- The Times: 1642-1660 -
For four years, there was civil war between the King, backed generally by the upper class, the established church, and most of the gentry, against the Parliamentarians, backed generally by middle class yeomen, town dwellers, some of the gentry, most of the great corporations, the City of London, the ports, the seamen, and the Navy. Oxford University was royalist, and Cambridge University was Puritan in sympathy. Archery was not used, having become just sport by 1633. Flint-lock pistols, which relied on flint striking steel to ignite the powder, as well as swords were used by horsemen in the civil war. Footmen were musketeers using a match lock with a cord boiled in vinegar as the match and dressed in leather doublets and an iron-pot headpiece, or pikemen with long wooden poles with spearheads of iron or steel and short swords, and dressed in armor. This was the last time armor was used. The Parliamentarians wore orange scarves to distinguish themselves from their enemy. Cromwell, who had a natural aptitude for military matters, selected for his troops, Puritan zealots with a Puritan code of behavior which included no drinking or swearing. He selected horsemen based on ability rather than social class. He was regarded as one of the leaders of the Independents, who wanted total abolition of the monarchy and of the aristocracy. When made a leader of the New Model Army, Cromwell dressed all his foot men in red with only the facings being regimental colors. The New Model Army had been assembled because there had been disagreement about policy among the members of Parliament who held commissions. Almost all members gave up their commissions. For their continued support, many wives and also prostitutes put on men's clothing and followed the troops. They nursed the wounded. Those many wives who stayed at home pleaded and answered in court; petitioned to the House of Commons, e.g. for release of debtors from prison, high taxes, lack of work, and arbitrary government; and made other public appearances. Puritan and royalist newspapers printed the news at least once weekly. Poet John Milton pled for civil and religious freedom, freedom of social life, and freedom of the press. He stated: "Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely, according to conscience, above all liberties."
The Mayor and citizens of London were given authority in 1642 to fortify all highways leading to the city and levy a tax on inhabitants for this purpose. When London was deprived of coal during the war, trees and flowers again flourished there.
Officers and seamen in navy ships were authorized in 1642 to take one-third of all prize goods captured, the other two-thirds going to the state.
Parliament approved certain persons to set forth ships at their own expense to defend the realm in 1643. They were allowed to keep any ships, goods, ammunition, or moneys they seized.
Saltpeter men were appointed by Parliament in 1643 and later times to search and dig for saltpeter in pigeon houses, stables, and outhouses, but not dwelling, shops, or milkhouses. They had to repair any damage done to the contentment of the owners.
Complaints were made to Parliament that there were scandalous and ill-affected fomenters of the civil war and disobeyers of the ordinaries of Parliament and deserters of their ordinary places of residence. These complaints were made by members of the University of Cambridge, students, clergy in surrounding counties, and schoolmasters. So a committee was established in 1643 to investigate and sequester their lands and goods, excepting one- fifth of the estate for the wife and children.
When Charles was captured in 1646, the episcopacy of the bishops was abolished. When Parliament was about to reinstate Charles as king with weakened powers and establish a Presbyterian state church, the soldiers, who were religious Independents and who still had not been fully paid (the infantry pay was 18 weeks in arrears and the cavalry 43 weeks) despite plans to disband them, spontaneously took the King by force. They demanded liberty of conscience to practice their own religion and their pay. Cromwell sided with the army and then became leader of the House of Commons. Charles dissembled in his negotiations with the army generals. He felt freed from his promises as soon as the pressure was removed. The army could not forgive Charles' duplicity and deceitfulness and insisted upon his death as the only way to bring peace. Cromwell gave up hope on negotiations with Charles when he intercepted a letter by Charles to his Queen decreeing the final doom of the army adherents in favor of the Scottish Presbyterians. During protracted negotiations over months between the army and Parliament over a new constitution, a renewed support for the King, which was inspired by him, necessitated a second civil war to put down this revolt and subdue its Scot supporters. Eventually the army took control of Parliament by force, only allowing the few members who agreed with them on the trial of the King into Parliamentary meetings. So Charles was tried in 1649, found guilty of "an unlimited and tyrannical power to rule according to his will, and to overthrow the rights and liberties of the people … which by the fundamental constitutions of this kingdom were reserved on the peoples' behalf in the right and power of frequent and successive parliaments or national meetings in council", and maintaining a war against his subjects, which amounted to treason. To prevent his adherents from trying to reinstate him, he was condemned to death and beheaded in January 1649.
Parishes had to give maintenance to maimed soldiers and provision for the livelihood to the wives and children of killed soldiers. Masters of apprentices who became soldiers had to take them back as apprentices without loss for their absence in defense of the Commonwealth. Masters who received considerable loss by the absence of their apprentices received reasonable satisfaction from the public stock.
To pay for the civil war, an assessment tax on the yearly value of rents, annuities, and offices was often levied. The main burden of this tax fell on the gentry rather than the merchants and smaller men of property, as previous taxes had. An excise tax, a tax on consumption, was begun on ale and beer and then extended to meat, salt, starch, soap, and paper. It was gradually extended to many goods. The excise taxes were paid, as was the customs tax, by manufacturers on goods made in England and by foreign manufacturers on goods at the ports.
