Britain without a Monarch

1650-1659: Britain without a Monarch

The period covered by the MarineLives project is a peculiar one in British history: it was a

period in which Britain was without a monarch. This interregnum followed years of civil war

between king and parliament. On 30th January 1649 Charles I was executed, and a republic

was born. It was a time of fear and uncertainty. Yet from the ashes of the royal regime rose a

new leader: Oliver Cromwell, the ‘English Caesar’.1

Disenchantment with Charles I’s reign began in 1629, when he dissolved parliament

and instituted a period of personal rule, which was to last for eleven years. Political autonomy

was joined by religious autonomy, as Charles sought to bring religious uniformity to Britain,

angering and alienating many staunch Scottish Presbyterians, and fuelling rebellion in

Catholic Ireland. Parliamentarians considered Charles a threat to liberty, to the rights of

parliament, and to England, and they set about raising an army. On 22nd August 1642

Charles raised his royal standard against the parliamentarians, signalling the beginning of
civil war.2

One of the victors of the civil war was the god-fearing Oliver Cromwell. Believing that

he was doing God’s work, Cromwell proved himself a formidable soldier and leader. He was

the founder of the New Model Army, which recruited men who were willing to accept

discipline, in return for better supplies of food, boots, and shelter. This New Model Army,

under Cromwell’s professional leadership, was able to crush the royalist army, and was

instrumental in winning the war for the parliamentarians. When Britain needed leadership

again, after the execution of Charles I, Cromwell was the natural choice.3

The fledgling Commonwealth began life as a republic, ruled by a parliament known

as the ‘Rump’. In May 1649 the Rump formally enacted the Commonwealth, abolishing the

monarchy and the House of Lords. However, the Rump proved not to be the guardian of

British liberties that it had been hoped that it would be. It sought to establish and retain its

own power, and to lessen the power of the army which had made that power possible. The

army saw the government as little more than an oligarchy, clinging on to power in any way

that it could. Initially installed as a temporary measure, the Rump failed to reform, or make

way for a new governing body. Instead it drew up a bill to hold elections on vacant seats, but

to allow acting MPs to continue in government indefinitely. When Cromwell returned from

his military campaigns to subdue the Scots, and repress the Irish, he pressed the House of

Commons to make way for a new parliament. When it delayed further, Cromwell used the

might of the army to shut parliament down, on 20th April 1653. Rejecting the idea of a

military dictatorship, Cromwell set up a ‘Barebone’s’ parliament (named after one of its

members). However, division within its ranks meant that Barebone’s parliament lasted less

than six months. In December 1653 it resigned all authority to Cromwell.4

Cromwell chose the title ‘Lord Protector’, but he was arguably king (albeit a

constitutional king) in all but name. However, unlike a king, he was given the revenue for a

30,000 strong army and navy. Under Cromwell England became more conservative and

Puritan: piety was favoured over extravagance, playhouses were closed, and Christmas was

cancelled. However, there were still sources of entertainment: the first coffee house opened in

London in 1652, and chocolate houses sprung up too. Music and opera flourished, the first

English opera was performed in London in 1656, and women took to the stage for the first

time. After years of civil war and uncertainty, life began to return to normal under

Cromwell’s governance. Perhaps the most surprising aspect of Cromwell’s reign was the

embracing of religious tolerance. The Jews (who had been expelled from England 360 years

before) were readmitted to England in 1656, and allowed to worship freely. Even Catholics

were allowed to live in relative quiet, and could enjoy Cromwell’s favour. Only those whose

religious views were dangerous to the Protectorate had anything to fear from the god-fearing

The Commonwealth was a period of expansion for Britain’s maritime power, with

cruisers patrolling coasts, permanent Mediterranean and West Indian fleets, and the

beginning of a North American station. The Navy showed its prowess during the Anglo-

Dutch war (1652-1654), with officers who were experienced in warfare, rather than men who

curried favour at court. It was also a period credited with the advancement of discipline

within the Navy, as thirty-nine articles of war were introduced, detailing punishments for

misdeeds, with thirteen carrying an unconditional death penalty. Although the death penalty

was rarely pronounced, and sentences were generally commuted, punishments could be

harsh, particularly for mutiny.6

The period of the commonwealth also witnessed the earliest attempt to provide relief

for sick and wounded seamen, and for the wives and children of those killed, with a

proportion of prize money going towards their relief. For the first time, men injured on shore

continued to receive pay, until they either recovered or died. Sometimes they were better off

than their able-bodied comrades, who might have to wait years for their wages.7

Wages continued to prove a bone of contention throughout the Commonwealth. Like

the army, the Navy were awarded better pay and supplies during the civil wars, and were

given incentives, such as prize money. However, seamen were usually only paid once the ship

had returned to shore, and sometimes ships delayed returning to shore because of this. Prize

money was a more positive addition. Officers and men were given half the value of each man-

of-war captured (with the other half going to the relief fund for the sick and injured, and

widows and orphans), and a third of the value of each merchantman captured (with another

third going to the relief fund and the last third going to the state). Prize goods were to be

distributed to the men three days after the payment of wages; however, as men could be at

sea for years before receiving any wages, this could prove a cause for complaint.8

One of the most interesting changes to the admiralty, during the time of the

Commonwealth, was that admiralty documents were written in English, rather than Latin (to

which they returned in 1660 upon the restoration of Charles II). Having legal documents

written in English, rather than Latin, shows the Protestant Puritan base of the

Commonwealth, reaffirming the important part that religion played in its creation, and its

continuation. It is also the language of the common man, rather than of scholars, and the

admiralty documents provide readers with the voice of the common man, something which is

not easy to come by in a period when literacy was the privilege of the elite, and the voice of

the common man was often muted.

1 ‘Revolutions’ A History of Britain by Simon Schama BBC Four. 13 August 2014, 00.30

2 BBC History, 2014. [Online]. Available from:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/timeline/civilwars_timeline_noflash.shtml [Accessed 3 February 2015];

‘The British Wars’ A History of Britain by Simon Schama BBC Four. 6 August 2014, 00.20

3 Ibid; ‘Revolutions’ A History of Britain by Simon Schama; John Morrill, ‘Cromwell,

Oliver (1599–1658)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn,

May 2008 Available from: http://www.oxforddnb.com.ezproxy.bathspa.ac.uk:2048/view/article/6765?docPos=1

4 Revolutions’ A History of Britain by Simon Schama; Woolrych, Austin England without a King 1649-1660.

London: Methuen & Co. Ltd, 1983

5 Ibid; Inwood, Stephen A History of London. London: Macmillan, 1998

6 Oppenheim, M. A history of the administration of the royal navy and of merchant shipping in relation to the

navy volume 1 1509-1660. London: John Lane the Bodley Head, 1896

7 Ibid

8 Ibid