Download From the Renaissance 11 1 \ to the Puritan Age (1485

11
From the Renaissance
to the Puritan Age (1485-1660)
1\
The English Civil War and the Commonwealth
Opposing There was a struggle for supremacy between two opposing factions, those who supported the king
factions and those who supported Parliament. In 1642, a civil war was declared between these two factions the Royalists or Cavaliers, who supported the king, and the Roundheads, the parliamentary faction led
by Cromwell. The latter took their names from the fact that they had their hair cut short because they
considered long hair sinful. In fact, the parliamentary faction were Puritan in outlook, descendants of
the Elizabethan reformists, and were supported by the new gentry along with small landowners and
artisans.
In January 1647, the defeated King Charles was imprisoned by Parliament. There was some
disagreement within the parliamentary forces but the king was brought to London in August 16 17.
Cromwell then took control of London and arrested over 100 members of Parliament loyal to the
king. The members that remained formed the so-called Rump Parliament, who voted for Charles I's
execution. On 30 January 1649, King Charles I was executed.
Cromwell After a period of transition, monarchy was abolished and Cromwell established a sort of republic
takeover known as the Commonwealth. However, this was actually little more than a dictatorship, and in 1653
Cromwell made himself Lord Protector, a position he held until his death in 1658. During
Cromwell's rule, the Commonwealth tried to consolidate its commercial power. In 1651 he resumed
the Navigation Acts, which imposed a limit on the introduction of goods into English ports by
foreign ships. This led to a war with Holland (1652-54), in which the Dutch we're defeated. Scottish
and Irish dissent was also ruthlessly suppressed during this period.
The Puritans
Puritanism was a movement that arose within
the Church of England in the latter part of the
16th century. The Puritans wanted to carry the
reformation of the Church beyond the point
represented by the Elizabethan settlement
(1559), which had been an attempt to find a
compromise between Roman Catholicism and
the ideas of the Protestant reformers. Puritanism
was very influential in the first half of the 17th
century, and from the Civil War until the
Restoration of the monarchy in 1660 a Puritan
government ruled England.
After the Restoration Puritans were at first
denied participation in the Church of England
and refused rights of free religious
1651
1652-54
1653
1660
Navigation Acts.
284
War with Holland.
Cromwell proclaims himself Lord
Puritans Going to Church (1867), detail,
by George Henry Boughtt,n.
New York Historical Society, New Yak.
Restoration of the monarchy with
Protector of England.
the succession of Charles C.