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
University of Cambridge Chancellor election, 1626 University of Cambridge Chancellor election, 1626 The election for the Chancellorship of the University of Cambridge, 1626, chose a new Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. There were two candidates for the post, George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, and Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Berkshire. The election was brought about by the death on 28 March 1626 of the previous Chancellor, the Earl of Suffolk. A past Lord High Treasurer who had fallen from office, Suffolk had owned Audley End House, near Cambridge, said to be the largest private house in England, and at the time of his death