The Commonwealth

Historical Context Note

Litencyc Editors (Independent Scholar - Europe)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.04: English Writing and Culture of the Seventeenth Century, 1625-1688.
Vol. editors: Jennifer Brady (Rhodes College), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Neil Forsyth (Université de Lausanne), Claire Preston (Queen Mary, University of London), J A Roe (University of York), Virginia Mason Vaughan (Clark University)

Domains

Colonialism and colonisation

Dates

Date of occurrence 1649-02-04-1659-04

Places

United Kingdom (Location)

Resources

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On January 4th 1649 the Rump Parliament declared by vote that (“the common people are, under God, the original of all just power(” and on January 6th set up the High Court of Justice which would try Charles I and sentence him to death on January 30th. On 19th May England was formally declared a Commonwealth. Executive power, formally a prerogative of the monarch, was now vested in a Council of State, elected annually by Parliament. From 1649 to 1653 the Commonwealth struggled to find a new form of constitution fit for a republic but interests divided between the General Council of the army, the radical Levellers, and the conservative property owners and merchants. Cromwell put an end to its indecision by expelling the Rump parliament on April 20th 1653 and then ran the country via…

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151 words

Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "The Commonwealth". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 15 February 2006 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=206, accessed 06 May 2024.]

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