WEBVTT 1 00:00:13.599 --> 00:00:17.640 This is Stuart England The Civil Wars episode two point one hundred and three. 2 00:00:17.920 --> 00:00:23.199 The Young Gentleman. For all his pragmatism, Oliver Cromwell was a man who 3 00:00:23.199 --> 00:00:26.320 saw the hand of God at work in the world. He spent much of 4 00:00:26.320 --> 00:00:29.839 his life searching for signs, providential clues, though let him know whether he 5 00:00:29.879 --> 00:00:34.960 was following God's plan or not. One especially meaningful hand Providence provided was a 6 00:00:35.000 --> 00:00:39.320 fateful date, the third September. That was the day in sixteen fifty on 7 00:00:39.399 --> 00:00:43.119 which Cromwell had won the most miraculous of his victories, the Battle of Dunbar. 8 00:00:43.840 --> 00:00:47.759 Seemingly trapped and exhausted, the new Model Army had somehow annihilated a much 9 00:00:47.840 --> 00:00:52.880 larger Scottish army, perhaps the greatest challenge Cromwell ever faced. Then exactly a 10 00:00:52.960 --> 00:00:56.359 year later, on the third of September sixteen fifty one, Cromwell did it 11 00:00:56.399 --> 00:01:00.960 again, defeating the exiled King's invasion force at Worcester. This was a pattern, 12 00:01:00.200 --> 00:01:04.040 not a coincidence. Cromwell was so convinced that the third of September held 13 00:01:04.040 --> 00:01:07.519 a special significance that, when he became Lord Protector, he opened his first 14 00:01:07.560 --> 00:01:11.000 Parliament on that date. In sixteen fifty four, despite the fact that it 15 00:01:11.040 --> 00:01:15.000 fell on a Sunday, usually a day of rest at Westminster. Of course, 16 00:01:15.079 --> 00:01:19.120 the first Protector at Parliament didn't go nearly as well as the battles of 17 00:01:19.200 --> 00:01:23.439 Dunbar or Worcester. Whether Cromwell read anything into that is impossible to say, 18 00:01:23.159 --> 00:01:26.359 as is what the Lord Protector thought of the third of September, marking one 19 00:01:26.400 --> 00:01:30.799 more milestone in his life, that dave is death in sixteen fifty eight. 20 00:01:30.760 --> 00:01:34.680 I have to think it must have crossed his mind. Was it a sign 21 00:01:34.719 --> 00:01:38.959 of God's continued favor or a rebuke for how his divine mission had gone astray. 22 00:01:38.879 --> 00:01:42.879 We've spent as much time with Cromwell as anyone in this podcast, with 23 00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:46.359 the possible exception of Charles the first I am too lazy to do the math, 24 00:01:46.920 --> 00:01:49.680 so it's only fitting to give the Lord Protector a proper send off. 25 00:01:49.319 --> 00:01:53.920 As I recall, this will be the fourth such retrospective assessment. James and 26 00:01:53.000 --> 00:01:57.359 Charles each got one, as did the Duke of Buckingham. In terms of 27 00:01:57.400 --> 00:02:00.280 impact on British history, Cromwell fits well in their company, though it does 28 00:02:00.319 --> 00:02:05.400 seem as though in popular consciousness Cromwell often acts as a stand in for other 29 00:02:05.480 --> 00:02:08.199 forces in Men for the entire Interregnant period or even the Civil War before it. 30 00:02:09.120 --> 00:02:13.240 As we've seen, Cromwell did not declare a personal war on Charles the 31 00:02:13.240 --> 00:02:15.599 First in sixteen forty two, and even as the Lord Protector, he didn't 32 00:02:15.639 --> 00:02:21.560 exercise total control over English political life. I feel like, comparatively speaking, 33 00:02:21.639 --> 00:02:24.280 I've been relatively generous to Cromwell in this podcast, But then again, I'm 34 00:02:24.280 --> 00:02:28.479 a pretty generous guy. I'm one of the few people I've met who actually 35 00:02:28.479 --> 00:02:30.759 has a soft spot for the Duke of Buckingham. I guess it's inevitable. 36 00:02:30.800 --> 00:02:34.280 The more time you spend with someone, the more you see the world through 37 00:02:34.280 --> 00:02:38.439 their eyes and feel you understand their motivations, even if you don't necessarily endorse 38 00:02:38.520 --> 00:02:43.039 them. Though it's hard to like Oliver Cromwell. He doesn't seem like he 39 00:02:43.039 --> 00:02:46.800 would be especially pleasant company. He could be cold and vindictive, and he 40 00:02:46.879 --> 00:02:50.360 certainly left a trail of discarded allies who could attest to his lack of loyalty 41 00:02:50.439 --> 00:02:53.439 or principles, which makes him a bit of an enigma because he most definitely 42 00:02:53.439 --> 00:02:58.599 had principles. I don't think anyone can doubt the religious conviction the drove Cromwell 43 00:02:58.639 --> 00:03:02.479 throughout his political career, and while he sometimes adapted his definition of independent religious 44 00:03:02.479 --> 00:03:07.439 conscience to fit the political moment, he clung to the principle tenaciously, even 45 00:03:07.479 --> 00:03:10.719 when it seemed like a political liability, which I think sums up the contradiction 46 00:03:10.759 --> 00:03:15.879 in Cromwell that I find most fascinating. He was a consummate political pragmatist at 47 00:03:15.879 --> 00:03:20.840 the tactical level, but his overarching strategy always directed him towards the idealized England 48 00:03:20.879 --> 00:03:23.960 he and his colleagues have fought for in the Civil War. Those dual qualities 49 00:03:23.960 --> 00:03:30.719 often frustrated his contemporaries to more inflexible men devoted to straightforward ideologies, Cromwell was 50 00:03:30.719 --> 00:03:35.840 a hypocrite. Levelers like John Lilburn, parliamentary sovereigntists like Arthur Hesselrig, or 51 00:03:35.919 --> 00:03:39.400 Republicans like Henry Martin all saw Cromwell as a man who again and again abandoned 52 00:03:39.439 --> 00:03:44.719 the cause in the name of political expediency. But I think those critics were 53 00:03:44.719 --> 00:03:47.919 wrong when they accused Cromwell of pursuing whatever course brought him more power, or 54 00:03:47.960 --> 00:03:53.360 at least they weren't entirely right. Cromwell wasn't a great ideologue, but that 55 00:03:53.439 --> 00:03:57.039 didn't mean that he lacked a vision for England. His goal, which was 56 00:03:57.080 --> 00:04:00.120 consistent for much of his public life, was political stability in a religious system 57 00:04:00.159 --> 00:04:05.240 that allowed for independent churches. The democracy John Lilleburn advocated for or the absolute 58 00:04:05.280 --> 00:04:10.000 sovereignty of parliament Arthur Hasselry called for, were only useful to Cromwell if they 59 00:04:10.039 --> 00:04:15.039 achieve those goals. All too often ridget adherence to those systems produced disorder and 60 00:04:15.080 --> 00:04:19.319 instability. Instead, Cromwell found himself drawn to more practical schemes that were short 61 00:04:19.360 --> 00:04:24.639 on grand principles but offered a plausible path to a peaceful, godly England. 