Commonwealth of England - First and Second Protectorates

First and Second Protectorates

Commonwealth government by a Council of State and Parliament, was divided in two by The Protectorate when the executive was vested in a Lord Protector, who governed under a written constitution that mandated that the Lord Protector summon triennial parliaments that should sit for several months each year.

In 1653, Oliver Cromwell became Lord Protector under England's and later Britain's first written constitution Instrument of Government and then under the second and last written constitution known as the Humble Petition and Advice.

On the death of Oliver Cromwell in 1658, his son, Richard Cromwell, inherited the title Lord Protector, but internal divisions among the republican party lead to his resignation, the end of the Protectorate and a second period of Commonwealth government by a Council of State and Parliament.