Between 1649 and 1660 England was a Republic in which several Parliaments and Cromwell’s New Model Army contested for control of the country – both its political and religious settlement. Under the Protectorship of Oliver Cromwell (1653-1658) the Army reigned supreme and manipulated the form and election of Parliament. Under his successor, Richard Cromwell the Parliament managed to wrest back power and move gradually towards the Restoration of the monarchy, effectively subject to parliamentary control. The achievements of the Republic were significant and established the basic principles of parliamentary government which persist to this day. What were they?

DELIVERY MODE

• Face-to-Face

SUGGESTED READING

• Cromwell Our Chief of Men, Antonia Fraser (Methuen, 1973, ISBN 0-413-57390-7)
• The Swordsmen in Power, Roger Hainsworth (Sutton, 1997, ISBN 0 7509 0571 9)
• The Fall – Last Days of the English Republic, Henry Reece (Yale University, 2024, ISBN 978-0-300-21149-8)
• The Blazing World – A New History of Revolutionary England, Jonathan Healey (Bloomsbury, 2023, ISBN 978-1-5266-2169-6)
• The Restless Republic – Britain without a Crown, Anna Keay (Collins, 2022, ISBN 978-0-00-828295-9)

COURSE OUTLINE

• The English Republic is a unique period in British history which is little understood – it veered between being a military dictatorship and a parliamentary government.
• The principles which it established for a restored monarchy subject to parliamentary control established the foundations for parliamentary government which prevail throughout most of the British Commonwealth, including Australia.
• This was a period of intense political and religious debate which has been overshadowed by the trauma of the execution of Charles I and the celebration of the hedonistic return of Charles II.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this course, students should be able to:

1. Gain an understanding that the period of the English Republic was foundational for our current system of parliamentary government.
2. How the interplay of forces such as Parliament v the Army or the Puritans v the Presbyterians played out and shaped the course of British history.