WEBVTT 1 00:00:13.439 --> 00:00:17.480 This is Stuart England The Civil Wars Episode two point one hundred and nine. 2 00:00:17.679 --> 00:00:23.800 A free Parliament. On the thirtieth of December sixteen fifty nine, Thomas Fairfax 3 00:00:23.920 --> 00:00:27.600 visited Murston Moore, the wild meadow outside of York where he had won his 4 00:00:27.640 --> 00:00:32.119 most famous victory fifteen years earlier. He was likely in a contemplative mood, 5 00:00:32.600 --> 00:00:35.960 not just because of the memories the old battlefield threw up, but also because 6 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:39.960 of why he had returned. Fairfax was joined by almost two thousand men. 7 00:00:40.600 --> 00:00:44.200 They were drawn to Murston Moore that day through a mixture of frustration at the 8 00:00:44.320 --> 00:00:48.079 months of chaos produced by the coops and counter coops at Westminster, and the 9 00:00:48.200 --> 00:00:52.479 personal reputation and charisma of Thomas Fairfax, one of the few war heroes left 10 00:00:52.520 --> 00:00:57.119 who was untainted by the grubby politics of the day. How Fairfax intended to 11 00:00:57.119 --> 00:01:00.479 solve England's predicament wasn't exactly clear. The rallying cry that had brought out the 12 00:01:00.479 --> 00:01:06.400 crowd consisted of a vague call for a free and open parliament. Fairfax carefully 13 00:01:06.439 --> 00:01:10.439 avoided making any claims, but what kind of settlement that parliament would or should 14 00:01:10.519 --> 00:01:14.920 produce? Some took comfort in the idea of a free parliament as a panacea 15 00:01:15.040 --> 00:01:18.560 for all of England's troubles. As you may recall, a similar attitude had 16 00:01:18.560 --> 00:01:23.200 accompanied the short Parliament of sixteen forty the first after eleven years of Charles the 17 00:01:23.239 --> 00:01:27.120 First's personal rule. The initial long parliament elections were more than twenty years in 18 00:01:27.120 --> 00:01:30.319 the past, and it was hoped that a parliament renewed through its connection to 19 00:01:30.400 --> 00:01:34.680 the people would magically erase the resentments and divisions that had taken hold of England. 20 00:01:36.599 --> 00:01:41.480 But other software Fax's ambiguity in more strategic terms, Since sixteen forty nine, 21 00:01:41.519 --> 00:01:45.799 the leaders of the Commonwealth had tried just about every constitutional arrangement imaginable. 22 00:01:46.120 --> 00:01:49.560 They had all failed. The only option left was to go back to what 23 00:01:49.640 --> 00:01:53.840 had worked in the past monarchy. But to openly call for the return of 24 00:01:53.840 --> 00:01:57.879 the Stuarts would be politically explosive and just lead to yet more rounds of civil 25 00:01:57.879 --> 00:02:01.480 war. From this perspective, those who called for a free parliament were Royalists 26 00:02:01.519 --> 00:02:06.719 in all but name. England would have to be gradually guided towards that inevitable 27 00:02:06.760 --> 00:02:09.120 solution. For now, the name of the king could not be spoken. 28 00:02:09.439 --> 00:02:15.719 Men like Fairfax had to rely on carefully coded language. However, cynically want 29 00:02:15.719 --> 00:02:17.800 to be about the campaigned for a free parliament in the winter of sixteen fifty 30 00:02:17.879 --> 00:02:23.120 nine sixteen sixty. It's clear that the message resonated with the people of England. 31 00:02:23.719 --> 00:02:25.759 The regime run out of the Committee of Safety, had totally failed to 32 00:02:25.759 --> 00:02:30.560 deliver anything resembling a free parliament, and so was disintegrating in the face of 33 00:02:30.639 --> 00:02:35.919 universal popular opposition. Over Christmas, the torch passed to the newly restored Rump 34 00:02:35.919 --> 00:02:39.120 Parliament. But while this transfer of power was widely celebrated as a step in 35 00:02:39.159 --> 00:02:45.240 the right direction, the Rump men faced close scrutiny. England's current condition was 36 00:02:45.280 --> 00:02:47.319 as much their fault as it was the doing of the army men who had 37 00:02:47.319 --> 00:02:52.360 just been displaced. Would the Rump, in its third try, finally lead 38 00:02:52.400 --> 00:02:57.039 England towards salvation. The answer to that question would in some sense be determined 39 00:02:57.080 --> 00:03:00.520 by the men who followed Thomas Fairfax to Marston Moore. At the end, 40 00:03:00.360 --> 00:03:04.680 news from London took time to reach the North, so events in Yorkshire were 41 00:03:04.680 --> 00:03:07.400 a bit out of date. The enemies that Fairfax and his followers sought to 42 00:03:07.439 --> 00:03:12.479 neutralize were the Armies, of the Committee of Safety the provisional Government, Charles 43 00:03:12.479 --> 00:03:15.280 Fleetwood, surrendered a few days earlier. But as we saw a last episode, 44 00:03:15.360 --> 00:03:20.479 Fleetwood had acted without consulting his ally John Lambert, who commanded the majority 45 00:03:20.520 --> 00:03:23.919 of the regime soldiers in the North. The Committee of Safety might be dead 46 00:03:23.960 --> 00:03:27.360 in London, but it was alive and well and well armed in the North. 47 00:03:28.159 --> 00:03:30.840 If Lambert could score a decisive victory, he might easily turn south with 48 00:03:30.919 --> 00:03:37.479 overwhelming force and restore military rule. Fairfax's goal was to prevent that outcome. 49 00:03:38.080 --> 00:03:42.159 His rising just outside York was meant to compliment the army George Monk had assembled 50 00:03:42.159 --> 00:03:46.680 on the Scottish border. By distracting Lambert and drawing defectors away from his armies, 51 00:03:46.919 --> 00:03:50.879 Fairfax hoped to clear the path from Monk to march into England. Ideally, 52 00:03:50.919 --> 00:03:53.520 it would be a bloodless victory against a regime it was already collapsing from 53 00:03:53.520 --> 00:03:59.280 within. The original plan was her Fairfax to initiate the Yorkshire Rising on the 54 00:03:59.319 --> 00:04:02.759 first of January, time to coincide with Monk's army crossing the border. But 55 00:04:02.840 --> 00:04:05.800 in the days leading up to the New year, word got out and Lambert's 56 00:04:05.800 --> 00:04:11.000 forces moved to respond, Robert Lilburn, the general who had been holding the 57 00:04:11.039 --> 00:04:14.719 North for the Committee of Safety since its inception, rushed to York to suppress 58 00:04:14.759 --> 00:04:18.199 the rising. Fairfax therefore moved up to start date so his network of allies 59 00:04:18.240 --> 00:04:24.680 wouldn't be disrupted by preemptive arrests. The result was yet another standoff. Lilburn 60 00:04:24.759 --> 00:04:29.439 held York while Fairfax assembled his insurrection outside the city's walls, but it was 61 00:04:29.480 --> 00:04:33.199 clear that Lambert and Lilburn were fast losing control of the situation. A