The Interregnum - Peace?
After all the turmoil of the English Civil War(s), and the beheading of the king, Oliver Cromwell seized power. So, was that it - did they have a period of peace?
Short answer - of course not. No.
May 1649 - England was declared a republic, known as the Commonwealth of England by the Rump Parliament.
But also in May, we had the Banbury Mutiny. A group of soldiers in Banbury, Oxfordshire, led by “the Levellers”, demanded back-pay (and that the Army Grandees accept their demands for a more democratic political settlement). They captured some of the army leaders, who then broke free - oops! Privates Stephen Biggs and Roger Piggen were deemed the ringleaders, court-marshalled and shot.
“The Levellers” was a term originally used against folk who protested against disafforestation and land enclosure. They tore down enclosure hedges and filled in ditches, seeking to "level" private property, destroying social distinctions. These riots were ongoing during the Interregnum (and fizzled out a bit around 1660). But the term took on a broader political context during Cromwell’s time. It was an insulting name for the ‘agitators’; the radicals, led by John Lilburne.
England was basically under a military dictatorship. The Puritans were aggressively violent. Their strict control of the country was enforced by any means possible.
They raided the churches, ripping out anything they considered “popish”.
Cromwell had eyes everywhere - all places where people may gather were watched, and sometimes closed down. Anywhere people grouped together was basically an opportunity for conspirators to plot an uprising! This is why the Puritans banned things such as cockfighting and races, closed the theatres, and kept a close watch over inns.
The puritanical ideals of morality were enforced at every turn. And people were irked!
And there were wars; Cromwell’s New Model Army was inflicted upon folk during:
Cromwellian Conquest of Ireland (1649-1653)
Anglo-Scottish War (1650-1652).
Anglo-Dutch War (1652–1654)
Anglo-Spanish War (1654–1660) - including the Invasion of Jamaica in 1655
Even internally, there were battles/uprisings.
Christmas Riots (1647/48) (aka Plum Pudding Riots) arose particularly in Canterbury, Kent, when Cromwell banned Christmas. People also rioted in places such as: Bury St Edmunds, Ipswich and London.
The Apprentice Riots rumbled on too. Especially on Shrove Tuesday each year, when young male apprentices would attack brothels and playhouses. They were generally fuelled by economic grievances, moral concerns, and/or political tension. Apprentices tended to be Parliamentarian supporters, and often protested against the king in the lead up to the Interregnum.
Penruddock’s Uprising (March 1655) was a failed Royalist uprising. 400 men seized Salisbury, but were soon defeated in South Molton, Devonshire. Some of those defeated were executed, but 70 were sold into slavery in Barbados!
After this, Oliver Cromwell divided England, Scotland and Wales into 12 districts which were directly ruled by military officers.
Scottish Highland Rising (1653–1655) was a little more successful, but ultimately it too failed. After two years, General George Monck's parliamentarian forces won at the Battle of Dalnaspidal in 1654 (aka the battle at Loch Garry).
Weird fact: Jewish people had been expelled from England in 1290. But in 1656, Cromwell welcomed back in. However, before you go cheering and wondering if he really was a misunderstood guy, he did this apparently with the belief that their return would hasten the apocalypse (*smacks head*).
Cromwell died in 1658, and then the royalists took advantage of the opportunity.
Very unfun fact: Around the same proportion of the population (4.5%) were killed during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms (Civil War) as during World War I.
So, no, the people of the British Isles did not sit back and just accept their fate. I mean, this is generally true of us always, right?
Always in love and light,
TL