Oliver cromwell

Oliver Cromwell An unfinished miniature portrait of Oliver Cromwell by Samuel Cooper, 1657. Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland. In office 16 December 1653 – 3 September 1658 Preceded by Charles I (as King) Succeeded by Richard Cromwell Born 25 April 1599 Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire Died 3 September 1658 Whitehall, London Political party Puritan Spouse Elizabeth Bourchier Religion Puritan Oliver Cromwell (April 25, 1599 – September 3, 1658) was an English military leader, politician, and dictator, and one of only two commoners ever to have been the English Head of State (from 1653-1658; the other being his son Richard Cromwell from 1658-1659). After being amongst the lower levels of the leadership of the war against the crown, he rose to command the Army and eventually to impose his rule on England, Scotland, and Ireland as Lord Protector, from December 16, 1653 until his death, which is believed to have been by malaria. After the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660 his body was exhumed and hung in chains at Tyburn. Contents 1 Family 2 Early years: 1599-1640 3 Member of Parliament: 1628-9 and 1640-42 4 Military Commander: 1642-6 5 Politics: 1647-1649 6 Irish Campaign 1649-50 6.1 Debate over Cromwell's actions in Ireland 7 War with Scotland 1650-51 8 The Commonwealth: 1649-53 9 The Protectorate: 1653-58 10 Death and posthumous execution 11 Religious beliefs 12 Commemoration 13 Trivia 14 Quotations 15 In Popular Culture 16 External links 17 See also 18 References Family Oliver Cromwell was descended from Catherine Cromwell (born circa 1482), an older sister of Tudor statesman Thomas Cromwell. Catherine was married to Morgan ap Williams, son of William ap Yevan of Wales and Joan Tudor. There is speculation that Joan was an illegitimate daughter of Jasper Tudor, 1st Duke of Bedford. Although Catherine married, her children kept her name; possibly to maintain their connection with their famous uncle. The family line continued through Richard Cromwell (c. 1500–1544), Henry Cromwell (c. 1524–January 6, 1603), then to Oliver's father Robert Cromwell, Esquire (c. 1560–1617), who married Elizabeth Steward or Stewart (1564–1654) on April 25, 1599, the day of Oliver's birth. Another interesting feature of the Cromwell bloodline is that the mother's maiden name, as an alternative to the argument above, might have been kept as the surname for a different purpose: to disguise the male side of the family's heritage, instead of merely accentuating the female's side from Thomas Cromwell. This heritage goes through the Tudors, de Valois, and Wittelsbach—three royal dynasties of England, France, and the Holy Roman Empire, respectively. Cromwell's alleged paternal ancestor, Jasper Tudor, was a younger brother of Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond, uncle to his son Henry VII of England, and son of Owen Tudor and Catherine of Valois, daughter of Charles VI of France and Isabeau of Bavaria. However, the descent of Oliver Cromwell from Jasper is unverified and is doubtful in view of the tendency of Cromwell's supporters to fabricate claims of his descent from the Royal line. This also occurred with the claim that Cromwell's ancestors on his mother's side could be traced back to a Scottish Stuart (from Stewart and originally Steward) prince shipwrecked on the Norfolk coast in 1406. This claim for a Scottish royal "pedigree" was unfounded, as Cromwell's Steward ancestors actually descended from the Skywards (or Stywards) of Calais. The Thomas Cromwell genealogy lineage shows Katherine Cromwell's descent from the Earl of Arundel; however it mistakenly gives descent from William d'Aubigny, 3rd Earl of Arundel instead of William d'Aubigny, 4th Earl of Arundel and Mabel of Chester, daughter of Hugh de Kevelioc, 3rd Earl of Chester (see Earl of Chester for lineage from King Henry I of England). Likewise a nephew of Katherine Cromwell had been married to Elizabeth Seymour a sister of Queen Jane Seymour; also an aunt of Oliver Cromwell was the mother of Edward Whalley. On 22 August 1620, Cromwell married Elizabeth Bourchier (1598-1665), the daughter of London merchant Sir James Bourchier. They had five sons and four daughters; only son James did not survive infancy. Early years: 1599-1640 Cromwell was born in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire. He studied at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, which was then a recently founded college with a strong puritan ethos. He left in June 1617 without taking a degree, immediately after the death of his father. Early biographers claim he then attended Lincoln’s Inn, but there is no record