Cromwell's Responsibility For Expansions And Effectiveness Of Government Between 1530 and 1539

Edward VI inherited the throne in 1547 at the infant age of 9. Because of his youth, he had two advisors. The first was his uncle, the Duke of Somerset, who became Lord Protector, and for the first two and a half years of Edward’s reign, Somerset advised and guided the young king. Somerset was replaced by the Duke of Northumberland. Edward was a mere figurehead, the Lord Protector controlled the majority of his government but how well was England governed during the reign of Edward VI for the mere 6 six years he was in power?

The primary authority of the colonies was meant to be the British Privy Council, which was responsible for governing both Britain itself as well as the entirety of its vast overseas empire. The greater part of the members of the Privy council, who governed from England, had little to no knowledge of the colonies themselves, and nearly every member of the council had never so much as set foot in America. In order to compensate for the unacquaintedness of the British government with the colonies, Royal Governors were also appointed as authority figures to govern from within America itself. However, many of these Royal Governors were chosen for reasons other than their capability as leaders, and were therefore ineffectual authority figures. As a result of the insufficient political system and British salutary neglect of the colonies, the Royal Governors who had been appointed by the British had much less power than the British had likely intended, which

The seventeenth century saw the evolution of two new types of government mainly because of the instability that was caused by religious wars. One type of government was a constitutional monarchy in which rulers were confined to the laws of the state, giving the people some liberties, best exemplified by William and Mary during the Stuart monarchial rule. Constitutional monarchy was successful in mainly in England because of the Magna Carta, which kept the king’s power in check. The other type was absolute monarchy, in which the king has power over everything, shown by the French under Louis XIV. Although these two

Tudor governments were relatively successful in dealing with the problem of rebellion, although this was more effective towards the end of the period than at the beginning shown through the decline in rebellion after 1549: only 5 English rebellions occurred as opposed to 10 before 1549. Over the course of the Tudor period the main aims of rebellions were only fully achieved in the rebellions of 1525, the Amicable Grant and 1553. In addition to this the reforms made to local government, policies directly implemented by central government and the effects of trials and retribution, such as Henry VII’s concessions made to the late 15th century pretenders, Lambert

During the reign of Edward VI, Northumberland and Somerset attempted to rule England. They dealt with several issues, including foreign policy, finance, social and economic affairs, working as political operators and dealing with with rebellions. Northumberland proved to be successful in many of these aspects, particularly in social and economic affairs as well as finance. This is because he was able to effectively correct the faults Somerset had made such as introducing certain taxes and causing debt as well as debasement. This essay will talk about the extent of how successful Northumberland was in comparison to Somerset when it came to ruling England.

For example, the military wanted a radical religious reform, led by John Lambert, whereas the civilians (or parliament) wanted a more moderate, parliament endorsed regime, led by figures such as Lord Broghill. Therefore, Cromwell was a major source of division and was said to be an "ideological schizophrenic" (Worden). Furthermore "division was made worse by Oliver Cromwell" (Worden) which is seen with the fluctuation of Cromwell's views between 1649-58, beginning with the dissolution of the Rump Parliament, because he favoured the Nominated Assembly, devised by fifth-monarchist Thomas Harrison, however the Assembly was named the Barebones Parliament. Despite Cromwell initially siding with a "Godly rule" (Smith), he reverted back to the regime to protect tradition, helped by Lambert who ended the Barebones Parliament due to the fear of the increasing power of religious radicals. Therefore, it was the indecisive nature of Oliver Cromwell that led to the failure in attempting to create an acceptable settlement in politics and religion.

The concept of a ‘mid-Tudor crisis’ arrived under the scrutiny of modern scholarship largely through a priori reasoning and was first broadly promulgated by W.R.D. Jones in his 1973 book “The Mid Tudor Crisis1539-1563”. Jones attested a series of problems that “seem to have been ever-present in mid-Tudor England” (Jones, 1973, p. 6), exhibiting a “close relationship” (Jones, 1973, p. 6) with one another as a ‘crisis’. This compounded succession of agricultural volatility, deficiencies in administrative decree, specifically “the troubled shadowed reigns of Edward VI and Mary I,” (Jones, 1973, p.19) and divisive religious reformation, as Jones was to surmise, directly resulted in fluctuations

