Humble Petition and Advice

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The Humble Petition and Advice was the second, and last, codified constitution of England. It came about largely as a result of the rise of the New Cromwellians. They in themselves were an expression of strong latent support for the monarchy and the traditional constitutional limits on its power, a desire to lose the military overtones of the earlier Protectorate and the increasingly small level of control Cromwell was able to exert due to ill health and frustration with a lack of revolutionary ideology amongst his subjects.

The Humble Petition and Advice wanted to offer hereditary monarchy to Cromwell, assert Parliament's control over issuing new taxation, provide an independent council to advise the king and safeguard 'Triennial' meetings (every three years) of Parliament among other things. These had the effect of limiting, not increasing, Cromwell’s power.

Cromwell refused the Crown, however, on the 8 May 1657. This may have been because he feared disaffection in the Army, was distressed by allegations of dynastic/personal ambition, did not genuinely accept that a monarchy was necessary in England, or because he feared re-instating the monarchy on the basis that he believed it had been judged by God in the period following the English Civil War.

Cromwell instead accepted a modified Humble Petition and Advice saying he would nominate his successor, as Lord Protector.