In 1649 King Charles I was executed following the English Civil war between the royalists and parliamentarians. One of the men most pushing for Charles death, leader of the new model army, which had greatly aided the parliamentarians in their defeat of the royalists. In 1653 he became official ruler of England under the title of Lord Protector. He was staunch about Puritanism, and many new laws came into being to make sure that the people of England followed these rules. Most sports were banned, and boys playing football on a Sunday could be whipped as punishment. In fact any form of unnecessary work on a Sunday was illegal, and taking a walk, except to church, could lead to a hefty fine. Women were expected to dress modestly, and too colorful dresses were banned. Illegal makeup could suddenly be scrubbed off the faces of unsuspecting women caught wearing it by Puritan leaders. Any form of Christmas celebration was banned, and soldiers roamed London forcibly taking food meant for Christmas celebrations, and Christmas decorations were illegal. Cromwell particularly hated the Irish Catholics, who he thought were all traitors waiting to help any invading army. Irish were slaughtered in towns which refused to surrender to him, and all Irish children were ordered to work as slaves on sugar plantations in the West Indies, even though he knew many would die, but then at least they would not grow up in to adults and have more children. Though he imposed religious tyranny upon everyone else, he enjoyed music and hunting, and even allowed full scale entertainment at his daughters wedding. He died in 1658 after ruling more and more militaristically as his rule went on.
After a brief rule by Cromwell’s son Richard, who left office in 1659, parliament invited Charles I son, Charles II, to come back and become king of England, dispelling the office of Lord Protector. After ruling until his death in 1685, with no legitimate children, his detested brother, James II became king. James II was a Catholic and peoples fears that he would make England Catholic were not appeased when he began appointing Catholics to offices. James II favored religious toleration, but this was ignored and instead people were horrified that Catholics were being appointed to the highest offices available. James also enlarged the standing army to protect himself furthering peoples suspicions that he was plotting to bring in an army to make England Catholic. At this time his wife had a son, which meant that when James died instead of his protestant daughter becoming Queen, his Catholic son would. At this parliament asked James protestant daughter, princess Mary, and her husband William of Orange to come and become monarch. In 1688 William and Mary landed in England with their army and virtually any allegiance to James II dissolved. James fled to France, who offered him a palace and a pension. William and Mary marched to London and in 1689 became Co-Monarchs of England. Before they were crowned however they signed the bill of rights, a document that limited the power of the monarch and gave power to parliament. This is a very important document in English history, especially when at this time many monarchy’s were absolutist, meaning the monarch had absolute power.