greeted everyone as "friend" and did not bow, remove their hat (as
was the custom when before the king or an earl), or otherwise show
any reverence to anyone. From 1650, they were called Quakers
because they trembled when religiously stirred. They reverted to
the ancient "thou" and "thee" appellations. Their dress was
particularly simple, with no buttons, lace, ruffles, or
embroidery. They hated ritual so much that they rejected baptism
and communion. They did not observe the Sabbath as a special day
different from other days. They derided the holiness of churches.
No clergy were admitted into their sect. When they met for divine
worship, each rose to deliver extemporaneous inspirations of the
Holy Ghost. Women were admitted to teach the brethren and were
considered proper vehicles to convey the dictates of the spirit.
Quakers believed that every man, in his own life, could be fully
victorious over sin. The denied any clerical authority and all
texts. They believed in the separation of church and state. They
refused to swear to any oath, e.g. in court, or to participate in
war. They refused to take off their hats to anyone but God. It was
their practice to turn the other cheek when one cheek had been
struck. If asked for his cloak, a Quaker would give it. He never
asked more for his wares than the precise sum which he was
determined to accept. The Quakers encouraged widows and widowers
to provide for children from a first spouse when remarrying. They
carefully selected masters and mistresses who wanted to take on
child apprentices for their suitability for such responsibility.
The education of Quaker women did not decline, as it did for other
women. From the fervor of their zeal, the Quakers broke into
churches, disturbed public worship, and harassed the clergyman and
audience with railing and reproaches. When brought before a
magistrate, they show no reverence but treated him as an equal.
Sometimes they were thrown into mad house or prisons and sometimes
whipped or pilloried. They endured stoically under this suffering.
Mary Fisher from Yorkshire introduced Quakerism to New England.
In 1653 there were separation agreements between spouses as to
property, e.g. support and maintenance.
Cromwell had bad experiences with Parliaments. The Rump Parliament
was a remnant of the Long Parliament. The army and then Cromwell,
although a member, came to believe that its members were self-
interested, preoccupied with perpetuating themselves in seats of
power, and corrupt. They thought that their own hopes of reform in
the law, in the church, and in public finances were being
deliberately frustrated. Cromwell came to doubt that it would ever
give the people adequate government and protection. He started to
believe that one man as chief executive could do this better.
Cromwell dismissed the Rump Parliament in 1653. A new constitution
created a Puritan "Parliament of Saints". These men were nominated
in various ways, such as by church parishes, and selected by
Cromwell. This one-house Parliament of Saints in 1653 made
Cromwell Lord Protector for life with executive power of the
state, with responsibility for making peace and establishing order
after a decade of civil strife and political chaos. He was to
administer the government and be the chief magistrate. It also
provided for triennial Parliaments (consisting of one house), and
religious freedom for all except Roman Catholics and adherents of
the formerly established Church of England. Cromwell did not
tolerate the ritual of the formerly established English church nor
allow any of its adherents to have any office under him. His was a
purely Puritan government. He did not sell offices. The Parliament
of Saints challenged many vested interests in property such as
sales of delinquents' and Papists' lands. It clashed severely over
the continuation of tithes to the church. It became disorderly
when some declared the Parliament dissolved and left. Others
remained in their seats. To avoid a Parliamentary crisis, Cromwell
had soldiers close the Parliament of Saints and lock its doors.
The people supported this action because they were dissatisfied
with the state of public affairs. The next Parliament that was
tried was elected on a new constitutional basis of men with 200
pounds, but these men voted to make Parliament sovereign without a
chief executive, thereby abolishing the protectorate. Cromwell was
distressed that this Parliament had also voted themselves to be
the sole determinors of atheism and blasphemy instead of advancing
liberty of religious conscience and religious toleration as
Cromwell had advocated. He dissolved this Parliament, declaring
that it was not acting for the public good. A last Parliament was
also dissolved by Cromwell for tending to loosen the bonds of
government and thereby threatening the peace of the nation.
Cromwell had first ruled as a democratic leader who did not
believe in force, but preferred to persuade with reason. He
initially believed that people would do the right thing according
to their consciences, but was disillusioned and then became
autocratic. He came to rule as a military dictator. Payment of
taxes was enforced by distraint. After 1654, he issued about 100
proclamations covering public amusements, roads, finances, the
condition of prisons, the imprisonment of debtors, banning of
dueling and cockfighting, law reform, control of religion and
education, and reorganization of the army. The singing of ballads
was banned. The Court of Chancery was reformed by proclamation.
