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Cromwell and the Protectorate Western Civilization II Marshall High School Mr. Cline Unit Three KA • Introduction to Cromwell • As a kid, I remember my parents going out of town and leaving us with this one particular babysitter, Miss Mary. • Now, I couldn't stand Miss Mary. She was an old fuddy-duddy who'd come into the house with her own set of rules, acting like she was my mom. • Like me, English history had its very own Miss Mary. • His name was Oliver Cromwell, the force who brought rule and order to England after their civil war. • However, while Miss Mary's rules were nothing more than a childhood annoyance, Oliver Cromwell's laws spelled enslavement and death for many within England's realm. * The History of Early Modern Europe • Introduction to Cromwell • However, before we get to this, we need to understand a bit about the English Civil War. • Cromwell as Lord Protector • After the death of King Charles, his son, Charles II, tried to gain the crown. • However, Cromwell's forces made short work of him. • After defeating Charles II forces, Cromwell turned his order-making-eyes toward Parliament. • This time he'd use his religious beliefs to shape the country. • In 1653, Cromwell dissolved Parliament and became Lord Protector of England. • In other words, he was the guy in charge. * The History of Early Modern Europe • Cromwell as Lord Protector • Since he was a Puritan, or an extremely fundamental English Calvinist, he used his strict Puritan beliefs to make England a theocracy, or a system of government in which a person rules in the name of God. • To keep control of his theocracy, Cromwell divided England up into 11 areas. • Over each area, he placed trusted soldiers from his New Model Army. Their job was to enforce his new laws. • Laws to Persecution • Cromwell believed women and girls should dress in a modest manner. • Under his rule, make-up and brightly colored dresses were banned. • He also felt hard work was necessary for salvation of the soul. • Therefore, entertainments, like many theaters were closed and most sports were banned. * The History of Early Modern Europe • Laws to Persecution • Cromwell believed women and girls should dress in a modest manner. • Under his rule, make-up and brightly colored dresses were banned. • He also felt hard work was necessary for salvation of the soul. • Therefore, entertainments, like many theaters were closed and most sports were banned. • Since Sunday was an especially holy day, boys caught playing sports on this day would be whipped, while women caught doing needless work would find themselves in the stocks. • When it came to holidays, Cromwell thought most were nothing more than pagan parties. • Christmas was a real sore spot. • Since most people celebrated Christmas with yummy food and parties, Cromwell felt they were ignoring the birth of Christ. * The History of Early Modern Europe • Laws to Persecution • To remedy this, he sent soldiers to confiscate any foods being merrily cooked, or any decorations being happily displayed. • Hmmm… this sounds a bit familiar. * The History of Early Modern Europe • Laws to Persecution • Up to this point, it seems like Cromwell's rules as Lord Protector were definitely boring, but not horribly vicious. • Since he allowed for religious toleration within most of England, it seems like he may have just been a religious guy who went a bit overboard. • However, his strict social rules were just the tip of the iceberg. Beneath them was a festering hatred for the Catholic faith, which came to light in his dealings with Catholic Ireland. • Seeing Catholics as potential traitors to his Protestant realm, Cromwell persecuted them. • This was especially true of Irish Catholics, whom he ruthlessly slaughtered. • Not content with merely killing the adults, Cromwell had many Catholics, even children, rounded up and sent to the West-Indies as slaves. * The History of Early Modern Europe • Laws to Persecution • Ironically, such actions made Cromwell almost more of a threat to liberty than King Charles had been; the very same man Cromwell had executed for treason against his people. • This hypocrisy was not lost on the population. • Although he continued to rule as Lord Protector until his death, Cromwell was a hated man. • The people may have obeyed his rules, but he did not have their hearts or their allegiance. • Death of Cromwell • In 1658, Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the realm, died. • Upon his death he was buried in Westminster Abbey, the final resting place of England's kings and queens. * The History of Early Modern Europe • Death of Cromwell • After Cromwell's death, his son, Richard, took over the position as Lord Protector. • Although this passage from father to son made them look like kings passing down a crown, Richard lacked the skills of his