Jonathan Fitzgibbons: 'Rethinking the English Revolution of 1649'

What does Fitzgibbons argue about the abolition of kingship in 1649?

“It seems that from the moment the decision was taken to abolish kingship the restoration of monarchy was a matter of when not if”

What does Fitzgibbons say about the intentions behind regicide?

“Few believed the trial and execution of the king would lead to the abolition of kingship”

What does the week-long delay in deciding to abolish kingship after Charles I's death indicate?

It “indicates the limits of republican feeling at this time”

What act did Parliament pass on the day of Charles I’s execution?

They declared it treason to proclaim any ‘King, or Chief Magistrate’ without the ‘free consent of the People in Parliament… signified by a particular Act or Ordinance for that purpose’

When was Charles I executed?

30th January 1649

When was Pride’s Purge?

6th December 1648

What was Pride’s Purge?

soldiers prevented members of Parliament considered hostile to the New Model Army from entering the House of Commons of England,

The purge cleared the way for the execution of Charles in January 1649

Soldiers commanded by Colonel Thomas Pride forcibly excluded from the Long Parliament those MPs viewed as their opponents and arrested 45

How many people were arrested during Pride’s Purge?

45

What was Kevin Sharpe’s view on why the Commonwealth failed?

The Commonwealth’s ultimate failure was its inability to eradicate kingship from the popular imagination and foster a distinctive republican culture

What did MP Nathaniel Bacon argue in his 1647 treatise?

That Saxon kings were “servants of State,” and the Commonwealth was not new but a restoration of England’s original government

Who argued in 1647 that Saxon kings were “servants of State”?

MP Nathaniel Bacon

What did MP Nathaniel Bacon name his 1647 treatise?

An historical discourse of the uniformity of the government of England