Fifth-Monarchy Men
in English history, a set of fanatics who formed a principal support of Cromwell during the Protectorate. They considered his assumption of power as an earnest of the foundation of the fifth monarchy, which should succeed to the Assyrian, the Persian, the Grecian, and the Roman, and in which Jesus Christ should reign with the saints on earth for the space of 1,000 years. Upon the restoration of the royal family, and the return of the kingdom to its former principles in Church and State, a party of these enthusiasts, headed by a man of the name of Venner, made a desperate insurrection in the streets of London, which was put down with the slaughter of a great number of them.