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/preuh tek"teuhr it/, n.1. the relation of a strong state toward a weaker state or territory that it protects and partly controls.2. a state or territory so protected.3. the office or position, or the term of office, of a protector.4. the government of a protector.5. (cap.) Eng. Hist. the period (1653-59) during which Oliver and Richard Cromwell held the title of Lord Protector, sometimes extended to include the period of the restoration of the Rump Parliament (1659-60).[1685-95; PROTECTOR + -ATE3]
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Relationship in which one country exercises some decisive control over another country or region.The degree of control may vary from one in which the protecting state guarantees the safety of the other to one that is a disguised form of annexation. Though the relationship is an ancient one, the use of the term dates only from the 19th century. In modern times most protectorates have been established by treaties requiring the weaker state to surrender management of its international relations, thus losing part of its sovereignty.* * *
▪ English governmentthe English government from 1653 to 1659. After the execution of King Charles I, England was declared a commonwealth (1649) under the rule of Parliament. But, after Oliver Cromwell (Cromwell, Oliver) had dissolved the Rump and Barebones parliaments in succession in 1653, he was installed on Dec. 16, 1653, as lord protector of the commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland under the authority of a constitution entitled the Instrument of Government, which had been drawn up by a group of army officers. The Protectorate, as Cromwell's government is now known, was continued after his death on Sept. 3, 1658, by his son Richard, until the latter resigned the office on May 25, 1659, upon which Parliament's resumption of power served merely as a prelude to the Restoration of Charles II.* * *
Universalium. 2010.
