Oliver Cromwell (April 25 1599 – September 3 1658) was an English military leader, politician, and dictator, and one of only two commoners ever to have been the English Head of State (from 1653-1658; the other being his son Richard Cromwell from 1658-1659). After being amongst the lower levels of the leadership of the war against the crown, he rose to command the Army and eventually to impose his rule on England, Scotland, and Ireland as Lord Protector, from December 16 1653 until his death, which is believed to have been by malaria. After the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660 his body was exhumed and hung in chains at Tyburn.

Cromwell was born in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire. He studied at Sidney Sussex College Cambridge, which was then a recently-founded college with a strong Puritan ethos. However, he left without taking a degree, probably due to the death of his father.

At the outset of the English Civil War, Cromwell began his military career by raising a cavalry troop, which became the basis of the horse of the New Model Army. Prince Rupert gave Cromwell the nickname of "Old Ironsides" which later historians have applied to his Regiment of Horse. Cromwell's success on both wings of the field at the Battle of Marston Moor (in 1644) brought him to great prominence amongst certain parties in London. The 1645 Self-Denying Ordinance, which disallowed members of parliament from serving in the army, should have brought an end to his military career. He was, however, specifically exempted from its provisions by the Committee of Both Kingdoms, the executive body set up to co-ordinate the war against the king. His command was extended by a series of forty day commissions. This was to continue until 1647, when he was finally confirmed as Lieutenant-General. On the resignation of Sir Thomas Fairfax in 1650 Cromwell was appointed as commander-in-chief of the New Model Army. Although sincere in his belief in parliamentary rule, political circumstances, and his reliance on the army as a power base eventually transformed him into Britain's only military dictator.

Family

---

Oliver Cromwell was descended from Catherine Cromwell (born circa 1482), an older sister of Tudor statesman Thomas Cromwell. Catherine was married to Morgan ap Williams, son of William ap Yevan of Wales and Joan Tudor. There is speculation that Joan was an illegitimate daughter of Jasper Tudor, 1st Duke of Bedford.

Although Catherine married, her children kept her name; possibly to maintain their connection with their famous uncle. The family line continued through Richard Cromwell (c. 1500–1544), Henry Cromwell (c. 1524–January 6 1603), then to Oliver's father Robert Cromwell, Esquire (c. 1560–1617), who married Elizabeth Steward or Stewart (1564–1654) on April 25, 1599, the day of Oliver's birth.

Another interesting feature of the Cromwell bloodline is that the mother's maiden name, as an alternative to the argument above, might have been kept as the surname for a different purpose: to disguise the male side of the family's heritage, instead of merely accentuating the female's side from Thomas Cromwell. This heritage goes through the Tudors, de Valois, and Wittelsbach—three royal dynasties of England, France, and the Holy Roman Empire, respectively.

Cromwell's alleged paternal ancestor, Jasper Tudor, was a younger brother of Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond, uncle to his son Henry VII of England, and son of Owen Tudor and Catherine of Valois, daughter of Charles VI of France and Isabeau of Bavaria. However, the descent of Oliver Cromwell from Jasper is unverified and is doubtful in view of the tendency of Cromwell's supporters to fabricate claims of his descent from the Royal line. This also occurred with the claim that Cromwell's ancestors on his mother's side could be traced back to a Scottish Stuart (from Stewart and originally Steward) prince shipwrecked on the Norfolk coast in 1406. This claim for a Scottish royal "pedigree" was unfounded, as Cromwell's Steward ancestors actually descended from the Skywards (or Stywards) of Calais.

The Thomas Cromwell genealogy lineage shows Katherine Cromwell's descent from the Earl of Arundel; however it mistakenly gives descent from William d'Aubigny, 3rd Earl of Arundel instead of William d'Aubigny, 4th Earl of Arundel and Mabel of Chester, daugther of Hugh de Kevelioc, 3rd Earl of Chester (see Earl of Chester for lineage from King Henry I of England). Likewise a nephew of Katherine Cromwell had been married to Elizabeth Seymour a sister of Queen Jane Seymour; also an aunt of Oliver Cromwell was the mother of Edward Whalley.

On 22 August 1620, Cromwell married Elizabeth Bourchier (1598-1665), the daughter of London merchant Sir James Bourchier. They had five sons and four daughters; only son James did not survive infancy.

