Rump Parliament and the rise of Cromwell 1649-1653
The Rump Parliament and Its Problems
The Rump Parliament that governed England after 1649 was a small, self-selected body with limited popular legitimacy. It faced immediate and urgent threats: Royalist Ireland and a Scotland that had proclaimed Charles II king. Its relationship with Oliver Cromwell — and with the army that had created it — was tense from the start. Parliament wanted to control the army; the army believed it had a godly mission that Parliament was obstructing.
Cromwell in Ireland 1649
In August 1649 Cromwell led an army to Ireland to suppress the Catholic Confederation and Royalist alliance. His campaign included two sieges that became a permanent part of Irish historical memory. At Drogheda in September 1649, between approximately 2,500 and 3,500 people were killed after the garrison refused surrender. Cromwell justified this under the contemporary laws of war: a garrison that refused terms and was then stormed forfeited its right to quarter. At Wexford the following month, between 1,500 and 2,000 were killed, including many civilians, when soldiers acted before Cromwell had given orders.
Historians debate how to assess these events. Cromwell himself wrote that the deaths at Drogheda were “a righteous judgement of God upon these barbarous wretches”, citing the 1641 Irish Rebellion as justification. Critics argue the civilian deaths at Wexford in particular went beyond even the brutal norms of seventeenth-century warfare. The Cromwellian conquest of Ireland also involved mass transplantation of Catholic landowners and significant land confiscation. These events remained deeply embedded in Irish collective memory for centuries.
At Drogheda (September 1649) approximately 3,500 were killed; at Wexford (October 1649) between 1,500 and 2,000 died, including many civilians. Cromwell justified Drogheda under laws of war covering sieges where surrender was refused.
Scotland: Dunbar and Worcester
Charles II had been proclaimed king by the Scots, who accepted him after he agreed to the Covenant. Cromwell moved against Scotland in 1650. At the Battle of Dunbar (3 September 1650) Cromwell won against superior numbers after the Scots were manoeuvred into an unfavourable position by their Presbyterian ministers, who insisted on purging “ungodly” officers before the battle. Charles then led a Scottish army south into England, hoping for English Royalist support that largely failed to materialise. At the Battle of Worcester (3 September 1651) — exactly one year after Dunbar — Cromwell crushed this force. Charles escaped in famous circumstances (hiding in an oak tree at Boscobel) and eventually reached France after six weeks on the run.
The Rump also pursued an aggressive commercial and foreign policy. The Navigation Act of 1651 required goods imported to England to be carried in English ships or ships of the producing country, directly targeting Dutch carrying trade. The First Anglo-Dutch War (1652–1654) followed. The Rump thus demonstrated an assertive Protestant republic could pursue national commercial interests — but the cost and inconclusive nature of the war added to its unpopularity.
Cromwell Dissolves the Rump: April 1653
By 1652–53 Cromwell had grown increasingly frustrated with the Rump. It had sat for more than twelve years, showed little inclination to hold elections that might replace it, and was resisting army pressure for godly reformation of the law and church. On 20 April 1653, Cromwell entered the House of Commons with armed soldiers, berated MPs in famously contemptuous terms (“you are no Parliament”), and physically ejected them. The Speaker was removed from his chair. This act destroyed the constitutional continuity of the English republic — henceforth governance rested openly on military power.
Cromwell dissolved the Rump in April 1653 because it refused to dissolve itself and hold elections, blocked godly legal reform, and acted in what he saw as narrow self-interest. The dissolution showed the army, not Parliament, held real power.
Cromwell believed he was acting on God’s behalf. His victories at Dunbar and Worcester had confirmed divine favour. But critics noted the contradiction: Parliament had fought to defend constitutional government, and now the army had made itself the ultimate authority. George Monck and other army figures tolerated this in the short term. The Rump’s dissolution left England without any constitutional settlement — exactly the problem Cromwell spent the rest of his rule trying to solve.