of him in the Inn’s archives. He is likely to have returned home to Huntingdon, given that his mother was widowed, his seven sisters were unmarried, and the need to take charge of the family. The crucial event of the 1620s was his marriage to Elizabeth Bourchier (1598-1665) on 22 August 1620. Her father Sir James Bourchier was a London merchant who owned extensive land in Essex and had strong connections with puritan gentry families there. The marriage brought Cromwell into contact with Oliver St John and also with leading members of the London merchant community, and behind them the influence of the earls of Warwick and Holland. Membership of this godly network would prove crucial to Cromwell’s military and political career. At this stage, however, there is little evidence of Cromwell’s own religion. His letter in 1626 to Henry Downhall – an Arminian minister – suggests that before this point Cromwell had yet to be influenced by radical puritanism. However, there is evidence that Cromwell went through a period of personal crisis during the late 1620s and early 1630s. He sought treatment for valde melancolicus (depression) from a London doctor in 1628. He was also caught up in a fight amongst the gentry of Huntingdon over a new charter for the town, as a result of which he was called before the Privy Council in 1630. In 1631 Cromwell sold most of his properties in Huntingdon and moved to a farmstead in St Ives. This was a major step down in society. One of only four letters that survive from before the 1640s hints at the impact it had on his emotional and spiritual state. Written on 13 October 1638 to his 22-year-old cousin Elizabeth, wife of Oliver St John, it is a conversion account of how after having been "the chief of sinners," he had been called to be among "the congregation of the firstborn". By 1638, we can be fairly sure that Cromwell was a committed puritan, with important family links to leading godly families in Essex and London. In his own eyes, he had come through a period of crisis through God’s providence. Member of Parliament: 1628-9 and 1640-42 Cromwell became the Member of Parliament for Huntingdon in the Parliament of 1628–1629, as a client of the Montagus. He made little impression – records for the Parliament are relatively full, and show only one speech (against the Arminian Bishop Richard Neile) that was poorly received. Charles I ruled without a Parliament for the next eleven years (having dissolved Parliament, of which Cromwell was a member, in 1629). When Charles was facing a Scottish rebellion known as the Bishops War, he was forced by shortage of funds to call a Parliament again in 1640. Cromwell was returned as MP for Cambridge for the Long Parliament – as in 1628, it is likely that he owed his position to the patronage of others. This would explain the fact that, in the first week of the Parliament, he was in charge of presenting a petition for the release of John Lilburne. For the first two years of the Long Parliament, Cromwell was linked to the group of aristocrats in the Lords he had already established links with in the 1630s, such as the earls of Essex, Warwick and Bedford, and Viscount Saye and Sele. At this stage, the group had an agenda of godly reformation: the executive checked by regular parliaments, and the moderate extension of liberty of conscience. In May 1641, for example, it was Cromwell who put forward the second reading of the Annual Parliaments Bill, and who later took a role in drafting the Root and Branch Bill for the abolition of episcopacy. Military Commander: 1642-6 Oliver Cromwell Failure to resolve the issues before the Long Parliament led to armed conflict between Parliamentarians and Royalists in the autumn of 1642. Support for Parliament tended to be concentrated in London, the South-East and the Midlands, whereas the Royalists gathered most of their support from the North, the West Country and Wales. Before joining the Parliamentary Army, Cromwell's only military experience was in the trained bands, the local county militia. Now 43 years old he recruited a cavalry troop in Cambridgeshire after blocking a shipment of silver from Cambridge colleges that was meant for the king. The troop was recruited to be a full regiment in the winter of 1642/3, making up part of the Eastern Association under the earl of Manchester. Cromwell gained experience and victories in a number of successful actions in East Anglia and then at the major Battle of Marston Moor and the indecisive second Battle of Newbury. His experience at Newbury led to a serious dispute with Manchester, whom he believed to be less than enthusiastic in his conduct of the war. Manchester later accused Cromwell of recruiting