The Rump Parliament 1648-53The Rump Parliament was brought to power in 1648 by Pride's Purge and forcibly dissolved by Oliver Cromwell in 1653. This book is a detailed account of the intervening years. Dr Worden concentrates particularly on the Rump's policies in the contentious fields of legal, religious and electoral reform; its attempts to live down its revolutionary origins, to disown its more radical supporters, to conciliate those Puritans alienated by the purge and the King's death, and to re-create the Roundhead party of the 1640s. He examines the Rump's struggles for survival in the face of the Royalist threat between 1649 and 1651, and its fatal quarrel with the Cromwellian army thereafter. A concluding chapter deals with the Rump's forcible dissolution. This novel and challenging interpretation of the most dramatic phase of the English Revolution will interest all specialists in seventeenth-century political and constitutional history. |
Contents
Membership attendance and allegiance | 23 |
The limits of revolution | 33 |
Moderation and conformity | 61 |
Soldiers and clergymen | 74 |
Commitment and corruption | 86 |
Law reform | 105 |
Puritans and politicians | 119 |
Electoral reform | 139 |
the coalition under strain | 237 |
Reform and reaction September 1651May 1652 | 265 |
Conflict and confrontation MayDecember 1652 | 299 |
Dissolution and disarray JanuaryApril 1653 | 317 |
The army apologias | 345 |
Conclusion | 364 |
Appendix A The rumpers | 387 |
Appendix B Electoral reform | 395 |
Common terms and phrases
20 April Abbott addressed to Oliver appointed army's attended bill boroughs Bulstrode Whitelocke Chaloner committee Commons Commonwealth and Protectorate conformists Cornelius Holland Council Cromwell's debate December Diary of Thomas dissent dissolution Dunbar Edmund Ludlow electoral England evidence execution Faithful Scout favour February Fifth Monarchist Firth and Rait Gardiner Harrison Henry Marten Heselrige History House House of Lords House's ibid issue January July June king law reform lawyers Leveller Lilburne London Long Parliament Lord Memorials ment Mercurius Mercurius Politicus Mercurius Pragmaticus Moderate officers Oliver Cromwell Original Letters parlia parliament and army parliamentary Perfect Diurnal Perfect Occurrences petition policies presbyterian Pride's Purge Proceedings proposals Puritan radical reapportionment recruiter elections regicides revolutionaries royalists Rump period Rump politics Rump's rumpers scheme Scot seats social St John Thomas Burton tion Underdown Vane Whitelocke William Worcester Writings and Speeches