From 1640-60, Royalists were purged from Oxford and a group of
Baconians moved into the university behind Parliamentary armies.
At the two universities, books were no longer chained to the
bookcases. The universities were freed from taxation.
After the civil wars, Cromwell led the country. He was a military, political, and religious leader. He had become a Puritan zealot after a youth of gambling, drinking, debauchery, and rioting. He believed that military success was a reflection of divine favor and he regarded himself as one the few elect preordained for salvation. Those in power in the new Commonwealth tended to explain their regime in terms of popular consent, and the takeover from Charles I as due to his breaking of a contract with the people.
Most people dressed in Puritan fashion. A Puritan's favorite readings were the Old Testament, Epistles of St. Paul, and Switzerland's John Calvin.
Wealth and prosperity steadily increased in spite of the civil wars. During Cromwell's tenure, there was a marked revival of economic prosperity. By the mid-1600s, landlords had been able to shorten their leases so that a lease of twenty-one years was the predominant form of landholding.
Patent protection was given in 1642 to the inventors of a device for salvaging ships' goods and cannons from the seas for seven years. With it they could convert to their own use one half and items retrieved, the other half going to the Navy and Parliament. Patent protection was given in 1650 to George Manby on his new invention for boiling liquors and making salt with less coal and wood and iron, lead, and copper for fourteen years. Patent protection was given in 1651 to Jeromy Buck for melting iron, lead, tin, copper, brass, and other metals with coal without burning charcoal, for fourteen years.
Dutchman Stevinus showed that the pressure at the bottom of a column of liquid is proportional to the height of the column, and not to its bulk, about 1634. He also studied oblique forces, and the balancing of such that could bring about "stable equilibrium".
Evangelista Torricelli, an Italian student of Galileo, discovered in 1643 that any fluid will be supported at a definite height, according to its relative weight, as compared with air. He realized that a mercury column, 30 inches in height, in a long glass tube inverted in a cup of mercury, was being supported by air pressure exerted on the mercury in the cup. When he observed that this height changed with the weather, he had invented the mercury barometer. His creation of a vacuum, above the mercury in the tube, astonished philosophers, who had thought that nature abhored a vacuum and would prevent it.
Blaise Pascal, a French mathematician, physicist, and religious philosopher, constructed a calculator in 1644 to assist his father, who was involved in local administration, in tax computations. Around 1646, he proved his law that pressure applied to a confined liquid is transmitted undiminished through the liquid in all directions regardless of the area to which the pressure is applied. Around 1653, he laid the foundations for the theory of probabilities, including the creation of "Pascal's Triangle" of coefficients of (a=b) raised to the nth power.
Jean Ray from France concluded from his experiments that every piece of material has a given weight, including air and fire.
The Merchant Adventurers were incorporated again in 1643 to have a monopoly. It was required to admit into membership for 100 pounds anyone free of London and bred as a merchant, and for 50 pounds any non-inhabitant of London. The penalty for trading for one who was not free of the corporation was forfeiture of his goods.
In 1648, the House of Commons abolished the monarchy and in 1649 the House of Lords. Also in 1649 it declared that England "should thenceforth be governed as a commonwealth and free state by the supreme authority of this nation, the representatives of the people in Parliament." It made a new constitution.
John Milton defended the Commonwealth as superior to the monarchy because it could not deteriorate into tyranny in his books: "First Defense of the People of England" in 1651, and "Second Defense" in 1654. He lauded Cromwell as great in war and great in peace, and exemplifying the principle that "nature appoints that wise men should govern fools".
Thomas Hobbes, the son of a clergyman, and tutor to students, wrote "Leviathan" in 1651 on his theory of sovereignty. Hobbes thought that states are formed as the only alternative to anarchy, barbarism, and war, so that supremacy and unity of a sovereign power is essential to a civilized life and the protection of the citizenry. A sovereign may be a man or body of men as long as his or its authority is generally recognized. There must be a social contract among the citizenry to obey a certain sovereign. To avoid religious conflict, there must be a complete subordination of the church to the state and the religion of a state must be dependent upon its secular sovereign. Hobbes thought that knowledge of the world came through experience and not reason alone. Only matter exists, and everything that happens can be predicted in accordance with exact, scientific laws. He regarded human societies as purely mechanical systems set in motion by human desires. He saw self interest as the mainspring of moral law. Conflicting self interests transformed into a lawful system of agreements. Hobbes opined that all power really originated in the people and that the end of all power was for the people's good.
On the other hand, James Harrington, who wrote "The Commonwealth of Oceana" in 1656, opined that a stable society depended on a direct relationship between the distribution of property and political power; no one with property worth more than 2,000 pounds should be allowed to acquire more and property should be divided among children. A senate of mature property owners were to make and debate the laws while an assembly elected by universal suffrage was to vote on them because "a popular assembly without a senate cannot be wise and a senate without a popular assembly will not be honest". A third of the Senate would turn over every year. John Milton defended the execution of the King in "The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates" in which he maintained that the people may "as often as they shall judge it for the best either to choose him or reject him or depose him, though no tyrant, merely by the liberty and right of freeborn men to be governed as seems to the best". He also wrote in favor of liberty of the press. Ordinary speech found its way into prose writing.
