Brief
Biography
Oliver Cromwell (1649-1658 AD)
Oliver Cromwell, born in Huntingdon in 1599, was a strict
Puritan with a Cambridge education when he went to London to represent his
family in Parliament. Clothed conservatively , he possessed a Puritan fervor
and a commanding voice, he quickly made a name for himself by serving in both
the Short Parliament (April 1640) and the Long Parliament (August 1640 through
April 1660).
Charles I, pushing his finances to bankruptcy and trying to
force a new prayer book on Scotland, was badly beaten by the Scots, who
demanded £850 per day from the English until the two sides reached
agreement. Charles had no choice but to summon Parliament. The Long Parliament,
taking an aggressive stance, steadfastly refused to authorize any funding until
Charles was brought to heel. The Triennial Act of 1641 assured the summoning of
Parliament at least every three years, a formidable challenge to royal
prerogative. The Tudor institutions of fiscal feudalism (manipulating
antiquated feudal fealty laws to extract money), the Court of the Star Chamber
and the Court of High Commission were declared illegal by Act of Parliament
later in 1641. A new era of leadership from the House of Commons (backed by
middle class merchants, tradesmen and Puritans) had commenced. Parliament
resented the insincerity with which Charles settled with both them and the
Scots, and despised his links with Catholicism.
1642 was a banner year for
Parliament. They stripped Charles of the last vestiges of prerogative by
abolishing episcopacy, placed the army and navy directly under parliamentary
supervision and declared this bill become law even if the king refused his
signature. Charles entered the House of Commons (the first king to do so),
intent on arresting John Pym, the leader of Parliament and four others, but the
five conspirators had already fled, making the king appear inept. Charles
travelled north to recruit an army and raised his standard against the forces
of Parliaments (Roundheads) at Nottingham on August 22, 1642.
England was
again embroiled in civil war. Cromwell added sixty horses to the Roundhead
cause when war broke out. In the 1642 Battle at Edge Hill, the Roundheads were
defeated by the superior Royalist (Cavalier) cavalry, prompting Cromwell to
build a trained cavalry. Cromwell proved most capable as a military leader. By
the Battle of Marston Moor in 1644, Cromwell's New Model Army had routed
Cavalier forces and Cromwell earned the nickname "Ironsides" in the process.
Fighting lasted until July 1645 at the final Cavalier defeat at Naseby. Within
a year, Charles surrendered to the Scots, who turned him over to Parliament. By
1646, England was ruled solely by Parliament, although the king was not
executed until 1649.
English society splintered into many factions:
Levellers (intent on eradicating economic castes), Puritans, Episcopalians,
remnants of the Cavaliers and other religious and political radicals argued
over the fate of the realm. The sole source of authority rest with the army,
who moved quickly to end the debates. In November 1648, the Long Parliament was
reduced to a "Rump" Parliament by the forced removal of 110 members of
Parliament by Cromwell's army, with another 160 members refusing to take their
seats in opposition to the action. The remainder, barely enough for a quorum,
embarked on an expedition of constitutional change. The Rump dismantled the
machinery of government, most of that, remained loyal to the king, abolishing
not only the monarchy, but also the Privy Council, Courts of Exchequer and
Admiralty and even the House of Lords. England was ruled by an executive
Council of State and the Rump Parliament, with various sub-committees dealing
with day-to-day affairs. Of great importance was the administration in the
shires and parishes: the machinery administering such governments was left
intact; ingrained habits of ruling and obeying harkened back to monarchy.
With the death of the ancient constitution and Parliament in control,
attention was turned to crushing rebellions in the realm, as well as in Ireland
and Scotland. Cromwell forced submission from the nobility, muzzled the press
and defeated Leveller rebels in Burford. Annihilating the more radical elements
of revolution resulted in political conservatism , which eventually led to the
restoration of the monarchy.
Cromwell's army slaughtered over forty percent
of the indigenous Irishmen, who clung unyieldingly to Catholicism and loyalist
sentiments; the remaining Irishmen were forcibly transported to County
Connaught with the Act of Settlement in 1653. Scottish Presbyterians fought for
a Stuart restoration, in the person of Charles II, but were handily defeated,
ending the last remnants of civil war. The army then turned its attention to
internal matters. The Rump devolved into a petty, self-perpetuating and
unbending oligarchy, which lost credibility in the eyes of the army. Cromwell
ended the Rump Parliament with great indignity on April 21, 1653, ordering the
house cleared at the point of a sword. The army called for a new Parliament of
Puritan saints, who proved as inept as the Rump. By 1655, Cromwell dissolved
his new Parliament, choosing to rule alone (much like Charles I had done in
1629). The cost of keeping a standard army of 35,000 proved financially
incompatible with Cromwell's monetarily strapped government. Two wars with the
Dutch concerning trade abroad added to Cromwell's financial burdens. The
military's solution was to form yet another version of Parliament. A House of
Peers was created, packed with Cromwell's supporters and with true veto power,
but the Commons proved most antagonistic towards Cromwell. The monarchy was
restored in all but name; Cromwell went from the title of Lord General of the
Army to that of Lord Protector of the Realm (the title of king was suggested,
but wisely rejected by Cromwell when a furor arose in the military ranks).
The Lord Protector died on September 3, 1658, naming his son Richard as
successor. With Cromwell's death, the Commonwealth floundered and the monarchy
was restored only two years later. The failure of Cromwell and the Commonwealth
was founded upon Cromwell being caught between opposing forces. His attempts to
placate the army, the nobility, Puritans and Parliament resulted in the
alienation of each group. Leaving the political machinery of the parishes and
shires untouched under the new constitution was the height of inconsistency;
Cromwell, the army and Parliament were unable to make a clear separation from
the ancient constitution and traditional customs of loyalty and obedience to
monarchy. Lacey Baldwin Smith cast an astute judgment concerning the aims of
the Commonwealth: "When Commons was purged out of existence by a military force
of its own creation, the country learned a profound, if bitter, lesson:
Parliament could no more exist without the crown than the crown without
Parliament. The ancient constitution had never been King and Parliament but
King in Parliament; when one element of that mystical union was destroyed, the
other ultimately perished."
Cromwell
Portrait Gallery
Useful
Links
http://www.cromwell.argonet.co.uk/
Everything Cromwell!
http://www.forerunner.com/champion/X0004_3._Oliver_Cromwell.html
Cromwell and Knox
http://mars.wnec.edu/~grempel/courses/wc2/lectures/cromwell.html
More biography
http://www.cromwell-intl.com/oliver/
Life and quotes - for students.
http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/Exhibitions/Cromwell/cromwell.htm
Exhibition - lots of stuff.
http://www.thebigbus.com/ All sorts
of stuff - even a theory that he was murdered!