History for Common Entrance 13+ Revision Guide by Adams Ed

Author:Adams, Ed
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hodder Education
Published: 2014-08-14T16:00:00+00:00

Revision tip

You could try making up a phrase to help you remember the charges against Charles or perhaps use an illustration for each charge.

Charles claimed that the court had no right to put him on trial and refused to answer the charges.

• Eighty commissioners took part in the trial of Charles. The King was found guilty by 68 of the judges, 59 of whom signed his death warrant.

• The execution took place on the morning of 30 January 1649.

17.5 Cromwell and Parliament

With the King dead, Parliament declared England to be a Commonwealth. The House of Lords was abolished and a Council of State, consisting of MPs chosen from the Rump Parliament, was introduced. The real power to enforce the laws lay with the army, now commanded by Cromwell.

• The Rump Parliament did not prove to be effective and Cromwell was unable to bring about the reforms he really wanted.

• He dissolved the Rump Parliament on 20 April 1653. In its place, the new assembly became known as Barebone’s Parliament. Cromwell wanted this to be a ‘Parliament of the Saints’ that would make laws according to strictly Puritan values.

• But the various groups in Barebone’s Parliament were unable to work together. In December 1653, 40 frustrated MPs marched to Cromwell’s home and handed their authority over to him.

• Barebone’s Parliament was dissolved and, on 16 December 1653, Cromwell was appointed Lord Protector of England.

Lord Protector

• In 1655, England was divided into eleven districts and a Major-General was appointed in charge of keeping law and order in each one. A ten per cent tax, the decimation tax, was introduced to finance the Major-General’s local armies in each district.

• Cromwell banned unlawful assemblies and the owning of weapons by known Royalists, and called for robbers and vagrants to be severely punished.

• While people were free to worship as they wished in private, new laws were introduced that attempted to make their way of life as Puritan as possible. Entertainment, dancing, singing and drinking alcohol were banned, as was the celebration of Christmas.

• In 1657, Cromwell gathered together his army leaders to discuss the drawing-up of a new constitution for England. The men were adamant that Cromwell should not declare himself a replacement for the monarch they had got rid of.

• Nonetheless, later that year, Cromwell was formally sworn in as Lord Protector in a magnificent ceremony, full of pomp and splendour that showed off his power.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.