Lands of more than 700 Royalists, including church lands, were confiscated and sold or leased by county committees. Many Royalists put their lands into trusts or turned them over to relatives or sold them outright to prevent confiscation. It was an upheaval comparable to the dissolution of the monasteries. Also, specified Papists who had taken up arms against the realm lost their lands and goods and money and rents and two-thirds of their personal estates. But allowance was made for the maintenance of their wives and children.
The Book of Common Prayer was abolished because of its burdensome ceremonies. It was replaced by a Directory for Public Worship. According to this, the Sunday service was to include reading of the Scriptures, prayer, and a sermon, ordinarily on some text of scripture which would be explained with reasons therefore and applied to peoples' lives so they could see it they had sinned or not. The ending of episcopal patronage gave some parishes the right to elect their own ministers.
All festivals and holy days were abolished, e.g. Christmas, Easter, Whitsuntide. Instead, scholars, apprentices, and servants were to have recreation and stores were to be closed every second Tuesday of the month. The usual merry-making, music, dancing, and sports after the Sunday service were discontinued.
A day for fasting: the last Wednesday of every month, was declared by statute. This day was to be "kept with the more solemn humiliation, because it may call to remembrance our sins, and the sins of our forefathers, who have turned this Feast, pretending the memory of Christ into an extreme forgetfulness of him, by giving liberty to carnal and sensual delights, being contrary to the life which Christ himself led here upon earth, …". This statute lasted for only five years from 1644 because observance of it was not consistent throughout the country.
Educational opportunities such as in grammar schools were more widespread and stronger than ever before or since until the 1800s. About 78% of men in London were literate, and 30% of men nationwide. About half the women in London were literate by 1700.
In 1645, the marshalls of the admiralty and five major ports were ordered to search all ships for stolen children since it had been a problem in London.
The elderships of the church were given power in 1645 to suspend from the sacrament of the Lord's Supper all ignorant and scandalous persons. Ignorance was lack of knowledge that there is a God and this is the one true God we worship, that this God is one, yet three persons" Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, that God created man in his own image, that all have sinned and therefore shall die, that there is one mediator between God and man: Jesus Christ, who died on the cross to save men from their sins, that he rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, sits at the right hand of God, and intercedes for us, that Christ and his benefits are applied only by faith, that the souls of the faithful live with Christ in blessedness, that non-believers and non-repenters shall perish eternally, that the sacraments are baptism and communion, and that the is a judgment day on which the righteous will be given life eternal and the wicked shall receive everlasting punishment. Scandalous persons are those who blasphemously speak or write anything of God, his holy work or the sacraments; an incestuous person; an adulterer; a fornicator; a drunkard; a profane swearer or cursor; a murderer; a worshipper of images, crosses, crucifixes, relics, saints, or angels; makers of images of the trinity; one who professes not to be in charity with his neighbor; any challenging another to fight or accepting such challenge; on the Lord's day, dancing, dicing, cards, masking, wake, shooting, bowling, football, wrestling, plays, interludes, fencing, bullbaiting, bearbaiting, hawking, hunting, coursing, fishing, fowling, selling wares, travel without reasonable cause; brothel-house keeper, one who solicits the chastity of another; one who consents to the marriage of his child to a Papist or marries a Papist; own who goes for advice to a witch, wizard, fortune-teller; assault his parents, or any magistrate, minister, or elder in the execution of his office; one attainted of barratry, forgery, extortion, or bribery. If such a person persists, he shall be excommunicated.
Cromwell did not disapprove of activities prohibited because of the recreation they provided, but thought that they had become too central to people's lives. He did not close the taverns or ale houses.
In 1653 it was required that public preachers be approved by a commission nominated by the Lord Protector and Parliament because there had been too many "weak, scandalous, popish, and ill- affected" ones. In 1654 named persons were ejected as scandalous, ignorant and insufficient ministers and schoolmasters.
In 1649 a corporation was established to teach the Gospel of Jesus
Christ in New England to Indians.
Because the poorer parishes of London were having problems supporting their poor, a Corporation for the poor of London was established in 1647 with authority to erect workhouses and houses of correction.
Imprisoned debtors who had less than five pounds and less that five pounds worth of trade tools and clothing and bedding for his family were ordered released in 1649.
Wardship was abolished. Military tenures were abolished. Feudal tenures were converted into freehold in 1646.
In 1653 those living in Crown forest land were given free socage in that land. The game laws were not enforced, so people could eat deer.
