The Rump Parliament

1
The Rump Parliament

• 1649 - 1653

2
Key Dates

• 1648
• Dec Prides Purge
• 1649
• Jan Trial and Execution of Charles I
• Jan Commons claimed supreme power
• Feb Council of State appointed
• Mar Rump abolished the monarchy and House of
  Lords.
• Mar Cromwell appointed Lord Lieutenant in
  charge of Parliaments army
• May England declared to be a commonwealth
• May Leveller rising crushed by Cromwell

3
The Rump and the Army

• Rump came about as a result of armys purge of
  parliament
• Large number of army officers also Mps (Oliver
  Cromwell)
• General Council of Army therefore in strong
  position
• Cromwell became more prominent as leader of the
  army

4
The Rump and the Army

• Rump not united of 211 members created by
  Prides Purge only 70 involved in Execution of
  King and only 43 of that number signed the death
  warrant
• Rump did not regard itself as dependent on the
  army for its authority
• Rump claimed to be the legitimate extension of
  the Long Parliament of 1640

5
The creation of the Commonwealth

• Council of State established in Feb 1649, 41
  members (34 of which were Mps)
• Composition reflected conservatism of the Rump
• Influential officers including Henry Ireton and
  Thomas Harrison prevented from being included
• Purpose was to preserve rather than undermine the
  Constitution
• House of Lords not needed because of role during
  civil wars and lack of numbers

6
The creation of the Commonwealth

• Cromwell persuaded Rump to change the Oath of
  Loyalty for joining Council of State (earlier
  version demanded recognition of Prides purge and
  Execution of king)
• New version only required loyalty to present
  parliament
• This eased the way for others to align themselves
  with the Commonwealth
• David Underdown (historian) has argued that the
  Rumpers did this hoping to destroy what impetus
  the revolution possessed
• Conservatism of Rump disappointed the Radicals

7
The Challenge of the Levellers

• Levellers created in London during the first
  Civil War by middling sort of society
• Basic principle was that power should be with the
  people not parliament
• Demanded extension of the parliamentary
  franchise, reform of the legal system and freedom
  of worship
• Although these ideas were unacceptable to the
  Grandees (senior army officers) they were
  listened to during 1647, led to Leveller demands
  being incorporated in the Agreement of the People
• However the Putney debates in 1647 showed that
  the Grandees would never accept the leveller
  proposals and Leveller mutinies in 1648 were
  quickly suppressed by Oliver Cromwell

8
John Lilburne

• Feb 1649 Lilburne publishes attack on the Rump
  accusing them of seizing power from the people
  and calling the Council an unelected clique who
  no person should be loyal to
• In another pamphlet he accused Cromwell of high
  Treason for his part in the Kings execution
• Lilburne and 3 others were arrested and committed
  to the Tower of London
• Lilburnes actions inspired resistance in the
  ranks of the army, many pamphlets were published
  and a number of Mutinies occured

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Cromwell and the Levellers

• Cromwell dealt severely with Leveller mutinies
• Showed his determination to win support for the
  Commonwealth from the traditional governing
  classes by proving the new regime would not
  tolerate social disruption
• Cromwell and Fairfax crushed the remaining
  Levellers in May 1649, this marked an end of the
  rising and the end of the Leveller movement as a
  political force in the country at large

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Why did the Levellers fail?

• Movement proved weaker than it appeared
• Only 3 years old, not ready to take root in
  English society
• Leaders attracted attention but not always
  support
• Numbers of revolters in army very small (800 out
  of 40,000 in May 1649)
• Army rank and file political but not radical
  biggest concern pay
• Improved times of 1649 in the form of better
  harvests, lower prices and higher wages meant
  that the Levellers had less fertile ground for
  sowing dissension

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Why did the Levellers fail?

• Failed to gain support among army officers
• Failed to gain support in parliament
• Therefore no effective power base
• Support limited to London and parts South East
• No co-ordinated programme of action for changing
  country
• Ideas of Levellers that threatened Social Order
  frightened men of property
• Never fully committed to use force
• Faced Oliver Cromwell
• Woolrych (historian) Levellers more interested
  in principles than power

12
The Diggers

• Sometimes viewed as the true levellers
• 50 of them took over a patch of wasteland on
  St.Geoges Hill in Surrey which they began to
  cultivate
• They believed that land and property belonged to
  the community not the individual
• In the exact sense they were Communists
• Council of State sent Fairfax to deal with
  leaders Gerald Winstanly and William Everand
• An army unit supervised the destruction of the
  crops sown on the wasteland