England had been ruled by men whose competing priorities made an unstable compound

The problem was that ever since Ireton and Pride had purged Parliament in 1649 to push through the trial and execution of the King, in which Oliver Cromwell had acquiesced, England had been ruled by men whose competing priorities made an unstable compound. The desire for more powerful and active parliaments, for social reform and for a quite different form of religion from the old Church of England could not easily be satisfied in a single government. The representatives of the people did not want the wholesale religious reform that the victors of the civil wars felt must happen and were unconvinced about many ingredients of the programmes for social and political reform. That the regime, or various versions of it, had endured so long owed a great deal to Oliver Cromwell himself.

A. Keay, The restless republic (2022), loc. 5,036

The wages of the Derbys’ uncompromising royalism were death, but they were not destitution

The downfall of the nobility, even that part of it that had fought for Charles I, had never been the goal of the republican regime. The Committee for Compounding’s overwhelming concern was raising money, not meting out political or social retribution, and in spite of the seismic shifts of the decade there was much by 1652 that was stabilizing. The majority of major landowners had kept their heads down during the wars, prepared to root for the royalist cause, to send arms or plate, but not to risk their patrimony for it. Perhaps a quarter of aristocratic and gentry landowners – some 3,000 families – had had their lands sequestered, but most would pay the fines to regain their property.

...

The wages of the Derbys’ uncompromising royalism were death, but they were not destitution. The Commonwealth regime was proving to be remarkably unvindictive in its treatment of its adversaries; the need for unity and reconciliation, not least given the tiny numbers who had actively wished for a republic, was obvious to many in positions of power.

A. Keay, The restless republic (2022), loc. 1,918 & 1,946