men of 'low birth' into the army, to which he replied: "If you choose godly honest men to be captains of horse, honest men will follow them… I would rather have a plain russet-coated captain who knows what he fights for and loves what he knows than that which you call a gentleman and is nothing else." After Parliament passed the Self-Denying Ordinance – which removed members of Parliament such as Manchester from command, but from which Cromwell was exempted – it also decreed that the army be 'remodeled' on a national basis, replacing the old county associations. In June 1645 the New Model Army finally took to the field, with Sir Thomas Fairfax in command and Cromwell as Lieutenant-General of cavalry, and second-in-command. Cromwell led his wing with great success at the ensuing Battle of Naseby. He took part in sieges at Bridgwater, Sherborne, Bristol, Devizes, and Winchester, then spending the first half of 1646 mopping up resistance in Devon and Cornwall. Cromwell, who had no formal training in military tactics, followed the common practice of ranging his cavalry in three ranks and pressing forward. This method relied on impact rather than firepower. His strengths were in an instinctive ability to lead and train his men, and in his moral authority. In a war fought mostly by amateurs these strengths were significant, and are likely to have contributed to the discipline of Cromwell’s cavalry. Politics: 1647-1649 In February 1647 Cromwell suffered from an illness that kept him out of political life for over a month. By the time of his recovery, the Parliamentarians were split over the issue of the king. A majority in both Houses pushed for a settlement that would pay off the Scottish army, disband much of the New Model Army, and restore Charles I in return for a Presbyterian settlement of the Church. The New Model petitioned against these changes, but the Commons declared the petition unlawful. During May 1647, Cromwell was sent to the army's headquarters in Saffron Walden] to negotiate with them, but failed to reach agreement. In June 1647, a troop of cavalry under Cornet George Joyce seized the king from Parliament's imprisonment. Although we know Cromwell met with Joyce on 31 May, it is impossible to be sure what Cromwell's role in this event was. Cromwell and Henry Ireton then drafted a manifesto - the "Heads of Proposals" - designed to check the powers of the executive, set up regularly elected parliaments, and restore a non-compulsory episcopalian settlement. Many in the army, such as the Levellers led by John Lilburne, thought this was insufficient, leading to tense debates in Putney during the autumn of 1647 between Cromwell, Ireton and the army. The Putney debates ultimately broke up without reaching a resolution.[1] The debates, and the escape of Charles I from Hampton Court on 12 November, are likely to have hardened Cromwell's resolve against the king. The failure to conclude a political agreement with the king eventually led to the outbreak of the Second English Civil War in 1648. At Preston, Cromwell, in sole command for the first time, won a brilliant victory against the Scots allies of the king. During 1648, Cromwell's letters and speeches became drenched in biblical imagery, many of them meditations on the meaning of particular passages. For example, after the battle of Preston, study of Psalms 17 and 105 led him to tell parliament that "they that are implacable and will not leave troubling the land may be speedily destroyed out of the land". A letter to Oliver St John in September 1648 urged him to read Isaiah 8, in which the kingdom of Ahaz falls and only the godly survive. The evidence suggests that it was Cromwell's faith, rather than a commitment to radical politics, coupled with parliament's decision to engage in negotiations with the king at the Treaty of Newport, that led him to realise that God had spoken against both the king and Parliament as lawful authorities. For Cromwell, the army was now God's chosen instrument.