Premium
The Church Settlement of Oliver Cromwell
Author(s) -
Collins Jeffrey R.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
history
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.12
H-Index - 15
eISSN - 1468-229X
pISSN - 0018-2648
DOI - 10.1111/1468-229x.00212
Subject(s) - interregnum , settlement (finance) , protectorate , politics , history , church history , law , political science , classics , economics , finance , payment
In the first months of his Protectorate, Oliver Cromwell’s council created two administrative bodies of ‘Triers’ and ‘Ejectors’ to govern England’s clergy. This church settlement lasted for the remainder of the Interregnum and aroused heated controversy. The Protector repeatedly recognized it as the most important administrative achievement of his regime. Nevertheless, the settlement of 1654 has been largely neglected (or misinterpreted) by historians. This article narrates the history of the Cromwellian church settlement and examines how it operated. It establishes that the effort to secure the settlement ranked as a central political issue of the Interregnum, and it details Cromwell’s close personal involvement in that effort. Finally, this article places the Cromwellian church settlement within the broader religious history of the English Revolution.