1649
Oliver Cromwell
Sidney St, Cambridge CB2 3HU, United Kingdom
In 1616 Oliver studied at Sidney Sussex College.
1650
Penglais Rd, Aberystwyth SY23 3BU, United Kingdom
Portrait of Cromwell from the Welsh Portrait Collection at the National Library of Wales.
Sidney St, Cambridge CB2 3HU, United Kingdom
In 1616 Oliver studied at Sidney Sussex College.
Oliver Cromwell
29 St Mary's St, Ely CB7 4HF, United Kingdom
Oliver Cromwell's House.
Engraving of Oliver Cromwell
Warwick CV34 4QU, United Kingdom
Oliver Cromwell's death mask at Warwick Castle.
The execution of the bodies of Cromwell, Bradshaw, and Ireton, from a contemporaneous print.
A contemporaneous satirical view of Cromwell as a usurper of monarchical power.
Westminster, London SW1A 0AA, United Kingdom
1899 statue of Oliver Cromwell, Westminster by Hamo Thornycroft outside the Palace of Westminster.
Oliver Cromwell
Painting of Oliver Cromwell
Portrait of Cromwell's wife Elizabeth Bourchier, painted by Robert Walker.
Elizabeth Claypole, Oliver's daughter
Mary Cromwell, Oliver's daughter
Bridget Cromwell, Oliver's daughter
Richard Cromwell, Oliver's son
Oliver, Oliver's son
Henry Cromwell, Oliver's son
(This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 18...)
This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 1861 edition by Bernhard Tauchnitz, Leipzig.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1402177232/?tag=2022091-20
Oliver Cromwell was born on April 25, 1599, at Huntingdon. His father, Richard Cromwell, was a younger son of one of the richest men in the district, Sir Henry Cromwell of Hinchinbrook, known as the "Golden Knight." Cromwell's mother was the daughter of Sir William Steward, who managed the tithe revenues of Ely Cathedral. Little is known of Cromwell's childhood, except that his circumstances were modest.
Oliver Cromwell was sent to the local school. His schoolmaster, Dr. Beard, was a devout Calvinist; most of Cromwell's intense religious convictions were derived from Beard, whom he venerated throughout his life.
In 1616 Cromwell entered Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. He left the following year on the death of his father.
When Cromwell entered Parliament for Cambridge in 1640, England had been ruled personally by Charles I for 11 years. The King had pursued an authoritarian policy in religion and finance which had distressed many country gentlemen, including Cromwell. Furthermore, Charles had plunged into war with Scotland, which had risen in revolt when Archbishop William Laud had persuaded him to impose the English Prayer Book on the Scottish Church. The Scots rapidly defeated the King; destitute of money and at the mercy of the Scots, Charles I was forced to call Parliament.
The mood of Parliament was highly critical, and there was a closely knit body of Puritan country gentlemen and lawyers who were determined that the power of the King and the Anglican Church should be limited by Parliament. Several of Cromwell's relatives, particularly the influential John Hampden and Oliver St. John, belonged to this group, which was led by John Pym. Cromwell threw in his lot with these men. A middle-aged man without parliamentary experience, he spoke rarely, but when he did it was usually in support of extreme measures. Cromwell soon established his reputation as a firm upholder of the parliamentary cause; he was dedicated to the reform of the Church and of the court and was highly critical of the King.
By 1642 the King and Parliament had become so antagonistic that armed conflict was inevitable. At the outbreak of war in August 1642, Cromwell headed a regiment whose prime duty was to defend East Anglia. He rapidly demonstrated not only his skill as a military leader by rapid raids into royalist territory combined with skillful retreat but also his capacity to mold an effective army from his force of raw recruits.
Under the leadership of the Earl of Manchester, Cromwell's commander, regiments from other counties were brought together in a formidable body, known as the Eastern Association. In 1643 Cromwell's cavalry worsted the royalists in a number of sharp engagements - Grantham (May 13), Gainsborough (July 18), and Wincaby (October 13). These successes helped to create parliamentary supremacy in East Anglia and the Midlands. Cromwell's reputation as Parliament's most forceful general was made the next year, however, at the battle of Marston Moor (July 2, 1644), when his Ironsides routed the cavalry of Prince Rupert, the most successful royalist general. To Cromwell, whose religious convictions strengthened with every victory that he won, Marston Moor was God's work, and he wrote, "God made them stubble to our swords."