significant 62 00:04:33.279 --> 00:04:39.040 number of Fairfax's followers were defectors from Lilburn's garrison and that of John Lambert's army 63 00:04:39.120 --> 00:04:43.079 stationed at nearby Rippon. The people of York sided with Fairfax as well, 64 00:04:43.360 --> 00:04:47.959 making life very uncomfortable for Liliburn's garrison. Lilburn's only hope was that Lambert could 65 00:04:47.959 --> 00:04:53.399 bring his much larger army to York and relieve his beleaguered troops, but despite 66 00:04:53.399 --> 00:04:58.000 being just twenty miles away, Lambert was paralyzed, partly because he wasn't sure 67 00:04:58.040 --> 00:05:01.240 which threat was greater, fairfaxes Workshire rising or Monk's invading army, which had 68 00:05:01.240 --> 00:05:05.519 crossed into England as scheduled on New Year's Day. But Lambert faced even bigger 69 00:05:05.519 --> 00:05:10.319 problems than indecision. His men hadn't been paid in weeks, and for the 70 00:05:10.360 --> 00:05:14.800 average soldier, Monk and Fairfax were hardly enemies. The army camp at Rippon 71 00:05:14.959 --> 00:05:17.600 was racked by defections and desertions, and was in no condition to march anywhere, 72 00:05:17.759 --> 00:05:21.720 either to York or the Scottish border. On the second of January, 73 00:05:21.839 --> 00:05:28.879 Lilburn accepted reality and surrendered York to Fairfax. Lambert's army simply dissolved. The 74 00:05:28.920 --> 00:05:31.800 Committee of Safety had been defeated politically a few days earlier in Westminster, and 75 00:05:31.920 --> 00:05:36.839 now it was annihilated militarily in Yorkshire. On the eleventh of January, Monk 76 00:05:36.920 --> 00:05:42.360 rode into York and enjoyed the hospitality of Thomas Fairfax. Their victory was all 77 00:05:42.360 --> 00:05:46.160 the sweeter for having been, as planned bloodless. At Westminster, the newly 78 00:05:46.199 --> 00:05:50.480 restored rump was uncertain how to view these northern developments. The elimination of John 79 00:05:50.560 --> 00:05:55.480 Lambert's army was welcome news. It had been entirely possible that the general would 80 00:05:55.480 --> 00:05:59.480 have marched south to reverse Charles Fleetwood's capitulation. Restoring the Committee of Safety by 81 00:05:59.480 --> 00:06:03.160 military but in a sense, Monk had merely replaced Lambert as the leader of 82 00:06:03.199 --> 00:06:09.560 an army capable of exercising power independently from Westminster. Sure, Monk had publicly 83 00:06:09.560 --> 00:06:12.720 expressed support for the Rump, and as recently as the twenty ninth of December 84 00:06:12.800 --> 00:06:15.759 had pledged to follow directives from Parliament, but three days later he crossed the 85 00:06:15.839 --> 00:06:20.879 border into England without anyone's authorization. Arthur Hasselrigg tried to put the best face 86 00:06:20.920 --> 00:06:25.399 on affairs, inviting Monk to come to London to help sort out England's future, 87 00:06:26.040 --> 00:06:29.079 but as one historians noted, this was a bit like a man ordering 88 00:06:29.079 --> 00:06:31.480 his dog to do what it was already in the process of doing. More 89 00:06:31.519 --> 00:06:35.360 indicative of the Rump's anxieties was the decision to send a delegation to join Monk's 90 00:06:35.360 --> 00:06:41.000 march. Nominally this was to coordinate their actions, but in reality the delegation, 91 00:06:41.240 --> 00:06:45.160 led by Hasselrigg's close ally Thomas Scott, was intended to monitor the General 92 00:06:45.240 --> 00:06:47.800 and keep a close eye on his actions. After his stay in York, 93 00:06:48.040 --> 00:06:53.240 Monk continued south at a leisurely pace, stopping in Leicester almost two weeks later. 94 00:06:53.879 --> 00:06:56.600 There on the twenty third of January, he offered the Rump and other 95 00:06:56.600 --> 00:07:00.120 public reassurance of his intentions. A restoration of the Stewart monarchy was impossible. 96 00:07:00.240 --> 00:07:05.319 Monk explained England could never return to a single established church, and the confiscation 97 00:07:05.360 --> 00:07:11.040 of church, crown and Royalist property couldn't be reversed. Too many powerful men 98 00:07:11.120 --> 00:07:15.240 had invested too much in the redistribution of land. Any attempt to untie those 99 00:07:15.279 --> 00:07:19.319 knots would just lead to more civil war. But Monk's pronouncements were hardly reassuring 100 00:07:19.399 --> 00:07:24.560 for rumtmen like Casselig. This was far from a full throated defense of the 101 00:07:24.639 --> 00:07:30.120 principles behind the current regime. Monk's argument was practical rather than ideological. In 102 00:07:30.240 --> 00:07:32.959 fact, the less trusting men at Westminster thought they detected a troubling subtext in 103 00:07:33.040 --> 00:07:36.879 Monk's words. While on the surface he claimed that royalism was a dead end, 104 00:07:38.120 --> 00:07:41.879 his announcement could be seen as a roadmap, laying out the problems any 105 00:07:41.879 --> 00:07:46.120 Stewart restoration would have to solve. Monk's actual intentions at this juncture are impossible 106 00:07:46.160 --> 00:07:49.839 to determine, but it was obvious to everyone that a restoration of the monarchy 107 00:07:49.959 --> 00:07:54.360 was at least on the table. It's likely that Monk saw monarchy as a 108 00:07:54.399 --> 00:07:58.199 plausible option, perhaps England's best option at this point, but that was not 109 00:07:58.279 --> 00:08:01.399 something he could openly admit, mostly because the men of his army had dedicated 110 00:08:01.439 --> 00:08:05.639 their lives to a war against monarchy. Monk's officers were personally loyal to him, 111 00:08:05.879 --> 00:08:09.839 but there were lines they would not cross for their general, at least 112 00:08:09.920 --> 00:08:13.800 for now. If Monk had decided on the restoration of the Stuarts by this 113 00:08:13.879 --> 00:08:16.959 point, or at least that it was a real option worth pursuing, he 114 00:08:16.079 --> 00:08:20.319 realized that it involved a delicate balancing act. The men who had affested interest 115 00:08:20.399 --> 00:08:24.120 in the status quo, the guys who benefited from the reorganization of the Church 116 00:08:24.199 --> 00:08:28.000 and England's lands that Monk referenced at Leicester, they were the ones who had 117 00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:31.519 to be convinced it was the only way to achieve the restoration of the Stuarts 118 00:08:31.559 --> 00:08:35.720 without setting off another round of civil war. Now, before getting into how 119 00:08:35.759 --> 00:08:39.600 Monk proposed to lead England's Commonwealth men back to the world of monarchy, it's 120 00:08:39.639 --> 00:08:43.399 worth dwelling on why the General increasingly saw the Stuarts as the answer to the 121 00:08:43.480 --> 00:08:48.039 nation's problems. We've already approached this from the perspective of Monk's political views. 