Use LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys to navigate between flashcards;
Use UP and DOWN arrow keys to flip the card;
H to show hint;
A reads text to speech;
37 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
|
Moving north against Charles |
Returning from Ireland, Cromwell immediately put a request in to parliament to be allowed to take an army north. He was to do as that army’s Lord General. Fairfax decliend to take field against fellow Presbyterians. He accepted promotion with reluctance that seems to have been genuine; certainly convinced most contemporaries. |
|
|
What was the army that he faced at Dunbar? |
Though subsequently believed to have been ‘acted’. It was as ‘general of the Forces of the PArliament of the Commonwealth of England,’ that he led a force in July of around 16,000 men against David Leslie’s Convenanters who numbered as many as 20,000. The army Cromwell faced at Dunbar on 3 September 1650 was not part of a Royalist alliance; armed wing of the Presbyterian Kirk, opposed to England’s parliamentary leaders who had triumphed over the PResbyterian element following Pride’s Purge. |
|
|
An impressive victory |
The victory, which saw as many as 3,000 Scots killed and 10,000 taken prisoner, and only 20 of Cromwell’s own men lost - in his own estimation - victory was taken well by Royalists in Scotland and parliament. Royalist saw this the death knell for the Covenant, chance to make a proper pact with the Stuart sympathisers. |
|
|
The exhortation which Cromwell delivered to the Speaker in 1650 |
He drew practical lessons: ‘relieve the oppressed, hear the groans of poor prisoners in England; be pleased to reform the abuses of all professions.’ |
|
|
What motion did the Scottish make now? |
Royalist saw this the death knell for the Covenant, chance to make a proper pact with the Stuart sympathisers. In January 1651 the Marquess of Argyll, with whom Cromwell had previously collaborated, crowned Charles II king at Scone abbey. |
|
|
_______________________________________________ |
________________________________________________ |
|
|
What had the execution of the king created in SCotland? |
The execution of the King destroyed the alliance which Cromwell had established between Argyle and the Independents. Argyle would have been glad to preserve it, but his power depended on the clergy and the middle classes, both deeply incensed with the sectaries who had dared to kill a Scottish king. The day after the news of the King’s death reached Edinburgh, Charles II was there proclaimed King, not of Scotland only, but of Great Britain and Ireland. |
|
|
What terms did Charles have to accept? |
Nothing delayed war between Scotland and England but the difficulty of effecting an agreement between Charles and the Scots. Except on their own terms the Presbyterians would not fight for him, and till no other way of regaining his crown was left Charles would not accept their terms. |
|
|
After his jaunt to Ireland, and after seeing victories of Cromwell and realising the futility of his situation, Charles was forced to do what? |
Negotiations began again at Breda in March, 1650. The Scots required him to take both Covenants, to impose Presbyterianism on England and Ireland, and to disavow both Ormond and Montrose. Charles struggled hard to modify these conditions, and the treaty by which he agreed to them was not signed till he was actually on his voyage. He hoped that when he came to Scotland his presence would win concessions from the Covenanters, and a royalist party would gather round him. But he found himself treated more as a captive than a king.Firth, C. H.. Oliver Cromwell and the Rule of the Puritans in England (Kindle Locations 3156-3160). Albion Press. Kindle Edition. |
|
|
How did Cromwell become master of all the forces? |
Fairfax's opposition to war, he General. But when Fairfax found that the Council of State meant to invade Scotland, he laid down his commission. The best refutation of the theory that Cromwell sought to undermine Fairfax in order to obtain his post is the vigour with which he endeavoured to persuade him to keep it. It was morally certain, urged Cromwell, that the Scots meant to invade England. War was unavoidable. “Your excellency will soon determine whether it is better to have this war in the bowels of another country than our own.” But nothing could overcome Fairfax’s repugnance to an offensive war. Human probabilities, he repeated, were not sufficient ground to make war upon our brethren, the Scots. The truth was, he had long been dissatisfied with the results of the revolution in which events had given him so prominent a part, and seized any plausible excuse for retirement. As he persisted, his resignation was accepted, and on the 26th of June, 1650, Cromwell became, by Act of Parliament, Captain-General and Commander-in-Chief of all the forces of the Commonwealth.Firth, C. H.. Oliver Cromwell and the Rule of the Puritans in England (Kindle Locations 3173-3181). Albion Press. Kindle Edition. |
|
|
What did Cromwell write to a friend of the privileges thrust upon him? |
“I have not sought these things,” he wrote to a friend; “truly I have been called unto them by the Lord, and therefore am not without some assurance that He will enable His poor worm and weak servant to do His will.” |
