WEBVTT 1 00:00:12.919 --> 00:00:17.559 This is Stuart England The Civil Wars Episode two point one hundred and five booths 2 00:00:17.600 --> 00:00:23.440 uprising. Last episode, we saw England's political leaders officially run out of ideas 3 00:00:23.600 --> 00:00:27.640 as they revived the Rump Parliament that had been discredited six years earlier. In 4 00:00:27.719 --> 00:00:31.600 fact, there was a strong sense of deja vous back in sixteen fifty three. 5 00:00:31.719 --> 00:00:34.920 The Rump had been mired in an ideological trap of its own creation. 6 00:00:35.439 --> 00:00:40.159 The legitimacy of the regime rested on the supremacy of Parliament as a representative institution, 7 00:00:40.799 --> 00:00:45.240 but as currently constituted, the purged body was an especially representative of England's 8 00:00:45.240 --> 00:00:49.439 people, and the only way to make it so fresh elections would almost assuredly 9 00:00:49.479 --> 00:00:54.520 destroy the existing government. Almost exactly the same scenario played out in the summer 10 00:00:54.520 --> 00:00:59.000 of sixteen fifty nine. John Lambert presented the Rump with a new constitutional model 11 00:00:59.079 --> 00:01:02.560 that could take effect the second they voted to dissolve themselves and hold new elections, 12 00:01:02.880 --> 00:01:07.640 but Arthur Hasselrigan's allies refused. They had no alternative to offer, only 13 00:01:07.640 --> 00:01:11.799 a stubborn resistance to give up their power. But politics often rewards those who 14 00:01:11.799 --> 00:01:15.840 obstruct and delay with no real plan other than to buy time. At the 15 00:01:15.879 --> 00:01:21.560 beginning of August, events outside London and Westminster conspired to unite the divided regime, 16 00:01:21.719 --> 00:01:26.239 albeit briefly. Constitutional disputes were quickly forgotten amid reports of yet another Royalist 17 00:01:26.280 --> 00:01:32.159 insurrection. Though while this was technically a Royalist uprising in the sense that its 18 00:01:32.159 --> 00:01:34.799 success would have led to the restoration of the Stuart monarchy, within the realm 19 00:01:34.799 --> 00:01:38.840 of civil war labels, it's probably more accurate to call it a Presbyterian uprising. 20 00:01:40.480 --> 00:01:42.760 Many of the men involved had been parliamentary leaders in the First Civil War, 21 00:01:44.120 --> 00:01:48.719 for instance William Waller and Edward Massey, the Hero of Gloucester. Meanwhile, 22 00:01:48.719 --> 00:01:51.879 the Sealed Knot, the secret society that was supposed to be working towards 23 00:01:51.920 --> 00:01:56.920 the restoration in England, refused to participate and even oppose the operation. Partly, 24 00:01:56.959 --> 00:02:00.840 this reluctance was due to poor morale. Through bitter experience, the men 25 00:02:00.879 --> 00:02:04.959 of the Sealed Knot had learned that success was unlikely. The regime's intelligence apparatus 26 00:02:05.040 --> 00:02:07.800 was simply too powerful, and if another rebellion failed, they would likely be 27 00:02:07.840 --> 00:02:13.000 the ones to pay with their heads. But the top level royalists were also 28 00:02:13.000 --> 00:02:16.319 opposed to the planned insuraction. On principle, men like Waller and Massey were 29 00:02:16.319 --> 00:02:20.280 responsible for the defeat of the king in the First Civil War, how could 30 00:02:20.319 --> 00:02:23.159 they be trusted? And more importantly, what kind of restoration would this be 31 00:02:23.439 --> 00:02:29.360 if it was engineered by Presbyterians. There was also the slightly less principled question 32 00:02:29.400 --> 00:02:34.199 of who the restored King's closest advisors would be. The Royalist aristocracy had little 33 00:02:34.199 --> 00:02:38.240 interest in sharing influence with a bunch of common born ex rebels. On the 34 00:02:38.240 --> 00:02:40.360 one hand, the men of the Sealed Knot didn't think the uprising would succeed, 35 00:02:40.719 --> 00:02:45.439 and on the other they feared it would. With the veteran plotters of 36 00:02:45.439 --> 00:02:49.199 the Sealed Knots standing aside, it fell to a group of former parliamentary army 37 00:02:49.199 --> 00:02:53.280 officers to plan things. Some like Edbart Massey had spent time on the continent 38 00:02:53.319 --> 00:02:58.039 within Royalist excel circles. Others like Waller, remained in England but had been 39 00:02:58.039 --> 00:03:02.639 watched suspiciously by the Commonwealth and Protectorate regimes for years. Through consultation with exiled 40 00:03:02.719 --> 00:03:07.479 Royalists and their own observations of the previous unsuccessful Royalist risings, they developed new 41 00:03:07.520 --> 00:03:13.120 strategies concentrating a rising in one place seemed like too much of a risk. 42 00:03:13.560 --> 00:03:15.800 If the regime's army could focus on a single threat, there was little hope 43 00:03:15.840 --> 00:03:21.960 of success. But coordinating multiple risings all across the country posed a challenge too. 44 00:03:22.479 --> 00:03:24.599 The more complex the communication network, the more likely it was to be 45 00:03:24.599 --> 00:03:30.879 infiltrated by the government. The answer was a decentralized, highly flexible series of 46 00:03:30.879 --> 00:03:36.120 cells all across England. Regional commanders were given wide ranging autonomy to organize local 47 00:03:36.159 --> 00:03:40.000 movements. The Royalist exiles bought into this approach, most especially Charles himself. 48 00:03:40.560 --> 00:03:44.639 In fact, the commissions that he gave to regional leaders to rise up in 49 00:03:44.680 --> 00:03:49.159 his name were remarkably flexible. It was left up to local commanders whether to 50 00:03:49.199 --> 00:03:52.719 even mention the King's name and their rallying cries. They had the option of 51 00:03:52.800 --> 00:03:55.520 merely rising up in the name of the church. The goal was to swamp 52 00:03:55.560 --> 00:04:00.199 the regime with a deluge of rebellions, each custom designed to appeal to a 53 00:04:00.280 --> 00:04:03.560 regional audience. The progress of the movement would depend on how Westminster reacted. 54 00:04:04.120 --> 00:04:09.039 For instance, there was no designated nerve center to the rebellion. There were 55 00:04:09.039 --> 00:04:12.759 hopes that Bristol or East Anglia might provide the most fertile ground for the uprising, 56 00:04:12.960 --> 00:04:15.480 but the army couldn't be everywhere at once. If those regional movements were 57 00:04:15.480 --> 00:04:19.920 suppressed, momentum would grow elsewhere. The germ of the plan developed in the 58 00:04:19.959 --> 00:04:26.120 spring of sixteen fifty nine, as Presbyterians and exiled Royalists quietly exchanged notes across 59 00:04:26.120 --> 00:04:30.160 the English Channel. But for all this strategizing, there was little indication that 60 00:04:30.199 --> 00:04:34.439 the uprisings would enjoy the crucial ingredient needed for success, popular support. That 61 00:04:34.600 --> 00:04:40.480 began to change as Richard Cromwell's protectorate regime crumbled in April events we tracked last 62 00:04:40.480 --> 00:04:44.720 episode. The new regime that emerged, a partnership between the old rump and 63 00:04:44.759 --> 00:04:47.560 the army, had even less legitimacy than the old one. Now is the 64 00:04:47.600 --> 00:04:53.160 time to strike before Hassle, Rigg, Fleetwood, Lambert or someone else consolidated 65 00:04:53.160 --> 00:04:57.639 control over the state. But political instability at the top was nothing new, 66 00:04:57.839 --> 00:05:00.720 and it hadn't paved the way for the success of ending the other uprisings in 67 00:05:00.720 --> 00:05:03.279 the past decade. If there was a difference in sixteen fifty nine, it 68 00:05:03.360 --> 00:05:06.879 came in the form of a near hysterical fear of Quakers that was sweeping across 69 00:05:06.920 --> 00:05:13.439 England. Although a relatively minuscule group, the Quakers had a tremendous national presence. 