122 00:08:48.600 --> 00:08:52.879 More than anything, he prioritized England's national unity and power, and since the 123 00:08:52.919 --> 00:08:58.759 death of Oliver Cromwell, the various permutations of non monarchical rule had failed miserably 124 00:08:58.759 --> 00:09:03.120 on those scores. But why had the Stewards suddenly emerged as a viable alternative. 125 00:09:03.879 --> 00:09:07.240 Monk was responding to a widespread popular movement within England. The people were 126 00:09:07.240 --> 00:09:11.480 calling for a restoration, and Monk felt it was a call that the nation's 127 00:09:11.559 --> 00:09:16.159 leaders could not afford to ignore, but of crucial importance at this early juncture 128 00:09:16.279 --> 00:09:20.480 in the opening months of sixteen sixty The restoration the people were calling for was 129 00:09:20.600 --> 00:09:24.919 not a restoration of the monarchy, at least not directly. Rather, the 130 00:09:24.000 --> 00:09:28.639 demand, repeated all across the country, was for the restoration of a free 131 00:09:28.679 --> 00:09:33.159 parliament. As I mentioned earlier in sixteen forty, when Charles the First called 132 00:09:33.200 --> 00:09:35.559 for the first parliamentary elections in more than a decade, there was an outpouring 133 00:09:35.559 --> 00:09:39.960 of optimism about what parliaments could achieve. The power of parliaments to unite the 134 00:09:39.960 --> 00:09:43.720 people of England to their king and solve the nation's problems took on an almost 135 00:09:43.799 --> 00:09:48.600 mythical dimension, while in sixteen sixty it had almost been twenty years since England's 136 00:09:48.639 --> 00:09:54.480 on nationwide elections to a parliament unrestricted by purges or tests of political loyalty, 137 00:09:54.960 --> 00:09:58.559 and the long parliament those elections produced had not been truly representative of England ever 138 00:09:58.600 --> 00:10:03.639 since the Royalist MP's abandoned Westminster in sixteen forty two. In other words, 139 00:10:03.679 --> 00:10:07.519 the suffering England had gone through over the past eighteen years was not the absence 140 00:10:07.519 --> 00:10:11.440 of a king, but the absence of a free parliament. As historian Blair 141 00:10:11.480 --> 00:10:16.600 Warden puts it, the restoration was the restoration of parliament before it was the 142 00:10:16.639 --> 00:10:20.639 restoration of the king. The key advantage the free Parliament movement provided is that 143 00:10:20.679 --> 00:10:26.759 it allowed for Royalists and Presbyterians to adopt a common language. Since his earliest 144 00:10:26.759 --> 00:10:31.039 sixteen forty six, the Presbyterians and Royalists had attempted to build an alliance that 145 00:10:31.039 --> 00:10:33.879 would neutralize the more dangerous elements thrown up by the Civil War, but their 146 00:10:33.879 --> 00:10:39.120 efforts were constantly undermined by distrust and irreconcilable differences on matters of the church or 147 00:10:39.200 --> 00:10:45.080 constitutional politics. After the Civil War. When the Presbyterians tried to pin Charles 148 00:10:45.159 --> 00:10:48.279 the First down on a compromise settlement, he repeatedly frustrated them with delays and 149 00:10:48.279 --> 00:10:54.440 equivocations. When Charles the Second invaded England in sixteen fifty one, many Presbyterians 150 00:10:54.440 --> 00:10:58.080 stood aloof Horrified by the hardcore royalists, the exiled king surrounded himself with. 151 00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:05.200 Subsequent years, Royalist and Presbyterian insurgents within England were often at loggerheads. When 152 00:11:05.240 --> 00:11:09.440 one group rose up in rebellion, the others stood aside or sometimes actively undermined 153 00:11:09.480 --> 00:11:13.759 the effort. But the popular calls for a free parliament, fueled by frustration 154 00:11:13.840 --> 00:11:18.519 and the coups and countercoups at Westminster, provided a bridge for the Royalist Presbyterian 155 00:11:18.559 --> 00:11:22.159 divine. In a sense, George Booth had seen the opportunity first. His 156 00:11:22.320 --> 00:11:26.159 uprising in sixteen fifty nine had not called for a return of the Stuarts or 157 00:11:26.200 --> 00:11:31.000 a specific religious or constitutional settlement. Instead, Booth claimed to be fighting for 158 00:11:31.000 --> 00:11:35.440 a free parliament. What that parliament decided to do about England's troubles was its 159 00:11:35.480 --> 00:11:39.440 own business. In effect, this was an ideology all its own, a 160 00:11:39.600 --> 00:11:45.240 parliament that was truly representative of England and truly free could not fail to deliver 161 00:11:45.320 --> 00:11:50.879 peace and stability. Seizing on the opportunity, Presbyterian and Royalist leaders agreed to 162 00:11:50.960 --> 00:11:54.960 join the chorus calling for a free parliament. Both sides agreed to avoid getting 163 00:11:54.960 --> 00:11:58.720 into too much detail about what system a free parliament might impose. Royalists downplayed 164 00:11:58.720 --> 00:12:01.919 the role of the king in any future settlement and merely argued that they would 165 00:12:01.919 --> 00:12:07.720 support as legitimate whatever a free parliament decided. Presbyterians followed suit, proclaiming the 166 00:12:07.840 --> 00:12:13.080 legitimizing power of a free parliament while avoiding any detailed plans for a decentralized Calvinist 167 00:12:13.159 --> 00:12:18.879 Church or constitutional constraints on the king. Even men who had been more recently 168 00:12:18.879 --> 00:12:22.919 tossed aside by the turmoil in the capital through their support behind a free parliament. 169 00:12:22.480 --> 00:12:26.240 Roger Boyle, the die hard Cromwellian, remained opposed to the monarchy, 170 00:12:26.559 --> 00:12:31.840 but he conceded, whatever such a parliament shall enact, we shall actively or 171 00:12:31.879 --> 00:12:35.840 passively obey. Richard Norton, an MP who had been purged in sixteen forty 172 00:12:35.879 --> 00:12:39.200 eight, claimed that if a free parliament decided to invite the Turk to Whitehall 173 00:12:39.240 --> 00:12:43.080 to rule over England, he would recognize the decision as lawful and legitimate. 