Why did the pursuit of 'Godly Government' fail?

April 1653: Dissolution of the Rump

Cromwell’s main aim was always what he called ‘healing and settling’- reconciling former enemies and reconstructing the pre-war institutions of everyday life. He also wished to work with Parliament.

Options for Cromwell

• Immediate elections

• Military dictatorship

• Assembly of 140 godly men to form a ‘Parliament of Saints’ (advocated by Major-General Thomas Harrison.

Cromwell: “no doubt he was a difficult man"

• The principal difficulty lay in Cromwell’s desire to use Parliament to reconcile the interests of the English nation as a whole with those of a godly minority (including himself) who embraced a radical religious agenda.

• He hoped that through Parliament the nation and the godly people could become one. His refusal to acknowledge the essential incompatibility of these two interests lay at the heart of his failure to find any Parliament that fulfilled his high hopes.

Alternative names

Parliament of Saints: positive term from those who saw the members as being especially godly.

Nominated Assembly: Cromwell did not intend this to be a Parliament.

The Little Parliament: because it would consist of a single chamber of 140 members rather than the 17th century custom of over 400.

Barebone’s Parliament: Praise God- Barebone was a staunch, prominent Puritan member of the Parliament (nominee from the City of London).