62 00:04:25.319 --> 00:04:29.879 In this sense, Henry Ireton and especially his successor John Lambert were ideal partners. 63 00:04:30.480 --> 00:04:32.839 Cromwell himself doesn't seem to have been too active in drawing up the political 64 00:04:32.879 --> 00:04:38.439 programs they crafted, but they suited his political instincts. The instrument of government, 65 00:04:38.439 --> 00:04:41.560 for instance, spent a lot of time laying up the powers and responsibilities 66 00:04:41.560 --> 00:04:45.639 of government institutions and less on the kind of bold pronouncements John Lilleburn liked to 67 00:04:45.639 --> 00:04:48.959 deliver. From this perspective, Cromwell's failing wasn't so much a lack of principles, 68 00:04:49.160 --> 00:04:54.199 but a failure to find a pragmatic constitution that worked. In the spring 69 00:04:54.240 --> 00:04:58.040 of sixteen fifty three, he forcibly shuttered the Rump. Then months later the 70 00:04:58.160 --> 00:05:01.000 nominated Assembly dissolved in acrimony, having failed to produce a new political system. 71 00:05:01.519 --> 00:05:05.560 The Protectorate state that emerged from that failure was never really implemented as designed. 72 00:05:06.199 --> 00:05:11.199 Parliament, always imagined as a key component of the Protectorate, proved unwilling to 73 00:05:11.199 --> 00:05:15.279 cooperate, necessitating another constitutional adaptation, the rule of the Major Generals. When 74 00:05:15.319 --> 00:05:19.199 Cromwell tried a second time to reconcile Parliament to the regime, the result was 75 00:05:19.279 --> 00:05:24.519 yet another constitutional adjustment laid out in the Humble Petition and Advice, but that 76 00:05:24.560 --> 00:05:28.480 one proved as ineffective as all the others when the restored Upper House failed to 77 00:05:28.480 --> 00:05:32.720 make Parliament any more compliant. Cromwell's tenure as Lord Protector saw a near constant 78 00:05:32.759 --> 00:05:36.800 search for a political system that would deliver his goal of stability and independent religion. 79 00:05:38.480 --> 00:05:42.279 Each attempt that failed alienated a fresh set of allies and made the next 80 00:05:42.279 --> 00:05:46.600 project that much more unlikely to succeed. Cromwell may have been more pragmatic than 81 00:05:46.639 --> 00:05:50.680 his rivals. But that pragmatism again and again failed to deliver, which leads 82 00:05:50.720 --> 00:05:55.360 into another angle from which to approach. Cromwell was the protectorate. He had 83 00:05:55.360 --> 00:05:59.040 constructed a viable, long term state to let the cat out of the bag 84 00:05:59.079 --> 00:06:01.680 of it. The whole system didn't long outlive the Lord protector, but is 85 00:06:01.680 --> 00:06:04.519 there a case to be made that it might have done so had Cromwell lived 86 00:06:04.560 --> 00:06:10.319 a bit longer. You may recall a similar argument about Charles the First's unparliamentary 87 00:06:10.319 --> 00:06:13.279 regime of the sixteen thirties. Sure it was a bit of a model, 88 00:06:13.399 --> 00:06:16.000 but had Charles not stumbled into his Scottish War, perhaps the project could have 89 00:06:16.079 --> 00:06:20.319 worked. Every year that passed without a parliament made the institution less and less 90 00:06:20.360 --> 00:06:25.279 relevant back then, I believe. I mentioned that some historians raised a similar 91 00:06:25.279 --> 00:06:29.959 point about the sixteenth century. The reason Queen Elizabeth's Church prevailed rather than her 92 00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:34.279 half brother Edward's radical Protestant program or her half sister Mary's Catholic restoration was that 93 00:06:34.319 --> 00:06:38.600 she lived to sit on the throne for decades, whereas they died after brief 94 00:06:38.639 --> 00:06:42.800 reigns. Could the same be applied to all of a Cromwell's Protectorate. Had 95 00:06:42.839 --> 00:06:45.959 he lived, say ten more years to the age of seventy, would that 96 00:06:46.040 --> 00:06:48.759 have been enough to lock England into a future without the monarchy. I do 97 00:06:48.920 --> 00:06:53.759 enjoy a good counterfactual, and I'm certainly no fan of inevitability in history, 98 00:06:54.240 --> 00:06:57.680 but on this one, I'd probably have to lean against that outcome. As 99 00:06:57.680 --> 00:07:00.600 the whirlwind history of the Protectorate had just laid out guests, Cromwell was hardly 100 00:07:00.639 --> 00:07:05.639 succeeding in laying the groundwork for durable state institutions. The Protectorate was in a 101 00:07:05.680 --> 00:07:11.199 constant state of flux, as new ideas and institutions were abandoned almost as fast 102 00:07:11.240 --> 00:07:15.360 as they had been adopted. Certainly, lasting political systems have emerged out of 103 00:07:15.399 --> 00:07:17.759 such periods of turmoil. The early history of the United States might be an 104 00:07:17.759 --> 00:07:21.160 example, though I'll leave that to people more knowledgeable on the topic than me. 105 00:07:21.959 --> 00:07:26.839 But if Cromwell was finding his way towards a more lasting constitution for England, 106 00:07:27.079 --> 00:07:30.360 there seems to be little evidence of it in sixteen fifty eight. And 107 00:07:30.560 --> 00:07:33.560 finally, any assessment of all of Cromwell's life would be incomplete without a trip 108 00:07:33.560 --> 00:07:39.360 to Ireland. For how closely. Cromwell is associated with Ireland in popular consciousness. 