Europe · Reformation to revolution
Commonwealth of England
1649–1660
The republican regime established after the trial and execution of Charles I (regicide, 30 January 1649). The monarchy and House of Lords were abolished; England was declared a Commonwealth governed by the Rump Parliament and Council of State.
- Existed
- 1649–1660
- Shown on the map
- 1645–1661
- Peak area
- 339k km²
- Region
- Europe
Overview
The republican regime established after the trial and execution of Charles I (regicide, 30 January 1649). The monarchy and House of Lords were abolished; England was declared a Commonwealth governed by the Rump Parliament and Council of State. After Cromwell dissolved the Rump (1653), the Instrument of Government (1653) — England's only codified constitution — created the Protectorate with Oliver Cromwell as Lord Protector (1653–1658). It conquered Ireland and Scotland (creating a short-lived three-kingdom union), fought the First Anglo-Dutch War, and pursued a Puritan moral order. Oliver was succeeded by his son Richard Cromwell (1658–1659), whose weak rule collapsed; the army recalled Parliament, and General Monck engineered the Restoration of Charles II (1660).
Common questions
- What was the Commonwealth of England?
- The republican regime established after the trial and execution of Charles I (regicide, 30 January 1649). The monarchy and House of Lords were abolished; England was declared a Commonwealth governed by the Rump Parliament and Council of State.
- When did the Commonwealth of England exist?
- The Commonwealth of England existed 1649–1660. On this map it is drawn 1645–1661.
- How large was the Commonwealth of England?
- At its greatest extent drawn on this map, the Commonwealth of England covered about 339,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.
Sources
This compendium cites its sources once for the whole document rather than per territory. Its bibliography names the English Wikipedia articles for each territory as the primary basis, with Encyclopædia Britannica, EBSCO Research Starters, the New World Encyclopedia, UNESCO, and academic works including Henry Kamen's *Spain, 1469–1714* and Shaul Stampfer's study of Khmelnytsky-era Jewish casualties. The article this entry is anchored on:
- Wikipedia — Commonwealth of England en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_of_England
This entry was last updated .
This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made
Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.
Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).
See the Commonwealth of England in its world
Open the atlas at 1653 and every neighbour, rival and successor is on screen with it — then drag the slider and watch what happens next.
Open the map at 1653 →