Enclosures were increasing and Parliament was disinclined to protect copyholders against enclosures, favoring those with rights of ownership. Enclosure was no longer deterred especially after abolition of the Star Chamber. The legal device of "strict settlement" evolved to prevent heirs from breaking up estates enabled families to concentrate land and capital into large units. The oldest son inherited the land and the younger sons now received money. Clover seed was sold in London by 1650. It revolutionized the cultivation of barren land. England began to export instead of import grain. But vagrancy increased from people dispossessed of land. And the village artisan, when deprived of his field and of this rights of common, could not continue to work at home, but had to accept the wages offered to him in an employer's workshop.
Employers and entrepreneurs were now free from control by the Crown. There were no more attempts to supervise quality of manufactures or to fix prices or regulate wages. There was greater freedom established in relations between employers and workers. The government no longer tried to compel employers to keep employees in times of economic slump. The requirement of seven year apprenticeships and being the son of a freeholder to be an apprentice were not enforced.
The economy was still volatile due ostensibly to variable harvests, amount of gold and money in circulation, and balances of trade, and to periods of plague. Wages rose steadily. The rise in prices ended about 1650, and prices remained stable until about 1775. There was more mobility of people. Taxation became regular and it was controlled by representatives of the taxpayers. Population growth gradually stabilized.
Capitalism was coming into being. For instance, the clothier was now a manufacturer. He had become a contractor, taking wool to the specialist spinner, the yarn to the specialist weaver, the rough cloth to be washed and stretched, and finally to the dyer. This cloth was sold at retail by the drapers. Tin on the surface was exhausted, so capital was used to drive deep shafts in tin mines. No longer did a single man with a single ship sail around until he found a market, but company trading overseas had their ships, wharves, and depots furnished by men's savings put into a common stock. The first major capitalist industries were coal mining, iron mining, and foreign trade because they all needed large investments, and thus joint-stock company organization.
Cromwell reconstituted the East India Company on a wider and more permanent basis. He gave it a new charter in 1657 which included authority to make stock permanent, thus ensuring a continuity of capital. This solved the problem of the competition of overlapping voyages which still occurred despite their terms of several years. The company became one of the first permanent joint-stock companies. Now the stock was never wound up. The Company had permanent capital which could grow. The absence of competition among voyages made the Company stronger in the face of a common enemy, such as a rival trading county or Indian groups. The charter also authorized the company to fortify and colonize any of its establishments and to transport to them settlers, stores, and ammunition.
Later in 1657, the Company threw open the freedom of the Company to the public for a nominal sum of five pounds. Now the Merchant Adventurers and private traders could participate. It provided that dividends were to be paid only in cash and not in kind (goods). It also provided for appraisals of the Company's property to be made every three years, so any shareholders could redeem their shares proportionately. His shares would then be resold. People began to buy and sell their shares among each other. The Company made the minimum subscription 100 pounds. Each person holding 500 pounds worth of shares had one vote. Holding 1,000 pounds worth of shares qualified one for election to the committee of twenty-four. The seats of the members of this committee and of the Governor and Deputy Governor could no longer be permanent, but had limited and staggered terms. The continuity of capital took the place of the permanence of the governing body in providing stability. There was a regular scale of salaries for employees, and rules of conduct such as the one disallowing any clerk of the India House from going to play houses, dancing schools, or taverns. The Company established almshouses for its widows and orphans.
In 1657 the Muscovy Company, renewed its charter for trade in Russia and established a New General Stock. If a man bought a share, he bought freedom of the company. An annual dividend was declared from the annual profits.
Commercial men regularly kept accounts with bankers. Merchants used division to apportion profits or losses to the parties whose capital was involved. Simple and compound interest were used. The concept of contract became a familiar one.
Regular private bankers of London emerged from the Goldsmiths from 1640 to 1675. They issued bank notes and paid checks.
Cromwell increased trade by seizing territories, establishing colonies, and warring with competitors for master of the seas and trade. In 1649 it was provided that no one who paid his assessment for soldiers' pay would have to quarter any of them.
Authority was given in 1649 to impress seamen: mariners, sailors, watermen, surgeons, gunners, ship carpenters, caukers, coopers, whoymen, and carmen for carriage of victuals.
English ships were embellished with decoration. Their sail area was increased by triangular fore and aft sails. The Navy increased from 39 to 80 vessels.
After serving in foreign wars, ex-soldiers were allowed in 1654 to practice any trade without serving a seven year apprenticeship.
Colonies New Hampshire and Maine were established in 1635, Connecticut in 1636, and Rhode Island in 1638, as offshoots from other colonies.
About 1650, steel was hardened by repeated quenchings and temperings when the steel had reached certain colors. Brass was made from copper and zinc alloyed together.
There were power-driven rolls for the coinage from 1657. Strips of silver were passed between engraved rolls. Then coins were punched out and their edges serrated.
In the 1650s, Huygens invented the pendulum clock, which increased the accuracy of time-keeping tenfold.
There was a thermometer which used liquid such as water or alcohol in a glass tube instead of air.
Dutchman Stevinus showed that the pressure at the bottom of a column of liquid is proportional to the height of the column, and not to its bulk, about 1634. He also studied oblique forces, and the balancing of such that could bring about "stable equilibrium".
