Editing Oliver Cromwell (section)

==Establishment of the Commonwealth: 1649==
[[File:Coat of Arms of the Commonwealth of England.svg|thumb|upright=0.75|Arms of the [[Commonwealth of England|Commonwealth]]]]
After the King's execution, a republic was declared, known as the [[Commonwealth of England]]. The "Rump Parliament" exercised both executive and legislative powers, with a smaller [[English Council of State|Council of State]] also having some executive functions. Cromwell remained a member of the Rump and was appointed a member of the council. In the early months after Charles's execution, Cromwell tried but failed to unite the original "Royal Independents" led by St John and Saye and Sele, which had fractured during 1648. Cromwell had been connected to this group since before the outbreak of [[English Civil War|civil war]] in 1642 and had been closely associated with them during the 1640s. Only St John was persuaded to retain his seat in Parliament. The Royalists, meanwhile, had regrouped in Ireland, having signed a treaty with the Irish known as [[Confederate Ireland|Confederate Catholics]]. In March, the Rump chose Cromwell to command a campaign against them. Preparations for an invasion of Ireland occupied him in the subsequent months. In the latter part of the 1640s, Cromwell came across political dissidence in the [[New Model Army]]. The [[Leveller]] or [[Agitators|Agitator]] movement was a political movement that emphasised popular sovereignty, extended suffrage, equality before the law, and religious tolerance. These sentiments were expressed in the 1647 manifesto: ''[[Agreement of the People]]''. Cromwell and the rest of the "Grandees" disagreed with these sentiments in that they gave too much freedom to the people; they believed that the vote should extend only to the landowners. In the [[Putney Debates]] of 1647, the two groups debated these topics in hopes of forming a new constitution for England. Rebellions and mutinies followed the debates, and in 1649, the [[Bishopsgate mutiny]] resulted in Leveller [[Robert Lockyer]]'s execution by firing squad. The next month, the [[Banbury mutiny]] occurred with similar results. Cromwell led the charge in quelling these rebellions. After quelling Leveller mutinies within the English army at [[Andover, England|Andover]] and [[Burford]] in May, he departed for Ireland from [[Bristol]] at the end of July.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Plant |first=David |date=14 December 2005 |title=The Levellers |url=http://www.british-civil-wars.co.uk/glossary/levellers.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080513163351/http://www.british-civil-wars.co.uk/glossary/levellers.htm |archive-date=13 May 2008 |access-date=14 June 2012 |publisher=British-civil-wars.co.uk}}</ref>