Member of Parliament

---

Having decided against following an uncle to Virginia, Cromwell instead became the Member of Parliament for Huntingdon in the Parliament of 1628–1629. His maiden speech was the defence of a radical democrat, who had argued in an unauthorised pamphlet in favour of "giving the vote to all men." Oliver was also prominent in defending the people of The Fens from wealthy landowners, who wanted to drive them off their land, 'improve' it by draining the marshland, and take their cut.

Charles I ruled without a Parliament for the next eleven years (having dissolved Parliament, of which Cromwell was a member, in 1629). During this time he alienated many people with his policies of raising extra-parliamentary taxes, and introducing ever more ritual and ceremony into the Church of England, a policy associated with William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury . When King Charles was facing a Scottish rebellion known as the Bishop's War, and forced by shortage of funds to call a Parliament again in 1640, Oliver Cromwell was one of many MPs who bitterly opposed voting for any new taxes, until the King agreed to govern with the consent of Parliament on both civil and religious issues. Failure to resolve these issues led to armed conflict breaking out between Parliamentarians and Royalists in the autumn of 1642. Support for Parliament tended to be concentrated in London, the South-East and the Midlands, whereas the Royalists gathered most of their support from the North, the West Country and Wales.

Cromwell was a passionate supporter of Parliament, on both religious and political grounds. Although not an accomplished speaker, he was prominent in the Parliamentary cause from the outset, making up in courage and conviction what he lacked by way of art and polish. Cromwell was related to a significant number of members of Parliament by blood or marriage. His views were later to be highly influential, although prior to the War he had been a figure of no great distinction. He did not become a leader of the Parliamentary cause until after the first civil war, when his military ability had brought him to prominence.

Although he was later involved in the King's overthrow and execution, Cromwell did not start the civil war as a radical republican; rather, he did so with the intention of forcing Charles to reign with the consent of Parliament, and with a more consensual, Protestant, religious policy.

Religious beliefs

---

Cromwell's understanding of religion and politics were very closely intertwined. Cromwell was a committed Puritan, and as such an opponent of the High Church innovations of Charles and Archbishop Laud. His main point of reference was the Bible, and he placed considerable emphasis throughout his life on liberty of conscience. He strongly believed that all "true" Christians (from which he excluded Roman Catholics) had a right to worship as they pleased. He welcomed followers of many radical sects into the ranks of his New Model Army, including Anabaptists and Fifth Monarchists and gave them toleration during his Protectorate. As Protector, he disestablished the Church of England and abolished the Anglican Hierarchy. He also re-admitted Jews into England in this period and tolerated the practice of their religion. One of the main reasons for Cromwell's opposition to Charles I before the Civil Wars was the persecution of radical Protestant groups.

He was passionately opposed to the Roman Catholic Church, which he saw as denying the primacy of the Bible in favour of Papal and Clerical authority, and which he blamed for tyranny and persecution of Protestants in Europe. Cromwell's feelings of association between Catholicism and persecution were deepened with the Irish Rebellion of 1641. This rebellion was marked by massacres by Irish Catholics of English and Scottish Protestant settlers, which were wildly exaggerated in Puritan circles in Britain. This would be one of the reasons why Cromwell acted so harshly in his later military campaign in Ireland. Addressing the Irish defenders of New Ross in 1649, while negotiating the surrender of the town, Cromwell stated, "if by liberty of conscience you mean the liberty to exercise the Mass... where the Parliament of England has authority, that will not be allowed of." In a letter to the Irish Catholic Bishops later that year he wrote, "you are part of the Anti-Christ and before long you must have, all of you, blood to drink."

He became associated with the Independents, those who argued for religious freedom for all Protestants in a post-war settlement. His belief in both liberty of conscience and liberty of congregations caused him to reject the Scottish model of Presbyterianism, which threatened to replace one authoritarian hierarchy with another.

Finally, Cromwell was also a firm believer in "Providentialism" - the belief that God was actively directing the affairs of the world, through the actions of 'chosen people' (whom God had "provided" for such purposes). Cromwell believed, during the Civil Wars, that he was one of these people, and he interpreted victories as indications of God's approval of his actions, and defeats as signs that God was directing him in another direction.