At a time when mathematics was only a business of traders, merchants, seamen, carpenters, and surveyors, mathematician John Wallis, the son of a minister, studied sections of cones as curves of the second algebraic degree. He worked with negative and fractional exponents. Around 1655 he invented the infinite arithmetic and introduced the symbol for infinity. He determined that the area under any curve defined by the equation y = (x to the nth power), was x to the (n+1)th power divided by n+1. ,
Blaise Pascal, a French mathematician, physicist, and religious philosopher, constructed a calculator in 1644 to assist his father, who was involved in local administration, in tax computations. Around 1646, he proved his law that pressure applied to a confined liquid is transmitted undiminished through the liquid in all directions regardless of the area to which the pressure is applied. Around 1653, he laid the foundations for the theory of probabilities, including the creation of "Pascal's Triangle" of coefficients of (a=b) raised to the nth power. He and lawyer and mathematician Pierre Fermat invented the theory of probabilities. Fermat also proved that the law for refraction (bending) of light results from light's following the path that takes the shortest time. He founded number theory. Fermat formulated the notion of a line tangent to a curve and started the development of differential calculus, in which a rate of change is expressed as a function of time in equation form and also as a tangent to the curve associated with that equation.. This work helped lay the foundation for analysis. He and German Gottfried Leibniz formulated the principle that an equation with two unknown quantities can represent a curve. Leibnitz believed that man's mind can arrive at truths about entities by pure thought.
Since the Puritans forbade music in churches, but enjoyed it in domestic circumstances, much secular music was composed, published, and played. There were many musical clubs. The violin became very popular. Solo songs were much sung. The first English opera: "The Siege of Rhodes" was written and performed with women on stage. Writers of the time included John Milton, political philosopher James Harrington, poet Edmund Waller, Thomas Fuller, poet Abraham Cowley, and biographer Issak Walton. John Aubrey wrote anecdotes about famous men. Jeremy Taylor, chaplain to Charles I, wrote on theology. People still read French romances translated into English. Dancing was still popular. Coffee houses came into prominence as places of social discourse. The first coffee house was established in London in 1652; ten years later, there were 82 coffee houses in the City. There were elegant pleasure gardens, with a fee for access. They were used for promenades and picnics. Ladies and their gallants rendezvoused there. Cromwell introduced the habit of port drinking to England.
In 1657, one general Post Offices was established with one Postmaster General for all of England. No other person could have the horsing of the through-posts. It cost 2d. for a letter to or from 80 miles of London and 3d. for one outside 80 miles of London.
There was continual problem with Catholics. Where Papists or others had caused rebellion and insurrection and plundered, robbed, pillaged, murdered and raped, mayor, Justices and capital burgesses of such towns were given the power in 1642 to call, assemble, train, and arm soldiers for defense. The Committee of the Militia of London was given authority in 1647 to search all houses and places for Papists and to search for and seize any arms, ammunition, and war materials in custody of such persons. In 1648, all Papists and soldiers of fortune who had borne arms against Parliament were ordered to depart from within twenty miles of London and Westminster or be imprisoned as traitors. In 1657 convicted Papists and people marrying convicted Papists were required to take an oath renouncing the pope and Catholic Church or lose two-thirds of their lands and estate, retaining their house on the remaining one-third. If one went to mass in an ambassador's house, the fine was 100 pounds and imprisonment for six months, one half going to the informer. In 1659 all householders in London and Westminster had to give a list of persons lodging in their house, and the horses and arms there. But the laws against Catholics practicing their religion were not rigorously enforced, nor were those against adherents of the formerly established Church of England.
The Society of Friends was founded by the son of a weaver. They greeted everyone as "friend" and did not bow, remove their hat (as was the custom when before the king or an earl), or otherwise show any reverence to anyone. From 1650, they were called Quakers because they trembled when religiously stirred. They reverted to the ancient "thou" and "thee" appellations. Their dress was particularly simple, with no buttons, lace, ruffles, or embroidery. They hated ritual so much that they rejected baptism and communion. They did not observe the sabbath as a special day different from other days. They derided the holiness of churches. No clergy were admitted into their sect. When they met for divine worship, each rose to deliver extemporaneous inspirations of the Holy Ghost. Women were admitted to teach the brethren and were considered proper vehicles to convey the dictates of the spirit. Quakers believed that every man, in his own life, could be fully victorious over sin. The denied any clerical authority and all texts. They believed in the separation of church and state. They refused to swear to any oath, e.g. in court, or to participate in war. They refused to take off their hats to anyone but God. It was their practice to turn the other cheek when one cheek had been struck. If asked for his cloak, a Quaker would give it. He never asked more for his wares than the precise sum which he was determined to accept. The Quakers developed a value of making provision for children from a first spouse when remarrying. They carefully selected masters and mistresses who wanted to take on child apprentices for their suitability for such responsibility. The education of Quaker women did not decline, as it did for other women. From the fervor of their zeal, the Quakers broke into churches, disturbed public worship, and harassed the clergyman and audience with railing and reproaches. When brought before a magistrate, they show no reverence but treated him as an equal. Sometimes they were thrown into mad house or prisons and sometimes whipped or pilloried. They endured stoically under this suffering. Mary Fisher from Yorkshire introduced Quakerism to New England.
