Protectorate 1653-1658
The Problem of Governing Without a Constitution
When Cromwell dissolved the Rump in April 1653 he was left with the same problem every English government since 1640 had faced: how to govern legitimately. He had no wish to be a military dictator, but every attempt to work with Parliament ended in frustration. Between 1653 and his death in 1658, Cromwell tried three constitutional experiments, each revealing the same fundamental contradiction: the army had the power, but power alone could not produce the godly, stable settlement he sought.
Barebone’s Parliament: July–December 1653
Rather than hold elections, Cromwell summoned a nominated assembly of 140 men selected for their godliness by the army and gathered churches. It was formally called the Nominated Parliament but quickly became known as “Barebone’s Parliament” after one of its more zealous members, Praise-God Barebone. Its initial reform programme was energetic: proposals to abolish tithes, replace common law with a simpler code, and reform the Court of Chancery. However, the more radical proposals alarmed conservative members. In December 1653 a moderate majority voted to dissolve the Parliament and hand power back to the army, before the radicals could act. The experiment had lasted five months.
Barebone’s Parliament (July–December 1653) was nominated rather than elected — its members chosen for godliness not constituency votes. It dissolved itself after only five months when moderate members voted to hand power back to the army, fearing radical proposals.
The Instrument of Government and the Protectorate
In December 1653 the army presented Cromwell with a written constitution: the Instrument of Government. This was England’s first and only written constitution. It made Cromwell Lord Protector — head of state with executive power, shared with a Council of State. Parliaments were to meet at least once every three years, and could not be dissolved during their first five months. The franchise was adjusted to exclude known Royalists.
Cromwell’s first Protectorate Parliament (1654–55) was confrontational from the start. MPs wanted to revise the Instrument, especially to increase parliamentary control over the army. Cromwell dissolved it after the minimum five-month period. A Royalist rising led by John Penruddock in 1655, though easily suppressed, gave him justification for more authoritarian measures.
After the Penruddock rising Cromwell divided England and Wales into eleven military districts, each governed by a Major-General. The Major-Generals were responsible for security (suppressing Royalism), taxation (a 10% tax on Royalist incomes), and moral reform: closing alehouses, suppressing bear-baiting and horse racing, and enforcing Sunday observance. The experiment lasted from August 1655 to January 1657, when Parliament — resenting both the militarism and the Puritan moral policing — voted to end it. The Major-Generals became a byword for Puritan interference in ordinary life.
Humble Petition and Advice 1657
In 1657 Parliament presented Cromwell with the Humble Petition and Advice. It offered him the crown of England. After weeks of deliberation — documented in his speeches, which show genuine uncertainty — Cromwell refused the kingship. His stated reason was that God had visibly “blasted” the title of king in England by executing Charles I; he could not take what providence had condemned. He accepted a revised version of the Petition in May 1657: he could nominate his successor (effectively making the Protectorate hereditary), an upper house of Parliament was restored, and his constitutional position was strengthened.
Oliver Cromwell died on 3 September 1658 — the anniversary of Dunbar and Worcester, which he had called his “fortunate day.” His son Richard Cromwell succeeded him but lacked his father’s authority and was forced to resign by the army in May 1659 after just eight months. The republic was entering its final crisis.
Cromwell refused the crown in 1657 because he believed God had judged and rejected the title of king in England. He accepted instead the right to nominate his successor and a restored upper house, under the Humble Petition and Advice.
The Protectorate faced a structural problem that Cromwell could never resolve: its legitimacy rested on military power, but broad civilian acceptance required a constitution most people could recognise. Every Parliament elected under the Instrument of Government immediately challenged that constitution. Cromwell relied on a small godly minority who shared his vision of a reformed church and society, but this minority could not command enough electoral support to govern without the army. The Humble Petition moved him towards hereditary monarchy in all but name, but without the deeper conservative legitimacy the Stuart crown possessed.