Anna Keay: belief

Transcript context

…Very simple question: What’s the most plausible 17th-century scenario where England remains a republic ongoing? [laughs] Well, it could easily have happened. I think a lot of people have forgotten that there was a revolution in the British Isles, and it was a republic for 10 years. The trouble was, really, that this is a classic situation where there was a lot of unhappiness with what had been the case — the monarchy — but the formulation of a stable republic had yet to be worked out. I think, if Oliver Cromwell had lived longer or named a better successor than his son, Richard, it could have endured. Fundamentally, it was before its time, I would say, and it was not sufficiently deeply rooted. Fundamentally, the people didn’t want a republic even though one was brought about. That meant it was always fragile. Would there have been a way, without a crown, to have put a lid on all the religious disputes? Wouldn’t they have just simmered, led to more civil wars and some kind of consolidation into autocratic power? And in that sense, there is no counterfactual where the republic just keeps on running.…

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