"Poor King Charles laid his head on
the block
JANUARY 1649
Down came the axe, and...
In the silence that followed, the
only sound that could be heard was
a solitary giggle, from.. Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector
of England
OLE
Born in 1599 and died in 1658
SEPTEMBER."ă

OLIVER CROMWELL. The unforgettable Lord Protector, whose personality still attracts our interest. This man, cousin of John Hampden, born in Huntingdon after traumatic civil war and the regicide, become Lord Protector and also the ruler of England, Scotland and Ireland. He refused to be King, but he had power like the real King had. After death he was buried in the Westminster Abbey. But let’s look at it once more and from the beginning. The future Lord Protector was born on April 25, 1599 in Huntington, near Cambridge. Cromwell’s father was the younger son of a knight and therefore they had only very little property. So, Cromwell grew up in poverty. But they had enough money for a good status in society. First Oliver studied at Huntingdon grammar school (nowadays the Cromwell Museum) than at Lincoln’s Inn. Two days before his seventeen, in 1616 Cromwell started attending the Sidney Sussex College in Cambridge. He belonged into gentry and therefore he came there not for a degree but for a polite learning. But he had studied there only one year. The result was probably the death of his father. After that event Oliver Cromwell lived quietly in small poverty and he took an active part in local political affairs. In the years 1628-29 Cromwell represented the city Huntingdon as a Member of Parliament in the Short Parliament. It is not sure, but probably he was a member of a parliament thanks to aristocratic patronage. Oliver belonged between the poorest men in the House of Commons. In that time he was still a silent Member of Parliament. After the demission of the Short parliament in 1629 he had small problems in business and therefore he moved in 1630 to St. Ives where he worked as a farmer (yeoman). After the death of his heirless uncle (mother’s brother) in 1637 Oliver inherited not very big income and a house near the Cathedral. During this time, Cromwell was still in contact with wealthy London merchants and Great puritans interested in colonial development, because his grandfather had a house one mile from Huntingdon and it was very often visited by these important people. Since 1630 Oliver Cromwell became a strict Puritan.

He changed his life and he told that he is a man waiting for God to show him the right way. The Puritan religion of Olive Cromwell was really very serious, but it was not absolutely pure. Cromwell was very often commanded by strong melancholy and therefore he often surprised to a terrible thoughts and he spent big part of his life in the states of mystic raptures. His sentimental moods much more than other Anglican man influenced him and tears very often covered his eyes. (Each evening before the battle he run out from all people and he spent a very long time with a Bible in his hands.)
The links between Cromwell and Cambridge were limited until to 1640 when he started to represent the town in a Short Parliament in April 1640 (as a well-known local puritan and more as a man with connections with Earl of Warwick and his brother Earl of Holland) and in a Long Parliament from August 1640 to April 1660. It was interesting, that he was again one of the poorest members in the House of Commons (he had to take care of widowed mother, wife and eight children!). From the beginning of the Long Parliament he was a firebrand. He was an outspoken critic of Bishops then he wanted to establish churches, which would be pulled up to roots and branches. He also proposed, that Parliament would appoint army generals and not the King.
The years of war were for the mad and agitated soul of Oliver Cromwell very lucky season, because in his zealous activity he founded the rest for his soul. At the beginning of the Civil war Cromwell fought with Roundheads against Cavalier. But when Cavaliers defeated them, Cromwell decided to create his own and better army-Ironsides. There could be Puritans and also Presbyterians; poor farmers or nobles, but they had to be willing to fight for a good thing:"I HAD RATHER HAVE A PLAIN RUSSET-COATED CAPTAIN THAT KNOWS WHAT HE FIGHTS FOR, AND LOVES WHAT HE KNOWS, THAN THAT WHICH YOU CALL A GENTLEMAN AND IS NOTHING ELSE."ă Cromwell imposed to the army the most strict discipline so on the fighting field as during the rest. In the army of Ironsides, there was no gambling or drinking and the villages were not afraid of them. With this army and his great talent and abilities, Cromwell was ready to fight against Cavaliers.

