Between 1649 and 1653, government lay with the Rump
of the Long Parliament. But it could not sustain its
position, and in 1653 the army seized control and
dissolved Parliament. Despite his honest attempts to
persuade others to govern while he stood aside, for the
next five years supreme power lay with Oliver Cromwell -
the Lord Protector.
Cromwell towered head and shoulders above other politicians of the Interregnum - but failed to establish a form of parliamentary government that would endure. Various formulas were tried (at one point he was offered the crown, as a way of limiting his power) but his death in 1658 precipitated the collapse of the Protectorate. His son Richard succeeded him briefly, but was forced by the army to abdicate as the Long Parliament was restored in 1659.