[2] In December 1648, those MPs who wished to continue negotiations with the King were prevented from sitting by a troop of soldiers headed by Colonel Thomas Pride, an episode soon to be known as Pride's Purge. Those remaining, known as the Rump Parliament, agreed that Charles should be tried on a charge of treason. A court was duly constituted, and the death warrant for Charles was eventually signed by 59 of its members, including Cromwell. Charles was executed on 30 January 1649. This was the first time a monarch had ever been publicly executed in recorded history. Cromwell did not have long to dwell on the future form of government in England, however, as in May he left the country to crush the remaining Royalist strongholds in Ireland and Scotland, which had allied themselves with Charles. Half-Crown coin of Oliver Cromwell, 1658. The inscription reads OLIVAR.D.G.RP.ANG.SCO.ET.HIB&cPRO (OLIVARIUS DEI GRATIA REIPUBLICÆ ANGLIÆ SCOTIÆ ET HIBERNIÆ ET CETERA PROTECTOR), meaning "Oliver, by the Grace of God Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland et cetera". The "et cetera" refers to the residual claim of England to the throne of France; which even the republican Cromwell was not prepared to renounce. Irish Campaign 1649-50 See also: Cromwellian conquest of Ireland and Irish Confederate Wars Cromwell led a Parliamentary invasion of Ireland from 1649-50, with the twin aims of eliminating the military threat posed by the alliance, signed in 1649, between the Irish Confederate Catholics and English Royalists to the Commonwealth and punishing the Irish for their rebellion of 1641. The English Parliament had long planned to re-conquer Ireland since 1641 and had already sent an invasion force there in 1647. Cromwell's invasion of 1649, however, was much larger and, with the civil war in England over, could be regularly re-inforced and resupplied. Cromwell's nine month military campaign was brief and effective, though it did not end the war in Ireland. Before his invasion, Parliamentarian forces held only outposts in Dublin and Derry. When he departed Ireland, they occupied most of the eastern and northernparts of the country. After his landing at Dublin on August 15, 1649 (itself only recently secured for the Parliament at the battle of Rathmines), Cromwell took the fortified port towns of Drogheda and Wexford to secure logistical supply from England. At the siege of Drogheda in September 1649, Cromwell's troops massacred of nearly 3,500 people after its capture — comprising around 2,700 Royalist soldiers and all the men in the town carrying arms, including some civilians, prisoners, and Catholic priests. At the Siege of Wexford in October, another massacre took place under confused circumstances. While Cromwell himself was trying to negotiate surrender terms, the New Model Army soldiers broke into the town and killed 2000 Irish troops and up to 1,500 civilians. These actions still have resonance in Irish nationalist historical memory. These two atrocities, while horrifying in their own right, were not exceptional in the war in Ireland since its start in 1641, but are well-remembered even today in part because of a concerted propaganda campaign by the Royalists, which portrayed Cromwell as a tyrant who indiscriminately slaughtered civilians wherever he went. After the fall of Drogheda, Cromwell sent a column north to Ulster to secure the north of the country and went on to besiege Waterford, Kilkenny and Clonmel in Ireland's south-east. Kilkenny surrendered on terms, as did many other towns like New Ross and Carlow, but Cromwell failed to take Waterford and at the siege of Clonmel in May 1650, he lost up to 2000 men in abortive assaults before the town surrendered. One of his major victories in Ireland was diplomatic rather than military - persuading, with the help of Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery - the Protestant Royalist troops in Cork to change sides and fight with the Parliament. At this point, word reached Cromwell that Charles II had landed in Scotland and been proclaimed king by the Covenanter regime. Cromwell therefore returned to England to counter this threat. The Parliamentarian conquest of Ireland dragged on for almost three years after Cromwell's departure. The campaigns under Cromwell's successors Henry Ireton and Edmund Ludlow mostly consisted of long sieges of fortified cities and guerrilla warfare in the countryside. Debate over Cromwell's actions in Ireland The extent of Cromwell's alleged brutality in Ireland has been strongly debated. For example, it is clear that Cromwell saw the Irish in general as enemies - he justified his sack of Drogheda as revenge for the massacres of Protestant settlers in Ulster in the Irish Rebellion of 1641, calling the massacre, "The righteous judgement of God on these barbarous wretches, who have imbued their hands with so much innocent blood". Drogheda had in fact never been held by the rebels in 1641 and the number of victims of the massacres in Ulster during the Irish Rebellion of 1641 had been considerably exaggerated (from 4000 to 120,000). Moreover, the records of many churches such as Kilkenny Cathedral accuse Cromwell's army of having defaced and desecrated the churches and having stabled their horses in them. During the civil wars, the Parliamentarian side in particular nursed a hatred towards the Catholic Irish, who were long seen