70 00:05:14.160 --> 00:05:17.439 James Naylor's prominent role in the Second Protectorate Parliament had raised the profile of 71 00:05:17.480 --> 00:05:21.879 the movement. The punishment that the Quaker leader received further polarized the nation. 72 00:05:23.519 --> 00:05:27.519 For some, it was a necessary curb on religious successes, but for others 73 00:05:27.560 --> 00:05:30.040 it was a betrayal of the good Old Cause, the defense of religious freedoms 74 00:05:30.040 --> 00:05:34.199 that had defined the Civil War. The overthrow of the Protectorate two and a 75 00:05:34.240 --> 00:05:39.120 half years later appeared to reverse the Nailor decision. After all, the men 76 00:05:39.120 --> 00:05:43.399 who had destroyed the Cromwellian regime, the rumpers and army officers, did so 77 00:05:43.560 --> 00:05:46.800 in the name of the good Old Cause, using the same language that Naylor's 78 00:05:46.839 --> 00:05:50.680 defenders had for Quakers. This raised the possibility that the new regime would bring 79 00:05:50.720 --> 00:05:55.279 toleration or even usher in a new religious order. They would end the reign 80 00:05:55.319 --> 00:05:59.279 of organized churches. For those who thought the Quakers and their ideas were dangerous, 81 00:05:59.399 --> 00:06:02.040 this was an all arming prospect. For years, Cromwell had talked a 82 00:06:02.040 --> 00:06:05.160 big game. When it came to radical religious renewal, but as a socially 83 00:06:05.160 --> 00:06:11.399 conservative statesman, he kept a tight rein on truly revolutionary change. Now unmoored 84 00:06:11.439 --> 00:06:14.959 from Cromwellian restraint, there was no limit to the damaged radicals could do. 85 00:06:15.000 --> 00:06:19.319 Quakers were a convenient stand in for the larger radical movement, a lightning rod 86 00:06:19.319 --> 00:06:24.839 to focus the collective anxieties of the nation. Of course, the Quakers weren't 87 00:06:24.839 --> 00:06:29.160 shy about drawing attention to themselves. There was even a triumphalist streak to Quaker 88 00:06:29.199 --> 00:06:32.199 rhetoric as they celebrated the fall of the Cromwellian regime that had persecuted them. 89 00:06:32.959 --> 00:06:36.240 George Fox, one of the key founders of the movement, published a new 90 00:06:36.279 --> 00:06:41.600 track, fifty nine Particulars for the Regulating of Things. In effect, it 91 00:06:41.639 --> 00:06:44.160 was an outline of the role the Quakers could play in the new regime. 92 00:06:44.759 --> 00:06:48.120 Their model of decentralized religious belief would replace the old Church of England structure, 93 00:06:48.279 --> 00:06:54.360 which Fox claimed still lived on even in loosely federated congregational churches. But more 94 00:06:54.399 --> 00:07:00.439 alarming than Fox's revolutionary take on church infrastructure were his economic proposals. Quam had 95 00:07:00.439 --> 00:07:02.959 emerged out of the impoverished rural communities of the North, and had always retained 96 00:07:02.959 --> 00:07:08.160 its egalitarian message, not just in terms of religious hierarchies, but in terms 97 00:07:08.160 --> 00:07:12.480 of property and wealth too. Fox called upon the new government to implement a 98 00:07:12.480 --> 00:07:16.439 program or property redistribution to provide for the poor nothing less than the confiscation of 99 00:07:16.480 --> 00:07:20.879 the estates of great men. The problem was the leaders of the new regime, 100 00:07:21.160 --> 00:07:26.519 Arthur Hesselrigg, John Lambert or Charles Fleetwood, were no more radical revolutionaries 101 00:07:26.519 --> 00:07:30.519 than Oliver Cromwell had been. The Good Old Cause had been a usefully vague 102 00:07:30.600 --> 00:07:33.600 rallying cry to depose Richard Cromwell, but it by no means committed these men 103 00:07:33.680 --> 00:07:39.600 to remake England into some kind of Quaker utopia. One of the regime's first 104 00:07:39.600 --> 00:07:43.720 acts was to reassure the English public that they were not intent on religious revolution. 105 00:07:44.319 --> 00:07:47.199 On the twenty first of May, four days before Richard Cromwell formally resigned 106 00:07:47.199 --> 00:07:53.120 as Lord Protector, the rump Parliament clarified the nation's rules on religion. As 107 00:07:53.120 --> 00:07:57.120 in the Protectorate, all those who accepted Christ as their savior and Scripture as 108 00:07:57.160 --> 00:08:01.199 their guide would be free to practice their faith. Furthermore, the state would 109 00:08:01.199 --> 00:08:05.360 continue supporting clergy through the collection of ties, though englishmen and women were free 110 00:08:05.399 --> 00:08:09.759 to attend independent churches if they wished. But if Westminster hoped that this would 111 00:08:09.800 --> 00:08:13.079 calm the situation, they were quickly proven wrong. Quakers and other radicals were 112 00:08:13.079 --> 00:08:18.120 frustrated by the rejection of their program, though likely not surprised, they had 113 00:08:18.120 --> 00:08:22.920 come to expect struggle as the necessary precursor to final salvation. Instead, the 114 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:26.439 Quakers redoubled their efforts. In June, they presented Westminster with a mass petition, 115 00:08:26.680 --> 00:08:31.319 a large proportion of the signatures coming from the North. It demanded that 116 00:08:31.360 --> 00:08:35.200 the Rump immediately end the collection of tithes and enact a significant reform of the 117 00:08:35.279 --> 00:08:37.840 law to benefit the common people rather than the wealthy elite and their lawyers. 118 00:08:39.720 --> 00:08:43.799 Hesitant to alienate radical opinion, especially since many in the army believed in a 119 00:08:43.879 --> 00:08:46.879 version of the Good Old Cause that resembled that of the Quakers, the Rump 120 00:08:46.919 --> 00:08:50.279 hesitated. Historian Barry Ray argues that this was the worst of both worlds. 