Commonwealth of England to them, as part of what is now referred to as the Third English Civil War. In 1653, after the forcible dissolution of the Rump Parliament, the Army Council adopted the Instrument of Government which made Oliver Cromwell Lord Protector of a united "Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland", inaugurating the period now usually known as the Protectorate. After Cromwell's death, and following a brief period of rule under his son, Richard Cromwell, the Protectorate Parliament was dissolved in 1659 and the Rump Parliament recalled, the start of a process that led to the restoration of the monarchy in 1660.
Cardinal protector of England tax and the refusal of the pope to create John Morton, the archbishop of Canterbury, a cardinal; Innocent VII had passed over Morton in his first consistory, despite creating two French cardinals. Nor had John Sherwood, the English ambassador in Rome, been created a cardinal in 1484, despite the request of King Richard III. Piccolomini's creation as cardinal protector was requested by Henry VII in a letter congratulating the newly elected Pope Alexander VI, and was confirmed in a response which was probably written by Giovanni Gigli. Piccolomini was already the protector of the Camaldese Benedictines and was close to