as "savages" and inferior by the English. A desire for revenge for the massacres of 1641 added to the general climate of Protestant hostility. On the other hand, on entering Ireland, Cromwell demanded that no supplies were to be seized from the inhabitants, and that everything should be fairly purchased. Several English soldiers were in fact hanged for disobeying these orders. Regarding the massacre at Drogheda, Cromwell's orders followed military protocol of the day, where a town or garrison was first given the option to surrender and receive just treatment, and the protection of the invading force. The refusal of the garrison at Drogheda to do this, even after the walls had been breached, meant that Cromwell's orders , "I forbade them to spare any that were in arms in the town", while severe, were not unusual by the standards of the day. Cromwell wanted his severity at Drogheda to act as a deterrent to Irish resistance, in his own words, "it will tend to prevent further effusion of blood". Moreover Cromwell never accepted that he was responsible for the killing of civilians in Ireland, claiming that he had acted harshly, but only against those "in arms." In fact, the worst atrocities committed in Ireland, such as mass evictions, killings and deportation for slave labour to Bermuda and Barbados, were carried out by Cromwell's subordinates after he had left for England. William Petty estimated in his demographic survey of Ireland in the 1650s that the war of 1641-53 had resulted in the death or exile of over 600,000 people, or around one third of Ireland's pre-war population. In the wake of the Cromwellian conquest, the public practice of Catholicism was banned, priests were executed when captured and all Catholic-owned land was confiscated in the Act for the Settlement of Ireland 1652 and given to English settlers, the Parliament's financial creditors and Parliamentary soldiers (see Plantations of Ireland). War with Scotland 1650-51 Cromwell left Ireland in May 1650 and several months later, invaded Scotland after the Scots had proclaimed Charles I's son as Charles II. He was much less hostile to Scottish Presbyterians (some of whom had been his allies in the first Civil War) than he was to Irish Catholics, and saw them as, "His [God's] people, though deceived". He made a famous appeal to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, urging them to see the error of the royal alliance-I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken. His appeal rejected, Cromwell's veteran troops went on to defeat Scottish armies at the battles of Dunbar and the Worcester. Many of the of prisoners of war taken in the campaigns died of disease, and others were sent to penal colonies in Barbados, although Cromwell himself was not responsible for any acts of cruelty towards captives. In the final stages of the Scottish campaign, Cromwell's men, under George Monck sacked the town of Dundee. During the Commonwealth, Scotland was ruled from England, and was kept under military occupation; with a line of fortifications sealing off the Highlands, which had provided manpower for Royalist armies in Scotland, from the rest of the country. Presbyterianism was allowed to be practised as before, but the Kirk (the Scottish church) did not have the backing of the civil courts to impose its rulings, as it had previously. Cromwell's conquest, unwelcome as it was, left no lasting legacy of bitterness in Scotland. The rule of the Commonwealth and Protectorate was largely peaceful and fair, and there were no wholesale confiscations of land or property. Ireland, in contrast, saw the wholesale transfer of land from the Catholic population to Parliamentary creditors, existing Protestant settlers and veterans of the New Model Army. This created a poisonous legacy, far exceeding the memories left by the sack of Drogheda and Wexford. The Commonwealth: 1649-53 Coat of Arms of the Commonwealth After the execution of the King, a republic was declared, known as the Commonwealth of England. A Council of State was appointed to manage affairs, which included Cromwell among its members. His real power base was in the army; Cromwell tried but failed to unite the original group of 'Royal Independents' centred around St John and Saye and Sele, but only St John was persuaed to retain his seat in Parliament. From the middle of 1649 until 1651, Cromwell was away on campaign. In the meantime, with the king gone (and with him their common cause), the various factions in Parliament began to engage in infighting. On his return, Cromwell tried to galvanise the Rump into setting dates for new elections, uniting the three kingdoms under one polity, and to put in place a broad-brush, tolerant national church. However, the Rump vacillated in setting election dates, and although it put in place a basic liberty of conscience, it failed to produce an alternative for tithes or dismantle other aspects of the existing religious settlement. In frustration, Cromwell eventually dismissed the Rump Parliament in 1653.