Event

Rule of the Major-Generals

1655–1657 · 17th century

The Rule of the Major-Generals was a period of direct military government in England and Wales from August 1655 to January 1657, under Oliver Cromwell's Protectorate. After a royalist rising, the country was divided into regions, each under a major-general charged with security, collecting a tax on royalists and enforcing moral reform. Deeply unpopular, it ended when Parliament refused to renew the tax.

Rule of the Major-Generals — Image: The wub · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 1 state history

The Protectorate

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Cite this entry

APA: The Epoch Institute. (2026). Rule of the Major-Generals. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/rule-of-the-major-generals
MLA: “Rule of the Major-Generals.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/rule-of-the-major-generals. Accessed .
Chicago: The Epoch Institute. “Rule of the Major-Generals.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/rule-of-the-major-generals.
Harvard: The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Rule of the Major-Generals’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/rule-of-the-major-generals (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