Protectorate
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Join Britannica's Publishing Partner Program and our community of experts to gain a global audience for your work!Protectorate, the English government from 1653 to 1659. After the execution of King Charles I, England was declared a commonwealth (1649) under the rule of Parliament. But, after Oliver Cromwell had dissolved the Rump and Barebones parliaments in succession in 1653, he was installed on Dec. 16, 1653, as lord protector of the commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland under the authority of a constitution entitled the Instrument of Government, which had been drawn up by a group of army officers. The Protectorate, as Cromwell’s government is now known, was continued after his death on Sept. 3, 1658, by his son Richard, until the latter resigned the office on May 25, 1659, upon which Parliament’s resumption of power served merely as a prelude to the Restoration of Charles II.
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United Kingdom: Commonwealth and ProtectorateThe execution of the king aroused hostility not only in England but also throughout Europe. Regicide was considered the worst of all crimes, and not even the brilliance of John Milton inThe Tenure of Kings and Magistrates (1649) could persuade either Catholic or… -
Oliver Cromwell: Administration as lord protectorBefore Cromwell summoned his first Protectorate Parliament on September 3, 1654, he and his Council of State passed more than 80 ordinances embodying a constructive domestic policy. His aim was to reform the law, to set up a Puritan Church, to permit toleration outside it, to promote education, and to… -
Instrument of Government…document that established the English Protectorate and under which Great Britain was governed from December 1653 to May 1657. The first detailed written constitution adopted by a modern state, the Instrument attempted to provide a legal basis for government after the parliamentary failures in the wake of the English Civil…
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