In 1653 there were separation agreements between spouses as to property, e.g. support and maintenance.
Cromwell had bad experiences with Parliaments. The Rump Parliament was a remnant of the Long Parliament. The army and then Cromwell, although a member, came to believe that its members were self- interested, preoccupied with perpetuating themselves in seats of power, and corrupt. They thought that their own hopes of reform in the law, in the church, and in public finances were being deliberately frustrated. Cromwell came to doubt that it would ever give the people adequate government and protection. He started to believe that one man as chief executive could do this better. Cromwell dismissed the Rump Parliament in 1653. A new constitution created a Puritan "Parliament of Saints". These men were nominated in various ways, such as by church parishes, and selected by Cromwell. This one-house Parliament of Saints in 1653 made Cromwell Lord Protector for life with executive power of the state, with responsibility for making peace and establishing order after a decade of civil strife and political chaos. He was to administer the government and be the chief magistrate. It also provided for triennial Parliaments (consisting of one house), and religious freedom for all except Roman Catholics and adherents of the formerly established Church of England. Cromwell did not tolerate the ritual of the formerly established English church nor allow any of its adherents to have any office under him. His was a purely Puritan government. He did not sell offices. The Parliament of Saints challenged many vested interests in property such as sales of delinquents' and Papists' lands. It clashed severely over the continuation of tithes to the church. It became disorderly when some declared the Parliament dissolved and left. Others remained in their seats. To avoid a Parliamentary crisis, Cromwell had soldiers close the Parliament of Saints and lock its doors. The people supported this action because they were dissatisfied with the state of public affairs. The next Parliament that was tried was elected on a new constitutional basis of men with 200 pounds, but these men voted to make Parliament sovereign without a chief executive, thereby abolishing the protectorate. Cromwell was distressed that this Parliament had also voted themselves to be the sole determinors of atheism and blasphemy instead of advancing liberty of religious conscience and religious toleration as Cromwell had advocated. dissolved this Parliament, declaring that it was not acting for the public good. A last Parliament was also dissolved by Cromwell for tending to loosen the bonds of government and thereby threatening the peace of the nation.
Cromwell had first ruled as a democratic leader who did not believe in force, but preferred to persuade with reason. He initially believed that people would do the right thing according to their consciences, but was disillusioned and then became autocratic. He came to rule as a military dictator. Payment of taxes was enforced by distraint. After 1654, he issued about 100 proclamations covering public amusements, roads, finances, the condition of prisons, the imprisonment of debtors, banning of dueling and cockfighting, law reform, control of religion and education, and reorganization of the army. The singing of ballads was banned. The Court of Chancery was reformed by proclamation. The established church was reformed and the power to interfere with different faiths was denied to it. Each parish could choose its form of service, whether Presbyterian, Congregational, Baptist, or any other seen as fundamental by the Puritans. No one was compelled to attend any particular church or to accept the discipline of any particular minister. But the Book of Common Prayer was forbidden. There was freedom of worship for Presbyterians, Independents, Baptists, Quakers, Catholics, and Jews (who had secretly migrated to England to avoid persecution on the continent), but not Prelatists (those favoring government of the church by bishops).
In 1655, Cromwell placed major generals in charge of eleven newly- established provinces. As their Governors, they had authority to levy troops, exact taxes imposed by the Protector, disarm Royalists and Catholics, examine into the conduct of the clergy and schoolmasters, arrest dangerous and suspicious persons, and prevent unlawful assemblies, and to enforce the existing laws against immorality and blasphemy. The only appeal was to the Protector. Since they were Puritans, they ordered public ale houses to close as dusk, banned idlers, minstrels, and actors, forbade exercising of horses on Sunday and the holding of markets on Saturday as well as Sunday, censored the press, and proscribed newspapers. Horse races, which meetings were used for seditious purposes, were closed. Theaters were closed. Dancing was discontinued. Organs and choirs in churches prohibited. Court masks continued because they provided soothing music. After a year, Cromwell withdrew the major-generals. From this time, men of property hated the idea of a standing army.
In 1657, the officers of a new Parliament modified the constitution and Cromwell approved it, to secure liberties of the people as they never before had. Under the modified constitution, there were again two houses. The Commons regained its old right of exclusively deciding on the qualification of its members. Parliamentary restrictions were imposed on the choice of members of the Council, officers of state, and officers of the army. A fixed revenue was voted to the Protector. No moneys were to be raised except by consent of Parliament. Liberty of worship was guaranteed to all except Papists, Prelatists, Socinians (who denied the divinity of Jesus), for those who denied the inspiration of the Scriptures. Liberty of conscience was secured for all. In 1658, Cromwell tried another Parliament, but dissolved it because it wrangled without resolution.