|
|
After inconclusive skirmishes in Edinburgh, where did Cromwell go? |
aTo Dunbar, where Leslie, the opposing commander, occupied Doon hill, which overlook Dunbar and seized the passes between Dunbar and Berwick. Thanks to his knowledge of the country he had again outmanoeuvred Cromwell, and the Scots boasted that they had Cromwell in a worse pound than the King had had Essex in Cornwall. |
|
|
How did Cromwell manage an attack? |
After Leslie brought his troops down from the hill. Leslie had 18,000 and Cromwell around 11,000, but he saw that When Cromwell examined the new position of the Scots, he saw that his opportunity had come at last. Leslie’s left, shut in between the hill and the ravine, was practically useless, and his centre, cramped by the hill in its rear, had too little room to manoeuvre. Both Cromwell and Major-General Lambert agreed that if the Scottish right were beaten their whole army would be endangered. |
|
|
The victory was brilliant, how did it end, including commentary by somebody present? |
“Horse and foot,” says one of Cromwell’s officers, “were engaged all over the field and the Scots all in confusion. The sun appearing upon the sea I heard Noll say, ‘Now let God arise, and His enemies shall be scattered,’ and following us as we slowly marched I heard him say, ‘I profess they run,’ and then was the Scots army all in disorder and running, both right wing and left and main battle. They routed one another after we had done their work on their right wing.” Three thousand men fell in the battle, and ten thousand were taken prisoners. While Leslie collected the shattered remnant of his army at Stirling, Cromwell occupied Edinburgh and Leith, and all the eastern portion of the Scottish Lowlands. Edinburgh Castle held out, and the south-west was still in arms. |
|
|
What was Cromwell's wish for a settlement? |
After Dunbar, as before it, Cromwell’s strongest wish was not a conquest but an agreement which would restore peace between the two nations. “Give the State of England,” he wrote to the Committee of Estates, “that satisfaction and security for their peaceable and quiet living beside you, which may in justice be demanded from those who have, as you, taken their enemy into their bosom, whilst he was in hostility against them.” He had opened his campaign with manifestos protesting the affection of England for the Scots, and demonstrating their error in supporting the Stuarts. These overtures the leaders of the Independents urged him to renew. They regarded it as a fratricidal war. |
|
|
The Scots' secular leaders submitting to Cromwell |
Either events or Cromwell’s arguments produced their effect in the Scotch camp. There were great searchings of heart amongst devout Presbyterians, and a schism broke out in the army. Rigid Covenanters renounced worldly alliances and compliance with an ungodly monarch. “I desire to serve the King faithfully,” said Colonel Ker, “but on condition that the King himself be subject to the King of Kings.” Colonel Strachan, after some negotiation with Cromwell, laid down his commission. Ker, with three or four thousand westland Whigs, refused obedience to the Committee of Estates, and tried to wage war independently. But attempting to surprise Lambert, at Hamilton, in Lanarkshire, on December 1st, he was taken prisoner, his force scattered, and the whole of the south-west fell into Cromwell’s power. |
|
|
But the ecclesiastics were a tougher nut to crack |
More lasting was the division amongst the clergy. One party, headed by Gillespie and Guthry, published a Remonstrance repudiating the idea of fighting for Charles II till he had proved his fitness to be a covenanted king, and condemning those who had closed their eyes to his insincerity. The Remonstrants, as they were termed, would have no alliance with either Malignants or Engagers. |
|
|
Which interests had Charles managed to synthesise in Scotland? |
Thus within a year from his landing in Scotland Charles had succeeded in combining both Royalists and Presbyterians in support of his cause. His hopes were never higher. It seemed possible to effect a similar combination between the Presbyterians and Royalists in England. |
|
|
What damage might this cause? |
and isolated insurrections which broke out in Norfolk (December, 1650) and in Cardiganshire (June, 1651) proved the reality of these conspiracies. If a Scottish army entered England, the general royalist rising of 1648 might be repeated, and perhaps with a different issue. |
|
|
The campaign was renewed, though marred by |
Cromwell's health. But he was strong enough to take the field again in 1651 |
|
|
Attacking Fife |
Unable to attack or to lure Leslie from his position, Cromwell resolved to turn it. The English fleet commanded the sea, and it was easy to throw Lambert and four thousand men across the Forth into Fife. Leslie sent Sir John Brown against him with a like force, but Lambert annihilated Brown’s force at Inverkeithing on July 20th. Cromwell poured more troops across the water till he had fourteen thousand men in Fife, and then taking their command himself he marched on Perth, which fell after a siege of twenty-four hours (August 2nd). |
|
|
Charles entered England via... and hoped to gather... |
