Oliver Cromwell

• Oliver Cromwell
• Born in 25 April 1599 – died in 3 September 1658
• He was an English general and statesman who, first as a subordinate and later as Commander-in-Chief, led armies of
the Parliament of England against King Charles I during the English Civil War, subsequently ruling the British Isles as
Lord Protector from 1653 until his death in 1658. He acted simultaneously as head of state and head of government of
the new republican commonwealth.pédie along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a prominent figure during the
Age of Enlightenment.
• Military and Political Leader - 1
• The summer of 1642 saw the outbreak of the first English Civil War between the Royalists, the supporters of King
Charles I who claimed that the King should have absolute power as his divine right as king, and the Parliamentarians
who favoured a constitutional monarchy and later the abolition of the monarchy and the House of Lords completely.
• Colloquially, Royalists were also called Cavaliers in reference to the Latin caballarius, meaning horseman and
in Henry IV, Part 2 Shakespeare used the word to describe a haughty member of the gentry. Parliamentarians were
referred to as ‘roundheads’ because many Puritan men wore their hair cropped in what would today be described as a
‘bowl cut’ in contrast to the long ringlets favoured by their royalist counterparts as dictated by courtly fashion of the
day. Both names were used derisively by their opponents.
• From the very beginning Cromwell was a committed member of the parliamentary army. He was swiftly promoted to
second in command as lieutenant-general of the Eastern Association army, parliament’s largest and most effective
regional army, followed by a further promotion to second in command of the newly formed main parliamentary army,
the New Model Army in 1645.
• Military and Political Leader - 2
• When Civil War once again flared up in 1648 Cromwell’s military successes meant that his political
influence had greatly increased. December 1648 saw a split between those MPs who wished to continue to
support the King and those such as Cromwell (known as the ‘rump parliament’) who felt that the only way
to bring a halt to the civil wars was through Charles’ trial and execution. Indeed Cromwell was the third of
59 MPs to sign Charles’ death warrant.
• Following the King’s execution in 1649, The Commonwealth of England was introduced and lead by a
Council of State to replace the monarchy. Cromwell led the English military campaigns to establish
control of Ireland in 1649 and later Scotland in 1650. This resulted in the end of the Civil War with a
Parliamentary victory at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651 and the introduction of the
Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland. Cromwell was appointment to Lord General, effectively
commander in chief, of the parliamentary armed forces in 1650.
• In December 1653, Cromwell became Lord Protector, a role in which he remained until his death five
years later. Whilst he later rejected Parliament’s offer of the crown, preferring to describe himself as a
‘constable or watchman’ of the Commonwealth, Cromwell’s role as the first Lord Protector was akin to
that of a monarch involving “the chief magistracy and the administration of government”. However,
the Instrument of Government constitution decreed that he must receive a majority vote from the Council
of State should he wish to call or dissolve a parliament, thus establishing the precedent that an English
monarch cannot govern without Parliament’s consent, which is still upheld today.
 Lord Protector
PROBABLY THE MOST IMPORTANT PHASE IN CROMWELL’S LIFE WAS HIS APPOINTMENT IN
1653 AS LORD PROTECTOR, THE FIRST PERSON WHO WAS NOT A MEMBER OF THE ROYAL
FAMILY TO BE A HEAD OF STATE IN BRITAIN. THE GOVERNMENT THAT FOLLOWED FOR THE
NEXT 5 YEARS PROVED TO BE THE MOST STABLE SINCE BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR, PROVIDING
A STABLE GOVERNMENT, A FOREIGN POLICY THAT WAS RESPECTED AND FEARED ABROAD,
AND RELIGIOUS TOLERATION ON A WIDER SCALE THAN HAD EVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE. IT
WAS ALSO THE FIRST GOVERNMENT IN BRITISH HISTORY TO PROVIDE A SINGLE SYSTEM OF
GOVERNMENT THAT UNITED ENGLAND, WALES, SCOTLAND AND IRELAND UNDER A SINGLE
ELECTED BRITISH PARLIAMENT, WHICH OPERATED FOR THE FIRST AND ONLY TIME IN
BRITISH HISTORY WITH A DETAILED WRITTEN CONSTITUTION. THIS PROVIDED FOR A HEAD
OF STATE OR ‘LORD PROTECTOR’ WHO WAS TO ACT WITH, AND TO COORDINATE THE WORK
OF, BOTH PARLIAMENT AND COUNCIL, BUT WHO WAS TO EXERCISE ONLY VERY LIMITED
POWERS ALONE AND IN HIS OWN RIGHT. OLIVER CROMWELL WAS APPOINTED AS
PROTECTOR FOR LIFE, AND SERVED IN THAT ROLE UNTIL HIS DEATH IN SEPTEMBER 1658.
 The English Civil War

 Seventeenth-century England endured a pair of tense struggles for political power

that had a profound impact on the philosophers of the English Enlightenment. The
first power struggle came in 1649, when the English Civil War resulted in the
execution of King Charles I and the establishment of a commonwealth under
Oliver Cromwell. Although this republic endured for a decade, it also essentially
devolved into dictatorship, and England ended up reverting to monarchy with the
restoration of Charles II to the throne.
 Battle of Naseby (1645)