The established church was reformed and the power to interfere
with different faiths was denied to it. Each parish could choose
its form of service, whether Presbyterian, Congregational,
Baptist, or any other seen as fundamental by the Puritans. No one
was compelled to attend any particular church or to accept the
discipline of any particular minister. But the Book of Common
Prayer was forbidden. There was freedom of worship for
Presbyterians, Independents, Baptists, Quakers, Catholics, and
Jews (who had secretly migrated to England to avoid persecution on
the continent), but not Prelatists (those favoring government of
the church by bishops).
In 1655, Cromwell placed major generals in charge of eleven newly-
established provinces. As their Governors, they had authority to
levy troops, exact taxes imposed by the Protector, disarm
Royalists and Catholics, examine into the conduct of the clergy
and schoolmasters, arrest dangerous and suspicious persons, and
prevent unlawful assemblies, and to enforce the existing laws
against immorality and blasphemy. The only appeal was to the
Protector. Since they were Puritans, they ordered public ale
houses to close as dusk, banned idlers, minstrels, and actors,
forbade exercising of horses on Sunday and the holding of markets
on Saturday as well as Sunday, censored the press, and proscribed
newspapers. Horse races, which meetings were used for seditious
purposes, were closed. Theaters were closed. Dancing was
discontinued. Organs and choirs in churches prohibited. Court
masks continued because they provided soothing music. After a
year, Cromwell withdrew the major-generals. From this time, men of
property hated the idea of a standing army.
In 1657, the officers of a new Parliament modified the
constitution and Cromwell approved it, to secure liberties of the
people as they never before had. Under the modified constitution,
there were again two houses. The Commons regained its old right of
exclusively deciding on the qualification of its members.
Parliamentary restrictions were imposed on the choice of members
of the Council, officers of state, and officers of the army. A
fixed revenue was voted to the Protector. No moneys were to be
raised except by consent of Parliament. Liberty of worship was
guaranteed to all except Papists, Prelatists, Socinians (who
denied the divinity of Jesus), for those who denied the
inspiration of the Scriptures. Liberty of conscience was secured
for all. In 1658, Cromwell tried another Parliament, but dissolved
it because it wrangled without resolution.
After Cromwell died, the people demanded the return of a genuine
and free Parliament. The old constitution was restored and a new
House of Commons was elected. It called Charles II to return to be
king if he promised religious freedom and backpay to the army,
which had not recently been paid. When Cromwell's Puritan soldiers
were disbanded, they did not drift into thievery as royalists
soldiers had before, but took up honest work such as baker, mason,
brewer, baker, or haberdasher. Puritanism now made itself felt not
by the sword, but in literature and politics. It affected the
character of the English, who tend to be stoics, and imbued
capitalists with a hard-working attitude.
- The Law -
After the civil wars, the law against enclosure was not enforced.
What was passed in Parliament in Cromwell's time were called
statutes, but after Cromwell's time, these statutes were not
recognized as legitimate.
"whereas Public Sports do not well agree with Public Calamities,
not Public Stage-plays with the Seasons of Humiliation, this being
an Exercise of sad and pious Solemnity, and the other being
Spectacles of Pleasure, too commonly expressing lascivious Mirth
and Levity ... Public Stage Plays shall cease, and be forborne
instead of which are recommended to the People of this Land the
profitable and seasonable considerations of Repentance,
Reconciliation, and Peace with God, ..."
No book or pamphlet may be printed, bound, stitched, or sold or
imported unless licensed and entered into the Register Book of the
Company of Stationers. Officials of this company and of Parliament
may search all places which they shall think meet for all
unlicensed printing presses and all suspected printing houses,
warehouses, and shops and other places for unlicensed books and
pamphlets and papers and seize them and apprehend all authors,
printers, and other involved people and bring them before
Parliament or the Committee on Examinations for punishment.
Justices of the peace and other officers may order doors and locks
broken for this purpose. The fine is ten pounds for authors, five
pounds for printers, two pounds for booksellers, and one pound for
buyers who conceal a book bought. One half of each fine shall go
to the person who discovers and prosecutes the offender, and the
other half shall go to the poor. This law suppressed royalist
newspapers but was enforced only with great difficulty.
