At the two universities, books were no longer chained to the
bookcases. The universities were freed from taxation.
After the civil wars, Cromwell led the country. He was a military,
political, and religious leader. He had become a Puritan zealot
after a youth of gambling, drinking, debauchery, and rioting. He
believed that military success was a reflection of divine favor
and he regarded himself as one the few elect preordained for
salvation. Those in power in the new Commonwealth tended to
explain their regime in terms of popular consent, and the takeover
from Charles I as due to his breaking of a contract with the
people.
Most people dressed in Puritan fashion. A Puritan's favorite
readings were the Old Testament, Epistles of St. Paul, and
Switzerland's John Calvin.
Wealth and prosperity steadily increased in spite of the civil
wars. During Cromwell's tenure, there was a marked revival of
economic prosperity. By the mid-1600s, landlords had been able to
shorten their leases so that a lease of twenty-one years was the
predominant form of landholding.
Patent protection was given in 1642 to the inventors of a device
for salvaging ships' goods and cannons from the seas for seven
years. With it they could convert to their own use one half and
items retrieved, the other half going to the Navy and Parliament.
Patent protection was given in 1650 to George Manby on his new
invention for boiling liquors and making salt with less coal and
wood and iron, lead, and copper for fourteen years.
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