174 00:12:43.840 --> 00:12:48.720 For the Royalists, it was a dramatic shift in tactics for those who still 175 00:12:48.759 --> 00:12:50.840 remembered the outbreak of the Civil War eighteen years earlier. It was an odd 176 00:12:50.840 --> 00:12:54.799 twist of fate that victory might finally come in the form of a popular campaign 177 00:12:56.000 --> 00:13:00.000 for a free parliament, or, as Blair Warden puts it, royalist leaders, 178 00:13:00.120 --> 00:13:05.039 having failed to beat parliamentarianism, joined it. But for one Royalist this 179 00:13:05.200 --> 00:13:09.120 was the outcome he had long predicted for years. Edward Hyde had insisted that 180 00:13:09.120 --> 00:13:13.159 the restoration of the monarchy could only come about by English means, not via 181 00:13:13.200 --> 00:13:18.159 Scottish, Irish or continental military power. A popular call for a free parliament 182 00:13:18.200 --> 00:13:20.399 may not have been exactly how Hyde drew it up, but he urged Charles 183 00:13:20.399 --> 00:13:24.080 to see this as the greatest opportunity the Steward cause had seen since the Civil 184 00:13:24.120 --> 00:13:30.320 War. Guided by Hyde, Charles made his own, carefully calibrated contribution to 185 00:13:30.320 --> 00:13:33.240 the free parliament movement from exile. The King announced that he would treat a 186 00:13:33.320 --> 00:13:37.720 fully free parliament as a partner in governance, taking its resolutions very seriously, 187 00:13:39.639 --> 00:13:43.480 but he meticulously avoided, saying that he would be legally bound by the advice 188 00:13:43.480 --> 00:13:46.320 of such a parliament. Emboldened by the adoption of the language of a free 189 00:13:46.320 --> 00:13:50.600 parliament by leading Presbyterians, Royalists, and even some independence like Roger Boyle, 190 00:13:52.000 --> 00:13:56.679 the movement only grew as Monk marched towards London. When the restored Rump sent 191 00:13:56.679 --> 00:14:00.679 commissioners into the provinces to oversee the collection of the assessment, they met sullen 192 00:14:00.759 --> 00:14:03.519 resistance. The Rump may have been an improvement on the military rule of the 193 00:14:03.559 --> 00:14:07.799 Committee of Safety, but it wasn't a free parliament, the only institution capable 194 00:14:07.840 --> 00:14:13.399 of authorizing tax collection. Late January saw tax strikes or other disturbances in Bristol, 195 00:14:13.600 --> 00:14:18.080 Gloucester, Canterbury and several other towns. The Apprentices of Exeter took to 196 00:14:18.120 --> 00:14:22.159 the streets, demanding a free parliament, or at the very least a return 197 00:14:22.200 --> 00:14:24.600 of the members who had been purged in sixteen forty eight. In Kent, 198 00:14:26.000 --> 00:14:30.879 Royalists and Presbyterians joined together in protests calling for the return of the purged members. 199 00:14:31.559 --> 00:14:35.039 They were suppressed and their leaders arrested by soldiers loyal to the Rump, 200 00:14:35.679 --> 00:14:39.279 But in Northamptonshire, the authorities were powerless to stop the leading gentlemen of the 201 00:14:39.279 --> 00:14:43.279 county from banning together to call for a free parliament. Once assembled. They 202 00:14:43.320 --> 00:14:46.559 even sent out delegates to the neighboring counties to organize the movement there. A 203 00:14:46.600 --> 00:14:52.600 similar organization emerged out of the gentry in Cornwall too. This had a spiraling 204 00:14:52.639 --> 00:14:56.720 effect in the countryside. The more tax collections were obstructed, the less money 205 00:14:56.720 --> 00:15:01.200 the Rump had to pay its soldiers, and desperate or undiscipline soldiers only fueled 206 00:15:01.240 --> 00:15:05.000 greater resentments against the Rump. Some units, forcibly requisitioned food from civilians, 207 00:15:05.360 --> 00:15:09.960 others were billeted in people's homes to save money, one of the grievances that 208 00:15:09.000 --> 00:15:13.480 had sparked the civil war against the Stuarts, But the biggest threat face in 209 00:15:13.519 --> 00:15:16.799 the Rump came much closer to home in London. Resistance in the city had 210 00:15:16.799 --> 00:15:20.039 played an important role in the collapse of the Committee of Safety, and although 211 00:15:20.080 --> 00:15:24.559 some leaders in London's government were sympathetic to the Rump, for the apprentices who 212 00:15:24.600 --> 00:15:28.360 had led the protests, hassel Riggs purged House of Commons was a far cry 213 00:15:28.399 --> 00:15:31.120 from the free parliament they had demanded. In fact, by this point the 214 00:15:31.200 --> 00:15:35.399 calls for a free Parliament coming from London were growing more and more indistinguishable from 215 00:15:35.399 --> 00:15:39.840 a call for restored Stuart Manrchy. The apprentices in particular had come to see 216 00:15:39.840 --> 00:15:45.320 traditional politics as the only path forward. While their fathers were remembered the sixteen 217 00:15:45.360 --> 00:15:48.240 thirties as a time of royal tyranny and loudie and repression, many young men 218 00:15:48.320 --> 00:15:54.200 had never known anything but turmoil and revolution. The mythology of centuries of stability 219 00:15:54.320 --> 00:15:58.000 provided by the partnership between the King and Parliament exerted a powerful draw or. 220 00:15:58.039 --> 00:16:03.399 As historian Blair puts up, what did that generation know of monarchy except that 221 00:16:03.519 --> 00:16:06.720 under it the nation had not endured what had come to suffer without it. 222 00:16:07.759 --> 00:16:11.840 With the Rump's military resources in disarray, the regime didn't have any confidence that 223 00:16:11.840 --> 00:16:15.519 it could impose its will in the city. But the military situation in London 224 00:16:15.679 --> 00:16:18.759 was about to change. As tensions between Westminster and the city grew more heated. 225 00:16:18.759 --> 00:16:23.039 In late January and early February, George Monk's army finally came into view. 226 00:16:23.720 --> 00:16:27.200 The fragile Rump regime was in the midst of an existential crisis, the 227 00:16:27.240 --> 00:16:32.720 outcome of which would entirely depend on Monk. As Monk neared London at the 228 00:16:32.759 --> 00:16:36.559 beginning of February sixteen sixty, his plan of action was likely taking a more 229 00:16:36.600 --> 00:16:41.320 coherent shape. Although it's impossible for historians to uncover firm evidence on the general's 230 00:16:41.360 --> 00:16:45.200 plans, informed speculation allows us to paint a rough picture. By this point, 231 00:16:45.240 --> 00:16:49.120 the only long term path to stability was a freely elected parliament that would 232 00:16:49.120 --> 00:16:53.759 almost certainly deliver some form of restored monarchy. Beginning with that assumption, Monk's 233 00:16:53.799 --> 00:16:56.840 goal was to find a way to bring that about with the minimum amount of 234 00:16:56.919 --> 00:17:02.919 turmoil in the immediate term. Monk therefore had to maintain several distinct, even 235 00:17:02.919 --> 00:17:07.400 contradictory balancing acts. First, he wanted to avoid any kind of royalist triumphalism. 236 00:17:07.480 --> 00:17:11.519 The restoration of the monarchy could not take the form of some kind of 237 00:17:11.559 --> 00:17:15.640 affirmation of the divine right of kings. That would only re energize the forces 238 00:17:15.680 --> 00:17:18.039 that had sparked the civil war in the first place. Second, Monk had 239 00:17:18.039 --> 00:17:22.680 to bring his own officers over to his line of thinking. His men trusted 240 00:17:22.759 --> 00:17:26.920 him, but almost by definition they were adamantly opposed to the monarchy. Some 241 00:17:26.960 --> 00:17:29.920 would never be convinced to accept the return of the king on any terms. 