109 00:07:39.519 --> 00:07:42.959 It's remarkable how a little time he spent there. He landed with his 110 00:07:43.120 --> 00:07:46.079 army in August sixteen forty nine, and after a whirlwind campaign, left for 111 00:07:46.160 --> 00:07:50.439 England soon after the fall of Clommel in May sixteen fifty. But to be 112 00:07:50.480 --> 00:07:55.319 fair, in those ten months he perpetrated two of the most notorious massacres of 113 00:07:55.360 --> 00:07:59.920 the Irish Wars, the sacking of Drahada and Wexford. At Drahda, Cromwell 114 00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:03.399 felt he was operating within the rules of warfare, albeit at their most brutal 115 00:08:03.399 --> 00:08:07.279 extreme. Wexford was a bit more complicated, as negotiations for surrender were ongoing, 116 00:08:07.519 --> 00:08:13.040 putting the impromptu assault on the town and subsequent atrocities in a gray area. 117 00:08:13.240 --> 00:08:16.600 It's also worth noting that Cromwell wasn't the only general to endorse the killing 118 00:08:16.600 --> 00:08:20.759 of enemies after their surrender, or even civilians. There were massacres in Ireland 119 00:08:20.759 --> 00:08:24.800 before Cromwell arrived and after he left, most notably those perpetrated by Lord Inchiquin, 120 00:08:24.920 --> 00:08:28.600 who won the well deserved moniker the Butcher of Cashell. But we in 121 00:08:28.639 --> 00:08:33.000 the twenty first century aren't obligated to judge Cromwell's solely by the standards of seventeenth 122 00:08:33.000 --> 00:08:37.320 century rules of war. Neither did Cromwell's influence in Ireland, and when he 123 00:08:37.360 --> 00:08:41.240 returned to England, the actions of Henry Ireton, who managed the Irish War 124 00:08:41.279 --> 00:08:45.799 in Cromwell's absence, cannot be so easily separated from his father in law and 125 00:08:45.840 --> 00:08:52.000 mentor. Ireton's Irish campaign turned into a prolonged and bloody counter insurrection. Historians 126 00:08:52.080 --> 00:08:54.559 estimate that between the Irish rebellion of sixteen forty one and the victory of the 127 00:08:54.600 --> 00:09:00.240 Commonwealth regime in sixteen fifty three, ten percent of Ireland's population died to the 128 00:09:00.279 --> 00:09:05.240 war, roughly two hundred thousand people. Much of that devastation predated the arrival 129 00:09:05.240 --> 00:09:07.519 of Oliver Cromwell, but there's every reason to believe that the final years of 130 00:09:07.519 --> 00:09:11.320 the war were the bloodiest, and Cromwell, whether directly involved or not, 131 00:09:11.600 --> 00:09:16.679 bears much of that responsibility. Cromwell's legacy in Ireland after the war is a 132 00:09:16.720 --> 00:09:22.159 bit more complicated. The Act of Settlement, which authorized the forced migration and 133 00:09:22.200 --> 00:09:26.759 dispossession of Ireland's Catholic population, was produced by the rump Parliament before the height 134 00:09:26.799 --> 00:09:31.840 of Cromwell's political power at Westminster, and the implementation of that legislation was somewhat 135 00:09:31.840 --> 00:09:35.159 moderated by Henry Cromwell, the Lord Protector's son and primary political agent in Dublin. 136 00:09:37.039 --> 00:09:39.480 Which isn't to say that Cromwell had any sympathy for Catholics or the Irish 137 00:09:39.480 --> 00:09:43.879 people, but rather that the old family tradition of pragmatism was at play. 138 00:09:43.399 --> 00:09:48.440 For various reasons, the Cromwell father and son duo opposed the hardlined Baptist faction 139 00:09:48.480 --> 00:09:52.720 in Ireland, who pushed for the most comprehensive interpretation possible of the active settlement. 140 00:09:54.360 --> 00:09:56.840 Of course, there's little reason to think that Irish Catholics wouldever be inclined 141 00:09:56.840 --> 00:10:01.799 to thank the Cromwell's for overseeing a repress and murderous regime that was just a 142 00:10:01.799 --> 00:10:05.559 little less oppressive and murderous than the alternative. But it's perhaps worth complicating Cromwell's 143 00:10:05.600 --> 00:10:09.399 legacy by noting that hatred of Irish Catholics was a feature of just about every 144 00:10:09.440 --> 00:10:13.639 faction in English politics. Once again, in terms of popular memory of a 145 00:10:13.679 --> 00:10:18.879 confused and violent period in English history, Cromwell acts as a useful stand in 146 00:10:18.639 --> 00:10:22.840 which isn't to say that he deserves our sympathy. By perhaps it's a helpful 147 00:10:22.879 --> 00:10:26.200 reminder that while making him the villain of the mid seventeenth century makes sense of 148 00:10:26.240 --> 00:10:30.120 a complex historical moment, it can let other figures, ideas, or social 149 00:10:30.159 --> 00:10:33.720 trends off the hook. The people of Ireland didn't so much of a Cromwell 150 00:10:33.720 --> 00:10:37.679 problem as much as they had an English problem. To return to the more 151 00:10:37.759 --> 00:10:41.159 material realm, historians believe Cromwell died of blood poisoning due to an infection caused 152 00:10:41.159 --> 00:10:45.720 by a kidney stone. His health had been in steep decline over the summer 153 00:10:45.720 --> 00:10:48.759 of sixteen fifty eight, and in the days before his death he was weakened 154 00:10:48.759 --> 00:10:52.080 by a bout of malarial fever, an affliction that had periodically incapacitated him since 155 00:10:52.120 --> 00:10:58.720 the sixteen thirties. Cromwell's declining health over a period of weeks punctuated by periods 156 00:10:58.720 --> 00:11:03.240 of apparent recovery, produced a degree of anxiety within the Protectorate government. The 157 00:11:03.320 --> 00:11:07.600 succession had always been a key problem within the various constitutions that regulated the regime. 158 00:11:07.200 --> 00:11:11.720 John Lambert's instrument of government, the original rule Book, had created the 159 00:11:11.759 --> 00:11:15.519 Lord Protector as a lifetime office. On the death of the old Lord Protector, 160 00:11:15.639 --> 00:11:18.080 a new one would be elected by the Council of State. However, 161 00:11:18.120 --> 00:11:22.480 that elective system was tossed out and replaced in the constitutional reforms of the Humble 162 00:11:22.480 --> 00:11:26.440 Petition and Advice. As you may recall, Cromwell had secured a whole host 163 00:11:26.519 --> 00:11:30.960 of concessions from parliament men eager to have him take the crown and become a 164 00:11:31.039 --> 00:11:33.679 king. In the end, the Lord Protector refused the royal title, but 165 00:11:33.759 --> 00:11:37.960 he did a crew plenty of new powers as a result of the negotiations. 166 00:11:37.639 --> 00:11:43.240 One of them was the ability to unilaterally name his successor. At the time 167 00:11:43.279 --> 00:11:46.639 of his final illness, Cromwell had not yet done so, but there were 168 00:11:46.639 --> 00:11:50.399 signs that he had a successor in mind, his oldest surviving son, Richard. 