The Fifth Monarchists, or Fifth Monarchy Men, were a Protestant sect with Millennialist views, active during the 1649 to 1660 Commonwealth of England.[1] The group took its name from a prophecy that claimed the Four kingdoms of Daniel would precede the Fifth, which would see the establishment of the Kingship and kingdom of God on earth.
One of a number of Nonconformist sects that emerged during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, its best known adherent was Major-General Thomas Harrison, executed in October 1660 as a regicide. Oliver Cromwell was a sympathiser until 1653, when many fifth Monarchists opposed his creation of The Protectorate.
Members believed the execution of Charles I in January 1649 marked the end of the Fourth Monarchy, and viewed the Protectorate and 1660 Stuart Restoration as preventing the coming of the Fifth. The belief by some elements that this justified military action meant they were persecuted by both regimes, and never became a mass movement. Many of their remaining leaders were executed after participating in Venner's Rising of January 1661, and the group dissolved.
Along with millenarianism and Antinomianism, Fifth Monarchists shared many of their views with other Non-Conformists, notably Anabaptists. However, rather than being a religious group with a distinctive and coherent doctrine, they were primarily united by shared political beliefs. The links this created between different factions gave them influence disproportionate to their numbers.[2]