U.S. History - Oliver Cromwell's rule?

Question

If you were a non-puritan living under Cromwell and his rules, how would your life be?

Answer 1

Firstly, this isn't U.S. history - it is British!
"Non-puritans" are usually referred to as "Cavaliers". Look this term, as well as "English Civil War" up in a search engine or Wikipedia.
Simply put, life would not be fun. In Charles 1's case, terminally un-fun. Most of this revolved around religion (Catholic vs. protestant) and the rise of the bourgoisee / proletariat.
You might include some interesting stuff about the lengths that people had to go to in order to practice their faith (if they were Roman Catholic) - need for "priest's holes" in houses. It was the age of the secret passage, too! Lots of secrecy, coded messages, fear etc.
An interesting (fiction) book to read on this subject is Iian Pears' "An Instance of the Fingerpost" (the age co-incided with the last flare-up of anti-witchcraft fervour in Britain, as well).
Hope this is helpful...

Answer 2

Life in England under the radical "Puritan" protestants of Cromwell was simply "NO FUN". There were fines if you did not go to church - the right church. There were fines for swearing if someone heard you. There was no sexual fooling around - severe consequences there. I believe Christmas was outlawed as frivolous - no celebration, just religious observance. Forget drinking, playing cards, dancing, etc. Many English people were greatly relieved when Cromwell died in 1658 and two years later they could invite Charles I's son back form the continent to be king. The English apologized for cutting off his dad's head in 1649. "Sorry about that, Chief."

Answer 3

This is not a US history question--it is English history. Nonetheless, life under Cromwell would have been surprisingly little changed from royal rule. For the common people, it would have been hard, short and brutal. Cromwell did little to improve the lot of commoners, and like all religious zealots who gain political power he probably made people's lives harder with his military adventures and harsh laws.

Answer 4

Well the US History angle is that you'd be a lot more likely to immigrate to the American colonies, like so many cavaliers did. Most of these ex-pats settled in the southern states.


Oh and the Quakers are non-puritans and immigration was often their solution as well. You'd never call a Quaker a Cavalier.

Answer 5

Epitomy of a fundamentialist who controlled to realize ability and then used that ability to abuse and attack the widespread people of the British Isles in an attempt to maintain his so suggested as revolution and faith. His strikes created super inequality and brought about those undesirable Islands seeing horrendous dying and violence no longer purely for the duration of his existence yet in the centuries that observed. there is not any denying the might desire to chop back the flexibility of the monarchy yet there grow to be in no way any requirement to enforce ones faith on the country. there are a number of parallels with admire to Cromwell that are seen in as we talk's international and we might desire to constantly all study from those training.