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The Making of the Modern English State, 1460–1660 pp 372–392Cite as

The English Republic

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Part of the book series: British Studies Series ((BRSS))

Abstract

England’s new status as a republic was partly cloaked by use of the old familiar Tudor word ‘Commonwealth’, with its associations of policies for the common good. But nothing could disguise the hatred felt by the majority of the political nation for what had been done to the king. The Republic was the creation of a minority within a minority and its chances of succeeding were only very slim. What needs to be understood are the reasons why the republican experiment lasted as long as it did, rather than why it eventually collapsed. The main answer to that lies in the charisma of Oliver Cromwell and the power of the army.

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Notes

  1. S. C. A. Pincus, Protestantism and Patriotism (Cambridge, 1996), pp. 14ff, 190.

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  2. B. Worden, The Rump Parliament (Cambridge, 1974), pp. 345–84.

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  3. A. Woolrych, Commonwealth to Protectorate (Oxford, 1982), ch. 3 for an exhaustive discussion of the possibilities.

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  4. B. Coward, Cromwell (Harlow, 1991), p. 76.

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  5. A. Woolrych, ‘The Cromwellian Protectorate: a Military Dictatorship?’, History, 75 (1990), p. 209; P. Gaunt, Oliver Cromwell (Oxford, 1996), pp. 169ff.

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  6. C. Durston, The Fall of Cromwell’s Major Generals’, English Historical Review, 113 (1998), p. 33.

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  7. C. Hill, The World Turned Upside Down (Harmondsworth, 1975), p. 85; B. Reay, B. and J. F. McGregor (eds), Radical Religion in the English Revolution (New York, 1984).

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  8. J. Morrill, ‘The Church in England, 1642–9’, in J. Morrill (ed.), Reactions to the English Civil War (London, 1982), pp. 89–114.

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Authors
  1. Philip Edwards
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© 2001 Philip Edwards

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Edwards, P. (2001). The English Republic. In: The Making of the Modern English State, 1460–1660. British Studies Series. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-333-99383-5_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-333-99383-5_12

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-333-69836-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-333-99383-5

  • eBook Packages: Palgrave History CollectionHistory (R0)

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