121 00:08:50.840 --> 00:08:58.480 Westminster succeeded only in terrifying Presbyterians while merely wedding radical appetites. More radical demands 122 00:08:58.480 --> 00:09:03.759 followed fellow travelers who had been purged from offices in the state or the army 123 00:09:03.879 --> 00:09:07.600 had to be restored. Sensing that the fate of the nation or perhaps the 124 00:09:07.639 --> 00:09:11.679 world, hung in the balance, Quakers and other radicals became avid volunteers in 125 00:09:11.759 --> 00:09:16.320 militias or the army. Pacifism one of the core principles of the later Quaker 126 00:09:16.360 --> 00:09:20.399 movement had yet to be firmly established. Taking up arms in defense of a 127 00:09:20.480 --> 00:09:26.879 radical revolution seemed not only justified but obligatory. Inevitably, Quaker enthusiasms broked a 128 00:09:26.919 --> 00:09:31.960 backlash. Historians referred to this counter movement as Presbyterian, though that is more 129 00:09:31.960 --> 00:09:35.879 a label of convenience than anything else. Here were not so much talking about 130 00:09:35.879 --> 00:09:39.840 a movement for a particular kind of Calvinist church, but a more generalized sense 131 00:09:39.879 --> 00:09:43.799 that radical religion posed a threat to the social order. That, of course, 132 00:09:43.799 --> 00:09:46.240 had always been attention within the parliamentary cause, even while the Civil War 133 00:09:46.320 --> 00:09:50.639 was still raging. But the collapse of Cromwellian restraint, the liberal use of 134 00:09:50.639 --> 00:09:54.960 the Good Old Cause as a rallying cry, and the emergence of the Quakers 135 00:09:54.000 --> 00:09:58.200 as a coherent stand in for the whole host of radical boogeymen created a conservative 136 00:09:58.240 --> 00:10:03.159 Presbyterian volition that was broader than ever before. Men and women who in the 137 00:10:03.159 --> 00:10:07.519 past had grudgingly accepted the radical ideas coming from the Capitol now sensed that a 138 00:10:07.559 --> 00:10:13.559 line was about to be crossed. Where previously Oliver Cromwell and his protectorate regime 139 00:10:13.600 --> 00:10:16.480 had stood as a plausible break on excessive radicalism. The new powers that be 140 00:10:16.639 --> 00:10:20.360 seemed either too weak to defend the social order or all too willing to further 141 00:10:20.399 --> 00:10:24.679 their own interests by partnering with the forces of anarchy. The atmosphere was further 142 00:10:24.720 --> 00:10:30.360 poisoned by unsubstantiated rumors. There were reports that the army in Ireland had been 143 00:10:30.360 --> 00:10:33.759 infiltrated by Quakers and that it had executed a coup in Dublin. Within days, 144 00:10:35.000 --> 00:10:37.519 landings were expected all across the West. It was an odd echo of 145 00:10:37.559 --> 00:10:41.919 the paranois that swept across England after the Irish Rebellion of sixteen forty one, 146 00:10:41.360 --> 00:10:46.600 only this time the invaders coming from Ireland weren't Catholic, but radical Protestants. 147 00:10:46.240 --> 00:10:50.159 Tension continued to build into the summer. In June, a mob broke up 148 00:10:50.200 --> 00:10:54.840 a Quaker meeting on Vine Street in London, assaulting many of those assembled. 149 00:10:54.360 --> 00:10:58.399 In Kent, a man threw a dead cat into a Quaker meeting hall, 150 00:10:58.519 --> 00:11:01.600 then released his hounds, eating a scene of chaos and mayhem. On the 151 00:11:01.639 --> 00:11:05.200 fourteenth of July, in Tiverton, a town in Devon, the alarm was 152 00:11:05.279 --> 00:11:09.559 raised, words spread of a Quaker and fifth Monarchist plot to break into holmes 153 00:11:09.559 --> 00:11:13.159 that very night and slit the throats of all those who rejected their false religion. 154 00:11:15.159 --> 00:11:18.440 Well, it's impossible to say with any degree of certainty. These incidents 155 00:11:18.440 --> 00:11:22.919 were likely a mixture of spontaneous paranoia among the populace and an organized campaign of 156 00:11:22.960 --> 00:11:28.639 intimidation orchestrated by local officials. Royalist sympathizers also did their part to stoke fears 157 00:11:28.679 --> 00:11:31.519 of a Quaker coup, though really they were adding fuel to an already blazing 158 00:11:31.559 --> 00:11:37.080 fire. But despite my argument here that this uprising was different, that the 159 00:11:37.120 --> 00:11:41.080 regime in power was weaker than ever before and the wider population more willing to 160 00:11:41.120 --> 00:11:45.919 support insurrection, the opening moves played out in a fairly familiar pattern. The 161 00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:50.519 Great Spymaster John Thurlow had been ejected from office as a Cromwellian loyalist, but 162 00:11:50.679 --> 00:11:54.919 his successor, Thomas Scott, inherited an impressive intelligence network. Of course, 163 00:11:54.960 --> 00:11:58.200 as you may recall, Scott was both Thurlough's predecessor and successor. He had 164 00:11:58.240 --> 00:12:01.840 been Chief Intel's officer in the first iteration of the rump regime earlier in the 165 00:12:01.879 --> 00:12:07.120 decade. Scott got word of the uprisings before the designated start date, the 166 00:12:07.200 --> 00:12:11.240 first of August. A series of coordinated arrests throughout England spread confusion among the 167 00:12:11.279 --> 00:12:16.519 ranks of the plotters. The Seal Knot didn't help things by sending out messages 168 00:12:16.559 --> 00:12:20.039 calling off the whole operation, since they weren't involved in the planning or organization. 169 00:12:20.279 --> 00:12:24.000 They weren't exactly authorized to do so, but the resulting confusion was a 170 00:12:24.080 --> 00:12:28.440 useful pretext to stay away for those who worried that it was a lost cause. 171 00:12:28.440 --> 00:12:33.279 Local leaders in Kent and Sussex found that no one appeared at their designated 172 00:12:33.320 --> 00:12:35.720 gathering points, that is, except for the government officials who came to arrest 173 00:12:35.759 --> 00:12:39.559 them. In Oxford, the local rising was to be led by Henry Carey, 174 00:12:39.759 --> 00:12:43.159 Viscount Falkland, the son of the Falkland who was Charles the first Secretary 175 00:12:43.200 --> 00:12:48.159 of State early in the Civil War, but he was arrested before his followers 176 00:12:48.200 --> 00:12:52.679 could assemble. Edward Massey hoped to stage an insurrection at Gloucester, the sight 177 00:12:52.759 --> 00:12:56.240 of his heroics during the Civil War, but when several of his deputies were 178 00:12:56.360 --> 00:12:58.399 arrested, he fled the country rather than risk getting caught in the net. 179 00:13:00.200 --> 00:13:03.000 Risings were also disrupted in Cornwall, which had long been a potential Royalist base. 180 00:13:03.519 --> 00:13:07.799 The key man there was John Grenville, the son of the Cornish hero 181 00:13:07.879 --> 00:13:11.440 Bevel Grenville, who had been killed in the Civil War. John had fought 182 00:13:11.480 --> 00:13:13.720 alongside his father, despite being just fourteen years old at the time, and 183 00:13:13.879 --> 00:13:18.840 continued to support the Royalist cause late in the war. When the Prince of 184 00:13:18.840 --> 00:13:22.080 Wales, the future Charles the Second, fled into Cornwall, John Grenville became 185 00:13:22.120 --> 00:13:26.240 a close companion and member of the Prince's bed chamber. They were both teenagers 186 00:13:26.279 --> 00:13:31.200 whose families had been devastated by the war. When the Prince had to abandon 187 00:13:31.200 --> 00:13:35.440 England altogether, Grenville stayed in royal service, commanding the exiled garrison on the 188 00:13:35.440 --> 00:13:39.440 Cilly Isles off the coast of Cornwall. From there, Royalist raiders were able 189 00:13:39.480 --> 00:13:43.279 to pillage local shipping until Robert Blake captured the islands in sixteen fifty one. 190 00:13:43.240 --> 00:13:46.840 Since then, Grenville had been an active member of the Royalist exile community, 191 00:13:46.960 --> 00:13:52.399 but retained his links to Cornwall. Even more importantly, though Grenville's mother, 192 00:13:52.600 --> 00:13:56.200 Grace, was a cousin of George Monk, the overall commander in Scotland, 193 00:13:56.799 --> 00:14:00.360 Charles himself had commissioned Grenville to reach out to the General and see whether he 194 00:14:00.440 --> 00:14:03.440 might use his Scottish army to intervene on behalf of the Royalist cause. This 195 00:14:03.519 --> 00:14:07.639 wasn't as unlikely as it sounded. Monk's political loyalties were far from clear. 