Charles entered England by Carlisle, and marched through Lancashire and along the Welsh border, hoping to gather recruits from those districts during his progress. |
|
|
The battle which ensued |
Was fierce and covered much ground. “My Lord General did exceedingly hazard himself, riding up and down in the midst of the fire; riding himself in person to the enemy’s foot to offer them quarter, whereto they returned no answer but shot.' The battle of Worcester, fought 1651. |
|
|
The outcome of the battle |
The militia, which beset the bridges and highways, gathered up prisoners in hundreds, and the country people hunted down stragglers with merciless ferocity. Half the nobility of Scotland were amongst the prisoners.Firth, C. H.. Oliver Cromwell and the Rule of the Puritans in England (Kindle Locations 3323-3325). Albion Press. Kindle Edition. |
|
|
Who escaped? |
The king. The Parliament threatened who sheltered Charles with the penalties of high treason, and promised one thousand pounds to any person who gave him up. Troopers scoured the roads to find him, and officials at all the ports were warned to watch for “a tall man above two yards high, with hair a deep brown near to black.” But, though Englishmen would not fight for Charles, they would not betray him, and of the scores he trusted not one proved false. Sometimes hiding in an oak tree, sometimes in a “priest’s hole”, disguised now as a countryman in an old worn leather doublet and green breeches, and now as a serving-man in grey homespun, Charles wandered through the south-west searching for a ship. At last he found one at Brighton, and landed safe in France on October 22nd. |
|
|
The outcome of the Scottish campaign |
For Scotland, Cromwell’s victory marked the end of independence. The absence of Leslie’s army left no force in Scotland capable of giving battle to Monk’s six thousand veterans, and there was no fortress in Scotland which could resist his artillery. Monk captured Stirling on August 14th, and the seizure of the Committee of Estates at Alyth on August 28th deprived the national defence of its head, and destroyed the last relic of a national government. Dundee was stormed and sacked on September 1st. Montrose, Aberdeen, Inverness, and other towns fell without a blow. In February, 1652, the Orkneys were occupied, and in May, Dunottar Castle, the last fortress to hold out, surrendered. Argyle, who had refused to follow Charles into England, endeavoured to maintain an independent position in the West Highlands, but in August he too was forced to give in his adhesion to the English Government, and the subjugation of Scotland was completed. |
|
|
How was the land kept underfoot? |
vAn English garrison of twelve thousand or fourteen thousand men, and strong fortresses built at Leith, Ayr, Inverness, and Inverlochy, kept henceforth the conquered country in submission. |
|
|
Future attempts to rid English rule |
In spite of the general discontent no effort to throw off the English yoke had any chance of success. In 1653, the war with Holland emboldened the Highlanders to take arms again, and a rising began which was headed first by the Earl of Glencairn, afterwards by General Middleton. |
|
|
The Scottish settlement; how was it similar to the Irish? And different? |
The policy of the Long Parliament and of the Protector toward Scotland resembled in its aim their policy toward Ireland. In each case the object was to make the conquered country into an integral part of a British empire. But the measures adopted to attain this object differed considerably in the two countries. In Scotland there was no general confiscation of the lands of the vanquished, and no far-reaching alteration in the framework of society. The Scottish Royalists were treated much as the English Cavaliers had been. The Long Parliament confiscated the estates of those who had invaded England in 1648 and 1651, but the Protector adopted a more moderate policy, imposing the penalty of forfeiture only on twenty-four leaders, and fining minor offenders. A few English officers were given grants of the forfeited lands, but most of their revenue was devoted to public purposes. Hence the Scottish confiscations, although they ruined many of the nobility and gentry, left the bulk of the nation untouched.Firth, C. H.. Oliver Cromwell and the Rule of the Puritans in England (Kindle Locations 3344-3351). Albion Press. Kindle Edition. |
|
|
The Scottish religious settlement |
In Scotland there was no proscription of the national religion, but the national Church lost a portion of its independence, and was deprived of all power to check or control the civil government. The English Government deprived the Church courts of their coercive jurisdiction over non-members, and protected the formation of Independent congregations. It appointed commissioners to visit the universities, punished ministers who preached against it, and decided disputes about appointments to vacant livings. But it interfered little in the internal affairs of the Church, and held the balance tolerably even between Remonstrants and Resolutioners. Though deprived of its political power and much of its independence, the Scottish Church was not unprosperous.Firth, C. H.. Oliver Cromwell and the Rule of the Puritans in England (Kindle Locations 3353-3357). Albion Press. Kindle Edition. |