169 00:11:50.200 --> 00:11:54.960 Now we've met Cromwell's younger son, Henry, but Richard has not really 170 00:11:54.000 --> 00:11:58.480 made an impression on the podcast so far, and really he hadn't made much 171 00:11:58.519 --> 00:12:01.200 of an impression on England either. Like his brothers, Richard had served in 172 00:12:01.200 --> 00:12:05.000 Parliament's army during the Civil War, but hadn't done much to distinguish himself in 173 00:12:05.000 --> 00:12:09.440 battle. After the war, he wasn't especially active in politics. Richard took 174 00:12:09.519 --> 00:12:13.120 little interest in religion or the other national issues of the day, instead settling 175 00:12:13.200 --> 00:12:16.600 down to the life of a country gentleman in Hampshire. But he wasn't hugely 176 00:12:16.639 --> 00:12:20.080 successful at that either, and after a few poor business decisions he had to 177 00:12:20.080 --> 00:12:24.639 call on his father to bail him out. His life began to change though, 178 00:12:24.679 --> 00:12:28.080 in the Protectorate era. At the age of twenty eight, Richard was 179 00:12:28.080 --> 00:12:31.679 elected to sit in the first Protectorate Parliament, and in the second Parliament took 180 00:12:31.720 --> 00:12:35.559 on a greater role in some key committees. Although he was hardly a prominent 181 00:12:35.600 --> 00:12:37.759 leader of Westminster, it seemed clear that he was being groomed for some kind 182 00:12:37.759 --> 00:12:43.639 of role in the family business. John Thurlow would later claim that Albert Cromwell 183 00:12:43.639 --> 00:12:46.120 intended to name Richard his successor as early as the spring of sixteen fifty seven, 184 00:12:46.360 --> 00:12:50.840 more than a year before his death. The evidence was a sealed letter 185 00:12:50.919 --> 00:12:54.879 Thurlough kept in his office, though he never produced it and has since disappeared 186 00:12:54.080 --> 00:12:58.559 if it ever existed. The first reliable evidence we have that Richard was destined 187 00:12:58.559 --> 00:13:03.519 to be the next Lord Protector came from his father's deathbed. On the thirtieth 188 00:13:03.519 --> 00:13:07.159 of August sixteen fifty eight, the Lord Protector informed the Council of State that 189 00:13:07.240 --> 00:13:09.639 he would be succeeded by his son, Richard. For the moment, this 190 00:13:09.720 --> 00:13:15.000 was just an informal expression of intent. It wasn't yet clear that Cromwell's illness 191 00:13:15.039 --> 00:13:16.559 would be fatal, and so there would be plenty of time to draw up 192 00:13:16.600 --> 00:13:20.600 the paperwork in the future. When Cromwell's health seemed to suddenly improve the next 193 00:13:20.679 --> 00:13:24.879 day, any sense of urgency dissipated. But suddenly he took a turn for 194 00:13:24.879 --> 00:13:28.279 the worse. On the second of September, it was clear that Cromwell was 195 00:13:28.320 --> 00:13:33.279 at death's door. When the Council once again assembled at his bedside, he 196 00:13:33.320 --> 00:13:37.279 was unable to speak. When asked to confirm his choice of Richard, Cromwell 197 00:13:37.360 --> 00:13:41.279 could only nod. The events surrounding Cromwell's death, which came the following night, 198 00:13:41.399 --> 00:13:46.360 had the potential to create a succession crisis. It seemed fairly clear that 199 00:13:46.399 --> 00:13:48.639 Cromwell intended Richard to be a successor, which, by the terms of the 200 00:13:48.639 --> 00:13:52.519 Constitution, was all that mattered. But there were three factors that could potentially 201 00:13:52.600 --> 00:13:58.039 undermine any smooth transfer of power. First was the irregular nature of Cromwell's decision. 202 00:13:58.559 --> 00:14:01.840 As a technical matter, you could argue that Richard had never been formally 203 00:14:01.840 --> 00:14:07.240 designated the successor. An informal expression of intent and a non verbal confirmation from 204 00:14:07.240 --> 00:14:11.080 a man on the edge of death were hardly legally binding. If someone chose 205 00:14:11.120 --> 00:14:16.679 to contest Richard's claim, the legal hurdles wouldn't be difficult to surmount. The 206 00:14:16.799 --> 00:14:20.279 second issue was the constitution itself. How definitive could the rules on succession be 207 00:14:20.639 --> 00:14:24.399 when those rules seemed to change every few months. This wasn't the royal line 208 00:14:24.399 --> 00:14:28.919 of succession buttressed by centuries of tradition and custom. Really, the men surrounding 209 00:14:28.960 --> 00:14:33.759 Cromwell at the top of the protectorate state had built their careers on reshaping the 210 00:14:33.879 --> 00:14:37.399 rules of the game to match the political reality of the moment. If the 211 00:14:37.399 --> 00:14:39.879 future of England was at stake, the humble pedition and advice would be treated 212 00:14:39.879 --> 00:14:43.480 with the same sacred awe as the instrument of government, the nominated Assembly, 213 00:14:43.759 --> 00:14:48.440 or all the other institutions that had been tossed aside in the name of expediency. 214 00:14:48.519 --> 00:14:52.799 Finally, there was Richard himself. He was not likely to be an 215 00:14:52.840 --> 00:14:56.639 obstacle to anyone attempting to usurp his power. Although he had been taking a 216 00:14:56.720 --> 00:15:00.519 larger role in politics recently and was promoted to the Other House beginning of the 217 00:15:00.600 --> 00:15:03.320 year, no one saw him as a major player in his own right. 218 00:15:03.000 --> 00:15:07.240 If heavy weights like John Lambert or John Desbroo contemplated seizing power for themselves, 219 00:15:07.559 --> 00:15:11.480 the fear that Richard Cromwell would oppose them was likely pretty low on their list 220 00:15:11.519 --> 00:15:16.799 of concerns, which leads to one of the enduring questions surrounding Richard Cromwell. 221 00:15:16.320 --> 00:15:20.840 Why him? Why did Oliver Cromwell select his rather unimpressive eldest son to be 222 00:15:20.919 --> 00:15:26.039 his successor. The obvious answer is that, despite his rejection of a kingly 223 00:15:26.080 --> 00:15:31.360 title, Cromwell hoped to establish a royal lineage in all but name. Personally, 224 00:15:31.440 --> 00:15:33.360 I'm inclined to think that Henry Cromwell would have been a much better choice. 225 00:15:33.879 --> 00:15:37.080 Henry was still in Ireland at the time, now elevated to the office 226 00:15:37.080 --> 00:15:41.919 of Lord Lieutenant as Charles Fleetwood's nominal position in Irish government had timed out. 227 00:15:41.480 --> 00:15:46.120 The consensus of historians, however, seems to be that as a younger son, 228 00:15:46.320 --> 00:15:50.200 Henry was unsuitable, and he still had reputation for making impetuous decisions. 