The victories in eastern England, however, were not matched by success elsewhere. After 2 years of war, the King was still in the field, and there was a growing rift between Parliament and the army. Many disliked the price paid for alliance with the Scots (acceptance of the Presbyterian form of church government), and most longed for peace. Cromwell, however, yearned for victory. He bitterly attacked the Earl of Manchester, and after complex political maneuvering, he emerged as the effective leader of the parliamentary armies. He proved his exceptional capacities as a general on June 14, 1645, when he smashed the royalists' army at Naseby in Northamptonshire. Within 12 months the royalist armies had capitulated.
In 5 years Cromwell had risen from obscurity to renown. The next 3 years taxed Cromwell's skill and faith. His army became riddled with Levellers, whose radical doctrines called for a far more democratic social structure than Cromwell and his fellow generals would tolerate. Parliament and the Scots inclined not only to peace with the King but also to a rigid form of Presbyterianism, which Cromwell disliked. He claimed to believe in toleration but excepted always Catholics and atheists.
In 1648 the royalists rose again, sided by the Scots, but in a lightning campaign, Cromwell smashed both. The republicans were then determined to bring Charles I to trial, and Cromwell did nothing to stop them. At last, agreeing that the King was "a man of blood" and should be executed, he signed Charles I's death warrant.
The execution of the King settled nothing. Legally, the House of Commons, purged to such an extent that it was called the Rump, ruled. But the army, Scotland, and Ireland were soon in rebellion. The Scottish Presbyterians proclaimed Charles II (Charles I's son) their lawful monarch, and the Irish Catholics did likewise. In England, the radicals were a rampant minority, the royalists a stunned majority, but neither had any respect for the Rump.
Cromwell suppressed the Levellers by force and then set about subduing first Ireland and then Scotland. In the former Cromwell fought a tough, bloody campaign in which the butchery of thousands of soldiers at Drogheda (September 11, 1649) and hundreds of civilians at Wexford (October 11) caused his name to be execrated in Ireland for centuries.
On June 26, 1650, Cromwell finally became commander in chief of the parliamentary armies. He moved against the Scots and got into grievous difficulties. At Dunbar in August 1650, he was pressed between the hills and the sea and was surrounded by an army of 20, 000 men. But the folly of the Scottish commander, Leslie, enabled Cromwell to snatch a victory, he thought by divine help, on September 3. The next year Charles II and his Scottish army made a spirited dash into England, but Cromwell smashed them at Worcester on September 3, 1651. At long last, the war was over and Cromwell realized that God's humble instrument had been given, for better or worse, supreme power.
For 5 years after the execution of the King, Parliament tried to formulate a new constitution. Its failure to do this so exasperated Cromwell that on April 20, 1653, he went with a handful of soldiers to the House of Commons, where he shouted at the members, "The Lord be done with you," and ordered them out.
Until his death, Cromwell tried to create a firm new constitutional base for his power. His first attempt to establish a constitution by means of a nominated Parliament in 1653 ended in disaster, so the Council of Army Officers promulgated the Instrument of Government, by which Cromwell became Protector in December 1653. He was assisted by a Council of State on whose advice he acted, for Cromwell believed sincerely in the delegation and sharing of power. For 8 months Cromwell and his Council ruled most effectively, sweeping away ancient feudal jurisdictions in Scotland and Ireland and uniting those countries with England under one Parliament, which was itself reformed. When the Parliament met in 1654, however, it soon quarreled with Cromwell over the constitution. He once more took power into his own hands and dissolved Parliament on June 22, 1655.
Cromwell's government became more authoritarian. Local government was brought under major generals, soldiers whom he could trust. This infuriated the radical left as well as the traditionalists. Again attempting to give his authority a formal parliamentary base and also needing additional revenue, Cromwell reconvened Parliament. His successes abroad and his suppression of revolts at home had greatly increased his popularity; thus when Parliament met, he was pressed to accept the crown, but after much soul-searching he refused. He took instead the title Lord Protector under a new constitution - the Humble Petition and Advice (May 25, 1657). This constitution also reestablished the House of Lords and made Cromwell king in all but name. But Cromwell was no Napoleon; there were definite limits to his personal ambition. He did not train his son Richard to be his successor, nor did he try to establish his family as a ruling dynasty. And at the height of his power, he retained his deep religious conviction that he was merely an instrument of God's purpose.
