The English Republic

At the end of the Civil War, power was in the hands of the House of Commons. (Most of the House of Lords had sided with the king.) The Commons decided to make England a Commonwealth, or republic. It announced that in future there would be no king, and no House of Lords.

It was the Commons that put King Charles on trial. They charged him with making war on his people. Charles refused to answer the charge. He said that he was king, and only God could judge him. The court did not agree. It found him guilty and sentenced him to death. He was beheaded in front of a big crowd outside Whitehall Palace on 30th January 1649.

The army took its orders from the House of Commons. But the army's generals had got used to giving orders, not taking them. Before long, it was clear that the army was really in charge. The most powerful man in England was the leading general, Oliver Cromwell.

In 1653, Cromwell quarrelled with the members of the Commons, and threw them out. Later that year, he agreed to become Lord Protector, or head of the State. Some men even wanted to make him 'King Oliver'. He might have agreed, but the other generals would not stand for it.

At one stage, Cromwell split England and Wales into eleven districts, and put a major-general in charge of each of them. They kept good order, but the people did not like being ruled by soldiers. Not even Charles I had done that.

Walter Robson: Crown, Parliament and People; Oxford University Press, 1992/2002, page 44 f.