 At the critical Battle of Naseby in June 1645, the New Model Army smashed the King's major
army. Cromwell led his wing with great success at Naseby, again routing the Royalist cavalry. At
the Battle of Langport on 10 July, Cromwell participated in the defeat of the last sizeable Royalist
field army. Naseby and Langport effectively ended the King's hopes of victory, and the subsequent
Parliamentarian campaigns involved taking the remaining fortified Royalist positions in the west
of England. In October 1645, Cromwell besieged and took the wealthy and formidable Catholic
fortress Basing House, later to be accused of killing 100 of its 300-man Royalist garrison after its
surrender.[42] He also took part in successful sieges at Bridgwater, Sherborne, Bristol, Devizes,
and Winchester, then spent the first half of 1646 mopping up resistance in Devon and Cornwall.
Charles I surrendered to the Scots on 5 May 1646, effectively ending the First English Civil War.
Cromwell and Fairfax took the Royalists' formal surrender at Oxford in June.
 Debate over Cromwell's effect on Ireland

THE EXTENT OF CROMWELL'S BRUTALITY IN IRELAND HAS BEEN STRONGLY DEBATED. SOME HISTORIANS ARGUE
THAT CROMWELL NEVER ACCEPTED RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE KILLING OF CIVILIANS IN IRELAND, CLAIMING THAT HE
HAD ACTED HARSHLY BUT ONLY AGAINST THOSE "IN ARMS". OTHER HISTORIANS CITE CROMWELL'S CONTEMPORARY
REPORTS TO LONDON, INCLUDING THAT OF 27 SEPTEMBER 1649, IN WHICH HE LISTS THE SLAYING OF 3,000 MILITARY
PERSONNEL, FOLLOWED BY THE PHRASE "AND MANY INHABITANTS". IN SEPTEMBER 1649, HE JUSTIFIED HIS SACKING
OF DROGHEDA AS REVENGE FOR THE MASSACRES OF PROTESTANT SETTLERS IN ULSTER IN 1641, CALLING THE
MASSACRE "THE RIGHTEOUS JUDGEMENT OF GOD ON THESE BARBAROUS WRETCHES, WHO HAVE IMBRUED THEIR
HANDS WITH SO MUCH INNOCENT BLOOD". BUT THE REBELS HAD NOT HELD DROGHEDA IN 1641; MANY OF ITS
GARRISON WERE IN FACT ENGLISH ROYALISTS. ON THE OTHER HAND, THE WORST ATROCITIES COMMITTED IN
IRELAND, SUCH AS MASS EVICTIONS, KILLINGS AND DEPORTATION OF OVER 50,000 MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN AS
PRISONERS OF WAR AND INDENTURED SERVANTS TO BERMUDA AND BARBADOS, WERE CARRIED OUT UNDER THE
COMMAND OF OTHER GENERALS AFTER CROMWELL HAD LEFT FOR ENGLAND. SOME POINT TO HIS ACTIONS ON
ENTERING IRELAND. CROMWELL DEMANDED THAT NO SUPPLIES BE SEIZED FROM CIVILIAN INHABITANTS AND THAT
EVERYTHING BE FAIRLY PURCHASED; "I DO HEREBY WARN ... ALL OFFICERS, SOLDIERS AND OTHERS UNDER MY
COMMAND NOT TO DO ANY WRONG OR VIOLENCE TOWARD COUNTRY PEOPLE OR ANY PERSONS WHATSOEVER,
UNLESS THEY BE ACTUALLY IN ARMS OR OFFICE WITH THE ENEMY ... AS THEY SHALL ANSWER TO THE CONTRARY AT
THEIR UTMOST PERIL."
• Death and Execution - 1
• It is thought that Cromwell suffered from kidney stones or similar urinary/kidney complaints and in
1658 in the aftermath of malarial fever Cromwell was once again struck down with a urinary infection,
which saw his decline and eventual death at the age of 59 on Friday 3 September. Co-incidentally this
was also the anniversary of his victories at Worcester and the Scottish town of Dunbar during the
Scottish campaign of 1650-51. It is thought that Cromwell’s death was caused by septicemia brought on
by the infection, although his grief following the death of his supposed favourite daughter Elizabeth the
previous month from what is thought to be cancer certainly contributed to his rapid decline. Both
Cromwell and his daughter received an elaborate ceremony (Cromwell’s funeral was based on that of
King James I) and buried in a newly-created vault in Henry VII’s chapel at Westminster Abbey.
• Following Cromwell’s death his son Richard succeeded him to become Lord Protector. However,
Richard lacked the political and military power of his father and his forced resignation in May 1659
effectively ended the Protectorate. The lack of a clear Commonwealth leadership lead to the restoration
of Parliament and the monarchy in 1660 under Charles II.
• On 30 January 1661, Oliver Cromwell’s body, along with that of John Bradshaw, President of the High
Court of Justice for the trial of King Charles I and Henry Ireton, Cromwell’s son-in-law and general in
the Parliamentary army during the English Civil War, were removed from Westminster Abbey to be
posthumously tried for high treason and ‘executed’. This symbolic date was chosen to coincide with the
execution of Charles I twelve years previously. The three bodies were hung from the Tyburn gallows in
chains before being beheaded at sunset. The bodies were then thrown in a common grave and the heads
were displayed on a twenty foot spike at Westminster Hall, where they remained until 1685 when a
storm caused the spike to break, tossing the heads to the ground below.
 Sources
https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/Oliver-Cromwell/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Cromwell