He died on September 3, 1658.
In 1776, one of the first ships commissioned to serve in the Continental Navy during the American Revolutionary War was named Oliver Cromwell.
The Cromwell Tank, a British Second World War medium weight tank first used in 1944, and a steam locomotive built by British Railways in 1951, 70013 Oliver Cromwell, were both named after Cromwell.
Other public statues of Cromwell are located in St. Ives, Cambridgeshire (Statue of Oliver Cromwell, St Ives), and Warrington, Cheshire (Statue of Oliver Cromwell, Warrington).
(This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 18...)
It was indeed Oliver Cromwell's independent-minded, highly personal Puritan religion (to which he had been "converted" as a young married man) that had brought him into the war against the king and had sustained him in every battle.
Cromwell fought hard against the more bigoted Puritans to maintain genuine freedom for the Christian religion, permitting even Episcopalians and Roman Catholics to worship in private houses. He allowed the Jews to settle in England for the first time since they had been expelled by King Edward I.
Oliver Cromwell believed in representative government (limited to men of property, however). He encouraged reform, and much of it was humane. He brought to the executive side of government a great degree of professionalism, particularly in the army and navy. Britain emerged from the Commonwealth stronger, more efficient, and more secure.
Cromwell pursued an effective foreign policy. His navy enjoyed substantial success, and the foundation of British power in the West Indies was laid by its capture of Jamaica (1655). He allied himself with France against Spain, and his army carried the day at the battles of the Dunes in 1658. These victories, combined with his dexterous handling of Scotland and brutal suppression of Ireland, made his personal ascendancy unassailable, in spite of failures in his domestic policy. But shortly after his death, Cromwell's regime collapsed, and the restoration of the monarchy followed in 1660.
Quotations:
"You have sat too long for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!"
"He who stops being better stops being good."
"I desire not to keep my place in this government an hour longer than I may preserve England in its just rights, and may protect the people of God in such a just liberty of their consciences..."
"Do not trust the cheering, for those persons would shout as much if you or I were going to be hanged."
"I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken."
"Nature can do more than physicians."
"In return for financial support will advocate admission of Jews to England; This however impossible while Charles living. Charles cannot be executed without trial on adequate grounds for which do not presently exist. Therefore advise that Charles be assassinated, but will have nothing to do with arrangements for procuring an assassin, though willing to help in his escape. [King Charles I was in prison at the time]."
Perhaps the most remarkable qualities of Cromwell were his sobriety and his self-control. His mood was usually somber, thoughtful, and deeply religious.
Physical Characteristics: Cromwell was a large man with a long, red face studded with warts.
On 22 August 1620 at St Giles-without-Cripplegate, Fore Street, London, Cromwell married Elizabeth Bourchier (1598–1665). Elizabeth's father, Sir James Bourchier, was a London leather merchant who owned extensive lands in Essex and had strong connections with Puritan gentry families there. The couple had nine children.
Elizabeth Cromwell died in 1665 and five of her nine children survived her as well as numerous grandchildren.
Elizabeth Claypole was the second daughter of Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland, and his wife, Elizabeth Cromwell, and reportedly interceded with her father for royalist prisoners.
She was born in 1638 and died in 1720.
Mary Cromwell was the third daughter of Oliver Cromwell and his wife Elizabeth Bourchier.
Bridget Cromwell was Oliver Cromwell's eldest daughter. She married General Henry Ireton and after he died General Charles Fleetwood.
Richard Cromwell was Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and one of only two commoners to become the English head of state, the other being his father, Oliver Cromwell, from whom he inherited the position.
Oliver was born in 1622 and died of typhoid fever while serving as a Parliamentarian officer in 1644.
He was born in 1621 and died while away at school in 1639.
Henry Cromwell was the fourth son of Oliver Cromwell and Elizabeth Bourchier, and an important figure in the Parliamentarian regime in Ireland.