196 00:14:09.240 --> 00:14:13.279 Although weeks earlier he had ignored Richard Cromwell's please to save the Protectorate, he 197 00:14:13.360 --> 00:14:16.120 hadn't exactly given the new rump a full vote of confidence. It was one 198 00:14:16.159 --> 00:14:20.120 of the many signs that the regime was in a more precarious position than any 199 00:14:20.159 --> 00:14:24.639 of its predecessors that the lines of communication between Grenville and Monk remained open even 200 00:14:24.679 --> 00:14:28.120 after the Cornishment was briefly arrested in August. But Monk was too cagy a 201 00:14:28.120 --> 00:14:33.440 politician to get involved in a failed insurrection. As Grenville's arrest would suggest, 202 00:14:33.559 --> 00:14:37.120 the uprising in Cornwall was rather easily suppressed, as well. Monk's Scottish Army 203 00:14:37.159 --> 00:14:41.279 held back, but he remained poised to be an influential figure in the near 204 00:14:41.320 --> 00:14:45.720 future. There was one place, however, where the uniform pattern of arrests 205 00:14:45.720 --> 00:14:48.840 and suppression was broken. In the county of Cheshire, just across the border 206 00:14:48.840 --> 00:14:54.879 from North Wales, a well organized insurrection emerged. The reasons that the uprising 207 00:14:54.919 --> 00:14:58.720 was successful in Cheshire are partly to do with happenstance and partly to do with 208 00:14:58.799 --> 00:15:03.480 local conditions there So an examination of the county will be duly beneficial. On 209 00:15:03.519 --> 00:15:05.960 the one hand, Cheshire was much like several other counties across England. The 210 00:15:07.080 --> 00:15:11.159 motivations that drove a critical mass of its population to rise up were also avid 211 00:15:11.159 --> 00:15:15.440 and elsewhere. Studying Cheshire gives us a degree of insight into local attitudes more 212 00:15:15.440 --> 00:15:18.120 generally. On the other hand, on some level, Cheshire was different. 213 00:15:18.480 --> 00:15:22.720 The conditions for insurrection may have existed in other county's too, but what sequences 214 00:15:22.720 --> 00:15:28.080 of events and decisions made the rising there succeed at least initially, where others 215 00:15:28.080 --> 00:15:31.879 failed. We've made a couple brief stops in Cheshire so far in the podcast, 216 00:15:31.320 --> 00:15:35.600 most notably, the county played host to the Nantwich Campaign in the winter 217 00:15:35.600 --> 00:15:39.240 of sixteen forty three forty four. As you may recall, that was when 218 00:15:39.279 --> 00:15:41.360 the Royalists tried to make the most of the ceasefire with the Irish rebels, 219 00:15:41.840 --> 00:15:46.960 troops no longer needed in Ireland moved across the Irish Sea and landed in Wales 220 00:15:46.960 --> 00:15:50.360 and the west of England. As it happened, George Monk was among those 221 00:15:50.360 --> 00:15:52.840 soldiers coming over from Ireland. At Nantowitch, he fought for the King, 222 00:15:54.080 --> 00:15:58.720 but eventually changed sides after being captured there. In terms of Cheshire politics, 223 00:15:58.720 --> 00:16:02.320 though, the key player during the war years was William Brereton, the commander 224 00:16:02.360 --> 00:16:06.399 of parliamentary forces in the county. He only made a few scattered appearances in 225 00:16:06.440 --> 00:16:10.039 our national narrative of the conflict, but the Civil War was in many ways 226 00:16:10.120 --> 00:16:12.600 a series of local wars, and in the Northwest of England, no one 227 00:16:12.639 --> 00:16:18.840 was more responsible for Parliament's victory than Brereton. Brereton's service in the war was 228 00:16:18.840 --> 00:16:22.559 well rewarded. He had already been a prominent figure in Cheshire before the war, 229 00:16:22.759 --> 00:16:26.279 but during and after the conflict he accumulated new estates that made him the 230 00:16:26.320 --> 00:16:30.000 most influential figure in the county. Like most parliamentarians, Brereton was a devout 231 00:16:30.039 --> 00:16:34.159 Puritan. Through the course of the war he moved to a congregationalist position within 232 00:16:34.200 --> 00:16:38.720 the larger independent movement. This prevented him from being targeted by the Purges of 233 00:16:38.720 --> 00:16:45.080 sixteen forty eight. But really Brereton didn't involve himself in postwar politics. Although 234 00:16:45.120 --> 00:16:48.720 appointed to the court that tried and condemned the king, he, like Thomas 235 00:16:48.759 --> 00:16:52.679 Fairfax, didn't participate in the proceedings, nor did he take up an offered 236 00:16:52.679 --> 00:16:56.919 position in the Council of State. Instead, Brereton withdrew from public life and 237 00:16:56.080 --> 00:17:00.360 enjoyed his private status as the leading man of Cheshire. That and much else 238 00:17:00.360 --> 00:17:04.119 in Cheshire began to change with the creation of the Major General system in sixteen 239 00:17:04.160 --> 00:17:10.000 fifty five. Cheshire fell under the jurisdiction of Major General Charles Worsley, who 240 00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:14.839 oversaw the counties of Cheshire, Lancashire and Staffshire in the northwest. Unlike Brereton 241 00:17:14.920 --> 00:17:18.400 and his gentry friends, Worsley was the son of a Manchester cloth merchant. 242 00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:22.200 During the war, he built a reputation for prowess in the battlefield, but 243 00:17:22.319 --> 00:17:26.240 also for ruthless manipulation of the state's power to confiscate land. Through the Lancashire 244 00:17:26.279 --> 00:17:32.640 County Committee, Worsley managed the sequestration of huge tracts of Royalist property. Now, 245 00:17:32.640 --> 00:17:36.559 to be fair to Worsley, Lancashire had a significant Catholic and Royalist community, 246 00:17:36.640 --> 00:17:41.160 so there was plenty of property to cease, but even devoted parliamentarians couldn't 247 00:17:41.200 --> 00:17:44.920 help. But note that Worsley personally benefited from his energetic pursuit of traders. 248 00:17:45.880 --> 00:17:49.000 After the war, Worsley continued his rise in army politics through a fiercely devoted 249 00:17:49.039 --> 00:17:53.200 loyalty to Oliver Cromwell. In fact, when Cromwell broke up the rump Parliament 250 00:17:53.200 --> 00:17:59.039 in sixteen fifty three, Worsley commanded the soldiers who escorted the parliamentarian men out. 251 00:18:00.039 --> 00:18:03.559 Worsley then was the ideal major general. He knew how to keep tabs 252 00:18:03.559 --> 00:18:07.960 on Royalists and other troublemakers in the Northwest, and his dedication to the Cromwellian 253 00:18:07.000 --> 00:18:11.200 regime was unquestioned. At least, Worsley was the ideal major general from the 254 00:18:11.200 --> 00:18:15.920 perspective of Whitehall, but from Cheshire things looked quite a bit different. Like 255 00:18:15.960 --> 00:18:19.799 many other counties in England, The traditional gentry elite viewed the changes in local 256 00:18:19.839 --> 00:18:25.880 governance with alarm. The wartime county committees had elevated merchants, lesser gentry, 257 00:18:25.880 --> 00:18:30.440 and even some artisans to positions of political power. Now in the major generals, 258 00:18:30.519 --> 00:18:33.680 power rested with army officers, usually not drawn from the traditional ruling classes, 259 00:18:34.160 --> 00:18:37.880 and while Cromwell tried his best to select major generals with local connections to 260 00:18:37.880 --> 00:18:41.960 their regions, it was impossible to achieve this in all places. Worsley, 261 00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:45.559 for instance, was a man of the Northwest, but he was from Lancashire. 