Failure of Absolutism in England

The failure of absolutism in England was due to the despotic way of governing and the crackdown on those who were against the official state religion. All this generated popular discontent throughout the kingdom and the outbreak of the revolution was prepared. Due to the mass deportations of the sectarians, a conflict arose between the crown and parliament in which the King dissolved Parliament and closed it for eleven years, then Parliament met and sat for 13 years called the long Parliament , and prosecute Strafford and the Archbishop of Canterbury.
During the war between the King and the Parliament, a part of the army supports the Republic, with Cromwell as chief and the other part supports the Monarchy. In the war, Cromwell wins, then parliament processes and executes the king, with which Cromwell is named Lord Protector establishing the English Republic

Reign of Elizabeth I (1558-1603)

The daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn was of clear intelligence, strong character and very little physical beauty.
Her reign was one of the most eventful in English history. Here's the main facts of it:

1. ESTABLISHMENT OF ANGLICANISM as the official religion of the State, dictating energetic measures against those Catholics and Protestants who in some way fought the new creed.
2. MARIA STUARD'S ORDER . Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, was accused of having killed her husband Darnley , causing it to rest on a bed that was blown to pieces, because it had some barrels of gunpowder underneath. This accusation was aggravated when the queen married Botwell shortly after. considered to be one of the perpetrators of the murder. Outraged Scots ousted the homicidal queen whose dissolute ways had also scandalized the nobility (1565). María Estuardo went to take refuge in the Court of her cousin Isabella, who received her with some mistrust. Because of her beauty, she could be a rival as a woman, and because of her family ties, she could claim the Crown of England. As several conspiracies against Elizabeth were discovered, it was believed that the Queen of Scots was involved in them and was prosecuted.
   She was locked up in the Tower of London for 19 years, after which she came out to be tried and sentenced to death. She was beheaded on February 8, 1587.
3. “THE EXPEDITION OF THE INVINCIBLE ARMY”. The King of Spain Philip II, under the pretext of avenging the death of Mary Stuart, sent his entire fleet to England.
4. THE COLONIAL EXPANSION of England in North America, where Sir Walter Raleigh, Elizabeth's favourite, founded the first agricultural and trading colonies and named one of them Virginia, in honor of Elizabeth, who had remained a virgin all her life. /li>

Absolutism of the Stuarts

In the year 1603, the English crown passed to the Stuart dynasty and James I, son of Mary Stuart, took the throne.
The English kings of this dynasty ruled the country in a despotic manner. With their absolutism they provoked the Revolution.
For example:when they tried to solve the religious problem, far from harmonizing the various beliefs, the kings ignited a very close fight, because at all costs they tried to impose Anglicanism, which was the state religion.
At this time there were in England, the following religious sects:

1. The Presbyterians , who did not accept the ecclesiastical hierarchy and said that the Church should be governed only by Priests.
2. The Puritans , who did not accept any religious authority and supported the need to strictly comply with the teachings of the Gospel.
3. The Quakers , a sect founded by the shoemaker Jorge Fox, who believed in the coming of the Holy Spirit.
4. The Independents They held that each believer should be the priest of his own cult. This sect, led by Oliver Cromwell, became a political party and managed to establish the Republic.

The absolutism of the kings manifested itself against these sects, both in the reign of James I (1602-1625), and in the reign of his heir Charles I. The religious sects were ruthlessly persecuted. Many Puritans and Quakers had to emigrate to America to found the first colonies in the United States. For this reason, popular discontent arose throughout the kingdom and the outbreak of the Revolution was prepared.

Failure of absolutism in England:The revolution of 1648

The Revolution of 1648 is the most important event in the History of England, because in it the Republican Government, established by Oliver Cromwell, triumphed for the first and only time.
This Revolution comprises three periods:

1. Conflict of the King with the Parliament
2. The war between the Parliament and the King
3. Cromwell's Dictatorship.

Crown conflict with Parliament

In the English Parliament, many representatives sympathized with the sectarians and certainly protested the mass deportations. Thus arose the conflict between Parliament and the Crown. According to the Magna Carta, the King had the right to summon and close the Parliament, when he deemed it convenient; but Carlos I had abused this decree and dissolved the Parliament several times. As this outrageous system was repeated often, the Deputies drew up a Petition of Rights (1628), and presented it to the King, demanding broad guarantees for citizens and their representatives. Carlos I promised to grant the rights that were asked of him, but a few days later he dissolved parliament and kept it closed for 11 years (1629-1640).