After Cromwell died, the people demanded the return of a genuine and free Parliament. The old constitution was restored and a new House of Commons was elected. It called Charles II to return to be king if he promised religious freedom and backpay to the army, which had not recently been paid. When Cromwell's Puritan soldiers were disbanded, they did not drift into thievery as royalists soldiers had before, but took up honest work such as baker, mason, brewer, baker, or haberdasher. Puritanism now made itself felt not by the sword, but in literature and politics. It affected the character of the English, who tend to be stoics, and imbued capitalists with a hard-working attitude.
- The Law -
After the civil wars, the law against enclosure was not enforced.
What was passed in Parliament in Cromwell's time were called statutes, but after Cromwell's time, these statutes were not recognized as legitimate.
"whereas Public Sports do not well agree with Public Calamities, not Public Stage-plays with the Seasons of Humiliation, this being an Exercise of sad and pious Solemnity, and the other being Spectacles of Pleasure, too commonly expressing lascivious Mirth and Levity … Public Stage Plays shall cease, and be forborne instead of which are recommended to the People of this Land the profitable and seasonable considerations of Repentance, Reconciliation, and Peace with God, …"
No book or pamphlet may be printed, bound, stitched, or sold or imported unless licensed and entered into the Register Book of the Company of Stationers. Officials of this company and of Parliament may search all places which they shall think meet for all unlicensed printing presses and all suspected printing houses, warehouses, and shops and other places for unlicensed books and pamphlets and papers and seize them and apprehend all authors, printers, and other involved people and bring them before Parliament or the Committee on Examinations for punishment. Justices of the peace and other officers may order doors and locks broken for this purpose. The fine is ten pounds for authors, five pounds for printers, two pounds for booksellers, and one pound for buyers who conceal a book bought. One half of each fine shall go to the person who discovers and prosecutes the offender, and the other half shall go to the poor. This law suppressed royalist newspapers but was enforced only with great difficulty.
All shall observe Sunday and days of Thanksgiving in their "duties of Piety and true Religion publicly and privately" and none may sell wares or goods, including fruit or herbs upon pain of forfeiture of such. None may, without reasonable cause, travel, carry burdens, or do any worldly labors or work whatsoever or pay a fine of 10s. This work shall include grinding grain, fulling in mills, burning turf or earth, gathering taxes, melting wax for candles, brewing, baking, butchering cattle, tailors fitting or carrying clothes, barbers trimming hair, being present at fairs or markets, or washing, whiting, or drying clothes. Nor may any one maintain or be present at wrestlings, shooting, bowling, ringing of bells for pleasure or pastime, masks, wake, church-ale, dancing, games, sport or, for those over 14, forfeit 5s., and for those having care or education of a child under 14, 12d. Maypoles, a "Heathenish vanity, generally abused to superstition and wickedness", shall be taken down by officers or forfeit 5s. per week. If any offender can't pay his fine, he shall be put in the stocks for three hours. However meat maybe dressed in private families, and victual sold in inns and victualling houses in a moderate way, and milk sold before 9a.m. or after 4p.m.
Persons of the trinity, angels, or saints shall be demolished. Altar and communion tables must not be raised but leveled. There may be no copes, surplices, superstitious vestments, or holy water fonts. There may be no crosses, crucifixes, pictures of the trinity, angels or saints on plates. All organs must be taken away.
The fine for using the Book of Common Prayer is five pounds for the first offense, ten pounds for the second offense, and one year imprisonment without bail for the third offense. The penalty for writing or preaching against the Directory for Public Worship is five to fifty pounds.
Blasphemies and heresies such as teaching or writing or printing that there is no God, that God is not almighty, that Jesus was not divine, that the resurrection of Jesus did not occur, that the Bible is not the word of God, or that there is no judgment day after death, are felony without benefit of clergy. If such an offender recants, he shall stay in gaol until he obtains two sureties. If he offends again after recantation, it is felony without benefit of clergy.
In 1650 adultery was declared to be a felony, except if the husband had been beyond the seas for three years or had been reputed to be dead. Incest was also declared to be a felony. It was defined as marrying or having carnal knowledge of one's grandparent, parent, sibling, mother's brother or sister, father's wife, mother's husband, son's wife, daughter's husband, wife's mother or daughter, or husband's father or son. Fornication was given a punishment of three months imprisonment and until security was obtained for one year for good behavior. It was defined as carnal knowledge of a virgin, unmarried woman, or widow. A common bawd or one keeping a brothel or bawdy house was to be whipped, set in the pillory, marked in the forehead by a hot iron with the letter: B, and then imprisoned for three years without bail and until there were sureties for good behavior for life. The second offense was felony without benefit of clergy. There was to be no corruption of the blood. However, juries were reluctant to convict for adultery and incest.
There shall be no profane swearing or cursing of forfeit by a lord 30s., a baronet or knight 20s., an esquire 10s., a gentleman 6s.8d., and all others 3s.4d.There is a double fine for the second offense. For the tenth offense, the offender shall be bound by sureties for good behavior for three years.