262 00:18:45.839 --> 00:18:49.160 To William Brereton and the other gentleman of Cheshire, the major general was 263 00:18:49.240 --> 00:18:53.160 very much an outsider, and Worsley wasn't the type of guide to worry about 264 00:18:53.200 --> 00:18:57.920 stepping on anyone's toes. He energetically pursued his mandate to instill obedience and good 265 00:18:59.000 --> 00:19:03.079 order in the county. Within weeks of his arrival, Cheshire's jails were full 266 00:19:03.119 --> 00:19:07.839 to bursting with drunks, vagrants and alleged royalists. Even compared to other major 267 00:19:07.880 --> 00:19:11.960 generals, Worsley was remarkably adept at finding potential traitors everywhere he looked. Almost 268 00:19:12.000 --> 00:19:15.799 immediately Upon taking up his job, he rounded up a collection of suspected royalists, 269 00:19:17.039 --> 00:19:19.279 then reported to Cromwell, I am afraid I shall find more of that 270 00:19:19.400 --> 00:19:25.000 gang. When the government implemented a program of demanding bonds of good behavior from 271 00:19:25.039 --> 00:19:29.839 suspected royalists, Worsley managed to target three times more than any other major general. 272 00:19:30.359 --> 00:19:33.799 Unlike his colleagues, Worsley even reached into the Yeoman class for targets. 273 00:19:33.319 --> 00:19:37.079 Some historians suspect that he was using the surety system as a kind of supplement 274 00:19:37.079 --> 00:19:41.920 to the decimation tax, reaching people who didn't qualify under its guidelines. Brereton 275 00:19:41.960 --> 00:19:45.119 and the other gentry leaders of Cheshire weren't happy with this state of affairs, 276 00:19:45.279 --> 00:19:51.160 but were cautious in their response. Cromwell's regime provided a degree of stability and 277 00:19:51.240 --> 00:19:55.200 a check on the more radical religious, political, or economic ideas floating around 278 00:19:55.200 --> 00:20:00.079 England. For wealthy congregationalists like Brereton, the protectorate regime by today welcome balance 279 00:20:00.160 --> 00:20:04.440 between religious freedom and social conservatism. If they rocked the boat too much, 280 00:20:04.559 --> 00:20:10.559 a truly radical regime might emerge. Therefore, Cheshire's gentry elite did their best 281 00:20:10.599 --> 00:20:15.079 to obstruct Worsley's work. Through legal protests and indirect obstruction. In this life 282 00:20:15.079 --> 00:20:19.039 in Cheshire mirrored that of other counties throughout the nation. The major generals were 283 00:20:19.039 --> 00:20:25.319 often treated by elites as an unwelcome and hopefully temporary inconvenience, though the longer 284 00:20:25.359 --> 00:20:29.240 their rule lasted, the more the people of Cheshire resented the whole concept of 285 00:20:29.279 --> 00:20:33.359 military governance. When Lord Protector Cromwell, in consultation with his major generals, 286 00:20:33.519 --> 00:20:37.279 decided to call the Second Protectorate Parliament in the summer of sixteen thirty six, 287 00:20:37.599 --> 00:20:41.839 the provincial elites got a new venue in which to express their opposition elections. 288 00:20:42.680 --> 00:20:48.799 This opportunity took a distinct form in the Northwest, as Charles Worsley unexpectedly died 289 00:20:48.000 --> 00:20:52.640 aged just thirty three while meeting with the other major generals in London. Tobias 290 00:20:52.640 --> 00:20:56.920 Bridge was appointed to succeed him, but the parliamentary elections that summer were conducted 291 00:20:56.920 --> 00:21:03.279 amid a confused transition process. Multiple groups competed for the slate of four members 292 00:21:03.400 --> 00:21:07.680 Cheshire would send to Westminster. Major General Bridge put forward a list of government 293 00:21:07.720 --> 00:21:11.240 supported names, while some members of the Cheshire elite put themselves toward independently as 294 00:21:11.279 --> 00:21:18.400 candidates including William Brereton. Although not necessarily opposed to the protectorate regime, Brereton 295 00:21:18.440 --> 00:21:22.559 had publicly resisted the major general system for months and could be expected to argue 296 00:21:22.559 --> 00:21:26.039 for its disillusion in parliament. Other more radical voices joined the campaign too, 297 00:21:26.559 --> 00:21:30.599 most notably John Bradshaw, the president of the Court that had tried King Charles 298 00:21:30.640 --> 00:21:34.480 the First and perhaps the one man who could challenge Arthur Hasselrigg for the title 299 00:21:34.480 --> 00:21:40.039 of most die hard rumper. In a confused election season, the Cheshire elite 300 00:21:40.039 --> 00:21:42.680 were torn between their desire to end the rule of the major generals and their 301 00:21:42.759 --> 00:21:45.880 fear of the instability that might come from a parliament led by the likes of 302 00:21:45.960 --> 00:21:51.200 John Bradshaw. In the end, Oliver Cromwell himself reached out to Brereton, 303 00:21:51.359 --> 00:21:55.799 asking for his help in keeping Bradshaw out. Brereton agreed, possibly to the 304 00:21:55.839 --> 00:21:59.920 dutchriment of his own bid for Parliament. Neither he nor Bradshaw secured a seat. 305 00:22:00.839 --> 00:22:03.079 As it turned out, the Cheshire and peas in the second Protectorate Parliament 306 00:22:03.240 --> 00:22:08.119 were neither firm supporters of the regime nor ardent critics, though one member is 307 00:22:08.119 --> 00:22:12.240 worth highlighting, George Booth will have time for a more thorough introduction in a 308 00:22:12.319 --> 00:22:15.839 moment. But like Brereton, Booth was a member of the Cheshire landed elite. 309 00:22:17.440 --> 00:22:19.240 Also, like Brereton, he had fought for Parliament in the Civil War, 310 00:22:19.559 --> 00:22:23.839 though Booth had been among the Presbyterians purged in sixteen forty eight. Two 311 00:22:23.920 --> 00:22:27.720 years later, when Richard Cromwell succeeded his father and called for another round of 312 00:22:27.759 --> 00:22:33.920 elections, the Conservative coalition between Cheshire elites and the Protectorate leadership failed to repeat 313 00:22:33.920 --> 00:22:37.440 their victory. Bradshaw and his Rumper allies won and set off to Westminster to 314 00:22:37.480 --> 00:22:41.960 help dismantle the Protectorate State. The value all of the Cromwell had provided in 315 00:22:42.079 --> 00:22:47.640 keeping back the tide of radical religious and political change became immediately obvious to the 316 00:22:47.640 --> 00:22:51.200 property men of Cheshire. In the spring of sixteen fifty nine, as the 317 00:22:51.279 --> 00:22:53.960 Rump and the Army swept away the last vestiges of the Protectorate State, the 318 00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:59.920 anxiety in Cheshire only grew. The Cheshire gentry were virtually united in their opposite 319 00:23:00.160 --> 00:23:03.839 to the new regime that was forming at Westminster. The only thing they lacked 320 00:23:03.960 --> 00:23:07.480 was a leader. William Brereton was perhaps the obvious choice, but he balked 321 00:23:07.519 --> 00:23:11.319 at taking up arms against Parliament, no matter how illegitimate its claim to authority. 