Rump Parliament

The Rump Parliament was the name of the English Parliament immediately following the Long Parliament, after Pride's Purge of 6 December 1648 had removed those Members of Parliament hostile to the intentions of the Grandees in the New Model Army to try King Charles I for high treason.

The Rump sat until 20 April 1653, and then was reassembled, after The Protectorate, on 7 May 1659.The Long Parliament was recreated from the Rump on 21 February 1660 when General George Monck reinstated the members 'secluded' by Pride. The Speaker throughout the Rump Parliament's existence was the Speaker of the Long Parliament, William Lenthall.

The word "rump" normally refers to the back end of an animal; its use meaning "remnant" was first recorded in the above context. Since 1649, the term "rump parliament" has been used to refer to any parliament left over after the true parliament has formally dissolved.

Execution of Charles I

When it became obvious to the Grandees in the Army and Parliament that they could not negotiate a settlement with King Charles I and they could not trust him to resist raising an army to attack them, they reluctantly came to the conclusion that they would have to kill him. The House of Commons on 13 December 1648 broke off negotiations with the King. Two days later, the Council of Officers of the New Model Army voted that the King be moved from the Isle of Wight, where he was prisoner, to Windsor "in order to the bringing of him speedily to justice". In the middle of December the king was moved from Windsor to London.

On 4 January 1649, an ordinance was passed by the House of Commons to set up a High Court of Justice in order to try Charles I for high treason in the name of the people of England. The House of Lords rejected it and as it did not get royal consent, Charles would ask at the start of his trial on 20 January in Westminster Hall "I would know by what power I am called hither. I would know by what authority, I mean lawful [authority]", to which there was no strong legal answer to be given under the constitutional arrangements of the time. Charles was found guilty with fifty nine Commissioners (Judges) signing the death warrant.

On 30 January, the execution of Charles I was delayed by several hours so that the House of Commons could pass an emergency bill to make it an offence to proclaim a new King, and to declare the representatives of the people, the House of Commons, as the source of all just power. On 6 February the House of Lords was abolished; the monarchy went the same way on 7 February, and a Council of State established on 14 February. This was followed up on 19 May 1649 with An Act declaring England to be a Commonwealth which formally created the Commonwealth of England.

1649â€"1653

Between 1649 and 1653, the Rump passed a number of Acts in the area of Religion, Law, and Finance. Most of the members of the Rump wanted to promote "godliness", but also to restrict the more extreme puritan sects like the Quakers and the Ranters. An Adultery Act of May 1650 imposed the death penalty for adultery and fornication; the Blasphemy Act of August 1650 was aimed at curbing extreme religious "enthusiasm". To stop extreme evangelicals from preaching, they formed a "Committee for the Propagation of the Gospel" which issued licenses to preach. To allow Puritans freedom of worship, they repealed the Elizabethan requirement of compulsory attendance at (an Anglican) Church. As lawyers were overrepresented in the Rump Parliament, the Rump did not respond to the popular requests made by the Levellers to change the archaic and expensive legal system. The Rump raised revenue through the sale of Crown lands and Church property both of which were popular. However revenue raised through excise levies and through an Assessment Tax on land were not as popular as they affected everyone who owned property. The proceeds from confiscated Royalist estates were a valuable source of income, but it was a two edged sword. It ingratiated Parliament to people like John Downes who were making a fortune from the business but it did nothing to heal the wounds of the Civil War.

Oliver Cromwell

In 1653, after learning that Parliament was attempting to stay in session despite an agreement to dissolve, and having failed to come up with a working constitution, Cromwell's patience ran out. On April 20 he attended a sitting of Parliament and listened to one or two speeches. Then he stood up and harangued the members of the Rump in a speech which has often been paraphrased as "You have sat too long for any good you have been doing latelyâ€¦ Depart, I say; and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!" He then called in a troop of soldiers, under the command of Major-General Thomas Harrison, ordering them to clear the chamber and to "Take away that fool's bauble" referring to the Speaker's Mace, the symbol of Parliamentary power.

Within a month of the Rump's dismissal, Oliver Cromwell on the advice of Harrison and with the support of other officers in the Army, sent a request to Congregational churches in every county to nominate those they considered fit to take part in the new government. On 4 July a Nominated Assembly, nicknamed the "Assembly of Saints" or the Barebones Parliament (named after one of its members), took on the role of more traditional English Parliaments.

End of the Rump Parliament

Richard Cromwell, the third son of Oliver Cromwell, was appointed Lord Protector after his father's death. He called the Third Protectorate Parliament in 1659. However, along with the Army, it was unable to form a stable government and after seven months the Army removed him and on 6 May, 1659, it reinstalled the Rump Parliament. The Rump Parliament issued a declaration establishing a "Commonwealth without a king, single person, or house of lords". However after a few months divisions in the Commonwealth were settled by force of arms. On the 12 October the Rump voted to declare the seven commissioners' responsibility for the Army void and appointed Charles Fleetwood commander-in-chief under the Speaker of the House. The next day on 13 October 1659 the Army in London under the command of John Lambert assisted by Charles Fleetwood excluded the Rump from Parliament by locking the doors to the Palace of Westminster and stationing armed guards outside. Lambert and Fleetwood created a 23 member Committee of Safety to govern the country in place of the Rump with General Fleetwood and Lambert directly under him, commander of the Army in England and Scotland.

Sir Arthur Haselrig appealed to other Army generals to support the Rump against Fleetwood and Lambert. Fearing anarchy, General George Monck, commander-in-chief of the English army in Scotland, declared that he was ready to uphold Parliament's authority and march at the head of his army to London. Lambert marched north against Monck in November 1659, but Lambert's army began to melt away, and he was kept in suspense by Monck till his whole army deserted and he returned to London almost alone. On 24 December 1659 the chastened Fleetwood approached the Speaker, William Lenthal, asking him to recall the Rump. The same day Lenthall took possession of the Tower and appointed commissioners for its government. The Rump met again on 26 December 1659. Parliament declared Monck commander-in-chief in England as well as Scotland.

In January 1660, Monck marched into England, as Lambert's supporters in the Army were cashiered and his authority crumbled. When Sir Thomas Fairfax emerged from retirement to declare his support for Monck, Army support for Monck became almost unanimous. Monck entered London in February 1660 and he allowed the Presbyterian members, 'secluded' in Pride's Purge of 1648, to re-enter parliament on 21 February 1660. The Long Parliament dissolved itself on 16 March, 1660 after preparing legislation for the Convention Parliament which formally invited King Charles II to be the English monarch in what has become known as the Restoration.

Links and references

Rump Parliament: Encyclopedia BETA