The year 1659 saw multiple changes: some seen as good, others seen as detrimental. The old warhorse Oliver Cromwell has died and left affairs in the hands of his son Richard, known as ‘Tumbledown Dick’. Richard is not the force that his father was. Most suspect that he didn’t even want to be. Two large figures emerge from the chaos – General George Monck and General John Lambert.
Monck is an ambivalent figure. First and foremost, a very able field commander who, during Cromwell’s Commonwealth, had been an ardent parliamentarian. During the latter part of 1659 his allegiances changed somewhat. He was what we would nowadays label as a pragmatist.
Then there is General John Lambert – as ardent a parliamentarian as one could ever imagine. When faced with the civilian parliament, he replaces it with a military one. Monck is outraged by this and sets about restoring the old Rump Parliament. John Lambert’s grave can be found on Drake’s Island in Plymouth Sound.
So, why did Lambert lose this encounter? Simply by not making sure his soldiers were properly paid! Up with that, they would not put – and voted with their feet.
Life for my imaginary inhabitants of Bovey Tracey just carries on as normal – intrigues, sickness, betrothals, deaths – plus the introduction of one of many weird sects. These abounded in seventeenth century England; ultra-puritan on one wing and ultra-Catholic on the other. On the whole, the people of England feared the very idea of a return to Catholicism – although over a century had passed, Bloody Mary’s burnings were not to be forgiven!
Was England heartily fed up with the strictures of a puritan government? On the whole, probably. No fun, no theatres, no dancing, no festivals. Dull and boring! Will things improve? Volume 5, A Time of Disillusion, offers my attempt at an answer.
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