OLIVER CROMWELL 1599 – 1658

            Oliver Cromwell was the leader in the Eng­lish Revolution (1640-1660) and the first commoner to rule England. Cromwell gov­erned as Lord Protector from 1653 to 1658 under England’s only written constitution, the Instrument of Government*.

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*Instrument of Government — English constitution of 1653-1657 which established a Protectorate, with Oliver Cromwell at its head.

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               During the English Civil War (1642-1648), Cromwell rose from obscurity on the basis of his de­vout Calvinism, natural military genius, and forceful personality. These characteristics helped him hold together the competing groups that had overthrown King Charles I in the first phase of the Civil War. Cromwell conquered Ireland and Scotland, made Eng­land a feared military power in Europe, and expanded its overseas empire. He refused to rule without constitutional authority. His civilian government introduced electoral reform, moderate religious toleration, and the first truly British Parliament. The rev­olution that he guided did not survive him, and after a period of political chaos he was succeeded by the restoration of Charles II to the throne.

                 Cromwell was born at Huntington in Cen­tral England, on April 25, 1599, in a minor branch of a once-prosperous family. He was educated in the local grammar school and spent a year at Calvinist-dominated Sidney Sussex College at the University of Cam­bridge. His father’s death interrupted his studies, and he returned home to care for his mother and to manage his meager in­heritance. In 1620 Cromwell married Eliza­beth Bourchier, daughter of a prominent London merchant, and they lived a quiet life together, first in Huntington and then in St Ives in Cambridgeshire. Cromwell did not prosper in these years; while he could claim the rank of a gentleman in Hunting­ton, he had to rent land in St Ives, and his income declined as his family grew. In 1636 he inherited from an uncle both lands and minor office in the eastern cathedral town of Ely. Cromwell became an able estate man­ager and an efficient tax collector. His for­tunes grew, and by 1640 he was one of Ely’s wealthiest men.

                    It was during these years of struggle that Cromwell experienced a religious conversion in he came to believe that he had been cho­sen for eternal salvation. This conversion decisively changed his life. Following his conversion, Cromwell strengthened ties with friends and relation who shared his religious outlook. He became part of a network of peo­ple discontented with the government of Charles I, who they believed was ruling in an arbitrary manner and was not doing enough to suppress Roman Catholics. For 11 years Charles had governed without calling Parliament, and when he was forced to do so in 1640 to raise money to put down a rebel­lion in Scotland, Cromwell and his friends sought selection to Parliament. When Par­liament convened, they entered the House of Commons ready to challenge the king.

                From the beginning of this Parliament, which became known as the Long Parlia­ment, Crowell was among a group of mem­bers known as the fiery spirits. He was prominent in debates and on committees, and was especially concerned about a Cath­olic conspiracy against the Protestant church. As relations between the king and Parliament worsened, Cromwell volunteered to raise forces in his home counties, despite his lack of military experience.

                   In 1642, as the First Civil War began, Cromwell took up arms against the king along with other members of Parliament. His first military action was at the indeci­sive Battle of Edgehill (the first battle of the English Civil War) in October. In the following year he was made colonel of a cav­alry regiment, which he led to successive victories. Cromwell quickly achieved a rep­utation as an effective military administra­tor, as well as a fierce fighter, and in 1644 he achieved the rank of lieutenant general of horse in the army of his kinsman, the Earl of Manchester. In July of that year, he made a decisive contribution to the victory of Parliament’s forces at Marston Moor. The Royalists were completely defeated.

                 He eventually had a falling-out with Man­chester, who Cromwell felt was relaxing his efforts against the king, and Cromwell re­turned to Parliament to argue for an inten­sive commitment to the war. Cromwell’s ap­peals led to the creation of the New Model Army in 1645, which eliminated members of Parliament from army commands. Cromwell was the only member of Parliament who returned to the army. He did so as second in command, at the insistence of the army’s new commander, Sir Thomas Fairfax (1612-1671). Cromwell became general of cavalry under Fairfax and played the principal role in de­feating the king at the Battle of Naseby in 1645, which effectively ended the First Civil War, although fighting continued for anoth­er year before Charles escaped to Scotland. In January 1647, the Scots returned Charles top England.

                 Cromwell was now a hero among those who supported Parliament. He was also one of the few army leaders who supported the more radical religious groups demanding that the established Church of England be abolished and replaced with a far less or­thodox church. After the war ended, many members of the House of commons were more conservative then the army, these were mainly Presbyterians*, who supported a more rigid church structure than Cromwell did.