242 00:17:30.480 --> 00:17:33.720 The trick was to convince a critical mass of his officers that there was no 243 00:17:33.799 --> 00:17:37.519 other viable option. Until that was achieved, Monk couldn't risk any outward sign 244 00:17:37.640 --> 00:17:42.359 that he supported a restoration. Third, Monk needed the support of London. 245 00:17:42.839 --> 00:17:47.799 Since the death of Oliver Cromwell, no regime had enjoyed the unambiguous support of 246 00:17:47.799 --> 00:17:51.559 the city, and it showed Arthur Hasselrigg had been cheered in the streets when 247 00:17:51.559 --> 00:17:55.839 he restored the rump, but that popularity was conditional on continued progress towards a 248 00:17:55.839 --> 00:17:59.920 free parliament. The people of London had already seen too many politicians who offered 249 00:18:00.079 --> 00:18:03.720 promises but few results. If Monk wanted to oversee England's return to normalcy, 250 00:18:03.839 --> 00:18:08.119 he'd have to be convincing. The final group Monk worried about were the members 251 00:18:08.119 --> 00:18:12.039 of the Long Parliament who had been purged in sixteen forty eight. That's because 252 00:18:12.079 --> 00:18:15.799 at this point the only legitimate path to a free parliament seemed to be the 253 00:18:15.920 --> 00:18:21.319 return of those excluded members. They had the numbers to swamp Hastlerig and his 254 00:18:21.400 --> 00:18:25.480 allies and do what the rumpers had always refused to, dissolved their session and 255 00:18:25.559 --> 00:18:29.240 call for new elections. But in order for the plan to work, Monk 256 00:18:29.319 --> 00:18:32.960 had to be sure that the returning members followed the script. They knew as 257 00:18:32.960 --> 00:18:36.319 well as anyone that a free Parliament would likely mean the return of the Stewards. 258 00:18:36.559 --> 00:18:40.480 Would they really have the stomach for him? When combined, the disparate 259 00:18:40.519 --> 00:18:44.960 elements of Monk's plan created a cumulative challenge. Not only did Monk have to 260 00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:48.920 somehow upend the Republic without alienating his men or handing England over to hardline royalists, 261 00:18:49.240 --> 00:18:52.279 but he had to do so while winning the support of London and convincing 262 00:18:52.279 --> 00:18:57.279 a host of exiled Presbyterian MP's to dance to his tune. Some of these 263 00:18:57.279 --> 00:19:02.480 groups had mutually exclusive goals and expectations, so Monk couldn't afford to be too 264 00:19:02.519 --> 00:19:06.720 explicit about his intentions. He had to rely on multiple groups to read between 265 00:19:06.759 --> 00:19:11.920 the lines and for events to subtly reshape opinions in real time. Luckily, 266 00:19:11.079 --> 00:19:15.319 Monk enjoyed a significant degree of leverage. The rump regime was losing control of 267 00:19:15.319 --> 00:19:19.599 England, especially London, and Monk's army was the only instrument capable of holding 268 00:19:19.599 --> 00:19:26.000 things together. The general took full advantage. Before entering London, Monk paused 269 00:19:26.000 --> 00:19:29.720 his march at Saint Albans and delivered a set of conditions to Westminster. He 270 00:19:29.839 --> 00:19:33.119 demanded a thorough reorganization of the army, not only the dispersal of all units 271 00:19:33.119 --> 00:19:37.680 but his own, from the area around London, but also the wholesale transfer 272 00:19:37.680 --> 00:19:41.839 of officers to new units. The goal was to break the close ties between 273 00:19:41.839 --> 00:19:45.079 officers and men, limiting the ability of any other commander to organize military or 274 00:19:45.079 --> 00:19:49.960 political power. Hasselag attempted to haggle, but Monk refused to budge. In 275 00:19:51.079 --> 00:19:53.440 light of the uncertain loyalties of so many army units, it was imperative that 276 00:19:53.559 --> 00:19:57.359 London and Westminster be guarded by men who could be trusted. In effect, 277 00:19:57.599 --> 00:20:03.240 Monk was demanding him monopoly on military power in the capital. While Parliament debated 278 00:20:03.279 --> 00:20:07.200 Monk's terms, a perfectly timed example of how they had no choice emerged in 279 00:20:07.240 --> 00:20:11.160 London. The Common Council, replenished by elections just weeks earlier, formally called 280 00:20:11.200 --> 00:20:15.519 for the return of excluded members to Parliament free elections in a reorganization of the 281 00:20:15.559 --> 00:20:19.319 London militia, taking authority away from Westminster and putting it in the hands of 282 00:20:19.319 --> 00:20:25.119 the municipal government. The Rump quite accurately read this as a challenge to its 283 00:20:25.160 --> 00:20:30.200 legitimacy as a parliament Hasselrig used his nominal authority over the military to order troops 284 00:20:30.200 --> 00:20:33.279 into the city to bring the Common Council to heal. The result was a 285 00:20:33.319 --> 00:20:38.240 disaster. The Common Council was not intimidated, and the apprentices openly mocked the 286 00:20:38.279 --> 00:20:42.720 soldiers. Even worse, the soldiers themselves didn't seem all that willing to carry 287 00:20:42.720 --> 00:20:47.559 out Parliament's orders. Many of them hadn't been paid in months, and morale 288 00:20:47.680 --> 00:20:52.240 was rock bottom. London continued to be defiant the handful of allies the Rump 289 00:20:52.279 --> 00:20:55.759 did have in the city, like the former mayor John Ireton, discovered nooses 290 00:20:55.799 --> 00:21:00.720 laid outside their doors an ominous warning. Over two thousand soldiers in the London 291 00:21:00.759 --> 00:21:03.680 area mutinied, mainly due to lack of pay. Some called for a free 292 00:21:03.720 --> 00:21:07.400 parliament, others for the return of the King, John Lambert or anyone who 293 00:21:07.400 --> 00:21:11.160 would give them regular pay. The handful of officers who were vocally loyal to 294 00:21:11.200 --> 00:21:15.039 the Rump received death threats from their men. By the second of February, 295 00:21:15.119 --> 00:21:18.680 the Rump was desperate enough to send a midnight courier to Saint Albans, begging 296 00:21:18.759 --> 00:21:23.519 Monk to enter the city immediately. A somewhat self satisfied General Monk received the 297 00:21:23.559 --> 00:21:26.839 summons, then went back to sleep he could complete the first phase of his 298 00:21:26.920 --> 00:21:32.000 plan. The following day. On the third of February, Monk led five 299 00:21:32.000 --> 00:21:36.000 thousand, eight hundred men into Westminster. Neither the Rump nor the people of 300 00:21:36.039 --> 00:21:38.000 London, nor for that matter, his own men. Knew his intentions, 301 00:21:38.640 --> 00:21:44.079 but militarily speaking, the General now had a monopoly over both Westminster and London. 