Oliver Cromwell, the military leader of the Parliamentary forces during the English Civil War, is considered one of the most important figures in British, Irish and European history. Cromwell was eventually victorious in the establishment of a socio-political system dominated by Parliament in what we call Constitutional Monarchy. Although he was a devout Puritan and staunch anti- Catholic, he is thought to have been relatively tolerant in religious matters but unyielding to any concessions to the absolutist tendencies of the Stuart monarch Charles I.
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| The Cromwell mural in the Loyalist-Unionist Protestant working class Shankill neighborhood (Belfast). Cromwell is still a very dividing figure and is used in for political shenanigans. The message on the mural and the detail (below) show a deep sense of pride by the Protestants in Cromwell's heavy handed treatment and massacres of Catholics |
Cromwell was a military and organizational genius who was catapulted to power through his sheer brilliance as a military leader, ruthlessness and zealous discipline that enabled him to ascend to the highest echelon of power as Lord Protector.Cromwell was born in Huntingdon, England in 1599, and was raised in a period when the country was in the midst of enormous social and religious turmoil with the Reformation, Counter Reformation and all the ensuing aftershocks. He lost his father when only 18 and was forced to look after his family, while gradually immersing himself in the Calvinistic values of Puritanism, but early on he was not a yet a “fully fledged Puritan” as he became later[1]. His religious views shaped his career and showed signs of being extremely subjective, rejecting not only Roman Catholicism, but also criticising Anglicanism and Presbyterianism[2]. He rather preferred to “wrestle with the Scriptures and other revelations of God”.[3] He eventually married the daughter of a London merchant and had nine children, and as a descendant of a minor aristocrat, he inherited some lands and became a farmer.
Cromwell was elected to Parliament in 1628 when England and Scotland were basically ruled by King Charles I who had very strong monarchical tendencies[4] and even dismissed parliament for very long periods. Moreover, many detractors felt that the King, like some of his Stuart predecessors, was “ill-serving the Protestant cause, deserting the Reformation principles and refusing to confront Most Catholic Spain”[5] and France. As Ian Paisley, the fiery Northern Irish politician said in a 1999 address to the House of Commons in Westminster, referring to the ascent of Cromwell and the political situation of that epoch:
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| Cromwellian siege and massacre at Drogheda against the Royalist Confederate forces in Ireland |
“No one has suffered more by such diabolical treatment than Oliver Cromwell. At the beginning of the seventeenth century our nation was on a steep decline which it seemed would inevitably plunge her into the overwhelming gulf of Rome. The Stuart monarchs were the leaders in that apostasy. Charles I (1625) was more opposed to the Bible and more inclined to tradition and hierarchy than James I (1603), Charles II more so than Charles I, while James I surpassed all his predecessors”.[6]
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| Cromwell during the battle of Marston Moor in July 2, 1644 (First English civil War) |
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| The execution of deposed King Charles I, defeated by the Parliamentarian forces under Cromwell |
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| Oliver Cromwell |
This was a less successful phase for Cromwell’s career, as he attempted to rule with a wide support, but was able to hold onto power by the sheer force of the army. He had in fact become a military dictator[8], even though he refused to ascend to the throne himself and remained true to his democratic principles. From 1640 until his death various Parliaments were formed and dissolved proving a very difficult rapport of the existing forces. Cromwell ruled as Lord Protector from 1653to 1658 and is generally credited with rather good governance, and relative religious tolerance, despite his memory as a bloodthirsty zealot. He died in 1658 in London, of malaria and was succeeded briefly by his eldest son Richard[9]. Soon after, Charles II was restored as king but the absolutism was forever gone except in a brief period when James II tried to rule as an absolute monarch but was promptly deposed.
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| Kilkenny castle in Ireland was the center of Confederate/royalist forces stormed by Cromwell's invading forces. The castle was partly destroyed. |
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| Cromwell's death mask |
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| Cromwell's statue in London (Westminster Parliament building). He was instrumental in cementing Parliament's supremacy over the Monarchy. |
Cromwell died on September 3, 1658 in London and was initially buried at Westminster Abbey. In 1661, after the Restoration of Charles II, a corpse presumably belonging to Cromwell, was exhumed and hung up at Tyburn, where criminals were executed. The head was stuck on a pole on top of Westminster Hall, where it is known to have remained until the end of Charles II’s reign.[17] He was “maligned in life, as he was maligned in death”.[18]
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| Cromwell's attack and massacre on Drogheda, Ireland (September 1649). Hundreds were executed after their surrender to the Parliament forces, led by Protestants. |
“Cromwell knew what the Papacy really was about and was prepared to expose it and depose it at every turn... The language of Cromwell today is branded as prejudice and bigotry. Severe lessons will teach us to our cost who is right, the modern leaders in the church and state or the Puritan Colossus of the 17th century... Let me die the death of Cromwell; let my last end be like his”.[21]
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| Fake smiles as Protestant and Catholic sworn enemies sit side by side: Ian Paisley, a staunch Cromwell worshiping Unionist /Loyalist and Gerry Adams (right), president of Sinn Fein and the facto leader of the I.R.A. |
In any case, Cromwell was a unique personality, from his origins as an obscure and non- aristocrat farmer, to winning the English civil war, ruling England, Ireland and Scotland as a dictatorial ruler as Lord Protector, refusing the crown and the triumph of long lasting principles of Constitutional monarchy with the unquestioned supremacy of Parliament. The legacy of Oliver Cromwell may still be somewhat in dispute, but his enormous achievements and influence are never in doubt.
© Krikor Tersakian, June 10, Montreal, Canada
Bibliography
Durant, Will & Ariel. The Age of Louis XIV: Simon & Schuster, New York, 1963.
Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online Kilkenny. 2011. Web. 12 Jun. 2011.EFraser, Antonia. Cromwell, Our Chief of Men: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1997.
Foster, R.F. Modern Ireland 1600-1972: Penguin Books, New York, 1989.
Golway, Terry. “For the cause of Liberty”: Simon & Schuster, New York, 2000.
Hart, Michael. A ranking of the Most Influential: Oliver Cromwell, A&W Publisher, New York, 1978.
Paisley, Ian, Cromwell address: www.ianpaisley.org/article.asp?ArtKey=cromwell
A Loyalist (protestant) mural in the 
A republican mural 
The most famous mural of Belfast:The iconic Bobby Sands (Falls Road, next to the