Episode 2.108: The Second Restoration of the Rump

Spring 1655An underground network of royalists seek to take advantage of instability within the Protectorate regime, but find that they are hampered by internal divisions of their own.

25 Dec 202135min

Fall 1654Lord Protector Cromwell opens his first parliament, and soon discovers what James or Charles could have told him - that managing the men at Westminster is no easy task.

18 Dec 202135min

Now Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell is forced to finally make some concrete decisions about England's spiritual life. Perhaps unsurprisingly, his choices are as much political as religious.

11 Dec 202136min

1654Having seized control of the state, Cromwell immediately ends the war with the Dutch, and adopts a much more conventional foreign policy.

4 Dec 202139min

December 1653John Lambert, after orchestrating the demise of the latest attempt at a political settlement (the Nominated Assembly), produces his own solution - a written constitution.

27 Nov 202136min

1653With the Rump hastily dissolved, England turns to an ad hoc assembly to craft a new political order.

20 Nov 202136min

1654As social unrest in France takes a revolutionary turn, England sends out feelers to potential republican comrades.

13 Nov 202145min

1652-3With England distracted by the Dutch War, and turmoil at Westminster, a group of soldiers and administrators are left to determine Scotland's future on their own.

6 Nov 202141min