A person equating himself or another with God or not believing in God shall be imprisoned for six months without bail. For the second offense, he shall be banished from the nation.
No longer shall people be punished for nonattendance at church on Sunday or days of Thanksgiving, but may be at some other place of prayer, preaching, reading, or the scriptures.
Hawkers and ballad singers have been libelous, so are to be whipped as common rogues and then dismissed. Also, their ballads and pamphlets are to be confiscated. Vagrant, idle, loose, dissolute and disorderly persons and fiddlers in inns, alehouses, and taverns are to be punished as rogues, vagabonds, and sturdy beggars, that is, whipped.
In 1649, treason against Parliament was defined as writing, printing, or declaring that the government is tyrannical, usurped, or unlawful or that Parliament is not the supreme authority or the nation, or plot, contrive, or endeavor to stir up or raise force against the government. Attainder for such would not work corruption of the blood.
Treason to the Protector was defined the same as it was to the
King.
Army deserters are to be corporally punished or executed.
Fellable wood and underwood, but no timber trees, may be cut within 60 miles of London because fuel is needed, especially by the poor. This will be supervised by overseers appointed by Parliament.
No one may import foreign hats or hatbands to relieve that industry in England.
As of 1656, certain food could not be exported when the prices of such exceeded a stated amount. For instance, 5 pounds for a 36 gallon barrel of beef, 6d. for a pound of bacon, 4 pounds and 10s. for a 224 gallon barrel of butter, and 24s. for 64 pounds of rye, pease, or beans. The customs for such items was more for foreigners than for natives, for instance 3s. for natives and 5s. for foreigners for a barrel of beef.
Butter for sale must not be corrupt and be properly weighed.
One must obtain a license to buy wheat or other grain and put it to sale in meal or flour or forfeit three times the value.
All books of the law, writs, pleadings, and patents shall be in
English or forfeit 20 pounds.
No deer may be killed or forfeit 15 pounds, half to the informer and half to the poor.
Interest may not exceed 6 pounds for a loan of 100 pounds yearly as of 1651.
No goods are to be imported from America, Asia, or Africa except in English ships or forfeit all goods and the ship, one half of which goes to the one who seizes the goods and prosecutes. None may be imported from Europe except in English ships or ships from the country of origin of the goods. No salt fish may be imported or exported but in English vessels.
There is a 10 pound reward for discovery of highwaymen and burglars or persons who break and enter into houses and there use violence.
No cart or wagon or carriage on the road may be drawn by more than five horses or six oxen and a horse except for military vehicles.
Notice of intended marriages shall be published once a week for three weeks in a public meeting place called church or a public market place next to church. Exceptions to the marriage shall be noted by the Register and considered by the Justice of the Peace before the marriage is performed. The words used shall be: "…promise to be unto thee a loving and faithful husband…" and "promise to be unto thee a loving, faithful, and obedient wife…".
There shall be no cock-fighting because it disturbs the peace and usually is accompanied by gaming, drinking, swearing, and quarreling.
Anyone challenging or accepting a challenge to duel shall be imprisoned for six months without bail, and must acquire two sureties for a year. Anyone fighting a duel in which death ensues, shall be banished for life.
Horse races were forbidden in 1654 for six months to discourage mischievous plots and designs by enemies of the state. The penalty was forfeiting the horse. Attendees were to be brought to justice.
As of 1657, a house or building built within ten miles of the walls of the City of London not having at least four acres had to pay a fine of one year's rent. All houses within London or Westminster or the suburbs must be brick or stone, and built straight up without protruding into the street or forfeit 100 pounds.
As of 1657 persons living extravagantly without visible estate or calling may be made by Justices of the Peace to acquire sureties for good behavior or go to gaol. They would also be sent to the house of correction to work for three months for the first offense and for a time specified by the Justice of the Peace for the second offense.
Anyone winning at betting or playing at cards, dice, tennis, and horse races shall forfeit double his winnings.
Excluded from pardon were buggery with man [sodomy] or animal [bestiality], carnal ravishment of women, and bigamy.
Drunkenness was much punished.
Husbands were responsible for their wives' oaths and fathers for their daughters'.
- Judicial Procedure -
The Protector is the supreme magistrate of the Commonwealth, with power to pardon all crimes, except murder and treason.
Parliament was no longer a court.
Use of the torture was proscribed in 1649.
In 1652, the justices were given a salary of 1,000 pounds and forbidden to take fees or rewards. They also got tenure, thus freeing them from government pressure. Now civil justice was honestly dispensed and justices were learned and honest.
The jurisdiction of Admiralty court was defined to include: ships and vessels with tackle, apparel and furniture thereof; repairing, victualling, and furnishing provisions of ships and vessels for sea; all cases of bottomry [ship-owner indemnified if the vessel were lost, but paid over a substantial share of the profits if it reached its destination safely], contracts beyond the seas concerning shipping or navigation; charter, parties, contracts for freight; bills of lading; mariners wages; damage of goods on board ships; and damage by one ship to another including by anchors or want of laying buoys. It did not include contracts between merchants.