All shall observe Sunday and days of Thanksgiving in their "duties
of Piety and true Religion publicly and privately" and none may
sell wares or goods, including fruit or herbs upon pain of
forfeiture of such. None may, without reasonable cause, travel,
carry burdens, or do any worldly labors or work whatsoever or pay
a fine of 10s. This work shall include grinding grain, fulling in
mills, burning turf or earth, gathering taxes, melting wax for
candles, brewing, baking, butchering cattle, tailors fitting or
carrying clothes, barbers trimming hair, being present at fairs or
markets, or washing, whiting, or drying clothes. Nor may any one
maintain or be present at wrestlings, shooting, bowling, ringing
of bells for pleasure or pastime, masks, wake, church-ale,
dancing, games, sport or, for those over 14, forfeit 5s., and for
those having care or education of a child under 14, 12d. Maypoles,
a "Heathenish vanity, generally abused to superstition and
wickedness", shall be taken down by officers or else forfeit 5s.
per week. If any offender can't pay his fine, he shall be put in
the stocks for three hours. However meat maybe dressed in private
families, and victual sold in inns and victualing houses in a
moderate way, and milk sold before 9a.m. or after 4p.m.
Persons of the trinity, angels, or saints shall be demolished.
Altar and communion tables must not be raised but leveled. There
may be no copes, surplices, superstitious vestments, or holy water
fonts. There may be no crosses, crucifixes, pictures of the
trinity, angels or saints on plates. All organs must be taken
away.
The fine for using the Book of Common Prayer is five pounds for
the first offense, ten pounds for the second offense, and one year
imprisonment without bail for the third offense. The penalty for
writing or preaching against the Directory for Public Worship is
five to fifty pounds.
Blasphemies and heresies such as teaching or writing or printing
that there is no God, that God is not almighty, that Jesus was not
divine, that the resurrection of Jesus did not occur, that the
Bible is not the word of God, or that there is no judgment day
after death, are felony without benefit of clergy. If such an
offender recants, he shall stay in gaol until he obtains two
sureties. If he offends again after recantation, it is felony
without benefit of clergy.
In 1650 adultery was declared to be a felony, except for a wife
whose husband had been beyond the seas for three years or had been
reputed to be dead. Incest was also declared to be a felony. It
was defined as marrying or having carnal knowledge of one's
grandparent, parent, sibling, mother's brother or sister, father's
wife, mother's husband, son's wife, daughter's husband, wife's
mother or daughter, or husband's father or son. Fornication was
given a punishment of three months imprisonment and until security
was obtained for one year for good behavior. It was defined as
carnal knowledge of a virgin, unmarried woman, or widow. A common
bawd or one keeping a brothel or bawdy house was to be whipped,
set in the pillory, marked in the forehead by a hot iron with the
letter: B, and then imprisoned for three years without bail and
until there were sureties for good behavior for life. The second
offense was felony without benefit of clergy. There was to be no
corruption of the blood. However, juries were reluctant to convict
for adultery and incest.
There shall be no profane swearing or cursing of forfeit by a lord
30s., a baronet or knight 20s., an esquire 10s., a gentleman
6s.8d., and all others 3s.4d.There is a double fine for the second
offense. For the tenth offense, the offender shall be bound by
sureties for good behavior for three years.
A person equating himself or another with God or not believing in
God shall be imprisoned for six months without bail. For the
second offense, he shall be banished from the nation.
No longer shall people be punished for nonattendance at church on
Sunday or days of Thanksgiving, but may be at some other place of
prayer, preaching, reading, or the scriptures.
Hawkers and ballad singers have been libelous, so are to be
whipped as common rogues and then dismissed. Also, their ballads
and pamphlets are to be confiscated. Vagrant, idle, loose,
dissolute and disorderly persons and fiddlers in inns, alehouses,
and taverns are to be punished as rogues, vagabonds, and sturdy
beggars, that is, whipped.
In 1649, treason against Parliament was defined as writing,
printing, or declaring that the government is tyrannical, usurped,
or unlawful; or that Parliament is not the supreme authority of
the nation; or plot, contrive, or endeavor to stir up or raise
force against the government. Attainder for such would not work
corruption of the blood.
