Philip of the History of European Theatre podcasts talks about how theatre kept itself alive through the days of the Republic and burst into life once more at the Restoration  

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The course of the Protectorate was by no means smooth; but by 1658 the prospect of the return of the monarchy was remote indeed, stability had re-appeared, prosperity was returning. With a spirit of compromise and goodwill, it could surely survive Cromwell's death. Had enough been done to reconcile old factions, was there a desire for compromise for the greater good?

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What does the English Revolution mean for you? Did it change anything or, was John Dryden right when he wrote in 1670, 'Thy wars brought nothing about’? Although they clearly left business which would take until 1689 to finish, their impact was considerable - even if much of it was unintended or unforeseen. And why not get in touch with your favourote character from the period? Come and join us at the History of England Podcast Facebook group

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One of two self indulgent episodes to usher out the first phase of the English revolution, this episode is about the fates of some of those people in whose companies we have lived for some time, and what happened to them after the Restoration. This includes, of course, the Regicides, and we'll see some of those strung up while we are at it.

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The Army had mounted another coup, and its Committee of Safety now sought to carve out yet another form of the Republic in the face of the Rump's defiance - and the deep weariness of most of the ordinary people of England and Wales. But all eyes turned to General George Monk. Would his army march for Rump, or Committee of Safety - or some other future? In February 1660 Monk entered London, and before long, people would know.

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The transfer of power between the first Protector and the second was smooth and uneventful; in December 1658 it appeared that England was, and would remain, a republic. But when parliament reconvened, it quickly became clear that the fissures running through the political nation remained unhealed.

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Miranda Malins is an historian, author, novelist and a member of the Cromwell Association. She takes a look back at Cromwell, his life, times, achievements and failures, and the myths and opinions which have grown up around him.

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In 1658, the year started with hopeful clarity. There was a new constitution om a firmer footing, and a new parliament was about to sit. There was little sign any more of royalist rebellion, the Commonwealth name was feared and respected abroad and surely now the Protectorate could build from these foundations. But parliament displayed continuing division, and the Commonwealth was to lose the person around who it had been built

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Thomas Hobbes has been described as 'one of the true founders of modernity in Western culture'. His most famous work Leviathan was inspired by the issues raised by the Revolution, published in 1651 as he came home - and used to support the Protectorate. Meanwhile in Oxford, Wilkins, Boyle, Hooke, Petty, Ward and others were rewriting the rules of Natural Philosophy

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In London, and towns like Oxford, the Protectorate saw the return of stability, economic change and a revived social scene - and the arrival of the Coffee house, and the penny university. Stability and old rythmns re-established themslves around the country, and royalists reacted in different ways. Some like the L'Estrange family in North Norfolk preserved the old ways and accepted the new, though rattled by the Decimation tax. Others found artistic responses - like Katherine Philips, Izaak Walton, and Margaret Cavendish

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Cromwell's court struck a balance between the status required of a head of state, and the Cromwell's own openbness and informality. It was a court full of music, as was the supposedly joyless puritan state. There was little of the London theatre, though popular performance at fairs went on as before - but Britain saw its first Opera and John Playford's Dancing Master was all the rage. And in 1657, the first openly Jewish place of worship opened in Creechurch Lane

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