322 00:23:11.960 --> 00:23:15.960 Also, as an independent who had at least played a nominal role in 323 00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:19.400 the creation of the Commonwealth, Brereton wasn't part of the Presbyterian network through which 324 00:23:19.400 --> 00:23:25.200 the sixteen fifty nine uprisings were planned. Leadership of the resistance in Cheshire therefore 325 00:23:25.200 --> 00:23:27.519 fell to George Booth, the man we saw elected to Parliament a few minutes 326 00:23:27.559 --> 00:23:32.799 ago. Booth was thirty seven years old and a member of an important Cheshire 327 00:23:32.880 --> 00:23:36.480 gentry family. He had joined the parliamentary cause in the Civil War as a 328 00:23:36.480 --> 00:23:40.680 teenager and fought with William Brereton's County Army. But before the war had even 329 00:23:40.799 --> 00:23:45.440 ended, the Brereton and Booth families were at loggerheads. The dynamic was similar 330 00:23:45.440 --> 00:23:48.240 to that of the Fairfax and Hotham families in Yorkshire. As you may recall 331 00:23:48.319 --> 00:23:52.440 from way back in the early days of the war, both the Fairfaxes and 332 00:23:52.480 --> 00:23:56.240 the Hothams fought for Parliament, but competition over influence in the county, heightened 333 00:23:56.240 --> 00:24:00.720 by religious and ideological differences, led John Cotham and his son to defect to 334 00:24:00.759 --> 00:24:04.960 the Royalist side, while a similar process played out in Cheshire at the end 335 00:24:04.960 --> 00:24:08.640 of the war. This time the local rivalry played out against the backdrop of 336 00:24:08.680 --> 00:24:14.480 the Presbyterian Independent divide. Before the war was over, Booth traveled to London 337 00:24:14.480 --> 00:24:18.920 to spread rumors of Brereton's corruption and religious radicalism. Despite Brereton's attempts to dispel 338 00:24:18.960 --> 00:24:23.200 these accusations, Booth managed to turn suspicions of the General into victory in a 339 00:24:23.279 --> 00:24:27.920 Cheshire recruiter election in sixteen forty five. Ultimately, however, Booth fell on 340 00:24:27.960 --> 00:24:33.519 the losing side of the Presbyterian Independent conflict. In sixteen forty eight, he 341 00:24:33.559 --> 00:24:36.920 was one of the men purged from Parliament, paving the way for the Commonwealth 342 00:24:36.920 --> 00:24:41.000 and then Protectorate. Since then, Booth's status had been a bit uncertain. 343 00:24:41.519 --> 00:24:45.880 His political loyalties remained suspect, though his influence in Cheshire made him a tempting 344 00:24:45.920 --> 00:24:48.960 local partner for the central government. Booth was selected to represent the county in 345 00:24:49.000 --> 00:24:53.200 the nominated Assembly, a data point against the argument that the Bearbonne's Parliament was 346 00:24:53.240 --> 00:24:57.240 a hive of radicalism. He also won a seat in the first Protectorate Parliament 347 00:24:57.240 --> 00:25:02.599 of sixteen fifty four, but no one forgot that Booth was a Presbyterian who 348 00:25:02.599 --> 00:25:06.279 had been purged in sixteen forty eight. There was some suspicion that he was 349 00:25:06.319 --> 00:25:10.920 involved in the sixteen fifty five Royalist unrest, best remembered for Penruddick's brief uprising 350 00:25:10.920 --> 00:25:14.599 in the West Country. But if Booth had been involved in organizing insurrection in 351 00:25:14.680 --> 00:25:19.000 Cheshire, he withdrew before John Thurloe's crackdown and avoided arrest. Neither was Booth 352 00:25:19.039 --> 00:25:23.359 targeted by the major generals, though Charles Worsley did imprison his uncle John Booth. 353 00:25:23.920 --> 00:25:29.079 It's possible that even Worsley saw George Booth as too influential within Cheshire to 354 00:25:29.200 --> 00:25:33.680 risk alienating. But while there wasn't enough evidence to arrest Booth, Cromwell had 355 00:25:33.720 --> 00:25:37.599 lost his earlier trust in him. When the Lord Protector excluded a large swath 356 00:25:37.640 --> 00:25:41.400 of MPs in the Second Protectorate Parliament, he made sure to include Booth's name 357 00:25:41.440 --> 00:25:45.119 on the list. When the Protectorate crumbled and the Rump returned to power, 358 00:25:45.359 --> 00:25:49.319 the alienation of Booth and the Cheshire gentry he represented was almost inevitable. One 359 00:25:49.400 --> 00:25:55.680 last possible avenue of reconciliation was the composition of the restored Rump, Booth and 360 00:25:55.759 --> 00:25:59.200 others who had been purged in sixteen forty eight urged the Rump to turn back 361 00:25:59.240 --> 00:26:03.279 the clock, not to Cromwell's force dissolution of sixteen fifty three, but all 362 00:26:03.279 --> 00:26:06.839 the way to the illegal purge of sixteen forty eight. The only way to 363 00:26:06.960 --> 00:26:11.519 establish a legitimate legal government was the restoration of a truly free parliament. This 364 00:26:11.599 --> 00:26:15.559 would soon become the rallying cry of the opposition to the regime. The religious 365 00:26:15.559 --> 00:26:22.240 component of Presbyterianism was finally overshadowed by the political meaning of the label in encompassing 366 00:26:22.240 --> 00:26:26.359 calls for a free parliament. The Presbyterian movement was turning into a popular demand 367 00:26:26.359 --> 00:26:30.759 for truly representative government and a rejection of the radicalism of a minority that the 368 00:26:30.839 --> 00:26:33.960 Rump stood for, but that process would take time to develop. In the 369 00:26:33.960 --> 00:26:37.880 immediate term, Booth tried to force the Rum's hand. In May. He 370 00:26:37.920 --> 00:26:41.319 was one of nine men led by William Prynne, who attempted to take their 371 00:26:41.319 --> 00:26:45.480 seats in the restored Long Parliament, but the Rummen, aided by their allies 372 00:26:45.480 --> 00:26:49.440 in the army, blocked their path. The Rum's refusal to live up to 373 00:26:49.480 --> 00:26:55.240 its avowed principles of representative government, left Booth little choice. While still in 374 00:26:55.279 --> 00:26:59.480 London, he was approached by the Great Trust, the collection of Presbyterian plotters 375 00:26:59.519 --> 00:27:03.359 who placed the Seal Knot as the King's official agents in England. At the 376 00:27:03.440 --> 00:27:06.839 moment, they had no one to lead the Cheshire component of the national uprisings, 377 00:27:06.960 --> 00:27:11.119 and Booth was the perfect man for the job. Booth accepted and immediately 378 00:27:11.119 --> 00:27:15.039 returned home. By the middle of July, he had secured widespread support within 379 00:27:15.039 --> 00:27:18.039 the Chechi gentry. Even those who refused to join promised to stand aloof and 380 00:27:18.079 --> 00:27:22.640 provide no aid to the regime. In his campaign, Booth made full use 381 00:27:22.680 --> 00:27:26.759 of the flexibility the exiled king had offered. Cheshire wouldn't be rising in the 382 00:27:26.839 --> 00:27:30.920 name of the King. They would be rising to protect English religion and the 383 00:27:30.960 --> 00:27:33.839 social order. The Quaker panic that seized England in the spring and summer of 384 00:27:33.839 --> 00:27:37.680 sixteen fifty nine, who was particularly strong in Cheshire, especially among the land 385 00:27:37.720 --> 00:27:42.039 of elite. The national uprisings were scheduled for the first of August, which 386 00:27:42.079 --> 00:27:47.640 was a Monday. Booth's preparations included the cooperation of the local clergy, who 387 00:27:47.640 --> 00:27:49.799 would read out the call to arms and their sermons on the preceding Sunday. 