Treason to the Protector was defined the same as it was to the
King.
Army deserters are to be corporally punished or executed.
Fellable wood and underwood, but no timber trees, may be cut
within 60 miles of London because fuel is needed, especially by
the poor. This will be supervised by overseers appointed by
Parliament.
No one may import foreign hats or hatbands to relieve that
industry in England.
As of 1656, certain food could not be exported when the prices of
such exceeded a stated amount. For instance, 5 pounds for a 36
gallon barrel of beef, 6d. for a pound of bacon, 4 pounds and 10s.
for a 224 gallon barrel of butter, and 24s. for 64 pounds of rye,
pease, or beans. The customs for such items was more for
foreigners than for natives, for instance 3s. for natives and 5s.
for foreigners for a barrel of beef.
Butter for sale must not be corrupt and be properly weighed.
One must obtain a license to buy wheat or other grain and put it
to sale in meal or flour or else forfeit three times the value.
All books of the law, writs, pleadings, and patents shall be in
English or else forfeit 20 pounds.
No deer may be killed or else forfeit 15 pounds, half to the
informer and half to the poor.
Interest may not exceed 6 pounds for a loan of 100 pounds yearly
as of 1651.
No goods are to be imported from America, Asia, or Africa except
in English ships or else forfeit all goods and the ship, one half
of which goes to the one who seizes the goods and prosecutes. None
may be imported from Europe except in English ships or ships from
the country of origin of the goods. No salt fish may be imported
or exported but in English vessels.
There is a 10 pound reward for discovery of highwaymen and
burglars or persons who break and enter into houses and there use
violence.
No cart or wagon or carriage on the road may be drawn by more than
five horses or six oxen and a horse except for military vehicles.
Notice of intended marriages shall be published once a week for
three weeks in a public meeting place called church or a public
market place next to church. Exceptions to the marriage shall be
noted by the Register and considered by the Justice of the Peace
before the marriage is performed. The words used shall be:
"...promise to be unto thee a loving and faithful husband..." and
"promise to be unto thee a loving, faithful, and obedient
wife...".
There shall be no cock-fighting because it disturbs the peace and
usually is accompanied by gaming, drinking, swearing, and
quarreling.
Anyone challenging or accepting a challenge to duel shall be
imprisoned for six months without bail, and must acquire two
sureties for a year. Anyone fighting a duel in which death ensues,
shall be banished for life.
Horse races were forbidden in 1654 for six months to discourage
mischievous plots and designs by enemies of the state. The penalty
was forfeiting the horse. Attendees were to be brought to justice.
As of 1657, a house or building built within ten miles of the
walls of the City of London not having at least four acres had to
pay a fine of one year's rent. All houses within London or
Westminster or the suburbs must be brick or stone, and built
straight up without protruding into the street or else forfeit
100 pounds.
As of 1657 persons living extravagantly without visible estate or
calling may be made by Justices of the Peace to acquire sureties
for good behavior or go to gaol. They would also be sent to the
house of correction to work for three months for the first offense
and for a time specified by the Justice of the Peace for the
second offense.
Anyone winning at betting or playing at cards, dice, tennis, and
horse races shall forfeit double his winnings.
Excluded from pardon were buggery with man [sodomy] or animal
[bestiality], carnal ravishment of women, and bigamy.
Drunkenness was much punished.
Husbands were responsible for their wives' oaths and fathers for
their daughters'.
- Judicial Procedure -
The Protector is the supreme magistrate of the Commonwealth, with
power to pardon all crimes, except murder and treason.
Parliament was no longer a court.
Use of the torture was proscribed in 1649.
In 1652, the justices were given a salary of 1,000 pounds and
forbidden to take fees or rewards. They also got tenure, thus
freeing them from government pressure. Now civil justice was
honestly dispensed and justices were learned and honest.
The jurisdiction of Admiralty court was defined to include: ships
and vessels with tackle, apparel and furniture thereof; repairing,
victualing, and furnishing provisions of ships and vessels for
sea; all cases of bottomry [ship-owner indemnified if the vessel
were lost, but paid over a substantial share of the profits if it
reached its destination safely], contracts beyond the seas
concerning shipping or navigation; charter, parties, contracts for
freight; bills of lading; mariners wages; damage of goods on board
ships; and damage by one ship to another including by anchors or
want of laying buoys. It did not include contracts between
merchants.
