Oliver Cromwell
Subject Knowledge: Background
Subject Knowledge: Cromwell in Ireland
Subject Knowledge: Cromwell in Scotland
Subject Knowledge: The Protectorate
Subject Knowledge: Consequences of Oliver Cromwell's rule
Subject Knowledge: Interpretations of Oliver Cromwell
- Cromwell was a small landowner from Cambridgeshire. In his 30s, he became committed to Puritanism- English Protestants who wanted a 'purer' version of Christianity distancing it from existing Catholicism.
- In 1640, he became a Member of Parliament, and supported those MPs who opposed the king.
- He joined Parliament's side when the Civil War broke out. He was a good cavalry commander, skilled in commanding soldiers mounted on horseback, although he was never in charge of the army. At the Battle of Marston Moor, Cromwell helped defeat the Royalist army by attacking them at tea-time. He was also criticised for recruiting men 'of low birth'.
- As the war went on Cromwell became increasingly angry with the Parliamentary leaders. He accused them of not trying hard enough to defeat King Charles.
- He was one of a 'War Party' of MPs in Parliament. In 1645 they forced through the Self-Denying Ordinance- this made every man who was an MP resign from the army. This meant the army was independent of Parliament.
- The creation of the 'New Model Army'- a well-trained, well-equipped, well-disciplined, well-organised army, with officers chosen for ability rather than social standing. It was politically open to new ideas and most soldiers were Puritans and so they supported Cromwell.
- After the New Model Army defeated Charles I, there were three powers in the country trying to negotiate the peace- the king, the Parliament and the army.
- Cromwell and his son-in-law Henry Ireton suggested a settlement called the 'Heads of the Proposals'.
- When Charles I started the Second Civil War, Cromwell resolved to bring 'that man of blood' to justice. He was one of the people who signed the legal authority for Charles I's execution.
Subject Knowledge: Cromwell in Ireland
- There had been problems in Ireland since the Catholic Irish had rebelled and massacred Protestant settlers in 1641.
- About 4,000 Protestants had been killed, but Parliament put the figure nearer 200,000. As a consequence Cromwell- who thought Catholic beliefs were wrong- went to do a 'great work against the barbarous and blood thirsty Irish'.
- Cromwell spent just nine months in Ireland.
- He captured the town of Drogheda in Ireland in September 1649. His troops massacred nearly 3,500 people, including 2,700 royalist soldiers, all the men in the town with weapons and probably also some civilians, prisoners and priests.
- At the siege of Wexford in October 1649, 2,000 Irish soldiers and perhaps 1,500 civilians were killed.
- Many historians accuse Cromwell of: slaughtering civilians as well as soldiers, transporting many Irish Catholics as slaves to the West Indies, give Catholics' land to Protestant settlers and exiling the Irish to poor land in Connacht in the west of Ireland.
- Other historians point out that: Cromwell ordered his mean not to kill civilians and hanged those who did; Cromwell refused to show mercy to the people of Drogheda as the laws of war allowed at the time, because they had refused to surrender. He wrote later that he gave the order only to stop bloodshed in the long run; there is little evidence that he ever sent slaves to the West Indies; Cromwell left Ireland two years before the Act for the Settlement of Ireland (1652) which confiscated Catholics' lands.
Subject Knowledge: Cromwell in Scotland
- Cromwell returned from Ireland in May 1650. He defeated the Scots at the Battle of Dunbar (September 1650), and finally defeated the royalist army at the Battle of Worcester (September 1651).
- The Parliamentary army destroyed Dundee, killing 2000 of the inhabitants and they were accused of transporting many Scottish prisoners as slaves to the West Indies.
Subject Knowledge: The Protectorate
- After the execution of Charles, England was ruled by a small group of MPs called the 'Rump'.
- After three years, they had still not agreed to call a new Parliament and therefore England was still ruled without one.
- In April 1653, Cromwell and 40 musketeers, soldiers armed with guns, marched into the Rump Parliament and closed it down.
- At first, Cromwell tried calling what was known as the 'Barebones Parliament', and also the 'Parliament of Saints' but it was dissolved as some of its members were seen as too radical.
- In December 1653, the army declared Cromwell 'Lord Protector', and gave him almost the powers of a king in 1657.
- Central Government: Cromwell dismissed both his Parliaments, which he regarded as too radical. He refused a petition to make himself king.
- Local Government: He set up a system of 'Major- Generals', who ran the country as a military dictatorship until 1657.
- Religion: Parish priests had to be Puritans. He tried to allow people to believe what they wanted in their own homes with the exception of Catholics. He invited Jewish people to return to England. He is often described as a 'killjoy' because he passed laws forbidding dancing, Christmas and the theatre, but he also forbade bear-biting and drunkenness. He wanted people to focus thoughtfully on the word of God.
- Foreign policy: He built up the navy, which defeated the Dutch.
- New World Colonies: He insisted colonists were allowed religious freedoms. Catholics own land there. In 1655, the British navy captured Jamaica from the Spanish.
- Cromwell died in 1658 and within a year the Protectorate collapsed. In 1660 Charles was restored as king. Cromwell's body was dug up and hanged.
Subject Knowledge: Consequences of Oliver Cromwell's rule
- Destroyed the power of the king- for which he is sometimes called the 'father of democracy'.
- Destroyed the royalist resistance and brought the Civil Wars to an end.
- Introduced Puritan religion and way of life to Britain.
- United the country in hatred of rule by the major-generals. Britain has since been hostile towards the possibility of a military dictatorship.
- Created in Ireland a long-lasting hatred of and resistance to rule from a government in London.
- Built up the British navy- this was the start of Britain's naval supremacy.
- Captured Jamaica from the Spanish- and thus began the British Empire.
- Allowed Jewish people to return to Britain.
- However, many of these consequences were temporary- the Restoration of Charles II (when Charles I son was made king) saw the return of the monarchy, the Church of England and a freer way of life.
Subject Knowledge: Interpretations of Oliver Cromwell
- At first, after the Restoration, Cromwell was understandably hated. In 1667 the Royalist writer Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, described Cromwell as 'a brave bad man'- portraying Cromwell as a genius who greatly harmed the country. For most of the 18th century, Cromwell was seen as a dictator who ruled by force.
- In the 19th century, however, the Whig historians liked Cromwell's strict mortality and strong foreign policy. They portrayed him as the hero of democracy who saved the country from the tyranny of Charles I. S R Gardiner (1902)- who was a descendent of Cromwell- declared him 'the greatest Englishman of all time'.
- Cromwell's reputation took a nose-dive in the 1930s. American historians began to see parallels between Cromwell and the military dictators such as Mussolini and Hitler.
- Cromwell the Hero? In the BBC 2002 poll, Cromwell was placed as the third greatest Briton of all time, behind Winston Churchill and IK Brunel. Earlier in 1899, a statue was erected of Cromwell outside the Houses of Parliament. Clearly some people consider Cromwell a great man. Others think he was a tyrant.
- Cromwell the Tyrant? Many historians, both Irish and English, believe that Cromwell was excessively brutal in Ireland. Many historians accuse him of the 'ethnic cleansing' (the systematic removal of a particular group of people from an area. It usually involved killing and forced movement of the people) of Catholics, and he is hated by Irish Catholics. 'The curse of Cromwell upon you' is an Irish curse.