|
|
Parliamentary integration |
As in Ireland so in Scotland the separate national Parliament ended, and was replaced by representation in the Parliament of Great Britain. The incorporating union, which James I had unskilfully attempted, the Long Parliament decreed, and the Protector realised. In 1652, commissioners sent by the Long Parliament extorted a reluctant consent to the principle of the union, but the details were still unsettled when Cromwell became Protector. By the “Instrument of Government”, Scotland was assigned thirty members in the British Parliament, and the Protector’s ordinances completed the work. English statesmen regarded the union as a generous concession. It was intended by the Parliament, says Ludlow, “to convince even their enemies, that their principal design was to procure the happiness and prosperity of all that were under their government,” and “was cheerfully accepted by the most judicious amongst the Scots, who well understood how great a concession it was in the Parliament of England to permit a people they had conquered to have a part in the legislative power.” |
|
|
Edmund Ludlow on the intention of giving the Scots Parliamentary representation in England |
It was intended by the Parliament, says Ludlow, “to convince even their enemies, that their principal design was to procure the happiness and prosperity of all that were under their government,” and “was cheerfully accepted by the most judicious amongst the Scots, who well understood how great a concession it was in the Parliament of England to permit a people they had conquered to have a part in the legislative power.” |
|
|
Yet in reality, there was very strong opposition to the settlement |
In reality, both ecclesiastical and national feeling were arrayed against it. “As for the embodying of Scotland with England,” said Robert Blair, “it will be as when the poor bird is embodied in the hawk that has eaten it up.” With few exceptions all classes regarded the incorporating union with hostility and aversion. |
|
|
Cromwell intended to sweeten the deel with fiscal and political improvements, empty words? |
The Protector hoped to reconcile Scotland to the union by the material benefits which accompanied it. Absolute freedom of trade between the two countries, proportionate taxation, and a better system of justice were promised. Nor were these empty words. Tenures implying vassalage and servitude and heritable jurisdictions were abolished. Popular courts-baron were set up, English justices of the peace introduced, the fees of the law courts diminished, and new judges appointed who administered the laws without fear or favour. Even Scots admitted the improvement in the administration of justice. “There was good justice done,” says Burnet. “To speak truth,” adds Nichol, “the English were more indulgent and merciful to the Scots, than the Scots to their own countrymen and neighbours, and their justice exceeded the Scots’ in many things.”Firth, C. H.. Oliver Cromwell and the Rule of the Puritans in England (Kindle Locations 3369-3376). Albion Press. Kindle Edition. |
|
|
Who was in charge of civil administration of Scotland? |
The civil administration of Scotland was in the hands, at first, of parliamentary commissioners, and, after 1655, of a Scottish Council of Nine appointed by the Protector, which included two Scots. Under their vigorous rule, such order was maintained as Scotland had never known before. The Highlands were tamed by the English garrisons, and the mosstroopers of the border hunted down and punished.Firth, C. H.. Oliver Cromwell and the Rule of the Puritans in England (Kindle Locations 3376-3378). Albion Press. Kindle Edition. |
|
|
But the war had led to a lot of poverty |
Burnet, in his description of the Cromwellian regime in Scotland, goes so far as to say, “we always reckon those eight years of usurpation a time of great peace and prosperity.” But this is an evident exaggeration. The devastation and loss caused by the long wars had produced widespread poverty. “I do think,” admitted the Protector, “the Scots nation have been under as great a suffering, in point of livelihood and subsistence outwardly, as any people I have yet named to you. I do think truly they are a very ruined nation.” |
|
|
The heavy taxation which was levelled on the Scottish people |
The weak point of English rule was the heavy taxation which the necessity of maintaining so large an army in Scotland caused. Baillie’s letters are full of complaints of the burden of taxation. “A great army in a multitude of garrisons bides above our heads, and deep poverty keeps all estates exceedingly under; the taxes of all sorts are so great, the trade so little, that it is a marvel if extreme scarcity of money end not soon in some mischief.” The English Government had originally imposed a land tax of ten thousand pounds per month on Scotland, but this was levied with such difficulty that it was finally reduced to six thousand pounds. And in the year of Cromwell’s death, England had to remit to Scotland a contribution of over £140,000 towards the expenses of the military government which held Scotland in obedience.Firth, C. H.. Oliver Cromwell and the Rule of the Puritans in England (Kindle Locations 3389-3395). Albion Press. Kindle Edition. |