[3] He summoned a new Parliament, whose members were all nominated. Sometimes known as the Parliament of Saints, it was also called the Barebones Parliament after one of its members, Praise-God Barebone. The Parliament was based on an idea of Major-General Thomas Harrison's for a "sanhedrin" of saints. Although Cromwell did not subscribe to Harrison's apocalyptic, Fifth Monarchist beliefs - which saw a sanhedrin as the precondition of Christ's rule on earth - he was attracted by the idea of an assembly made up of a cross-section of sects. However, its failure to deal with the complex political, legal and religious problems facing England forced its withdrawal.[4] The Protectorate: 1653-58 In December 1653 Cromwell was appointed Lord Protector, with powers akin to those of a monarch. Cromwell's power was buttressed by his continuing popularity among the army, which he had built up during the civil wars, and which he subsequently prudently guarded, and during his period of dictatorship he divided England into military districts 'ruled' by Army Major Generals who answered only to him. During Cromwell's time the First Anglo-Dutch War broke out in 1652, against the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands, eventually won by Admiral Robert Blake in 1654. As Lord Protector he was aware of the contibution the Jewish community made to the economic success of Holland, now England's leading commercial rival. It was this that led to his encouraging Jews to return to England, 350 years after their banishment by Edward I, in the hope that they would help speed up the recovery of the country after the disruption of the Civil Wars. In 1657, Cromwell was offered the crown by a re-constituted Parliament, presenting him with a dilemma, since he had been 'instrumental' in abolishing the monarchy. After six weeks of deliberation, he rejected the offer. Instead, he was ceremonially re-installed as "Lord Protector" (with greater powers than had previously been granted him under this title) at Westminster Hall, sitting upon King Edward's Chair which was specially moved from Westminster Abbey for the occasion. The event was practically a coronation, copying many features of the old coronation ceremony and utilising many of its symbols and regalia, and made him "king in all but name." But, most notably, the office of Lord Protector was still not to become hereditary, though Cromwell was now able to nominate his own successor. Cromwell's new rights and powers were laid out in the Humble Petition and Advice, a legislative instrument which replaced the 1653 Instrument of Government which had previously conferred on him the title of Lord Protector. Many political radicals saw this as a betrayal, believing that Cromwell had become another king in all but name. Death and posthumous execution Cromwell is thought to have suffered from malaria (probably first contracted while on campaign in Ireland) and from "stone", a common term for urinary/kidney infections. Yet, he was in generally good health. In 1658 he was struck by a sudden bout of the recurring malarial fever that had plagued him for years, followed directly by an attack of urinary/kidney symptoms. Although weakened, he was optimistic about the future, as were his attendants. A Venetian diplomat, also a physician, was visiting at the time and tracked Cromwell's final illness. It was his opinion that the Lord Protector's personal physicians were mismanaging his health, leading to a rapid decline and death, which was also hastened by the death of his favourite daughter Elizabeth (from cancer) in August at age 29. He died at Whitehall on 3 September 1658, the anniversary of his great victories at Dunbar and Worcester. He was succeeded as Lord Protector by his son Richard. Although Richard was not entirely without ability, he had no power base in either Parliament or the Army, and was forced to resign in the spring of 1659, bringing the Protectorate to an end. A year later Parliament restored Charles II as king. In 1661, Oliver Cromwell's body was exhumed from Westminster Abbey, and was subjected to the ritual of a posthumous execution. Significantly, this took place on January 30 – the same date that Charles I had been executed. His body was hung in chains at Tyburn. Finally, his carcass was thrown into a pit, while his severed head was displayed on a pole outside Westminster