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*Presbyterianism is the system of Christian Protestant church government which gives its name to the established Church of Scotland. There is no compulsory form of worship and each congregation is governed by presbyters or elders (cleri­cal or lay), who are of equal rank.

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              They were afraid of the army’s power and wanted to disband it. They also sought to strip Cromwell of his command to pre­vent him from extending the fighting to Ireland, where Catholics were revolting against the English.

              Cromwell was prepared to return to civil­ian life, but political agitation within the army gave him new prominence. Soldiers were worried about receiving their back pay, and they were angry because the Presbyte­rians in the House of Commons refused to honor them for their loyal service. Through­out the spring of 1647 Cromwell acted as mediator between elected representatives of the soldiers and the House of Commons, which was attempting to disband the irate army. When the struggle between the army and Parliament could not be resolved, Cromwell threw in his lot with the soldiers. His presence served to restore discipline and moderate the demands of the angry troops, and he was able to prevent a mutiny.

                Cromwell was now the prominent military commander in England. As such, he was involved in the intense debates regarding what form of government England should have and who should be allowed to vote. An important debate took place in the town of Putney in October 1647 and involved members of the army and the Levellers, a radical political group demanding franchise reform, religious toleration, and the over­throw of the monarchy. During the debates, Cromwell and his son-in-law, English Civil War general Henry Ireton (1611-1651), successfully faced down the Levellers.

              In 1647 Charles, who had refused to agree to settlement demands made by Parliament and the army, escaped to the Isle of Wight and made an alliance with the Scots to in­vade England. This led to the start of the Second Civil War. Cromwell again united the army and put down an attack in Wales before defeating the Scots in the bloody Battle of Preston in August 1648.

             The Second Civil War had a powerful im­pact on Cromwell. His victories convinced him that had been chosen by God as an in­strument for great work. He changed his position regarding the king. Previously Cromwell had believed that the king should be restored to the throne with limited pow­er, but he realized now the king could not be trusted. He also hardened his position against his opponents in the House of Com­mons, who wanted to treat leniently the Royalists who participated in the Second Civil War. Nevertheless, Cromwell did not take part in either the drafting of the Army Remonstrance in October 1648, which demanded Charles I be tried, or in Pride’s Purge*, which expelled from the Commons those who still wished to negotiate with the king.

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*Pride’s purge — the removal of about 100 Royalists and Pres­byterians of the English House of Commons from Parliament by a detachment of soldiers led by Thomas Pride in 1648.

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       The remaining members were known as the Rump Parliament^*.

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*Rump Parliament — English Parliament formed between De­cember 1648 and November 1653 after Pride’s purge of the Long Parliament to ensure a majority in favour of trying Charles I. It was dismissed in 1653 by Cromwell, who replaced it with the Barebone's Parliament, English assembly called Cromwell to replace the Rump Parliament in July 1653.

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                  Cromwell remained in the north of Eng­land until the purge was completed. When he finally arrived back in London, he was committed to the king’s trial and execu­tion, as well as to the abolition of the House of Lords. He was an active member of the High Court of Justice set up for the king’s trial and boldly signed the king’s death warrant. For Cromwell, Charles’s execution was a divine judgment against a tyrant. Following the king’s execution, the Com­monwealth of England was formed, ruled by a Council of State that included mem­bers of the Rump Parliament.

            For the next two years Cromwell remained a soldier in service to the state. The new Commonwealth had powerful enemies, es­pecially in Ireland and Scotland, were Charles II, son of Charles I, was proclaimed king. In 1649 Cromwell crushed a Leveller mutiny in the army by soldiers who did not want to fight in Ireland and two believed their interests were being sold out. He then reorganized his forces and went to Ireland, where Catholics still held power. He con­ducted a brutal campaign against Irish sol­diers and civilians alike to shatter Catholic power.

              The following year Cromwell was elevated to supreme military commander, and the army stormed into Scotland to prevent the Royalists from invading England. Cromwell won one of his greatest victories against overwhelming odds at Dunbar on September 3, 1650; exactly a year later he defeated the combined forces of the Scots and Charles II at Worcester. Cromwell was now regarded as the savior of the Commonwealth.