Military Commander

---

Before joining the Parliamentary Army, Cromwell's only military experience was in the trained bands, the local county militia. Now 43 years old he recruited a cavalry troop in his home County after blocking a shipment of silver meant for the king. The troop was recruited to be a full regiment in the winter of 1642/3 and Cromwell gained experience and victories in a number of successful actions in East Anglia and then at the major Battle of Marston Moor and the indecisive second Battle of Newbury. His experience at Newbury led to a serious dispute with the Earl of Manchester, the commander of the Eastern Association, whom he believed to be less than enthusiastic in his conduct of the war. Manchester later accused Cromwell of recruiting men of 'low birth' into the army, to which he famously replied: "I would rather have a plain russet-coated captain who knows what he fights for and loves what he knows than that which you call a gentleman and is nothing else."

Cromwell had no formal training in military tactics, but possesed an instinctive gift of leadership. His troops came to respect his bravery and concern for their well-being, an important development in their later trust for him.

After Parliament passed the Self-Denying Ordinance-which removed lukewarm soldiers like Manchester from command-it also decreed that the army be 'remodeled' on a national basis, replacing the old county associations. In June 1645 the New Model Army finally took to the field, with Fairfax in command and Cromwell as Lieutenant-General of cavalry, and second-in-command. Cromwell led his wing with great success at the ensuing Battle of Naseby. Unlike Fairfax, Cromwell was first and foremost a politician; and victory here and elsewhere was to become the real basis of his ascent to power.

By the end of the first civil war King Charles I was a prisoner of the Parliament. Failure to conclude a political agreement with the king eventually led to the outbreak of the Second Civil War in 1648. At Preston, Cromwell, in sole command for the first time, won a brilliant victory against the Scots allies of the king. His later successful conquests of Ireland and Scotland also showed his mastery of logistics in protracted campaigns in hostile territory.

Execution of the king

---

The Parliamentarians, including Cromwell, hoped to reach a compromise settlement with Charles I. However, Charles would not accept a solution at odds with his own concept of "Divine right" kingship. The renewal of the civil war convinced Cromwell that no future compromise with the King was possible. Cromwell came under pressure from the radicals among his own officers to put the King on trial for his life. For them he was "Charles Stuart, that man of blood." In December 1648, those MPs who wished to continue negotiations with the King were prevented from sitting by a troop of soldiers headed by Colonel Thomas Pride, an episode soon to be known as Pride's Purge. Those remaining, known as the 'Rump', agreed that Charles should be tried on a charge of treason. A court was duly constituted, and the death warrant for Charles was eventually signed by 59 of its members, including Cromwell. Charles was executed on 30 January 1649. This was the first time a monarch had ever been publicly executed in recorded history. Cromwell did not have long to dwell on the future form of government in England, however, as he immediately left the country to crush the remaining Royalist strongholds in Ireland and Scotland, which had allied themselves with Charles.

Ireland and Scotland

---

See also: Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, Irish Confederate Wars, and Scottish Civil War.

In a series of campaigns fought between 1649 and 1651 Cromwell successfully conquered both Scotland and Ireland. His sometimes brutal suppression in 1649 of the Royalists in Ireland still has a strong resonance for many Irish people. The most enduring symbol of this brutality is the siege of Drogheda in September 1649. The massacre of nearly 3,500 people in Drogheda after its capture — comprising around 2,700 Royalist soldiers and all the men in the town carrying arms, including some civilians, prisoners, and Catholic priests — is one of the historical memories that has fuelled Irish-English and Catholic-Protestant strife for over three centuries.

Ireland

Cromwell's nine month military campaign in Ireland was brief and effective, but, contrary to popular impression, it did not end the war in Ireland. After his landing at Dublin in August 1649 (itself only recently secured for the Parliament at the battle of Rathmines), Cromwell took the fortified port towns of Drogheda and Wexford to secure logistical supply from England. He sent a column north to Ulster to secure the north of the country and went on to besiege Waterford, Kilkenny and Clonmel in Ireland's south-east. Kilkenny surrendered on terms, as did many other towns like New Ross and Carlow, but Cromwell failed to take Waterford and at the siege of Clonmel in May 1650, he lost up to 2000 men in abortive asaults before the town surrendered. One of his major victories in Ireland was diplomatic rather than military - persuading, with the help of Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery - the Protestant Royalist troops in Cork to change sides and fight with the Parliament. At this point, word reached Cromwell that Charles II had landed in Scotland and been proclaimed king by the Covenanter regime. Cromwell therefore returned to England to counter this threat. The Parliamentarian conquest of Ireland dragged on for almost three years after Cromwell's departure. The campaigns under Cromwell's successors Henry Ireton and Edmund Ludlow mostly consisted of long sieges of fortified cities and guerrilla warfare in the countryside.