229 00:15:50.879 --> 00:15:54.639 But in the immediate term, Cromwell's choice worked out quite well, though likely 230 00:15:54.679 --> 00:15:58.480 not in the way he had intended. Despite the weakness of Richard's claim from 231 00:15:58.480 --> 00:16:03.840 both technical and personal standpoint, the transition between Lord Protectors went seamlessly. No 232 00:16:03.919 --> 00:16:07.960 one within the Protectorate leadership challenged Richard's authority. In fact, for a government 233 00:16:07.960 --> 00:16:11.480 that had been riven by internal factions for almost two years, the whole process 234 00:16:11.600 --> 00:16:17.919 was eerily peaceful. Army leadership accepted the new Lord Protector without reservations, as 235 00:16:17.960 --> 00:16:22.120 did the Scottish administration, over which George Monk now exercised direct control. Meanwhile, 236 00:16:22.159 --> 00:16:26.960 in Dublin, Henry Cromwell held more control than ever over the state apparatus 237 00:16:26.080 --> 00:16:32.240 and had little incentive to contest his brother's elevation. It's possible that Richard was 238 00:16:32.240 --> 00:16:34.639 seen as easier to work with than his father. He was less devoted to 239 00:16:34.679 --> 00:16:38.960 the moral and religious reform that preoccupied the old Lord Protector, a welcome change 240 00:16:38.960 --> 00:16:42.440 for the more conservative men who had championed the humble petition and advice. The 241 00:16:42.480 --> 00:16:47.600 general acceptance of Richard Cromwell as Lord Protector should not, however, be taken 242 00:16:47.639 --> 00:16:49.799 as a sign that he enjoyed the same respect his father had, or that 243 00:16:49.840 --> 00:16:55.559 the factional battles within the protectorate state had subsided. Instead, it's likely that 244 00:16:55.639 --> 00:17:00.240 multiple factions and players saw Richard as a weak ruler who might be easily manipulated 245 00:17:00.320 --> 00:17:03.319 to serve their interests. In terms of personality, Richard could not have been 246 00:17:03.359 --> 00:17:07.680 more unlike his father. People actually enjoyed his company, and he inspired almost 247 00:17:07.759 --> 00:17:12.559 no personal animosity. Most of the criticisms leveled against him pointed to his naivete 248 00:17:12.799 --> 00:17:18.359 or an inborn gentleness that left him unsuited for politics, though some historians believe 249 00:17:18.480 --> 00:17:21.799 Richard may have been a more skilled politician than had appeared. He had an 250 00:17:21.839 --> 00:17:26.799 ability to disarm audiences with self deprecating humor. But if Richard did have certain 251 00:17:26.839 --> 00:17:30.759 political skills, they were too subtle for most of his contemporaries to recognize or 252 00:17:30.759 --> 00:17:34.759 respect. Within the army, Richard Cromwell was condescendingly known as the young Gentleman, 253 00:17:36.160 --> 00:17:38.920 and while Monk's growing independent influence in Scotland was being used to support the 254 00:17:38.960 --> 00:17:42.759 regime, now there were suspicions that the General wasn't doing so out of devotion 255 00:17:42.759 --> 00:17:48.039 to the Cromwell name. If multiple groups welcomed Richard as a pawn who could 256 00:17:48.079 --> 00:17:52.599 be used to their advantage, eventually someone would end up disappointed when someone else 257 00:17:52.720 --> 00:17:56.359 started moving him around the board. Sure Enough, it didn't take long for 258 00:17:56.400 --> 00:18:00.559 the factional battles of the old administration to re emerge. Will be once again 259 00:18:00.599 --> 00:18:03.480 to the shorthand historians used for the two rival groups that dominated the upper echelons 260 00:18:03.480 --> 00:18:07.440 of the protector at State, the Civilian Faction and the Army Faction. The 261 00:18:07.599 --> 00:18:12.079 labels don't necessarily denote the profession of those involved. In fact, several prominent 262 00:18:12.079 --> 00:18:17.839 members of the Civilian faction were themselves army officers. Rather than names, point 263 00:18:17.839 --> 00:18:21.839 to diverging visions for Britain's future. Another way of thinking of the split is 264 00:18:21.880 --> 00:18:26.400 as the manifestation of all Cromwell's long running internal conflict. The Army faction represented 265 00:18:26.440 --> 00:18:32.039 his desire for godliness, while the Civilian faction represented his desire for a pragmatic, 266 00:18:32.160 --> 00:18:37.039 conservative social order. The Army faction was led by Richard Cromwell's in laws, 267 00:18:37.200 --> 00:18:41.519 John desbro and Charles Fleetwood. They advocated for the army to continue playing 268 00:18:41.519 --> 00:18:45.079 a prominent role in politics. You may recall that during the second Protector at 269 00:18:45.079 --> 00:18:48.160 Parliament, desbro had called for new taxes to provide permanent funding for the major 270 00:18:48.200 --> 00:18:52.319 general system. The army men also pushed for a continuation of the moral and 271 00:18:52.359 --> 00:18:56.920 religious reform that had been such an important component of major general responsibilities. The 272 00:18:57.000 --> 00:19:00.519 civilian faction, on the other hand, argued a kind of conservative normalcy. 273 00:19:02.160 --> 00:19:04.400 They had been the guys who drafted the humble petition and advice that moved the 274 00:19:04.400 --> 00:19:11.000 Constitution towards something that in some ways resembled the old monarchy. Future stability could 275 00:19:11.039 --> 00:19:15.960 only come through broadening the support the regime enjoyed. Army taxes and hectoring religious 276 00:19:15.960 --> 00:19:21.160 policy would only divide England, not united. Membership in the Civilian faction tended 277 00:19:21.160 --> 00:19:26.759 to be a mix of traditional constitutionalists like Bustrode Whitelock and pragmatic politicians like John 278 00:19:26.839 --> 00:19:30.640 Thurlow, Henry Cromwell or his ally Roger Boyle. The latter pair bring out 279 00:19:30.680 --> 00:19:36.839 another element of the Civilian party their British presence. Henry Cromwell exerted influence from 280 00:19:36.920 --> 00:19:40.240 Dublin, and Boyle had a foot both in Ireland, where he was from 281 00:19:40.400 --> 00:19:44.400 and Scotland, where he was heavily involved in state administration. For the most 282 00:19:44.400 --> 00:19:48.000 part, the Civilian faction advocated reconciliation with groups the regime had alienated over the 283 00:19:48.079 --> 00:19:53.319 years, especially Presbyterians and other traditional elites. This usually conflicted with the Army 284 00:19:53.359 --> 00:19:57.240 factions, desired to maintain a hard line on their religious and ideological principles. 