Religion vs Power, Failure of Interregnum
Vs"Religion was more important than politics in the failure of the interregnum regimes of 1649-1660" assess the validity of this statement.”
In this essay I will be exploring the argument of whether religion was more important than politics in the failure of the interregnum regimes of 1649-1660 there are various arguments to be addressed.
The first factor that I will address is the political failures that assisted in the failure of the interregnum period. There were multiple political failures that can be provided as reasons for the failure of the interregnum, the first of which was the dissolution of the rump parliament after Cromwell expressed his disgust at their attitude towards bringing in a new parliament, the rump was not intended to be permanent however when it came to planning new elections they did everything they could to ensure those already seated would gain a seat in the new parliament this encouraged a great deal of criticism and led to the immediate dissolution and a calling of a new general election.
The reluctance to hold a free election due to fears of Presbyterians and royalists possibly gaining a place led to the nominated assembly, this ended up to be a mixture of moderates and radicals who clashed on their views and as a result rarely agreed on anything, therefore the general assembly was not effective. The moderates organised for the nominated assembly to be dissolved behind the radical’s backs leading on to the instrument of government which announced Cromwell as lord protector, the first protectorate parliament was then duly assembled on 3 September 1654. However, the abrupt termination of Parliament in January 1655 due to the criticism of the ‘recognition’ introduced by Cromwell meant that MPs never finished revising the Instrument of Government and so it was never legally endorsed.
The failure of the First Protectorate Parliament discouraged Cromwell from further attempts to co-operate with civilian politicians, and a series of
In this essay I will be exploring the argument of whether religion was more important than politics in the failure of the interregnum regimes of 1649-1660 there are various arguments to be addressed.
The first factor that I will address is the political failures that assisted in the failure of the interregnum period. There were multiple political failures that can be provided as reasons for the failure of the interregnum, the first of which was the dissolution of the rump parliament after Cromwell expressed his disgust at their attitude towards bringing in a new parliament, the rump was not intended to be permanent however when it came to planning new elections they did everything they could to ensure those already seated would gain a seat in the new parliament this encouraged a great deal of criticism and led to the immediate dissolution and a calling of a new general election.
The reluctance to hold a free election due to fears of Presbyterians and royalists possibly gaining a place led to the nominated assembly, this ended up to be a mixture of moderates and radicals who clashed on their views and as a result rarely agreed on anything, therefore the general assembly was not effective. The moderates organised for the nominated assembly to be dissolved behind the radical’s backs leading on to the instrument of government which announced Cromwell as lord protector, the first protectorate parliament was then duly assembled on 3 September 1654. However, the abrupt termination of Parliament in January 1655 due to the criticism of the ‘recognition’ introduced by Cromwell meant that MPs never finished revising the Instrument of Government and so it was never legally endorsed.
The failure of the First Protectorate Parliament discouraged Cromwell from further attempts to co-operate with civilian politicians, and a series of