The extent of Cromwell's alleged brutality in Ireland has been strongly debated. For example, it is clear that Cromwell saw the Irish in general as enemies - he justified his sack of Drogheda as revenge for the massacres of Protestant settlers in Ulster in the Irish Rebellion of 1641, calling the massacre, "The righteous judgement of God on these barbarous wretches, who have imbued their hands with so much innocent blood"- and the records of many churches such as Kilkenny Cathedral accuse Cromwell's army of having defaced and desecrated the churches and having stabled their horses in them. On the other hand, it is also clear that on entering Ireland, Cromwell demanded that no supplies were to be seized from the inhabitants, and that everything should be fairly purchased. It has been claimed that his actual orders at Drogheda followed military protocol of the day, where a town or garrison was first given the option to surrender and receive 'just treatment', and the protection of the invading force. The refusal of the garrison at Drogheda to do this, even after the walls had been breached, meant that Cromwell's orders to 'show no mercy' in the treatment of men-of-arms was made inevitable by the standards of the day. This view has been disputed by historians. Cromwell showed no mercy as he wanted Drogheda to act as a deterrent to Irish resistance, in his own words, "it will tend to prevent further effusion of blood". Cromwell's men committed another infamous massacre at Wexford, when they broke into the town during surrender negotiations, and killed over 2,000 Irish soldiers and civilians. These two atrocities, while horrifying in their own right, were not exceptional in the war in Ireland since its start in 1641, but are well-remembered even today in part because of a concerted propaganda campaign by the Royalists, which portrayed Cromwell as a monster who indiscriminately slaughtered civilians wherever he went.

However Cromwell himself never accepted that he was responsible for the killing of civilians in Ireland, claiming that he had acted harshly, but only against those "in arms." In fact, the worst atrocities committed in Ireland, such as mass evictions, killings and deportation for slave labour to Bermuda and Barbados, were carried out by Cromwell's subordinates after he had left for England. William Petty estimated in his demographic survey of Ireland in the 1650s that the war of 1641-53 had resulted in the death or exile of over 600,000 people, or around one third of Ireland's pre-war population. In the wake of the Cromwellian conquest, the public practice of Catholicism was banned, priests were executed when captured and all Catholic-owned land was confiscated in the Act for the Settlement of Ireland 1652 and given to English settlers, the Parliament's financial creditors and Parliamentary soldiers (see Plantations of Ireland).

No matter his intentions, Cromwell was not alone in his apparent truculence towards the Irish. During the civil wars, the Parliamentarian side in particular nursed a hatred towards the Catholic Irish, who were long seen as "savages" and inferior by the English. The Royalists were less hostile, and ultimately allied themselves with the Irish Confederates - which discredited them in the eyes of many English and Scottish Protestants. While the number of victims of the massacres in Ulster during the Irish Rebellion of 1641 had been considerably exaggerated, the whole incident added to the general climate of Protestant hostility.

Scotland

Cromwell also invaded Scotland in 1650 after the Scots had proclaimed Charles I's son as Charles II. He was much less hostile to Scottish Presbyterians (some of whom had been his allies in the first Civil War) than he was to Irish Catholics, and saw them as, "His ^* people, though deceived". He made a famous appeal to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, urging them to see the error of the royal alliance-I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken. His appeal rejected, Cromwell's veteran troops went on to defeat Scottish armies at the battles of Dunbar and the Worcester. Many of the of prisoners of war taken in the campaigns died of disease, and others were sent to penal colonies in Barbados, although Cromwell himself was not responsible for any acts of cruelty towards captives. In the final stages of the Scottish campaign, Cromwell's men, under George Monck sacked the town of Dundee. During the Commonwealth, Scotland was ruled from England, and was kept under military occupation; with a line of fortifications sealing off the Highlands, which had provided manpower for Royalist armies in Scotland, from the rest of the country. Presbyterianism was allowed to be practised as before, but the Kirk (the Scottish church) did not have the backing of the civil courts to impose its rulings, as it had previously.

Cromwell's conquest, unwelcome as it was, left no lasting legacy of bitterness in Scotland. The rule of the Commonwealth and Protectorate was largely peaceful and fair, and there were no wholesale confiscations of land or property. Ireland, in contrast, saw the wholesale transfer of land from the Catholic population to Parliamentary creditors, existing Protestant settlers and veterans of the New Model Army. This created a poisonous legacy, far exceeding the memories left by the sack of Drogheda and Wexford.

Political rule

---