1649-1660: The Cromwellian Years

After Charles was executed the English decided they didn't want another King so they passed a bill making England a republic. The new republic was dominated by puritans - miserable nonconformist Christians who thought polished buckles on shoes was flash dressing and that putting sugar in porridge was sinfully decadent. The Scots, meanwhile, were quite cross about King Charles being executed without consulting them and crowned his son as Charles II of Scotland by sitting him on the most-ancient Stone of Scones. England feared a Stuart-ruled Royalist army massing in the land of porridge and so invaded under the leadership of Oliver Cromwell, a parliamentary general and de facto leader of the Commonwealth who easily defeated the Scottish army by throwing a five pound note over a cliff. After Scotland was subsequently subdued and annexed he jumped on a ship, sailed across the sea, and did the same to Ireland except that rather than doing the trick with the five pound note he did the same with a potato. Only joking, he just killed absolutely everyone on the island he could find for being "Papist Royalists" or just "Generally Irish" before installing his son, Henry Cromwell, as Governor of What is Left of Ireland and returning to England. By this time Parliament, who had decided they weren't as keen on governing the country as they'd originally thought, offered Cromwell the crown but he refused because he'd heard Charles I had nits. And so, in 1653, he became Lord Protector instead.

Under the new Protectorate, the Commonwealth was a bit of a sourpuss place where people weren't allowed to celebrate Christmas and Parliament had to do the bidding of the Lord Protector which usually entailed stopping people having fun. "This isn't what we fought a revolution for!" said various disgruntled republicans who started issuing leaflets stating "Cromwell art the worste! Hate hate hate!". Cromwell had them rounded up by his secret police and shot or sent to the Tower for "ye treachery". There, they were subjected to the worst things the Puritans could imagine: dancing and Christmas cake!

Cromwell died in 1658 and his son, Richard Cromwell, succeeded him but Richard was a bit rubbish and could never decide what to have for his breakfast, let alone how to rule the country so he was placed under house arrest by the army in 1659 who encouraged him to resign using their muskets. Then George Monck, who'd been in Scotland keeping the locals in line, marched down to London and pretended to be a republican even though he had secretly been sending letters (of a strictly platonic nature) to the "Royal" court in exile. By now the Commonwealth was effectively leaderless and so Monck unofficially slid his considerable buttocks onto the vacant metaphorical throne. Monck, after enjoying a hearty dinner fit for an unofficial king, decided that the only way to stabilize the country was to end the "good old cause" of republicanism and restore the "bad old order" of monarchy by letting all the lace hanky-waving toffs back into Parliament who then voted for the monarchy to be restored and the redistribution of taxes away from the army and back to them. One Charles Stuart Jr, who had spent the past eleven years in exile, immediately stopped having sex with a French prostitute on hearing this news and hurried to London. He arrived dressed like Russell Brand in late May of 1660 just in time for the very first Summer of Love in which all the loving was entirely done by the new King, declared Charles II, whilst the fountains ran with wine so everyone could be drunk all the time. Under Charles, Scotland was given its independence again and the Scots celebrated by getting drunk, pulling down all of Cromwell's fortresses and getting drunk.

The Council of State provided the executive government of the Commonwealth directing home and foreign policy and carrying out the orders of Parliament. The members of the first Council of State were appointed by the Commons on 14 Feb 1649 and 15 Feb 1649, with further annual elections. The Council held its first meeting on 17 Feb 1649 "with Cromwell in the chair". This meeting was quite rudimentary, "some 14 members" attending, barely more that the legal quorum of 9 (out of 41 members). In full formal style the Council was "Council of State appointed by Authority of Parliament," and sometimes "Keepers of the Liberties of England by the Authority of Parliament." After the dissolution of the Rump Parliament (20 Apr 1653), Cromwell told the Council that it no longer existed and together with the Council of Officers, instituted a new Council of State (30 Apr 1653). Following the dissolution of the Nominated Assembly (16 Dec 1653), the Council of State was modified under the Instrument of Government, 1653, the first written Constitution of the Commonwealth. Between 13 and 21 councilors were elected by Parliament to advise the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell. The Council was modified again under the Humble Petition and Advice 1657, another constitution, which granted almost monarchical powers to Cromwell and which authorized him to choose 21 Privy Councilors himself. Being legally invested with exercising executive authority on instructions from the Parliament, the Council of State remained a sole bearer of constitutional power when the Parliament was prevented from sitting at Westminster by the military (13 Oct 1659); temporarily restored public order by sending orders to the troops to return to their quarters (13 Oct 1659); due to the confrontation with the Council of Officers and amidst general anarchy, ceased to administer political affairs with degrading attendance at meetings; was dissolved and superseded by the Council of Safety, consisting of army officers and civilians nominated by the Council of Officers (25 Oct 1659). As the Parliament was allowed to meet again on 26 Dec 1659, it decided to elect a new 31-member Council of State to hold the offices from 1 Jan 1660 to 1 Apr 1660. The election followed on 30 Dec 1659 and 31 Dec 1659 and the names of the members were publicly announced during the sessions of 31 Dec 1659 and 2 Jan 1660. The authority of the Council was derived from an Act, with Instructions to be given to the Council of State (passed 2 Jan 1660). The restoration of the Long Parliament by General Monck (21 Feb 1660) prompted passing of a resolution for suspension of the powers given to the Council of State (21 Feb 1660). The Parliament proceeded with elections (23 Feb 1660) and passed an Act for constituting a Council of State (25 Feb 1660), which was elected for the period "until the Parliament take further Order." The Council was authorized to exercise executive authority between the dissolution of the Parliament (16 Mar 1660) and meeting of a Parliament at Westminster (25 Apr 1660) in accordance with an Act for giving Power to the Council of State, during the Interval, in Order to public Safety (passed 15 Mar 1660). The Council of State continued to sit during the Convention Parliament, which first met on 25 Apr 1660. The Council was engaged into proceedings against the regicides and was not dissolved until 28 May 1660 when the king entered London to assume the government in person.

Presidents (1649-1660)

A proposal for appointing a Lord President of the Council of State was rejected by the Commons (16 in favor; 22 against) on 15 Feb 1649. Oliver Cromwell signed the Council documents from 17 Feb 1649 to 12 Mar 1649 as praeses pro tempore. However, there were sessions of the Council at which Cromwell was absent; e.g., on 27 Feb 1649 Denbigh was in the chair and was acting for Cromwell. The Commons passed a resolution on 26 Nov 1651 "That no Person of any Committee of Parliament, or of the Council of State, shall be in the Chair of that Committee, or Council, for any longer Time, at once, than one Month". As a result, the presidency in the Council of State was put in rotation with one-month intervals. In 1659, presidents served for very brief periods and the evidence from signatures as president seems to be quite confusing. It is known that Bulstrode Whitelock served as President at the "closing" of the Parliament by the Army 13 Oct 1659 and until the Council was dissolved 25 Oct 1659.