter, or to play games on Sunday. Cromwell died on September 3, 1658, and the drift toward anarchy was halted by the commander of the army in Scotland. He marched into London with his troops and recalled the Long Parliament, which then restored Charles II to the throne in May 1660.