The Rump Parliament 1648–53

Blair Worden (Author)

9780521292139, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 5 May 1977

440 pages
21.6 x 14 x 2.6 cm, 0.576 kg

'Me Worden's excellent book analyses in great detail and with loving care the processes by which England, for the first time in history, was governed by a Parliament - and governed bery successfully.' Christopher Hill, New Statesman

The Rump Parliament was brought to power in 1648 by Pride's Purge and forcibly dissolved by Oliver Cromwell in 1653. This book is a detailed account of the intervening years. Dr Worden concentrates particularly on the Rump's policies in the contentious fields of legal, religious and electoral reform; its attempts to live down its revolutionary origins, to disown its more radical supporters, to conciliate those Puritans alienated by the purge and the King's death, and to re-create the Roundhead party of the 1640s. He examines the Rump's struggles for survival in the face of the Royalist threat between 1649 and 1651, and its fatal quarrel with the Cromwellian army thereafter. A concluding chapter deals with the Rump's forcible dissolution. This novel and challenging interpretation of the most dramatic phase of the English Revolution will interest all specialists in seventeenth-century political and constitutional history.

Acknowledgements
Author's note
List of abbreviations
Introduction
Part I. The Rump and the Rumpers: 1. Membership, attendance and allegiance
2. The limits of revolution
3. Moderation and conformity
4. Soldiers and clergymen
5. Commitment and corruption
Part II. The Rump and Reform: 6. Law reform
7. Puritans and politicians
8. Electoral reform
Part III. The Struggle for Survival, February 1649–September 1651: 9. Problems and policies, February 1649
10. The pursuit of respectability, February–August 1649
11. The nadir, September 1649–September 1650
12. Dunbar to Worcester: the coalition under strain, September 1650–September 1651
Part IV. Parliament versus The Army, September 1651–April 1653: 13. Reform and reaction, September 1651–May 1652
14. Conflict and confrontation, May–December 1652
15. Dissolution and disarray, January–April 1653
Part V. The Dissolution of the Rump: 16. The army apologias
17. Conclusion
Appendices
Bibliographical guide
Index.

Subject Areas: Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700 [HBLH], British & Irish history [HBJD1]