But in the end, as the monarch needed money to fight the Scottish Calvinists, he had to assemble Parliament, and then the deputies took the first revolutionary agreement. In the inaugural session, the representatives declared that no one had the right to open and close the Congress elected by the people and, as a test of sovereignty, they agreed to meet without interruption until the Chamber itself decided to close its meetings. As Parliament sat for thirteen years, it was called the long parliament (1640-1653) .

The war between the parliament and the king

There were two authorities facing each other:the Parliament and the King. The war was inevitable. A part of the army defended the King and the Monarchy. The other part defended Parliament and the Republic. In those emerged the figure of Oliver Cromwell.
Cromwell

This was a modest aristocrat who became notable as a leader of the sect of the independents. His great statesmanship, together with his reprehensible despotic dictatorship, have made him famous in history. He achieved popularity by organizing a battalion of highly disciplined soldiers, called the “Iron Ribs” because of its breastplate of this metal.
The battalion served as a model for organizing others and before long Cromwell was head of the forces of Parliament. Hostilities began because Parliament had the Earl of Strafford and the Archbishop of Cantorbury put on trial and sentenced to death. , advisers to the King, whom he accused of being guilty of all the absolutism of the Crown. Carlos I signed the death sentences shedding abundant tears, but since then he has put himself at the head of the monarchists and defied Parliament. The King was defeated and took refuge in Scotland:but the Scots, remembering the persecution of the Calvinists, sold him to Parliament for the sum of 400 thousand sterling.
The death of Charles I
The King was immediately prosecuted and a commission of deputies accused him of having attacked the sovereignty of the people, of having mishandled state revenues and of having waged war on Parliament. Consequently, Carlos I was sentenced to death and publicly executed.
It was the first time in history that a people took up arms to legally decapitate its King (January 30, 1649).

Cromwell's dictatorship

With the King dead, Cromwell established a dictatorship under the guise of a Protectorate. He had Parliament proclaim him Lord Protector of England and immediately published the decree establishing The English Republic . Here are the main facts of his dictatorship:

1. he Undertook a bloody fight against Ireland , because he rose up against the Republic. He persecuted many thousands of Irish people taking their property to give it to the English settlers that he had taken away for this purpose.
2. He also undertook a fight against the Scots , because they had also fought the Republic, electing King of England to Charles II, son of the decapitated king. Cromwell Vanquished and established the terror of Scotland.
3. Back in London, as his authority was almighty and Parliament was very subservient, he scandalously dissolved it, imprisoning many rebellious representatives. The premises were closed and the famous sign was placed on the door that said:“This house is for rent” . Cromwell, master and owner of England, bloodily persecuted his enemies.
4. All these atrocities had his compensation. If Cromwell was a republican despot, he instead did a good thing:he published the Navigation Act (1625) . This was the name given to the dictatorial decree that established that all foreign merchandise should be transported to England only on ships from the countries of origin; so that French goods could only be carried on French ships, Dutch goods on Dutch ships, etc. As many countries lacked ships, their merchandise would necessarily have to use English ships. This arrangement greatly favored English trade; industries developed and exports and imports increased.

Death of Cromwell

His last days were very bitter. Conspiracies to assassinate him were discovered and the accused perished on the gallows. Cromwell, fearing to be assaulted, was armed with daggers and pistols and defended by an iron cuirass. He died in 1658 of a bout of pernicious fever. It happened to him in:power, as dictator too, his son Ricardo Cromwell , lacking in intelligence and character. Five months into his government, a revolution broke out led by General MONCK, who abolished the Republic and restored the monarchy. He was called to occupy the throne, Carlos II, son of the previous beheaded monarch (1660).