302 00:21:44.920 --> 00:21:48.039 Three days later, Monk addressed Parliament. He brushed aside house rats demand 303 00:21:48.039 --> 00:21:52.000 that he formally take his position on the Commission overseeing the military. Although not 304 00:21:52.119 --> 00:21:57.640 explicitly challenging the Rump's authority, Monk would continue to operate independently. Monk also 305 00:21:57.640 --> 00:22:00.920 rejected demands that he swears the new oath of office the Rump had drafted. 306 00:22:02.279 --> 00:22:06.160 Some couldn't help, but note that the oath Monk was refusing included a pledge 307 00:22:06.160 --> 00:22:11.160 to never support the restoration of the stewards Monk explained his refusal in more practical 308 00:22:11.240 --> 00:22:15.319 terms, however, Parliament should stop wasting its time on the endless reworking of 309 00:22:15.319 --> 00:22:19.799 oaths and focus on re establishing peace and stability in England. Monk's performance was 310 00:22:19.839 --> 00:22:23.559 carefully calibrated. He seemed to leave the door open for a restoration of the 311 00:22:23.559 --> 00:22:29.119 monarchy, but studiously avoided contradicting his earlier claims that he would never support one. 312 00:22:29.599 --> 00:22:33.279 He also showed a willingness to defy Rump leaders like Hasselring to their faces, 313 00:22:33.480 --> 00:22:37.640 but remained confident that this wouldn't spark a confrontation. The Rump needed him 314 00:22:37.640 --> 00:22:41.920 to subdue London and everyone knew it. Hasselrig fumed but remained silent. But 315 00:22:42.079 --> 00:22:47.000 just as importantly, Monk had not challenged the Rump's authority. He had merely 316 00:22:47.079 --> 00:22:51.200 offered advice. Whatever happened next would be the Rump's choice, and the Rump's 317 00:22:51.200 --> 00:22:55.759 responsibility, not his. Monk already had his eye on the second phase of 318 00:22:55.759 --> 00:23:02.000 his operation, London. The city provided both opportunities and dangers. Popular sentiment 319 00:23:02.039 --> 00:23:04.160 on the streets of London and in the Common Council was pushing for a free 320 00:23:04.160 --> 00:23:08.599 Parliament, an outcome Monk now regarded as the solution to England's problems. But 321 00:23:08.720 --> 00:23:12.039 whereas some in London may have been willing to achieve that goal through a popular 322 00:23:12.119 --> 00:23:18.000 uprising, Monk was more circumspect. The only way to hold legitimate elections was 323 00:23:18.039 --> 00:23:21.559 for them to be sanctioned by Parliament, even in the rump's current form, 324 00:23:21.839 --> 00:23:26.240 or once the excluded members returned. Monk therefore faced a challenge how to maintain 325 00:23:26.279 --> 00:23:30.599 the confidence of the Rump until a legal dissolution could be secured without alienating the 326 00:23:30.640 --> 00:23:34.720 people of London or his own officers. It was perhaps the most delicate balancing 327 00:23:34.759 --> 00:23:40.039 act of Monk's whole months long operation, and the General didn't have much time 328 00:23:40.079 --> 00:23:42.559 to come up with a solution. Two days after his audience at Westminster, 329 00:23:42.880 --> 00:23:48.559 London's Common Council took its most provocative action yet. In a lengthy session on 330 00:23:48.559 --> 00:23:52.079 the eighth of February, the Council debated whether or not the current Parliament had 331 00:23:52.119 --> 00:23:55.480 the legal authority to collect taxes in the city. This, of course, 332 00:23:55.559 --> 00:23:59.160 was a direct challenge to the Rump's authority, but it also posed a serious 333 00:23:59.160 --> 00:24:03.160 threat in immediate practical terms without financial support from London in the form of taxes 334 00:24:03.279 --> 00:24:08.400 or loans. The National government could not long survive. The conflict between Westminster 335 00:24:08.440 --> 00:24:12.599 and London had reached its breaking point. The Rump issued orders to General Monk 336 00:24:14.039 --> 00:24:18.200 march into London, arrests the leaders of the Brewing Insurrection, dissolved the Common 337 00:24:18.200 --> 00:24:22.559 Council, and destroy the gates and other fortifications that any future rebels might use 338 00:24:22.640 --> 00:24:26.119 to defend the city. These directives put Monk in an awkward position. If 339 00:24:26.119 --> 00:24:30.240 he carried them out, he'd have difficulty winning the support of London in any 340 00:24:30.240 --> 00:24:33.160 future settlement. What's more, even if he bowed to Parliament's demands, many 341 00:24:33.200 --> 00:24:37.480 of his men might not. They had not marched all this way just to 342 00:24:37.480 --> 00:24:41.400 be the goon squad for an unrepresentative Rump, as it suppressed a popular movement 343 00:24:41.519 --> 00:24:45.200 calling for free parliaments. But if Monk refused, it had most likely set 344 00:24:45.240 --> 00:24:48.079 off a confrontation with the Rump that he wasn't yet prepared for. In fact, 345 00:24:48.079 --> 00:24:52.559 Hasserig may have deliberately constructed the orders as a kind of test, was 346 00:24:52.640 --> 00:24:56.440 Monk with them or against them, pulled in multiple directions at once. Monk's 347 00:24:56.480 --> 00:25:02.039 response was typically opaque. Monk did marches men into London, that day and 348 00:25:02.160 --> 00:25:06.519 arrested nine of the eleven men the Rump had identified as ringleaders. When Hasselric 349 00:25:06.559 --> 00:25:10.599 heard the news, he celebrated, proclaiming all is our own. He will 350 00:25:10.640 --> 00:25:14.559 be honest. But as the day dragged on, it became clear that Monk 351 00:25:14.599 --> 00:25:18.720 had only partially completed his mission. Despite the arrests, he did not dissolve 352 00:25:18.759 --> 00:25:22.400 the Common Council, nor did he destroy London's defensive capabilities, as Parliament had 353 00:25:22.400 --> 00:25:26.720 demanded. The next day, the tenth of February, Hassig's joy turned to 354 00:25:26.759 --> 00:25:32.559 fury. Monk hadn't passed the test after all. The Rump began drawing up 355 00:25:32.559 --> 00:25:37.000 a new test for the General. Westminster demanded the Monk recognized Parliament's seven man 356 00:25:37.119 --> 00:25:40.920 Army Commission, in effect surrendering the de facto control of the Army that the 357 00:25:40.960 --> 00:25:45.400 General currently enjoyed. Monk himself was one of the seven men on the commission, 358 00:25:45.480 --> 00:25:48.720 but there was little doubt that true power would lie with Hasselrig. As 359 00:25:48.759 --> 00:25:52.559 if to prove that point, Hasseig opposed all attempts to entice Monk with softer 360 00:25:52.720 --> 00:25:56.640 terms, an amendment that made Monk's presence on commission meetings a necessity for a 361 00:25:56.680 --> 00:26:00.720 quorum to be reached was rejected, the general would get no special favors. 