Oliver Cromwell and the 17th Century ‘Lockdown’
King Charles I came to the throne in March 1625, he had a Catholic French wife, no plan for foreign policy, and a House of Commons full of Puritans who had a hatred for his good friend the Duke of Buckingham (with reason, he was very incompetent and gave Charles very bad advice). Charles also wanted to increase customs duties which wasn’t approved by Parliament, he eventually dissolved Parliament and went on to rule for 11 years without them.
Oliver Cromwell, who was a Parliamentarian and a Puritan, did not like the Bishops appointed by Charles I as they went against his faith, he was eventually elected to Parliament which many believe to be because he was so close to other Puritans in the Cambridge City Council. He was outspoken about his views on the King and his choices.
Cromwell gathered men together from a carefully selected group of loyal supporters, this eventually led to The English Civil War and Charles’s capture. The defeated king was then charged with high treason and other crimes against the realm of England.
On January 30th 1649, Charles was beheaded outside of The Banqueting House in Whitehall, London. On this same day an act was passed that prohibited another monarch from taking the crown and just over a week later the office of King was completely scrapped.
Charles’s son (also named Charles), was proclaimed King Charles II in Scotland where he was going to bite his tongue about religion. He wasn’t exactly a good Catholic boy and accepted the Scots help to try and defeat Oliver Cromwell. This didn’t go to plan and in 1651 Charles left England for France were he was exiled.
What happened in England?
In 1653 Oliver Cromwell was given the title of Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland, he was basically in charge, a king in all but name. Puritanism became the main religion in the country, you had to have a pure mind, pure heart and make sure you worked hard in order to be welcomed into God’s kingdom when you died.
This belief of all work and no play meant that a lot of social activities were not acceptable and therefore banned. No pubs or theatre’s, even some sport’s events were not allowed, if you were found playing with a ball you could be punished especially if it was Sunday. You would also have to watch your language as swearing could result in going to prison, Sunday’s became the holy day again, you didn’t work, you went to Church, prayed and that was it.
England was divided up into 11 areas each of which were governed by a Major General. Women had to make sure they were dressed appropriately, covered from the neck down basically, no make up was to be worn and colourful clothing was banned. Even Christmas was cancelled and to make sure that everyone stuck to the rules solider’s were sent around the city of London and if you were found to be cooking a goose (the Christmas meat of choice at that time), you would be punished.
Being in a pandemic right now I think most of us can empathise with the citizens who didn’t really want this, they had gone from being able to have a drink in the pub after a long day, enjoying going to the theatre for some entertainment at the weekend and living their life they way they wanted, to living a life of eat, sleep, pray repeat.
This would continue until 3rd September 1658 when Oliver Cromwell died from liver disease and a form of malaria. The title of Lord Protector passed to his son Richard and lets just say the power kind of went to his head. He made enemies of several Officers by taking personal control of the army. He didn’t listen to any of their advice and so they ended up plotting against him. He abdicated his title on 25th May 1659 and fled to France.
England decided they wanted their Monarch back, and who was waiting in Paris non other then the heir to the throne, Charles. He had been living a life of parties, theatre and women and now was more then happy to go back to England as the rightful King. There was one condition, Charles much sign The Declaration Of Breda, which outlined that he would pardon crimes committed in the civil war and that the army would be paid any arrears owed to them, in exchange they would by reinstated for the crown.
Charles landed in Dover and marched up to London. He arrived on the 29th May 1660 which was his 30th birthday, that is such a good birthday present. He was welcomed by so many people celebrating the return of their King, the return to what they had known and the hope that things would not be the same as with his father (the old king).
He had gotten used to the good things in life while in France. So when he came back he made sure to open up all of the pubs and allow sports again, he even opened the theatres. Speaking of which, this was also the first time women were allowed to play women, before those rolls had always been played by men, but Charles’ love of watching plays came second to his love of women so why not have two of his great loves in the same place.
I think Oliver wanted too much from people, he wanted them to give up their earthly pleasures for a place in heaven and it just didn’t sit well with them because they were so quick to change it as soon as they were able. Back here in the 21st Century, we are so excited about the reopening of shops and pubs and being able to have fun with our family and friends so maybe the next time you go to the football or the coffee shop with a friend just imagine what it would have been like to go a whole seven years without any of the little pleasures in life.
