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Rule of the Major-Generals

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because the military budget had been cut. The major generals would take control of incumbent civilian administrations, which would not require an expansion of local military forces. As well, he sought "a reformation of manners" or moral regeneration through the suppression of vice and the encouragement of virtue, which he considered much too neglected. The historian Austin Woolrych, using 21st-century terminology, said that the Puritans did not consider it inappropriate to "employ senior military officers as vice squad chiefs".
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puritans and killjoys, and this reputation has attached itself to the Cromwellian regime as a whole. Few have addressed the subject without emotion.... Others have traced back to this period the English love of freedom and hatred of standing armies and military rule. Modern historians tend to portray
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Like Cromwell, the major-generals were committed Puritans, Congregationalist reformers with Calvinist leanings. Part of their job was to try to make England more godly. They clamped down on what they considered to be rowdy behaviour like heavy drinking, music, dancing and fairs. They also tried to
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Appointed in October 1655, Worsley was extremely zealous in carrying out his instructions. No one suppressed more alehouses, or was more active in sequestering royalists, preventing horse-races, and carrying on the work of reformation. Worsley died on 12 June 1656, and Tobias Bridge replaced him.
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The Rule of the Major-Generals was set up by Cromwell by his orders to the army, and was not supported by Parliamentary legislation. His goal was threefold: to identify, tax, disarm and weaken the Royalists, whom he saw as conspirators against his rule. The system was also an economical measure
103:'s "Militia Bill" on 29 January 1657 by 124 votes to 88. This bill would have perpetuated the Decimation Tax that funded the mounted militia, which was collected by Cromwell's major-generals; the failure of the bill caused the so-called Rule of the Major-Generals in the counties to end. 114:. The argument of Woolrych against such definition is that the major-generals remained within the boundaries of the law, they had minimal or no long-term influence in local government and their authority only lasted for less than two years. 1013: 899: 132:
The religious zeal of the major-generals, coupled with their attempt to impose godly rule on England and Wales, has given them a lasting reputation as
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In August, a scheme was proposed to introduce the Rule of the Major-Generals, but prevarication and other delays delayed its introduction to October.
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Skippon was by now elderly, and on the Council of State, so most of the day to day matters in his region were largely undertaken by Barkstead.
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should be stoned to death for blasphemy. Boteler was also aggressive in his persecution of Royalists in his area, unlawfully imprisoning the
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Owing to his other responsibilities on the Council of State, day to day matters in his region were overseen by Fleetwood's three deputies.
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Owing to his other responsibilities on the Council of State, day to day matters in his region were overseen by Lambert's two deputies.
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There were ten regional associations covering England and Wales administered by major-generals. Ireland, under Major-General
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Zealous and uncompromising in his hostility to his religious and political enemies, Boteler was a severe persecutor of
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The Emergence of European Civilization: From the Middle Ages to the Opening of the Nineteenth Century
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The period quickly "became a convenient and powerful symbol of the military nature of the unpopular
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Little, Paterick (1 January 2007), "Putting the Protector back into the Protectorate",
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The Rule of the Major-Generals is regarded by a large number of authors as a
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Cromwell's Major-Generals: Godly Government During the English Revolution
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of the Cromwellian military state or as misguided religious zealots.
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Patrick Little wrote an article on the Major-General (2012) in the
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Little, Patrick (2012), "Major-generals (act. 1655–1657)",
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This article incorporates text from a publication under
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in Essex, Cambridgeshire, Isle of Ely, Norfolk, Suffolk;
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English History Made Brief, Irreverent, and Pleasurable
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as military governor of Hertfordshire and Oxfordshire
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Cromwell and the Interregnum: The Essential Readings
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in England. In late July, news of the defeat of the
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In March 1655, there were ineffectual-but-concerted
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Civil War: The Wars of the Three Kingdoms 1638–1660
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" 963:, Chicago Review Press, 588: 110:, with the exception of 71:expedition to Hispaniola 923:Royle, Trevor (2006) , 804:Barnard, T. C. (2014), 145: 1113:Military dictatorships 909:10.1093/ref:odnb/95468 603:Lord Deputy of Ireland 143: 1045:The National Archives 705:The National Archives 560:1655–June 1656; 130: 108:military dictatorship 886:BBC History Magazine 779:, pp. 698, 699. 870:, Harvester Press, 281:Earl of Northampton 67:Royalist uprisings 1068:English Civil War 934:978-0-349-11564-1 914:(Subscription or 859:978-0-7190-6065-6 837:978-1-57607-678-1 607:Charles Fleetwood 586: 585: 334:Appointed in 1655 330:Charles Fleetwood 186:Appointed in 1655 118:Historical legacy 51:Interregnum state 16:(Redirected from 1120: 1108:The Protectorate 1078:1650s in England 1054: 1053: 1051: 1027: 1014:Worsley, Charles 1005: 1004: 991: 982: 973: 955: 937: 919: 911: 893: 880: 862: 840: 824:"Major-Generals" 818: 792: 786: 780: 774: 761: 755: 749: 727: 721: 715: 709: 701: 692: 686: 675: 669: 663: 657: 651: 645: 639: 633: 627: 621: 610: 599: 371:George Fleetwood 260:Northamptonshire 161: 160: 21: 1128: 1127: 1123: 1122: 1121: 1119: 1118: 1117: 1098:1657 in England 1093:1656 in England 1088:1655 in England 1058: 1057: 1049: 1047: 1002: 971: 953: 935: 913: 878: 860: 838: 816: 800: 795: 787: 783: 775: 764: 756: 752: 736:, p. 452; 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Index

Rule of the Major Generals
Oliver Cromwell
Protectorate
Lord Protector
Interregnum state
Royalist uprisings
expedition to Hispaniola
William Penn
Robert Venables
Christmas
Second Protectorate Parliament
John Desborough
military dictatorship
Austin Woolrych
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
po-faced
gauleiters
Henry Cromwell
George Monck
James Berry
Herefordshire
Shropshire
Worcestershire
Wales
John Nicholas
Monmouthshire
Rowland Dawkins
Carmarthenshire
Cardiganshire
Glamorgan

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