And so in the Battle of Marston Moor in 1644 Cromwell’s New Model Army gratefully defeated Cavalier forces: "TRULY ENGLAND AND THE CHURCH OF GOD HATH HAD A GREAT FAVOUR FROM THE LORD, IN THIS GREAT VICTORY GIVEN US."ă All provisions, which Cromwell applied for were consented and the New Model Army was accepted under the leadership of Thomas Fairfax (silent, stuttering man, but fiery soldier). Cromwell was the second in Command (affected by his own restriction – Self Denying Ordinance) and leader of the cavalry. Fights against Cavalier lasted until 1645. In the Battle at Naseby in 1645 Cavalier were absolutely defeated. The glory of a New Model Army grew up as the glory of Oliver Cromwell. Once, when he was painted by Peter Lely, he told him: "MR LELY, I DESIRE YOU WOULD USE ALL YOUR SKILL TO PAINT YOUR PICTURE TRULY LIKE ME, AND NOT FLATTER ME AT ALL; BUT REMARK ALL THESE ROUGHNESS, PIMPLES, WARTS, AND EVERYTHING AS YOU SEE ME; OTHERWISE I WILL NEVER PAY A FARTHING FOR IT."ă
Under the leadership of Fairfax and Cromwell, army won everything. And this fact helped to parliament, because thanks to that army parliament started to have bigger power than the King had. But Charles I. refused to admit defeat. Therefore when the next year army attacked Oxford, King surrendered to the Scotland. After very short time army started to be very uncomfortable for the Parliament and they did anything to dismissed it or let only few soldiers necessary for possible attacks. After this fact, Cromwell lost all beliefs in Parliament and he again wanted to co-operate with the King. But Charles refused. He planned the war against Cromwell, but his entire attempts were destroyed. In 20 January, 1949 started the process with the King of England, Charles I. The verdict was: execution of the English King. The only Cromwell’s words were:"CRUEL NECESSITY".ă This event caused the beginning of Cromwell’s reign. After the death of Charles I., Scotland and Ireland wanted to assist Charles II. to secure all his thrones. But Cromwell defeated first Ireland and than also Scotland (under the leadership of Charles II.) in the Battle of Worcester in 1651. The next step was, that in November 1648 he reduced the Long Parliament to a “Rump” parliament (removal of 110 members of Parliament by Cromwell’s army, with another 160 members). In March 1649 the Rump Parliament abolished monarchy, Privy Council, Courts of Exchquer and Adiralty and also the House of Lords with words that they are useless, difficult and dangerous for freedom of people. Cromwell created the Council of State under the chairmanship of John Bradshaw. After the war, Cromwell took less interest in Cambridge, but he was much more interested about Oxford and therefore he became a chancellor there from 1651 to 1657.

In 1653 Cromwell tired of everything around him and with lost of all hopes he decided to end the reign of the Rump Parliament. And so on 20 April at one of their sessions Cromwell said to all members that, Parliament was dismissed.
Cromwell agreed to be head of a powerful executive Council and for the remaining five years of his life he served as Lord Protector (he refused all efforts to make him King). His rule was a time of necessary social and religious laws on radical Protestant line. As a Lord Protector he also made an offensive alliance with France against Spain. He wanted to liberate Hispaniola from Spain, but this attempt was not successful (but he captured Jamaica). He also wanted to make a peace between Protestant Kings of Sweden and Denmark and he raised the prestige of Britain across the whole world.
Oliver Cromwell died on 3 September 1658 disillusioned and ill. He had been buried in Westminster Abbey with royal ceremony, but in 1661 he was exhumed and hanged in his shroud at Tyburn as a regicide. His head was cut off and put on public display for almost 20 years outside Westminster Hall.

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