388 00:27:51.559 --> 00:27:55.279 Booth was also careful to work through traditional forms of governance. He had a 389 00:27:55.279 --> 00:27:57.880 commission from Charles the Second, through which he drew up warrants for constables. 390 00:27:59.440 --> 00:28:03.359 These were distributed to every village in the county, calling from militias to muster 391 00:28:03.440 --> 00:28:07.559 on the first. This wasn't so much a rebellion as the lawful operation of 392 00:28:07.559 --> 00:28:11.480 the state in opposition to an illegal regime. By Sunday the thirty first, 393 00:28:11.759 --> 00:28:15.480 Booth and his allies had completed all the preparations they could. For the next 394 00:28:15.480 --> 00:28:18.440 few hours, they could only wait and hope the county was with them. 395 00:28:19.200 --> 00:28:22.680 So it was doubtlessly with some alarm that Booth received a note from the Sealed 396 00:28:22.720 --> 00:28:27.319 Knot late in the afternoon. The old Royalist network informed him that the regime 397 00:28:27.400 --> 00:28:32.640 had once again uncovered the plot and made mass arrests all over England. With 398 00:28:32.680 --> 00:28:36.240 the Great Trust broken and scattered, the men of the Sealed Knot were taking 399 00:28:36.359 --> 00:28:40.559 upon themselves to call off the uprisings. Anyone who was not yet in custody 400 00:28:40.599 --> 00:28:44.599 ought to disperse and cover their tracks. Hopefully there was still time to avoid 401 00:28:44.599 --> 00:28:48.039 getting caught in the net for Booth. However, it was too late. 402 00:28:48.440 --> 00:28:52.000 The sermons announcing the rising had already been delivered, the mobilization warrants were already 403 00:28:52.039 --> 00:28:56.720 out, the rising had already started. The next day. The main militia 404 00:28:56.759 --> 00:29:02.799 assembly point was Warrington, about halfway Liverpool and Manchester. The turnout was high 405 00:29:02.880 --> 00:29:06.039 enough that the army units that had been sent to disperse the rebels turned and 406 00:29:06.079 --> 00:29:10.720 fled back to their garrisons. Booth also received reports that he had support elsewhere 407 00:29:10.720 --> 00:29:14.400 in the region. Just across the border in North Wales, Wrexham joined the 408 00:29:14.440 --> 00:29:18.079 revolt. Forces there were led by Thomas Middleton, another Presbyterian Army officer who 409 00:29:18.119 --> 00:29:22.839 had secured North Wales for Parliament in the sixteen forties. Meanwhile, on the 410 00:29:22.839 --> 00:29:26.519 other side of Chester, in the southern part of Lancashire, another rising emerged. 411 00:29:26.160 --> 00:29:30.839 On the second day. Booth marched his small army into Chester, occupying 412 00:29:30.839 --> 00:29:33.880 the town and chasing the army garrison into the castle. To this point everything 413 00:29:33.880 --> 00:29:37.759 had gone according to plan. Booth had yet to hear about how operations were 414 00:29:37.799 --> 00:29:41.039 going elsewhere, but it seemed as though the pessimism of the sealed knot was 415 00:29:41.079 --> 00:29:47.599 overblown. Once he secured Chester, Booth promulgated the manifesto he had prepared explaining 416 00:29:47.599 --> 00:29:52.519 his actions. The most noteworthy element of Booth's official statement was the total absence 417 00:29:52.559 --> 00:29:56.640 of any mention of the King or the monarchy. Booth was threatening a fine 418 00:29:56.680 --> 00:30:00.400 needle. He hoped to attract Royalists who were willing to read between the lines 419 00:30:00.640 --> 00:30:04.680 without alienating the broader opposition to the current regime by invoking the Stewarts. Instead, 420 00:30:04.880 --> 00:30:08.759 Booth focused on the dangers England faced. The new regime was threatening to 421 00:30:08.799 --> 00:30:14.480 destroy English liberty, religion and property. He called upon the people of Cheshire 422 00:30:14.519 --> 00:30:17.559 to fight for the rule of law, free parliaments, and an end to 423 00:30:17.640 --> 00:30:22.079 religious anarchy. Their demands were the restoration of the Long Parliament to its pre 424 00:30:22.279 --> 00:30:26.680 sixteen forty eight composition, or, failing that, free elections. Booth's manifesto 425 00:30:26.799 --> 00:30:32.079 acts as a useful signpost in the emerging partnership between the old Presbyterian faction and 426 00:30:32.119 --> 00:30:36.880 the Royalists. The two groups still had real disagreements on religion and ideology, 427 00:30:37.240 --> 00:30:41.039 but both now identified the regime at Westminster as the greatest threat to England. 428 00:30:41.680 --> 00:30:45.000 The call for a free parliament was a convenient way to bridge their differences. 429 00:30:45.440 --> 00:30:48.799 The Presbyterians were confident that a parliament that truly represented the people would reject the 430 00:30:48.880 --> 00:30:52.839 radicalism of the army in the rump. Meanwhile, the Royalists believed that a 431 00:30:52.880 --> 00:30:57.200 freely elected parliament would seek to end fifteen years of turmoil by inviting the king 432 00:30:57.279 --> 00:31:03.720 to return. Both wisely avoided explaining what political settlement he hoped a free parliament 433 00:31:03.799 --> 00:31:07.680 might achieve. In a sense, it didn't matter. Its mere existence would 434 00:31:07.680 --> 00:31:11.519 pave the way for a stable, peaceful England in the coming months. Other 435 00:31:11.599 --> 00:31:15.000 leaders would follow Booth's lead and focus on free parliaments as a panacea, allowing 436 00:31:15.039 --> 00:31:21.160 everyone to imagine for themselves what specific medicine it would provide. But for now, 437 00:31:21.240 --> 00:31:23.079 Booth had a more immediate problem. Now that he had set up the 438 00:31:23.119 --> 00:31:26.160 standard of a free parliament, he had to defend it against the army. 439 00:31:26.880 --> 00:31:30.759 By the sixth of August, Booth commanded some four thousand men, mostly from 440 00:31:30.839 --> 00:31:34.920 Cheshire, though groups of Welshmen also joined from across the border, leaving enough 441 00:31:34.920 --> 00:31:38.359 men in Chester to guard the army garrison in the castle. He set out 442 00:31:38.359 --> 00:31:42.920 for Manchester to gather more troops. The larger strategic plan had been to continue 443 00:31:42.960 --> 00:31:48.200 moving northeast and link up with the wider northern rebellion at York, but on 444 00:31:48.240 --> 00:31:51.759 his way to Manchester, Booth started to get a sense of the larger national 445 00:31:51.799 --> 00:31:56.640 picture. His regional success was the outlier. Virtually all other uprisings had been 446 00:31:56.640 --> 00:32:01.000 immediately suppressed or abandoned at the last minute. Detailed intelligence on the government response 447 00:32:01.119 --> 00:32:05.559 was hard to come by, but the regime had almost certainly mobilized its forces. 