362 00:26:00.480 --> 00:26:06.279 While the Rump prepared its loyalty tests, Monk conferred with his officers. Several 363 00:26:06.279 --> 00:26:08.680 expressed their discomfort with the work they've been asked to do in London. Some 364 00:26:08.839 --> 00:26:12.359 even threatened to resign if Monk continued to follow such orders from the Rump. 365 00:26:14.079 --> 00:26:18.079 Whatever Monk's original timetable, if he had one, the pressure from his officers 366 00:26:18.160 --> 00:26:22.240 forced him to move immediately. The following morning, the eleventh, he assembled 367 00:26:22.279 --> 00:26:26.000 his officers and showed them a letter to Parliament he had drafted overnight. It 368 00:26:26.119 --> 00:26:29.279 denounced the use of the army to suppress the people of London, naming it 369 00:26:29.279 --> 00:26:33.279 a grievance. Then came the real bombshell. Monk's letters set an ultimatum before 370 00:26:33.279 --> 00:26:37.359 the Rump either dissolve itself an issue writs for free elections by the seventeenth of 371 00:26:37.400 --> 00:26:41.440 February, six days away, or else it was the point of no return 372 00:26:41.559 --> 00:26:47.000 everyone had been waiting for. Monk traveled to Guildhall and before a packed Common 373 00:26:47.039 --> 00:26:49.960 Council declared that he and his men were standing with the city. One way 374 00:26:51.039 --> 00:26:55.759 or another, there would be free elections soon the celebrations began almost immediately. 375 00:26:56.240 --> 00:27:00.279 Not since Prince Charles returned from Madrid in sixteen twenty three had the city seeing 376 00:27:00.319 --> 00:27:03.319 such an outpouring of joy and relief. For months, the concept of free 377 00:27:03.319 --> 00:27:07.400 elections had taken on any kind of magical property, the ability to resolve all 378 00:27:07.440 --> 00:27:11.599 of England's problems, and now finally someone with the power to make it happen 379 00:27:11.880 --> 00:27:17.319 was actually doing something. In one day, Monks secured for himself the support 380 00:27:17.319 --> 00:27:21.119 of both London and his officers. He even succeeded in his other goal of 381 00:27:21.160 --> 00:27:25.680 tempering the enthusiasm of diehard Royalists. While all this was going on, Edward 382 00:27:25.759 --> 00:27:30.079 Massey was in Bristol trying to turn the free Parliament movement there into an avowidly 383 00:27:30.160 --> 00:27:33.680 Royalist insurrection. He was having some success, too, building on the frustration 384 00:27:33.720 --> 00:27:37.359 many felt that the lack of progress towards their goal, But when news of 385 00:27:37.400 --> 00:27:42.359 Monk's ultimatum reached Bristol, Massey's campaign fell apart. The grievances he had been 386 00:27:42.400 --> 00:27:48.640 exploiting simply disappeared overnight. The mood in the city changed from frustration to optimism. 387 00:27:48.200 --> 00:27:52.119 Under Monk's watchful eye. Parliament might fix itself. There was no longer 388 00:27:52.160 --> 00:27:56.240 any need to resort to the violent insurrection. Royalist agents like Edward Massey called 389 00:27:56.240 --> 00:28:02.559 for. The only ingredient in Monk's rest that remained uncertain was Parliament itself. 390 00:28:03.000 --> 00:28:07.400 How would Westminster react to his ultimatum? Perhaps predictably, Arthur Hasselrig ignored the 391 00:28:07.440 --> 00:28:11.720 General's demands. He had stood up to Oliver Cromwell without compromising on his principles. 392 00:28:11.880 --> 00:28:15.279 He wasn't about to bow to George Monk. There were signs of wavering 393 00:28:15.319 --> 00:28:21.000 elsewhere in Parliament, though, While officially ignoring Monk's ultimatum, the rump quietly 394 00:28:21.000 --> 00:28:25.400 began discussing its dissolution and fresh elections, but this by no means meant the 395 00:28:25.440 --> 00:28:29.559 Rump was caving. Westminster did turn to the issue of elections, however, 396 00:28:29.599 --> 00:28:33.799 the free part of the equation was noticeably absent from debate. The writs they 397 00:28:33.880 --> 00:28:38.240 drafted laid out a narrowly restricted electorate. Those barred from voting included anyone whose 398 00:28:38.279 --> 00:28:41.720 land had been sequestered by the state and their sons, as well as anyone 399 00:28:41.759 --> 00:28:45.720 who had advocated for a single Chief magistrate since sixteen forty eight or refused the 400 00:28:45.839 --> 00:28:52.599 various oathes of office Parliament had produced. These terms not only disenfranchised Royalists or 401 00:28:52.640 --> 00:28:56.680 even suspected Royalists, but they could also be applied to Cromwellians who had argued 402 00:28:56.680 --> 00:29:00.839 for the Lord Protector as a kind of chief magistrate. Meanwhile, Monk himself 403 00:29:00.880 --> 00:29:03.119 had recently refused to take the Rump's new oath of office, a fact that 404 00:29:03.200 --> 00:29:07.559 was not lost on either him or the men drawing up the rents. The 405 00:29:07.640 --> 00:29:10.880 Rump might be speeding up its timetable for elections, but it was not even 406 00:29:10.920 --> 00:29:15.240 bothering to meet Monk halfway. This had the potential to upset Monk's game plan. 407 00:29:15.920 --> 00:29:18.680 Free elections imposed at gunpoint by an army was not the legal path to 408 00:29:18.759 --> 00:29:23.400 stability. Monk hadn't mind. Luckily, the General had one more card to 409 00:29:23.440 --> 00:29:27.200 play. You may recall that earlier I said Monk required the aid of four 410 00:29:27.200 --> 00:29:30.880 distinct groups to pull off his plan. So far, he had succeeded in 411 00:29:30.880 --> 00:29:34.720 winning over three of them, his officers London and the Royalists, who were 412 00:29:34.720 --> 00:29:38.160 now willing to take their chances in free elections rather than risk another insurrection. 