father. • In the year 1660, Charles II returned to England and regained power, not as Lord Protector, but as King. • Upon regaining the throne, one of Charles II's first orders of business was to exhume the remains of Oliver Cromwell from Westminster Abbey. • Not content with simply removing Cromwell's body from the cemetery of kings, Charles II had it put on trial as a traitor, then hung from the gallows. • Introduction to Commercial Revolution Growing up in the United States' school system, I don't remember being taught much about Europe after the explorers hit the scene. In fact, as soon as good old Chris Columbus and his cronies made shore, Europe almost ceased to exist in our textbooks. When European countries were mentioned, they were usually typecast as the bad guys. Textbooks went from Europeans exploring to England playing the villain in the American Revolution. After that, Europe got little to no mention until the World Wars. In treating Europe like this, our textbooks completely skipped one of the defining periods of the modern world, known as the Commercial Revolution. For those of you who have no idea what this is, I'm guessing your history classes were a lot like mine! Never fear; today's lesson will catch us up to speed on 16th century Europe during the Commercial Revolution. Now, since it'd be impolite to mention any of our teachers' names, I'll simply invite you to join me as we fill in the gaps left by Mr. Smith, Ms. Jones, Mr. John Deer and Ms. Jane Doe. For starters, the Commercial Revolution was a period of European economic expansion, which began in the 16th century. The catalyst for this expansion was Europe's discovery and colonization of the Americas. As trade routes grew between the New World colonies and Old World Europe, the European continent was transformed. Although there were many factors that led to this, today we're going to highlight mercantilism, banking and joint-stock companies. Mercantilism If we all had textbooks, this is where I'd tell you to turn to Chapter 1, entitled Mercantilism. Mercantilism is an economic system used to unify and increase the power and monetary wealth of a country by strict government regulation of trade and foreign trading monopolies. Under this system, colonies existed merely for the benefit of their mother country. Like a young girl forced to fork over her babysitting money to her parents, all wealth accumulated by a colony went to its European parent. Also under mercantilism, colonies were only allowed to import from or export to the European country that governed them. For instance, if Jamestown, governed by England, wanted to import wool from the Dutch, they could not. Even if the Dutch price was substantially cheaper, Jamestown was stuck buying wool from England. Further hamstringing the Jamestown colonists, all the goods produced by the colonies went to England. England then sold the goods to other countries at a substantial markup, which the crown, not the colonists, kept! In other words, the colonies did the work, while England reaped the profit. Again, it's like a poor kid squeezing fresh lemons for eight hours, only to have her parents commandeer the lemonade stand! For those of us growing up in the American school system, this ill-treatment of the colonists is a familiar tale. However, we weren't told how the system of mercantilism transformed Europe. Industry and Population Growth First, the Commercial Revolution changed Europe from a local economy to a global one. Before the revolution, most goods were produced for family use or to be sold within local towns and villages. Other than a few traveling merchants, there was really no way to peddle goods to a larger population. However, once trade routes blossomed between European countries and their colonies, a whole new market opened up. Realizing there was money to be made, people began producing goods to be sold outside of their small communities. In other words, the incentive for profit replaced simply producing for survival. These new markets and their high demand for goods led to large businesses replacing individual production of goods. As money poured in from this new global trade, Europe continued to transform. The Commercial Revolution also caused a population explosion. Simply put, as wealth flooded the continent, it allowed for larger families. In turn, these larger families created a work force to sustain and grow Europe's new global economy. Of course, as these new markets opened up, European business owners needed a way to deal with all their money! This brings us to the formation of banks and joint-stock companies. Banks and Joint-Stock Companies The Commercial Revolution created the need for more banks within Europe. These banks provided money-lending services to parties interested in getting in on the blossoming trade.

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