448 00:32:06.000 --> 00:32:07.720 It would only be a matter of time before they concentrated on the one 449 00:32:07.759 --> 00:32:12.440 side of real resistance, Cheshire. In fact, on the fourth of August, 450 00:32:12.519 --> 00:32:15.400 John Lambert had set out from London at the head of two thousand New 451 00:32:15.400 --> 00:32:19.839 Model Army veterans. More Government troops were converging from South Wales in Yorkshire. 452 00:32:20.680 --> 00:32:24.319 At Manchester. Booth paused his march and assessed his options. He could concentrate 453 00:32:24.359 --> 00:32:28.839 as many men as he could and meet John Lambert in battle, but although 454 00:32:28.880 --> 00:32:31.680 he could likely outnumber the general's force, it would be untrained farmers against the 455 00:32:31.720 --> 00:32:37.960 battle hardened New Model Army under one of England's greatest commanders. Defeat seemed inevitable. 456 00:32:37.640 --> 00:32:42.160 Another option was to fall back on Chester and prepare for a lengthy siege, 457 00:32:42.720 --> 00:32:45.000 but that would only prolong the inevitable. There had been some hope that 458 00:32:45.039 --> 00:32:47.960 George Monk might bring his army from Scotland to intervene on the side of the 459 00:32:49.000 --> 00:32:52.880 rebels, but Monk was unlikely to commit himself unless the uprisings looked like they 460 00:32:52.920 --> 00:32:57.160 might succeed. The other potential savior, the exiled king, was even less 461 00:32:57.160 --> 00:33:00.160 likely to ride to the rescue. Charles would not risk landing in England until 462 00:33:00.160 --> 00:33:05.559 the rebels established a secure beachhead. Besides, Booth's men wouldn't be able to 463 00:33:05.559 --> 00:33:08.200 hold up in Chester's Castle until they evicted the garrison that was still hiding there. 464 00:33:08.559 --> 00:33:12.799 There was no guarantee that they could do that before Lambert's army arrived. 465 00:33:13.599 --> 00:33:16.359 Some of the Welshmen in Booth's army suggested a retreat across the border into their 466 00:33:16.400 --> 00:33:21.400 homeland. The rugged terign of North Wales was the perfect place to conduct a 467 00:33:21.440 --> 00:33:25.720 guerrilla war against an occupying army, but Booth's gentry allies flatly rejected that option. 468 00:33:27.200 --> 00:33:30.519 They would not abandon their homes and property to the enemy. Better to 469 00:33:30.559 --> 00:33:34.160 stand and fight, or perhaps negotiate some kind of settlement that allowed them to 470 00:33:34.200 --> 00:33:37.480 retain at least some of their estates. In the end, Booth was paralyzed 471 00:33:37.480 --> 00:33:42.720 by indecision. He spent the next two weeks wandering aimlessly around the countryside of 472 00:33:42.759 --> 00:33:45.599 Cheshire. He made a half hearted attempt to appeal to levelers, hinting that 473 00:33:45.640 --> 00:33:50.640 the free parliament he sought might be a truly democratic one. But as the 474 00:33:50.720 --> 00:33:53.400 leader of an insurrection mounted by the landed elite in the name of maintaining the 475 00:33:53.440 --> 00:33:59.119 social order, Booth was not a convincing pitchman. On the nineteenth of August, 476 00:33:59.319 --> 00:34:01.799 Lambert caught up with Booth's army at Winnington Bridge, about fifteen miles east 477 00:34:01.799 --> 00:34:07.319 of Chester. Booth led about four thousand rebels, while Lambert had linked up 478 00:34:07.319 --> 00:34:09.960 with other army units, creating a force of some five thousand veterans. The 479 00:34:10.079 --> 00:34:15.079 confrontation was more skirmish than battle. Lambert lost just a single man. The 480 00:34:15.159 --> 00:34:21.280 rebels scattered almost immediately. Chester and Liverpool both opened their gates to Lambert when 481 00:34:21.320 --> 00:34:25.199 he visited them. In the aftermath. Booth's gentry allies surrendered and put themselves 482 00:34:25.199 --> 00:34:29.440 at the mercy of the state. As for Booth himself, he fled the 483 00:34:29.480 --> 00:34:32.000 county. He was eventually caught three quarters of the way to London. The 484 00:34:32.079 --> 00:34:37.000 authorities were tipped off by an innkeeper who reported a suspicious traveler. Despite traveling 485 00:34:37.000 --> 00:34:40.280 disguise as a woman, Booth had called for a razor and a barber. 486 00:34:40.760 --> 00:34:45.639 The rebel leader was taken to the Tower of London. But while the regime 487 00:34:45.679 --> 00:34:49.320 was successful in suppressing Booth's uprising, as the rebellion came to be known, 488 00:34:49.719 --> 00:34:54.239 Lambert's victory brought little security or stability. The threat of Royalist insurrection had momentarily 489 00:34:54.320 --> 00:34:59.480 united the competing factions within the new rump army partnership, but even by the 490 00:34:59.480 --> 00:35:04.840 standards the politically unstable sixteen fifties, that working relationship was short lived. In 491 00:35:04.880 --> 00:35:07.360 fact, many of the Rummen were deeply uncomfortable with the fact that Lambert now 492 00:35:07.400 --> 00:35:13.079 had an army in the field. Back at Westminster, Charles Fleetwood suggested formalizing 493 00:35:13.159 --> 00:35:15.320 Lambert's role in the state by restoring him to the office of Major General. 494 00:35:15.840 --> 00:35:21.719 However, Arthur Hasselrigg and his allies flatly refused to them. Lambert was another 495 00:35:21.760 --> 00:35:24.119 Cromwell in the making. After all, it was Lambert who had drawn up 496 00:35:24.119 --> 00:35:29.519 the instrument of government legalizing the dissolution of the Rump, and up until Lambert's 497 00:35:29.519 --> 00:35:32.039 break with Cromwell in sixteen fifty seven, the General had seemed like the Lord 498 00:35:32.039 --> 00:35:37.159 Protector's most obvious successor. Certainly, Lambert was not short on ambition. Instead 499 00:35:37.159 --> 00:35:42.280 of confirming Lambert's role in government, on the third of September, Hasseligg introduced 500 00:35:42.280 --> 00:35:45.519 a motion to implement new odes of loyalty on the country's militias. Fleetwood, 501 00:35:45.639 --> 00:35:50.800 Lambert and other army leaders suspected, quite correctly, that Hasselrigg was attempting to 502 00:35:50.800 --> 00:35:53.719 create a new military power those loyal to the rump rather than army leadership. 503 00:35:54.239 --> 00:35:59.840 The motion drew figurative battle lines in Parliament that seemed awfully close to actual battle 504 00:35:59.840 --> 00:36:05.719 line. This looming civil war within the Rump Army coalition was especially dangerous because 505 00:36:05.760 --> 00:36:08.760 the capture of George Booth had not ended the regime security threats. The same 506 00:36:08.880 --> 00:36:14.440 day Booth was captured, Edward Montagu, the devoted Cromwellian, decided to sail 507 00:36:14.519 --> 00:36:19.400 his Baltic fleet home to England. To what purpose no one knew. Meanwhile, 508 00:36:19.440 --> 00:36:22.239 in Scotland, George Monk had yet to make his intentions clear. Next 509 00:36:22.280 --> 00:36:27.199 time We'll see if facing up to exterior dangers are enough to sustain the internal 510 00:36:27.280 --> 00:36:28.440 unity of the shaky regime.