The Second Protectorate Parliament sat for two sessions from 17 September 1656 until 4 February 1658 with Thomas Widdrington as the Speaker of the House. September 17 is the 260th day of the year (261st in leap years). ... // Events Mehmed Köprülü becomes Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire. ... February 4 is the 35th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Events January 13 - Edward Sexby, who has plotted against Oliver Cromwell, dies in Tower of London February 6 - Swedish troops of Charles X Gustav of Sweden cross The Great Belt (Storebælt) in Denmark over frozen sea May 1 - Publication of Hydriotaphia, Urn Burial and The Garden of Cyrus by... In the United Kingdom, the Speaker of the House of Commons is the presiding officer of the Lower House of Parliament, the House of Commons. ...

Background

There were two sessions the first from 17 September 1656 until 26 June 1657 and a second from 20 January until 4 February 1658. The Second Protectorate Parliament was summoned reluctantly by the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell on the advise of the Major-Generals of the New Model Army who were running the country as regions under military governors. The Major-Generals thought that a compliant parliament would be the best way to raise money to pay for the Army of occupation, and the Navy both of which were involved in the Anglo-Spanish War (1654–1660). June 26 is the 177th day of the year (178th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 188 days remaining. ... January 20 is the 20th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... The Protectorate in English history refers specifically to the English government of 1653 to 1659 under the direct control of Oliver Cromwell, who assumed the title of Lord Protector of the newly declared Commonwealth of England (later the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland) after the English Civil War. ... The Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland was the title of the head of state during part of the Commonwealth period. ... Unfinished portrait miniature of Oliver Cromwell by Samuel Cooper, 1657. ... The New Model Army became the best known of the various Parliamentarian armies in the English Civil War. ... The Anglo-Spanish War, caused by commercial rivalry, was fought between the Spanish between 1654 and 1660. ...

The elections where held under the new written constitution called Instrument of Government. It included returning up to thirty members from Scotland and up to another thirty from Ireland. Royalists and Catholics were prevented from standing or voting under Articles XIV and XV. After the election the Council of State stopped one hundred elected members from taking their seats by declaring that they were not "of known integrity, fearing God" (Article VII). A further fifty withdrew in protest which left about two hundred and fifty to take their seats for the first session. The Instrument of Government was Englands first codified constitution. ... The English Council of State was first appointed by the Rump Parliament on 14 February 1649 after the execution of King Charles I. It was abolished on 25 April 1660 by the Convention Parliament just before the Restoration Charless execution on 30 January was delayed for several hours so...

First Session

The members of Parliament proved to be less religiously tolerant than the constitution allowed, when they sentenced James Nayler, a Quaker, to mutilation and imprisonment for the crime of blasphemy, because he had ridden into city of Bristol on a donkey in imitation of Christ's entry into Jerusalem. Worse, from the point of view of the Grandees in the Army, they voted down Major-General Desborough "Militia Bill" on 29 January 1657 by one hundred and twenty four votes to eighty eight. If passed it would have helped to finance the Army by imposing a ten percent "Decimation Tax", on known Royalists. James Nayler (or Naylor) (1618–1660) was an English Quaker leader. ... The Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as Quakers, or Friends, is a religious community founded in England in the 17th century. ... Bristol is an English city and county and one of the two administrative centres of South West England (the other being Plymouth). ... Spanish nobles are classified either as Grandees (also called Peers) or as Titled Nobles. ... January 29 is the 29th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ...

With the rejection of the Decimation Tax, it was clear that government through the Major-Generals could not continue. In February 1657 Cromwell was offered the crown and a new constitution called the Humble Petition and Advice. After some thought he declined the crown but agreed to the new constitution and in June 1657 he was reinstated as Lord Protector under the articles of the Humble Petition and Advice. Parliament then went in to recess for the summer.

Second Session

The Army Grandees agreed to allow the MPs who had been excluded under Article VII of the instrument of Government to be allowed to take their seats. But to make sure that the House would be compliant to their wishes, they nominated an additional forty two members of the "Other House" permitted by the Humble Petition and Advice. This triggered a wave of republican protest which spread to the rank and file of the Army. Amidst fears of a Levellers revival and Royalist plots, under the prerogative granted to the Lord Protector by the Humble Petition and Advice, Oliver Cromwell dissolved Parliament on 4 February 1658. Spanish nobles are classified either as Grandees (also called Peers) or as Titled Nobles. ... The Levellers were a mid 17th century English political party, who came to prominence during the English Civil Wars. ...

Succession

The Second Protectorate Parliament was preceded by the First Protectorate Parliament and succeeded by the Third Protectorate Parliament. The First Protectorate Parliament was summoned by the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell under the terms of the Instrument of Government. ... The Third Protectorate Parliament sat for one session from 27 January until 22 April 1659 with Chaloner Chute and Thomas Bampfield as the Speakers of the House. ...

See also

• List of Parliaments of England

This is a list of Parliaments of England from the reign of Henry VII to 1707. ...

Reference

• The British Civil Wars & Commonwealth website: Second Protectorate Parliament 1656-58
• www.archontology.org: England: Parliament 1640-1660

Bibliography

From Cromwell:The Oliver Comwell Website: a select bibliography of books and articles:

• A number of articles explore aspects of Cromwell's Protectorate parliaments: H.R. Trevor-Roper's crucial 1956 article on 'Oliver Cromwell and his parliaments', which was included in several later collections and is perhaps most accessible in I. Roots (ed), Cromwell, A Profile (1973);
• P. Gaunt, 'Law making in the first Protectorate Parliament' in C. Jones, M. Newitt & S. Roberts (eds), Politics and People in Revolutionary England (1986);
• I. Roots, 'Law making in the second Protectorate Parliament' in H. Hearder & H.R. Loyn (eds), British Government and Administration (1974);
• P. Gaunt, 'Cromwell's purge? Exclusions and the first Protectorate Parliament' in Parliamentary History 6 (1987);
• C.S. Egloff, 'The search for a Cromwellian settlement: exclusions from the second Protectorate Parliament' in Parliamentary History 17 (1998);
• D. L. Smith, ‘Oliver Cromwell, the first Protectorate Parliament and religious reform’ in Parliamentary History 19 (2000);
• T.A. Wilson & F.J. Merli, 'Naylor's case and the dilemma of the Protectorate' in University of Birmingham Historical Journal 10 (1965-6); and C.H. Firth, 'Cromwell and the crown' in English Historical Review 17 & 18 (1902 & 1903).