285 00:19:57.880 --> 00:20:03.920 The first battleground the new administration was the Council of State. The Civilian faction 286 00:20:03.960 --> 00:20:07.279 won an early victory by getting Richard to support new additions to the council, 287 00:20:07.480 --> 00:20:11.440 most notably his brother Henry and Roger Boyle, but their Army faction rivals complained 288 00:20:11.480 --> 00:20:15.160 that by the terms of the constitution, such appointments had to be approved by 289 00:20:15.200 --> 00:20:19.839 the existing council. Mobilizing their power there, they effectively blocked the appointments. 290 00:20:21.400 --> 00:20:23.880 Within days, the Army faction presented its own case to fill the vacancies in 291 00:20:23.920 --> 00:20:27.960 the council. Charles Fleetwood presented his brother in law, Richard Cromwell, a 292 00:20:29.039 --> 00:20:33.640 petition signed by more than two hundred army officers. The document proclaimed their loyalty 293 00:20:33.680 --> 00:20:37.359 to the new Lord Protector, with the somewhat ominous caveat that they trusted he 294 00:20:37.440 --> 00:20:41.559 was a friend to the godly army. The petition further urged the Lord Protector 295 00:20:41.640 --> 00:20:45.079 to appoint only godly men to the Council. In fact, the phrase Fleetwood's 296 00:20:45.079 --> 00:20:51.119 petition used was men who supported the Good Old Cause. The term was quickly 297 00:20:51.160 --> 00:20:53.920 spreading through the army like a meme, and carried with it significant political meaning. 298 00:20:55.680 --> 00:20:59.039 Like all good political slogans, the Good Old Cause was somewhat vague. 299 00:20:59.519 --> 00:21:03.400 Broadly speaking, had represented the goals and aspirations the new model Army had fought 300 00:21:03.440 --> 00:21:07.599 for. What precisely those aspirations were were left to the individual soldier to imagine. 301 00:21:08.079 --> 00:21:11.440 For some it might have been religious freedom, for others liberty of a 302 00:21:11.480 --> 00:21:17.079 more political nature. What was clear was that a group of self interested powerbrokers 303 00:21:17.119 --> 00:21:19.279 were looking to sell out the Good Old Cause and betray everything the army had 304 00:21:19.319 --> 00:21:25.559 led for. Fleetwood and his ally John desbro were playing with dangerous populist resentments 305 00:21:25.559 --> 00:21:27.720 within the army, and as it turned out, neither of them had the 306 00:21:27.759 --> 00:21:33.559 political skill to manipulate those resentments safely, nor did they hold trademark rights on 307 00:21:33.599 --> 00:21:36.880 the Good Old Cause. The phrase was used liberally in the press by any 308 00:21:36.960 --> 00:21:41.759 number of factions, some more organized than others. Perhaps the most influential custodian 309 00:21:41.799 --> 00:21:45.039 of the phrase was Henry Vane. As we've seen ever since, Oliver Cromwell 310 00:21:45.039 --> 00:21:48.559 exiled Vane from power in the wake of the Rump dissolution, he had sniped 311 00:21:48.559 --> 00:21:53.079 at the Protectorate regime as an outsider. His accusations of the current regime betraying 312 00:21:53.079 --> 00:21:56.279 the cause were more convincing than those of men like Fleetwood, who had long 313 00:21:56.319 --> 00:22:00.680 stood by his father in law Oliver Cromwell. While the Protectorate leadership bickered, 314 00:22:00.920 --> 00:22:06.799 Vain refined his earlier program of godly republicanism into a fairly coherent expression of the 315 00:22:06.839 --> 00:22:10.720 good Old Cause. Under these circumstances, it was only a matter of time 316 00:22:10.759 --> 00:22:15.200 before Fleetwood and desbro lost control of the situation, which they did in early 317 00:22:15.240 --> 00:22:19.079 October, barely a month after Oliver Cromwell's death, a group of junior officers, 318 00:22:19.160 --> 00:22:22.200 spurred on by a desire to defend the good Old Cause, produced a 319 00:22:22.240 --> 00:22:27.000 new petition. This one demanded that Richard Cromwell surrender his position as commander in 320 00:22:27.039 --> 00:22:30.599 chief in the army and passed it to Fleetwood. On the surface, this 321 00:22:30.720 --> 00:22:34.680 made a certain degree of sense, Although the office of Lord Protector included the 322 00:22:34.799 --> 00:22:38.519 role of commander of the army, Richard Cromwell had very little military experience, 323 00:22:38.920 --> 00:22:42.680 why not pass his duties after a veteran soldier like his brother in law Fleetwood. 324 00:22:44.240 --> 00:22:47.880 But this was far more than a mere shuffling of titles. The petition 325 00:22:48.079 --> 00:22:51.359 called for the new Commander in Chief to have absolute authority over the army, 326 00:22:51.559 --> 00:22:55.400 without any interference from the Lord Protector, Parliament, or the Council of State. 327 00:22:56.319 --> 00:23:00.559 Fleetwood would be in control of all officer appointments and dismissals. Officers could 328 00:23:00.559 --> 00:23:03.920 only be removed by word of the Commander in Chief or by court martial. 329 00:23:03.519 --> 00:23:07.759 In other words, the army would become an entirely separate political institution, a 330 00:23:07.839 --> 00:23:11.319 fourth pillar of the state, joining the Lord Protector, the Council of State 331 00:23:11.400 --> 00:23:15.920 and Parliament. This was an opportunity for Fleetwood, and one he likely relished, 332 00:23:17.279 --> 00:23:21.359 but the move was instigated by junior officers beyond his control. It wasn't 333 00:23:21.400 --> 00:23:23.519 clear where all this would end, or whether Fleetwood would be able to tame 334 00:23:23.559 --> 00:23:27.319 the anxieties of the officer corps once he was in power, though for the 335 00:23:27.400 --> 00:23:33.039 moment that hypothetical was moot. The Lord protector held firm. On the eighteenth 336 00:23:33.039 --> 00:23:37.720 of October, Cromwell delivered a speech intended to placate the army, drafted by 337 00:23:37.759 --> 00:23:41.240 John Thurlow. The key element to the speech was a compromise. Fleetwood would 338 00:23:41.279 --> 00:23:45.279 be named Lieutenant General of the Land Forces in charge of England's armies, but 339 00:23:45.440 --> 00:23:49.240 Cromwell would retain his role as Commander in chief. To do otherwise would be 340 00:23:49.240 --> 00:23:53.319 to violate the Constitution. He did, however, promise to consult Fleetwood on 341 00:23:53.359 --> 00:23:57.400 all appointments and dismissals. For now, it was enough to force Fleetwood to 342 00:23:57.440 --> 00:24:02.359 back down lest he looked on reasonable and greedy for power. But just a 343 00:24:02.359 --> 00:24:06.960 few weeks into Richard Cromwell's reign, the protectorates state seemed