January 1649, Whitehall. A king steps onto the scaffold. Moments later, Charles I is dead... tried and executed by his own subjects. For the first time in its history, England is without a monarch.
What follows is one of the most radical experiments in British history. The House of Lords is abolished. The monarchy is swept away. England, Scotland, and Ireland are declared a republic, a commonwealth built on revolutionary ideals. But was it truly a revolution? And why did this bold new republic collapse within a decade?
For this Not Just The Tudors...Late, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb hosts a panel of leading historians - Dr Jonathan Healey, Dr Miranda Malins, and Prof. Ronald Hutton - to explore the often overlooked interregnum of the 1650s. Together, they dig into the realities behind the rhetoric: the role of Oliver Cromwell, the tensions between army and parliament, and the limits of radical change in a deeply divided nation.
Was England’s republic doomed from the start, or was it a missed opportunity? And did this failed experiment plant the seeds for later revolutions?
Join us as we revisit a turbulent decade of ambition, ideology, and contradiction... and ask why England’s revolution didn’t last.
Up Next in Tudors
-
A Tudor Wonder - Hardwick Hall - with...
A History Hit treat for the holidays, this special new film reveals an extraordinary Tudor life-story and an amazing creation. We meet the extraordinary Bess of Hardwick and go inside the incredible home she built, a spectacular construction in glass and stone that defined the elegance and grande...
-
Six Tudor Lives with Prof. Suzannah L...
History Hit has special access to the Six Lives exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery - a remarkable gathering of paintings, brought together for the first time, representing six Tudor women who had something in common: they were all married to King Henry VIII.
Prof. Suzannah Lipscomb take...
-
Painting Elizabeth: Creating a Royal ...
Elizabeth I is one of the most iconic figures from British history - her image can be recognised in an instant. But this was no mistake, for Elizabeth’s portraits were an audacious act of spin to cement her image of female majesty. In this documentary Dr Nicola Tallis and Prof Anna Whitelock take...
7 Comments