The author Lotherington describes how government was “dominated by…competing groups” but that overall the “source of all power was the king.” Lotherington argues that as Wolsey lacked the “intimate daily contact” enjoyed by others within the court this meant Wolsey was not all powerful. Also, the king also looked to his Privy Council and Gentlemen’s bedchamber for advice on issues, as well as Wolsey, which shows that Henry shared the power throughout the court. Saying this however, Wolsey had had more power than others (as seen in the Elthem Ordinances) where Wolsey halved the members of Henry’s gentlemen of the Bedchambers from twelve to six, and moved key advisors overseas. This suggests that although the power was shared, Wolsey could still decide who the king received advice from, which indirectly could be interpreted as Wolsey in total control. Also, although source 5 describes the power of the factions Lotherington also states how Wolsey “controlled the distribution of patronage” which was essential to gain power and status. This gives the impression that Wolsey had overall control of government, and could either air or hinder the careers of the “ambitious men.” Saying this however, once the amicable grant failed in 1525 Henry lost faith in Wolsey. This allowed the competing factions, many of whom opposed Wolsey due to his power, to undermine his authority which eventually led to his disapproval and eventually arrest for treason. This

After a terrible civil war, Henry II was rebuilding England and improving the law. He made royal court be more important compared to private courts, and made criminal law much better. This all made a positive impact on England’s law system.

"The reign of Charles II and the revolution against his brother James show that England in the later seventeenth century was ready to be Tory and Anglican but not Roman Catholic and Francophile." Discuss.

Oliver Cromwell was born in 25 April 1599. Cromwell Died on 3 September 1658. He rose from fairly humble beginnings to become the most victorious military and political leader of the Civil Wars, who was part of the joint republican, military and parliamentarian effort that caused the downfall of the Stuart monarchy as a result of the English Civil War, and was consequently invited by his associate leaders to assume a head of state role in 1653. As such, Cromwell ruled as "Lord Protector" for a five-year segment (1653–58) of the 11-year period of Republican Commonwealth and settlement rule of England, and technically of Ireland, Wales and Scotland. As one of the commanders of the New Model Army, he played an essential role in the defeat of

England’s lengthy history of hereditary monarchs and abusive absolutists has led to the system of constitutionalism in 17th century English government. The encouragement of these absolutism practices triggered the need to search for a new way to govern. The reigns of the Stuart monarchy led to the shift from absolutism to constitutionalism during 17th century England. After witnessing the success of Louis XIV's of France establishment of absolutism, England would soon see that James I, and his son Charles I, will fail at establishing absolutism in England and see a constitutional government established.

During the reign of Elizabeth I, the Privy Council and court were the centre of the Elizabethan government. Although parliament was Elizabeth’s necessary method of legislation and raising taxes, it was far from being a regular part of the governmental system (only being called 13 times during her reign). A leading debate arose when the historian Sir John Neale argued that there was a considerable amount of conflict between MPs and the queen. Whereas revisionists, such as Graves and Sir Geoffrey Elton, challenged this view and argued that the relationship was one of co-operation. I agree with the views of Elton that over Elizabeth’s 46 year reign there was much success, however she faced a

Cromwell also believed that the failure of the Western Design to the West Indies was a sign of God's displeasure at England's progress, and that a godly reform of the nation's morals was urgently required. During August and September 1655, Cromwell worked with John Lambert, John Disbrowe and Sir Gilbert Pickering to finalise arrangements for the new system ‘the rule of major generals’. The Major-Generals were formally commissioned on 11 October 1655 and proclaimed on 31 October. The country was divided into 12 regions, each governed by a Major-General who was answerable only to the Lord Protector. While the Major-Generals were successful in law enforcement and in curbing security threats to the Protectorate their attempts at reforming the nation's morals varied from region to region according to the zeal of individual officers, but had no lasting effects. Cromwell himself was aware of the unpopularity of military government and seems to have given tacit support to those who opposed its renewal. The system was abandoned early in 1657 under a new constitution: the Humble Petition and Advice.

Oliver Cromwell's Achievement of His Objectives from 1642 to 1658 To look at Cromwell’s aims and whether he achieved them or not is to enter “a minefield of` historical controversy and uncertainty,” as modern day historian Barry Coward put it. Cromwell’s aims have always been somewhat of a paradox so to answer whether he achieved them all would be impossible. Many of his goals contradicted or obstructed some of his other views. The views which he held closest to his heart were ‘Liberty of Conscience’ – Cromwell’s belief in religious toleration, a united National Church, the ‘Reformations of Manners’- his goal of a nation of Godly people, and social and legal reform. Although these were his most