wobbly. Even if 344 00:24:06.960 --> 00:24:10.960 Fleetwood was willing to accept Cromwell's compromise, many of the junior officers who had 345 00:24:11.039 --> 00:24:15.359 drafted the petition were not. In the following days and weeks, numerous junior 346 00:24:15.400 --> 00:24:18.039 officers denounced their superiors for not being forward enough. In the good old cause 347 00:24:18.759 --> 00:24:23.240 Fleetwood and desbro didn't so much look like leaders as figureheads for army sentiment who 348 00:24:23.240 --> 00:24:27.240 could be easily tossed aside. If they continued to waver, one false move 349 00:24:27.279 --> 00:24:32.599 could spark coup or even a civil war, and the greatest challenge was yet 350 00:24:32.599 --> 00:24:36.640 to come. Before his death, Oliver Cromwell had been drawing up plans for 351 00:24:36.640 --> 00:24:40.279 another parliament. Money was needed to continue the war on the continent, and 352 00:24:40.359 --> 00:24:44.519 the ongoing crisis in Denmark threatened to be expensive as well. Even if England 353 00:24:44.559 --> 00:24:47.440 could manage to stay out of the Northern War, funds had to be raised 354 00:24:47.480 --> 00:24:51.319 to keep the navy stationed in the region. Without the presence of English warships, 355 00:24:51.400 --> 00:24:56.079 the Protectorate's diplomatic leverage in the Northern theater would disappear. The need for 356 00:24:56.200 --> 00:25:00.400 money had not gone away with the change in law Protector If anything, Richard 357 00:25:00.440 --> 00:25:03.799 needed a parliament even more than Oliver. The new constitution created by the humble 358 00:25:03.799 --> 00:25:07.440 petition and advice was no more secure than the last one. In fact, 359 00:25:07.440 --> 00:25:11.359 it was even less secure now that an untested and unfamiliar Richard Cromwell sat a 360 00:25:11.400 --> 00:25:17.240 topic. Only parliament could deliver an unambiguous vote of confidence for the new regime. 361 00:25:17.960 --> 00:25:21.079 But while it was obvious to everyone that a new parliament was necessary, 362 00:25:21.359 --> 00:25:26.039 few were enthusiastic about the prospect. The army faction worried about losing their influence 363 00:25:26.119 --> 00:25:29.720 once a new session convened. At Westminster. They had a brief window where 364 00:25:29.720 --> 00:25:33.759 soldiers were the only thing keeping Cromwell in power. That was leverage that might 365 00:25:33.759 --> 00:25:37.400 be lost once a new parliament was seated if past elections were any indication the 366 00:25:37.440 --> 00:25:41.640 Good Old Cause that the Army champion was not a winner at the polls. 367 00:25:41.759 --> 00:25:45.799 Meanwhile, the civilian faction was reluctant to call a parliament too. Many of 368 00:25:45.799 --> 00:25:48.880 them were the same men who had crafted the Humble Petition and Advice, a 369 00:25:48.920 --> 00:25:53.279 controversial program they had pushed through a purged and divided parliament. It was a 370 00:25:53.279 --> 00:25:59.480 troubling dilemma. Their beloved Constitution required a parliament to be completed, but would 371 00:25:59.480 --> 00:26:03.920 it survive scrutiny at Westminster. Indecision and animosity paralyzed the Protectorate state through the 372 00:26:03.960 --> 00:26:10.079 fall and into December. Frustrated army officers began holding weekly meetings every Friday at 373 00:26:10.079 --> 00:26:14.119 Saint James's Palace, looking an awful lot like a shadow government ready to immediately 374 00:26:14.160 --> 00:26:18.440 step into power after a coup. One of the most frequently discussed demands was 375 00:26:18.480 --> 00:26:22.000 a reinstatement of officers who had been purged by Oliver Cromwell over the years. 376 00:26:22.480 --> 00:26:26.000 Most alarmingly, that included Thomas Harrison, the influential Fifth Monarchist, and John 377 00:26:26.079 --> 00:26:30.480 Lambert, who had been banished from government for his refusal to recognize the Humble 378 00:26:30.519 --> 00:26:34.839 Petition and Advice which had superseded his instrument of government. There's some speculation among 379 00:26:34.880 --> 00:26:41.440 historians that John Lambert was himself behind this agitation, seeing Richard Cromwell's unsettled position 380 00:26:41.559 --> 00:26:45.680 as an opportunity to return to the center of events. Meanwhile, the civilian 381 00:26:45.720 --> 00:26:48.839 faction attempted to consolidate their position, and another rumor surface that Roger Boyle would 382 00:26:48.839 --> 00:26:52.640 be appointed to the Council of State, but this only sparked fresh rounds of 383 00:26:52.680 --> 00:26:57.440 heated rhetoric among the officers, and the idea was quickly abandoned. The most 384 00:26:57.440 --> 00:27:02.799 explosive incident, however, involved Edward Montagu, who he met previously as Robert 385 00:27:02.839 --> 00:27:07.200 Blake, second in command of the Navy when all the Cromwell died. Montagu 386 00:27:07.279 --> 00:27:10.759 had been commanding the English fleet that was coordinating with English and French land forces 387 00:27:10.759 --> 00:27:14.359 in the Spanish Netherlands. He was a close ally of the late Lord Protector 388 00:27:14.480 --> 00:27:18.839 and rushed home to ensure power passed smoothly to Oliver's chosen successor, Richard. 389 00:27:18.359 --> 00:27:22.960 Significantly, Montagu had also aligned with men like Boyle, Whitelocke and Thurlow during 390 00:27:23.000 --> 00:27:26.599 the debates on the Humble Petition and Advice. The nucleus of the Civilian faction. 391 00:27:27.319 --> 00:27:32.119 For men like Fleetwood, Montagu was dangerous. With the death of Robert 392 00:27:32.119 --> 00:27:34.279 Blake, he was the new top man in the Navy. What's more, 393 00:27:34.359 --> 00:27:37.839 before becoming a general at sea, Montagu had a long career in the New 394 00:27:37.839 --> 00:27:41.519 Model Army. If the Civilian faction were to make a move on their rivals 395 00:27:41.519 --> 00:27:45.359 in the army, Montagu would likely play a key role in securing the loyalty 396 00:27:45.359 --> 00:27:49.519 of the military. The leaders of the Army faction were therefore alarmed when in 397 00:27:49.559 --> 00:27:53.640 December sixteen fifty eight, the Lord Protector assigned Montague command of a regiment in 398 00:27:53.680 --> 00:27:57.440 the army, this while he still remained the commander of the nation's navy. 399 00:27:59.279 --> 00:28:03.680 Not only did this violate Cromwell's promise to take Fleetwood's advice on all army appointments, 400 00:28:03.920 --> 00:28:07.799 but it seemed to expose the Army