- - - Chapter 17 - - -
- Times: 1660-1702 -
The monarchy was restored and Charles II came to the throne. The
episcopacy of the bishops and the Book of Common Prayer were
restored. This book retained all its ceremonies, despite
opposition by the Presbyterians. The confiscated Royalist, church,
and Crown lands were ordered to be restored, and most were.
Charles II was presented with the traditional rights of choosing
his own Privy Council, ministers of state, and justices; making
foreign policy; controlling the armed forces; and approving
statutes. He was also presented with the power to call and dismiss
Parliament, but later, in 1694, a statute required that Parliament
be held at least once every three years, to avoid royal schemes of
non-parliamentary government. The House of Lords was reestablished
and there were again bishops in it, though fewer than before
(about 1/8 instead of about 1/3). There were 160 peers for the
next century. The House of Commons was elected in the usual way,
but without a king's writ. The Commons was composed mostly of
royalist established church members. Its leaders were important
members of the King's Privy Council.
The feudal tenures of the crown, such as knights' service, were
converted into free socage. They were discharged of homage,
reliefs, escuage, and aids. Charles relinquished purveyance,
wardships, and forfeitures of marriage. In return, Parliament
granted him a fixed yearly income of 100,000 pounds from excise
tax on beer, cider, and tea.
Several hundreds of dissenter ministers and school teachers were
ejected from their positions, but later those who were not
Baptists were returned by statute of Parliament. (Baptists did not
believe in an established church.)
Charles II was an easygoing and kindly man and hard to ruffle. He
had a weariness in the folly of men and a cynical disbelief in
human virtue. His wit and great sense of humor softened many a
potentially tense situation. His restoration to the throne brought
in a time of enjoyment of life in reaction to the Puritanism of
before. At his succession, the elected Parliament was oriented
toward royalty and the established church. He was voted an income
of 1,200,000 pounds a year. He also sold many of the last crown
lands. But he always had great debts, which he described as a
"desperate but not serious" situation. This was in part due to his
generous maintenance of several successive mistresses and more
than about a dozen illegitimate children. His entourage also
included physicians, surgeons, a librarian, a poet laureate,
chaplains, painters, an historiographer, musicians, a royal
composer, and an astronomer. Charles even joked on his deathbed
that "I am sorry gentlemen, for being such an unconscionable time
a-dying."
The day of Charles II's restoration and birthday was designated as
a day of thanksgiving when all were to participate in prayers and
the singing of psalms at some church or other suitable public
place.
Charles initiated the return of Sunday afternoon wrestling,
archery, music, and dancing. Theaters reopened with actresses
playing women's parts, an audience only in front of the stage
instead of around it, a drop curtain, and painted two-dimensional
scenery. Actresses were allowed pursuant to royal proclamation so
that plays should become "useful and instructive representations
of human life" rather than "harmless delights". Charles went to
plays regularly. Actresses were assumed to be mistresses of
patrons in return for their jobs, but one fourth were actually
chaste women married to actors. Comedies were the preferred plays.
Courtesans were sympathetically and even admirably treated in
plays, which mocked all restraints and glorified immorality with
the exception of pornography, which was banned. Bad actors were
hissed off the stage. Henry Purcell wrote religious music for
churches, ceremonial music for the English court, and theater
music for English opera. Opera made music a vehicle for human
emotions. The gentry sang to the lute and danced to string
instruments. Many owned and played musical instruments. Humble
people had folksongs and instruments like the pipe and tabor for
dancing. Singing in parts was popular in town and country. In 1672
John Banister started the first regular series of public concerts
in his house. There were lovely formal gardens in which to walk,
to see fireworks, and to buy the new ice cream. Charles did much
garden and park planning and let the public enjoy the royal St.
James Park. He loved hunting too and had the royal forests
replenished with deer after poaching during the Cromwell era had
greatly reduced their numbers.
Charles II introduced sailing and yacht racing for pleasure. He
also participated in and promoted horse racing. The breeding of
thoroughbred horses began with breeding to Arab mares. Gelding
horses were now preferred over stallions. There were trotters,
cart horses, and some "fast" race horses. Boxing (with no gloves
nor ring) was a national sport. Ice skating with iron blades was
popular. Valentine's day was celebrated. Italian puppet shows
played in London.