                 Upon his return to London, Cromwell quick­ly became entangled in political controver­sies. The army was again seeking reforms, including an extension of the franchise and new Parliamentary election. The Rump Par­liament had good intentions, but its mem­bers were divided over specific programmes and unable to achieve the reforms the army was seeking. They refused to provide for new parliamentary elections, and by 1653 the army was again pressuring for the overthrow of Parliament. Cromwell had consistently opposed military rule, but he also opposed the continuation of the Rump. In 1653 he brought a troop of soldiers into the House of Commons and forcibly evicted its members. This action seemed to place Cromwell at the head of a revolutionary government, but he at first refused to accept such a position. Instead, he was involved in nominating a Parliament to replace the Rump; its mem­bers were chosen from among army support­ers and London’s Puritan* congregations.

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*Puritan — from 1654, a member of the Church of England who wished to eliminate Roman Catholic survivals in church ritual, or substitute a Presbyterian for an Episcopal from of church government.

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                 This Nominated Parliament, or Barebone’s Parliament, as it was called, was no more able to achieve necessary legal, religious, or social reforms than the Rump.

             Although Cromwell had summoned the Nom­inated Parliament into existence, he took no active role in its proceedings and was him­self surprised in December 1653 when a par­liamentary delegation arrived to place pow­er in his hands. Cromwell again refused to establish a military government and support­ed a plan developed by General John Lam­bert (1619-1684) for a written constitution, the Instrument of Government. Lambert had hoped a king would head the new govern­ment, but Cromwell refused to accept the crown and was instead named Lord Protec­tor. He ruled as head of the military with a Council of state and a Parliament that met every three years and included members from England, Scotland, and Ireland. The protec­tor’s powers were broadly defined, especial­ly in military and foreign affairs.

            These broad powers offended the republi­cans who were elected to the first protectoral Parliament in 1654. The republicans were supporters of the original Rump Parliament and believed parliament was the only con­stitutional authority. In their view, the In­strument of Government was not valid be­cause it came from army leaders and not from representatives of the people. Further­more, they thought the Lord Protector was too much like a dictator. They attacked Cromwell and the constitution, and Cromwell dissolved Parliament before it undermined the government.

            Cromwell attempted to establish many of the reforms that Puritans had been demand­ing throughout the revolutionary decades. These included religious toleration and stricter morals. He was willing to tolerate all but the most extreme religious sects, enforced the stricter moral code established during the commonwealth, and even closed theaters. None of these Puritan policies enjoyed widespread support, and from the first, the Protectorate was a minority gov­ernment. In 1655 renewed Royalist upris­ing led Cromwell to appoint military gover­nors, known as generals, in 11 regions, but this experiment was so unpopular that it was discontinued after a year.

                The main success Cromwell experienced as Lord Protector was military. A naval war with Spain in 1657 resulted in the capture of Jamaica in the west Indies and the sei­zure of the Spanish treasure fleet. Cromwell’s government settled a trade war with the Dutch, making English merchant ships se­cure in colonial waters. Under Admiral Rob­ert Blake (1599-1657), the English navy be­came a great international power, and Cromwell supported the building of new warships. His alliance with France resulted in the capture of Dunkirk, then a Spanish possession in northern France. Once again England had a foothold on the continent.

              These triumphs softened criticism of the Pro­tectorate, but the Parliament called in the autumn of 1656 continued to attack the In­strument of Government. In the Humble Pe­tition and Advice, members of Parliament pre­sented Cromwell with a new constitution that included an upper house, like the former House of Lords, and again requested that he accept the crown. He agreed to create what was called the Other House and appointed army officers and officeholders to it, but again refused to be king. Nevertheless, his govern­ment took on the look of a royal court, and on his deathbed he nominated his eldest son, Richard Cromwell, to succeed him. Cromwell died on September 3, 1658, the anniversary of two of his great military triumphs.

               Rarely has one individual so characterized his age as Oliver Cromwell. A minor gentle­man, he represented the rise of that class against the power of the great nobles and the king. A devout Puritan, he represented the religious passions of his generation and their contradictory desires for both stricter morality and greater liberty of conscience. A great military leader, he captured the im­agination of the English people, who longed for an able ruler to recapture their coun­try’s glory and power. A member of Parlia­ment as well as an army leader, he held these two vital elements together in the days lead­ing to the execution of Charles I and the establishment of the Commonwealth, and then during the Protectorate. As a general he was universally successful, but as a poli­tician he experienced more frustration than achievement. His government enjoyed little support, even from those who had fought against the his efforts to establish stability after 15 years of civil war came to nothing. He refused to rule as a military dictator but struggled to rule as a constitutional officer. The revolution that he, more than anyone, had made possible could not survive his death, and in 1660 the monarchy was re­stored in England with Charles II taking the throne.