faction to danger at a raucous meeting 401 00:28:07.839 --> 00:28:11.079 of the Council of State. John desbro accused Montagu of engineering a plot to 402 00:28:11.200 --> 00:28:15.599 arrest or even kill himself and his ally Charles Fleetwood. But despite the growing 403 00:28:15.640 --> 00:28:19.160 civil war at the top of the Protectorate state, a parliament could not be 404 00:28:19.160 --> 00:28:23.200 put off any longer. The treasury faced a whopping two million pounds of debt 405 00:28:23.440 --> 00:28:26.480 and the real possibility of having to pay for two wars in the coming year. 406 00:28:27.240 --> 00:28:30.680 The elections held at the end of sixteen fifty eight saw none of the 407 00:28:30.839 --> 00:28:36.839 organized management that marked these elections for Cromwell's second Protectorate Parliament. As you recall, 408 00:28:36.960 --> 00:28:40.200 back then, the major generals had used their influence to return as many 409 00:28:40.200 --> 00:28:45.559 government friendly candidates as possible. The results had been underwhelming. The divided and 410 00:28:45.599 --> 00:28:51.079 disorganized administration of Richard Cromwell's Protectorate had no hope of matching even that modest achievement. 411 00:28:51.839 --> 00:28:55.279 When the Parliament opened on the twenty seventh of January sixteen fifty nine, 412 00:28:55.559 --> 00:28:57.599 more than half of its members were sitting at Westminster for the first time. 413 00:28:59.079 --> 00:29:03.680 It was a young co whose political loyalties were virtually unknown. Even worse for 414 00:29:03.680 --> 00:29:06.799 the government, the loyalties of some of the more experienced members were all too 415 00:29:06.839 --> 00:29:11.279 obvious. Once again, Arthur Hesselrigg and his ally Thomas Scott won seats, 416 00:29:11.519 --> 00:29:15.119 and this time Oliver Cromwell wasn't there to bar them from sitting. In fact, 417 00:29:15.119 --> 00:29:19.319 the reverse was true. When Richard Cromwell visited Westminster to open the Parliament, 418 00:29:19.559 --> 00:29:23.480 more than one hundred and fifty members refused to attend his speech. For 419 00:29:23.640 --> 00:29:27.680 most, this was a symbolic rejection of the constitution created by the humble Petition 420 00:29:27.680 --> 00:29:32.559 and advice. The Lord Protector's opening was to be attended by both the House 421 00:29:32.559 --> 00:29:36.079 of Commons and the other house, the quasi House of Lords, created a 422 00:29:36.160 --> 00:29:40.119 year earlier. Many of the elected members did not recognize the existence of that 423 00:29:40.200 --> 00:29:44.799 institution and so refused to sit with them in a formal setting. Others had 424 00:29:44.799 --> 00:29:48.599 a more alarming reason to stay away. They refused to recognize the legality of 425 00:29:48.640 --> 00:29:51.720 the entire protectorate system, which, as far as they were concerned, had 426 00:29:51.759 --> 00:29:56.119 never been formalized in a free parliament. But while this was undoubtedly a major 427 00:29:56.160 --> 00:30:00.440 blow to an administration that was already weak and divided, the opposition was hardly 428 00:30:00.519 --> 00:30:04.480 unified itself. Numerous factions vied for the support of a large body of uncommitted 429 00:30:04.519 --> 00:30:10.480 members. Henry Vane hosted daily strategy sessions for his circle of Godly Republicans. 430 00:30:11.039 --> 00:30:15.519 Through back channels, they approached dissident army officers and longtime critics of the Protectorate. 431 00:30:15.119 --> 00:30:18.920 Meanwhile, Arthur Hasselrigg tried to mobilize support for his claim that the Rump 432 00:30:18.960 --> 00:30:26.000 Parliament had been the last legitimate institution in English politics. John Thurlow, representing 433 00:30:26.039 --> 00:30:29.960 the Protectorate State, tried to bring some order to the chaos. Just days 434 00:30:29.960 --> 00:30:33.759 into the session, he introduced the first concrete bill. Thurlow proposed that Parliament 435 00:30:33.839 --> 00:30:38.359 formally approved the humble Petition and Advice and confirmed the Protectorate system of ground rules 436 00:30:38.599 --> 00:30:41.920 too, at the very least, lend some structure to their work. This 437 00:30:41.960 --> 00:30:47.240 was an effective tactical move, as neither Vain nor Hasselerigg had built a coalition 438 00:30:47.240 --> 00:30:51.599 they had any confidence in. Yet Hasselerigg and his allies certainly opposed the measure, 439 00:30:51.799 --> 00:30:55.880 but their immediate goal was to delay any decision rather than vote against Thurlow's 440 00:30:55.880 --> 00:31:00.119 bill. They needed more time to build a party. After three weeks of 441 00:31:00.160 --> 00:31:03.359 confused debate, the Commons passed a compromise bill on the nineteenth of February. 442 00:31:03.880 --> 00:31:07.720 The Humble Petition and Advice and the Protectorate system would set the rules for their 443 00:31:07.759 --> 00:31:12.839 work, but Hasselrigg managed to attach a caveat the Commons retained the prerogative to 444 00:31:12.960 --> 00:31:18.160 limit the lower Protector's power and extend that of the House to what degree was 445 00:31:18.240 --> 00:31:22.279 left conveniently vague. Even so, it was more than a month before the 446 00:31:22.319 --> 00:31:26.559 Commons could be brought to grudgingly recognize the existence of the other house. Only 447 00:31:26.599 --> 00:31:30.279 at the end of March that the two houses of Parliament opened lines of official 448 00:31:30.279 --> 00:31:34.559 communication between each other. The first Parliament of Richard Cromwell's Protectorate set a record 449 00:31:34.559 --> 00:31:38.759 for gridlock that surpassed anything in the previous fifteen years at Westminster, an impressive 450 00:31:38.799 --> 00:31:44.640 feat. Both the Government and the House of Commons were internally divided, and 451 00:31:44.720 --> 00:31:48.599 a significant group at Westminster saw the entire enterprise as illegitimate for them. The 452 00:31:48.720 --> 00:31:53.599 stalemate was deliberate paralyzed by a campaign of obstructionism. It was only a matter 453 00:31:53.640 --> 00:31:59.799 of time before the wobbly protectorate regime crumbled. In fact, multiple parties, 454 00:32:00.039 --> 00:32:02.599 both inside and outside of government, had already lost faith in Richard Cromwell as 455 00:32:02.599 --> 00:32:07.799 a political leader. Any pretense of fixing the regime was abandoned. Next time 456 00:32:07.920 --> 00:32:22.640 will watch as the vultures began to circle, waiting for their opportunity.