Zagreb Law Review, Vol. 1 No. 1, 2012.
Original scientific paper
The English 17th Century Puritan Revolution as a Response to the King's Autocracy and the Protectorate as a Bridge from Monarchy to Monarchy
Zrinka Erent-Sunko
; University of Zagreb, Faculty of Law
Vladimir Radulić
; Attorney trainee from Zadar
Abstract
By selecting significant events and offering a new perspective on social relations connected with the Puritan Revolution and the Protectorate of England, this paper attempts to provide, from a legal aspect, a picture of a brief, but important, period in the development of the English legal state. In doing so, and, given knowledge of the earlier development of the state, it stresses the connection between the Puritan Revolution and the events that immediately preceded it, and the mediaeval struggle of the barons for the Great Charter of the Liberties of England of 1215. The paper also seeks to highlight the importance of revolutionary experiences and of the short-lived order that interrupted the monarchy in relation to the development of the English world empire of the 19th century. In addition, the paper also underlines the activity of many important persons who participated in the revolutionary events and who endeavoured to act against or from within the Parliament, and in particular James I, father of the executed king, and John Pym, creator of the power of the House of Commons and chief protagonist of the revolutionary events concerning King Charles I, and Oliver Cromwell, commander-in-chief of the New Model Army. Ideological divisions within the army (the main streams being the Presbyterians and the Independents) had a strong influence on the events of the time and threatened the organisation of the state. A presentation of the transformation of the kingdom into a republic, which did not last long, but undoubtedly caused a crack in the social order for which England had been known, and the documents that are mentioned, the most distinct being the Petition of Right and the Instrument of Government, are of major importance in presenting the English legal order and the contemporary reality of England.
Keywords
Puritan Revolution; parliament; Petition of Right; Instrument of Government; Puritans; independents; Oliver Cromwell; republic
Hrčak ID:
128863
URI
Publication date:
25.9.2012.
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