The Cromwellian Protectorate

Marc Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index. Review Quotes: Patrick Little and his talented team have presented with a portrait of Cromwell as an even more remarkable, and powerful, individual, presiding over a government that was even less successful in accomplishing its own aims, than has formerly been supposed. CROMWELLIANA, If you are looking for a set of probing, well-judged and refreshing essays on the Protectorate, here it is. PARLIAMENTARY HISTORY(An) important volume (that) offers new evidence on the workings of the Protectorate across the Three Kingdoms. (...) Must be welcomed as a major contribution to our understanding of the Cromwellian Protectorate. RENAISSANCE QUARTERLYOne of the most successful volumes to arise from a conference.(...) Handsomely presented and well edited (it) deserves to be very widely read. ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW, Publisher Marketing: The Protectorate is arguably the Cinderella of Interregnum studies: it lacks the immediate drama of the Regicide, the Republic or the Restoration, and is often dismissed as a 'retreat from revolution', a short period of conservative rule before the inevitable return of the Stuarts. The essays in this volume present new research that challenges this view. They argue instead that the Protectorate was dynamic and progressive, even if the policies put forward were not always successful, and often created further tensions within the government and between Whitehall and the localities. Particular topics include studies of Oliver Cromwell and his relationship with Parliament, and the awkward position inherited by his son, Richard; the role of art and architecture in creating a splendid protectoral court; and the important part played by the council, as a law-making body, as a political cockpit, and as part of a hierarchy of government covering not just England but also Ireland and Scotland. There are also investigations of the reactions to Cromwellian rule in Wales, in the towns and cities of the Severn/Avon basin, and in the local communities of England faced with a far-reaching programme of religious reform. PATRICK LITTLE is Senior Research Fellow at the History of Parliament Trust. Contributors: BARRY COWARD, DAVID L. SMITH, JASON PEACEY, PAUL HUNNEYBALL, BLAIR WORDEN, PETER GAUNT, LLOYD BOWEN, STEPHEN K. ROBERTS, CHRISTOPHER DURSTON.