Abbey until 1685. Afterwards it changed hands several times, before eventually being buried in the grounds of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, in 1960. Religious beliefs Cromwell's understanding of religion and politics were very closely intertwined. Cromwell was a committed Puritan, and as such an opponent of the High Church innovations of Charles and Archbishop Laud. His main point of reference was the Bible, and he placed considerable emphasis throughout his life on liberty of conscience. He strongly believed that all "true" Christians (from which he excluded Roman Catholics) had a right to worship as they pleased. He welcomed followers of many radical sects into the ranks of his New Model Army, including Anabaptists and Fifth Monarchists and gave them toleration during his Protectorate. As Protector, he disestablished the Church of England and abolished the Anglican Hierarchy. He also re-admitted Jews into England in this period and tolerated the practice of their religion. One of the main reasons for Cromwell's opposition to Charles I before the Civil Wars was the persecution of radical Protestant groups. He was passionately opposed to the Roman Catholic Church, which he saw as denying the primacy of the Bible in favour of Papal and Clerical authority, and which he blamed for tyranny and persecution of Protestants in Europe. Cromwell's feelings of association between Catholicism and persecution were deepened with the Irish Rebellion of 1641. This rebellion was marked by massacres by Irish Catholics of English and Scottish Protestant settlers, which were wildly exaggerated in Puritan circles in Britain. This would be one of the reasons why Cromwell acted so harshly in his later military campaign in Ireland. Addressing the Irish defenders of New Ross in 1649, while negotiating the surrender of the town, Cromwell stated, "if by liberty of conscience you mean the liberty to exercise the Mass... where the Parliament of England has authority, that will not be allowed of." In a letter to the Irish Catholic Bishops later that year he wrote, "you are part of the Anti-Christ and before long you must have, all of you, blood to drink." He became associated with the Independents, those who argued for religious freedom for all Protestants in a post-war settlement. His belief in both liberty of conscience and liberty of congregations caused him to reject the Scottish model of Presbyterianism, which threatened to replace one authoritarian hierarchy with another. Finally, Cromwell was also a firm believer in "Providentialism" - the belief that God was actively directing the affairs of the world, through the actions of 'chosen people' (whom God had "provided" for such purposes). Cromwell believed, during the Civil Wars, that he was one of these people, and he interpreted victories as indications of God's approval of his actions, and defeats as signs that God was directing him in another direction. Commemoration Statue of Oliver Cromwell outside the Palace of Westminster, London. Despite his treatment after the Restoration, and his grim reputation in Ireland that lingers to this day, Cromwell has gained esteem over the years among those who ignore or discount his atrocities. As one of British history's 'most notable parliamentarians', his statue outside the Palace of Westminster is understandable, despite the fact that many of his actions are officially regarded as 'treasonous' against the Monarchy. He was the first man in history to successfully unite England, Scotland and Ireland under one rule, a task that had defied all the kings of England. He also has a particular following among Protestant groups; and has retained popularity in Cambridgeshire, where he was known as "Lord of The Fens." In Cambridge, he is commemorated in an unusual fashion: a painted glass window of Cromwell exists in the Emmanuel United Reformed Church, and in St Ives, there is a statue of Cromwell in the town centre. In George Crabbe's poem, 'The Frank Courtship' about a family of Fenland dissenters, are the lines '....No son or daughter of their order wed a friend to England's king, who lost his head; Cromwell was still their Saint, and when they met, They mourned that Saints were not our rulers yet....' His broader popularity today is evidenced by his ranking as 10th in the BBC poll of "Great Britons." When Winston Churchill was the First Lord of the Admiralty, he wished to have a new British battleship named after Cromwell, in recognition of Cromwell's role in improving the Royal Navy. This was rejected by the royal family, who refused to honor a regicide in such a manner. Trivia Some authors believe that Oliver Cromwell was a freemason, although no