413 00:29:40.119 --> 00:29:42.200 The final group were the MPs, who had been excluded by the purge of 414 00:29:42.200 --> 00:29:47.559 sixteen forty eight. They were the secret ingredient capable of overcoming the likes of 415 00:29:47.599 --> 00:29:51.279 Hasselag in the rump. In a sense, Monk reversed the role the army 416 00:29:51.279 --> 00:29:53.680 had played in sixteen forty eight. Back then, these soldiers had used their 417 00:29:53.680 --> 00:29:57.960 power to execute an illegal purge of the nation's representatives. Now, just over 418 00:29:59.000 --> 00:30:02.279 eleven years later, the army would be used to enforce the return of those 419 00:30:02.359 --> 00:30:06.599 MPs to the seats that were theirs by legal right. In the days after 420 00:30:06.680 --> 00:30:08.960 Monk issued his ultimatum, he barely paid any attention at all to the Rump. 421 00:30:10.440 --> 00:30:14.640 Their resistance was thoroughly predictable, and Monk had no intention of compromising or 422 00:30:14.680 --> 00:30:18.359 haggling with him. Instead, the General arraigned several meetings with the excluded members 423 00:30:18.519 --> 00:30:23.000 even before the deadline of the seventeenth of February. Monk's goal was to ensure 424 00:30:23.039 --> 00:30:26.359 that the men who had been purged in sixteen forty eight, mostly Presbyterians, 425 00:30:26.599 --> 00:30:30.799 followed his script once they were restored. Monk was aware that many of them 426 00:30:30.839 --> 00:30:33.640 had been working towards a treaty with the late Charles the First when they were 427 00:30:33.640 --> 00:30:37.160 purged. In fact, that was part of the reason for the purge in 428 00:30:37.160 --> 00:30:41.240 the first place. He also knew that more recently a group of Presbyterians had 429 00:30:41.279 --> 00:30:44.839 been in contact with the exiled king and had even been involved in the uprisings 430 00:30:44.839 --> 00:30:48.960 of the previous year. Monk warned the excluded members that he would not reinstate 431 00:30:48.000 --> 00:30:52.599 them just so they could complete that work and restore the Stuart Marchie. He 432 00:30:52.680 --> 00:30:56.440 wasn't denying the possibility of a restoration, but it could only come after fresh 433 00:30:56.440 --> 00:31:00.480 elections. The job of the excluded members was simple. They were there to 434 00:31:00.480 --> 00:31:03.480 march into Westminster and do what the rump had repeatedly refused to do, dissolved 435 00:31:03.480 --> 00:31:08.279 the long Parliament and call for new elections unfettered by partisan restrictions. On the 436 00:31:08.319 --> 00:31:11.720 morning of the twenty first of February, four days after the deadline had passed, 437 00:31:12.119 --> 00:31:17.200 Monk gathered seventy three of the excluded members at Whitehall. He reminded them 438 00:31:17.200 --> 00:31:19.920 of their responsibility to England. They were to take their seats and vote to 439 00:31:19.920 --> 00:31:23.680 dissolve the session as quickly as possible. Monk even provided them with a date 440 00:31:23.680 --> 00:31:27.000 for the new parliament to open, the twentieth of April, two months away. 441 00:31:27.680 --> 00:31:32.319 When the assembled members agreed, Monk escorted them on a brisk walk to 442 00:31:32.359 --> 00:31:37.559 the Palace of Westminster. There they surprised and outnumbered the rumpmen. True to 443 00:31:37.640 --> 00:31:41.839 form, the excluded members wasted no time using their majority to reshape the government. 444 00:31:41.359 --> 00:31:45.680 A new Council of State was elected, from which Rumper leaders like Arthur 445 00:31:45.720 --> 00:31:49.480 Hassig were excluded. Stepping in as President of the new Council was Arthur Annesley, 446 00:31:49.720 --> 00:31:53.319 the son of Lord mount Norris, the new English administrator who Thomas Wentworth 447 00:31:53.319 --> 00:31:56.599 had one sentenced to be executed, and himself an MP who had been purged 448 00:31:56.599 --> 00:32:01.480 in sixteen forty eight. Annesley's view of politics and the current crisis closely aligned 449 00:32:01.519 --> 00:32:07.200 with Monks, likely the reason he was selected. The newly revitalized Parliament also 450 00:32:07.279 --> 00:32:12.279 set about reorganizing England's military hierarchy. Monk was named both Commander in Chief of 451 00:32:12.319 --> 00:32:15.920 the Land Forces and General at Sea, a rank he had once held during 452 00:32:15.920 --> 00:32:20.240 the Dutch warm Monks shared overall command of the navy with Edward Montagu, no 453 00:32:20.359 --> 00:32:22.400 friend of the Rump and a man we've already seen in contact with the exiled 454 00:32:22.480 --> 00:32:28.079 Royalist camp. Parliament also issued new commissions to reliable men in the provinces to 455 00:32:28.079 --> 00:32:32.119 secure control over the county militias. Generally, these appointments favored the traditional county 456 00:32:32.119 --> 00:32:37.720 elite over Republican ideal lucks. The most obvious indication of the change came in 457 00:32:37.799 --> 00:32:40.359 Cheshire, where one of the militia commissions was given to George Booth, the 458 00:32:40.400 --> 00:32:44.599 man who had led an uprising against the state less than a year earlier. 459 00:32:45.319 --> 00:32:49.240 Now free from his incarceration in the Tower of London, Booth helped prepare his 460 00:32:49.279 --> 00:32:52.960 home county for elections, which was the culmination of all this state consolidation by 461 00:32:52.960 --> 00:32:58.880 the previously excluded now included members. Free elections, which had been on the 462 00:32:58.880 --> 00:33:01.079 lips of men and women through England for almost a year, were finally a 463 00:33:01.119 --> 00:33:06.519 reality. Ritz went out for a new session to gather in April. The 464 00:33:06.680 --> 00:33:09.839 news spark celebrations even greater than the ones that greeted monks speech at Guildhall less 465 00:33:09.839 --> 00:33:15.240 than two weeks earlier. Samuel Peeps, who began recording a diary that January, 466 00:33:15.519 --> 00:33:19.480 noted that the boys in London streets stopped saying kiss my ars and replaced 467 00:33:19.519 --> 00:33:22.960 the phrase with kiss my Parliament, a cheeky reference to the demise of the 468 00:33:22.039 --> 00:33:25.759 Rump. Although I've framed the events of this episode as a kind of master 469 00:33:25.839 --> 00:33:30.480 plan engineered by George Monk, its important highlight the popular reaction the fall of 470 00:33:30.519 --> 00:33:35.960 the rump and the promise of a free parliament produced. Monk harnessed the spirit 471 00:33:36.000 --> 00:33:38.759 of the moment, but his options were also constrained by it. The decision 472 00:33:38.799 --> 00:33:43.640 he made that England's future lay with a free parliament and most likely a restored 473 00:33:43.680 --> 00:33:46.799 monarchy, was motivated by his recognition that it was the only acceptable outcome for 474 00:33:46.839 --> 00:33:52.039 an increasing number of men and women. That dynamic of Monk harnessing popular enthusiasm 475 00:33:52.079 --> 00:33:55.880 but also being restrained by it, only became more obvious in these celebrations of 476 00:33:55.880 --> 00:34:00.559 February and March, because while the free Parliament movement had proved tremendously effective in 477 00:34:00.680 --> 00:34:06.640 uniting a broad spectrum from London apprentices to exiled royalist aristocrats, the time was 478 00:34:06.680 --> 00:34:09.719 fast approaching when the concept of a free parliament would have to move from abstract 479 00:34:09.719 --> 00:34:15.960 ideal to a body of men tasked with producing a grand constitutional settlement. Next 480 00:34:15.000 --> 00:34:16.400 night, we begin that process.