The Commonwealth

Historical Context Note

Litencyc Editors (Independent Scholar - Europe)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.04: English Writing and Culture of the Seventeenth Century, 1625-1688.
Vol. editors: Jennifer Brady (Rhodes College), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Neil Forsyth (Université de Lausanne), Claire Preston (Queen Mary, University of London), J A Roe (University of York), Virginia Mason Vaughan (Clark University)

Domains

Colonialism and colonisation

Dates

Date of occurrence 1649-02-04-1659-04

Places

United Kingdom (Location)

On January 4^th 1649 the Rump Parliament declared by vote that (“the common people are, under God, the original of all just power(” and on January 6^th set up the High Court of Justice which would try Charles I and sentence him to death on January 30^th. On 19^th May England was formally declared a Commonwealth. Executive power, formally a prerogative of the monarch, was now vested in a Council of State, elected annually by Parliament. From 1649 to 1653 the Commonwealth struggled to find a new form of constitution fit for a republic but interests divided between the General Council of the army, the radical Levellers, and the conservative property owners and merchants. Cromwell put an end to …

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151 words

Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "The Commonwealth". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 15 February 2006 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=206, accessed 23 November 2024.]

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The Commonwealth

Domains

Dates

Places

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