definitive record currently exists to prove this contention. Cromwell and some relatives nearly fled and emigrated to the New World before the English Civil Wars. Cromwell was (likely in absence) called Copper Nose, for a brownish tinge on his nose. Quotations Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell coined the phrase "warts and all." Though he did not actually say "warts and all," the phrase comes from a famous conversation that he made to the artist (Lely) that was painting his portrait after he became Lord Protector. Cromwell was surprised to see that his rough and undesirable features were glossed over, making him look more attractive than he actually was. The quote is as follows: Mr Lely, I desire you would use all your skill to paint your picture truly like me, and not flatter me at all; but remark all these roughness, pimples, warts, and everything as you see me. Otherwise, I will never pay a farthing for it. To the Irish Catholic defenders of New Ross in 1649, while negotiating its surrender: I wish to meddle with no man's conscience, but if by liberty of conscience you mean liberty to exercise the Mass, I think it best to deal in plain speaking, where the Parliament of England has authority, that will not be allowed of. To the Presbyterians of Scotland in a letter to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1650: I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken. Another quotation: Let us restore the king to his throne, and let the king in future agree to govern with the consent of Parliament. Let us restore the old church, with its bishops, since that is what most of the people want; but since the Puritans and Separatists and Baptists have served us well in the war, let us not persecute them anymore but let them worship as they like, outside of the established church. And so let us have peace and liberty. In Popular Culture Wikisource has original works written by or about: Oliver Cromwell The 1970 film Cromwell, starring Richard Harris, is based on the life of Oliver Cromwell. In 1989 Monty Python released a song entitled "Oliver Cromwell", a critical parody of Cromwell's biography. British actor Tim Roth played the role of Oliver Cromwell in the 2003 film "To Kill a King". In 2003 playwright Steve Newman produced his " An Evening With Oliver Cromwell" an around the dinner table event that looked at the relationship between Cromwell and his number two, Major General Thomas Harrison. The play was performed in the 'Shreeves House' in Stratford -upon-Avon where Cromwell is thought to have stayed prior to the battle of Worcester. The play will be published in 2006 as "Cromwell:The Play" [1] The Finnish Doom Metal band Reverend Bizarre has recorded a song called Cromwell to the album II: Crush the Insects (2005) The Doctor Who 2006 Big Finish audio play "The Settling" centered around Cromwell during the invasions of Drogheda and Wexford. Scriptwriter Simon Gauthier drew heavily from the biographies An Honourable Enemy: The Untold Story of the Cromwellian Invasion of Ireland by Tim Reilly (ISBN 1842120808) and God's Englishman: Oliver Cromwell and the English Revolution by Christopher Hill (ISBN 0297000438).[5] On 2004 album You are the Quarry UK artist Morrissey recorded a song "Irish Blood, English Heart" with lyrics:"I've been dreaming of a time when, The English are sick to death of Labour, And Tories, And spit upon the name Oliver Cromwell, And denounce this royal line that still salute him, And will salute him forever". External links Chronology Oliver Cromwell World History Database See also Admiral Robert Blake for the role played by sea power during this period. Scottish Civil War, for Cromwell's military campaign and systematic conquest and reduction of Scotland. References Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Oliver Cromwell ^ Austin Woolrych, "Soldiers and Statesmen" ^ Blair Worden, "Oliver Cromwell and the sin of Achan", in D.Beales and G.Best, "History, Society and the Churches" ^ Blair Worden, "The Rump Parliament" ^ Austin Woolrych, "Commonwealth to Protectorate" ^ Simon Guerrier, The Settling: Author's Notes, Big Finish Productions, 2005-11 Fraser, Antonia (1997). Cromwell, Our Chief of Men. Weidenfeld & Nicholson. ISBN 0-297-81815-5. Fraser, Antonia (1973, reissue 1996). Cromwell: the Lord Protector. Alfred A. Knopf, reissue Smithmark Publishers. ISBN 0831756411. Preceded by: Charles I as King Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland Succeeded by: Richard Cromwell Search Term: "Oliver_Cromwell" Categories: 1599 births | 1658 deaths | Congregationalists | English generals | Republicanism in the United Kingdom

'Lies My Teacher Told Me' author to speak at MU