The Protectorate The Protectorate The Protectorate was the period during the Commonwealth (or, to monarchists, the Interregnum) when England and Wales, Ireland and Scotland were governed by a Lord Protector as a republic. The Protectorate began in 1653 when, following the dissolution of the Rump Parliament and then Barebone's Parliament, Oliver Cromwell was appointed Lord Protector of the Commonwealth under the terms of the Instrument of Government. In 1659 the Protectorate Parliament was dissolved by the Committee of Safety as Richard Cromwell, who had succeeded his father as Lord Protector, was unable to keep control of the Parliament and the Army. This
Cardinal protector of England German princes, although he was not the German protector in any official sense, and his protectorship of England is "the first official one of any cardinal which can be firmly established". Henry VII did not object to Piccolomini's German connections, even viewing them as an asset against the French. The appointment of Adriano Castellesi as cardinal on 31 May 1503 "eclipsed England's cardinal protector", with appointments to the English sees thereafter being referred through Castellesi instead of through Piccolomini. Piccolomini was himself elected as Pope Pius III on 22 September 1503, only to die less than a month later, on