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OLIVER CROMWELL (1599-1658)

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Originally appearing in Volume V07, Page 498 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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OLIVER See also:CROMWELL (1599-1658)  , See also:lord See also:protector of See also:England, was the 5th and only surviving son of See also:Robert See also:Cromwell of See also:Huntingdon and of See also:Elizabeth Steward, widow of See also:William See also:Lynn . His paternal grandfather was See also:Sir See also:Henry Cromwell of Hinchinbrook, a leading personage in See also:Huntingdonshire, and See also:grandson of See also:Richard See also:Williams, knighted by Henry VIII., See also:nephew of See also:Thomas Cromwell, See also:earl of See also:Essex, Henry VIII.'s See also:minister, whose name he adopted . His See also:mother was descended from a See also:family named Styward in See also:Norfolk, which was not, however, connected in any way, as has been often asserted, with the royal See also:house of See also:Stuart . See also:Oliver was See also:born on the 25th of See also:April 1599, was educated ander Dr Thomas See also:Beard, a fervent puritan, at the See also:free school at Huntingdon, and on the 23rd of April 1616 matriculated as a See also:fellow-commoner at See also:Sidney See also:Sussex See also:College, See also:Cambridge, then a hotbed of See also:puritanism, subsequently studying See also:law in See also:London . The royalist anecdotes See also:relating to his youth, including charges of See also:ill-conduct, do not deserve See also:credit, the entries in the See also:register of St See also:John's, Huntingdon, noting Oliver's submission on two occasions to See also:church censure being forgeries; but it is not improbable that his youth was See also:wild and possibly dissolute.' According to See also:Edmund See also:Waller he was " very well read in the See also:Greek and See also:Roman See also:story." See also:Burnet declares he had little Latin, but he was able to converse with the Dutch See also:ambassador in that See also:language . According to See also:James See also:Heath in his Flagellum, " he was more famous for his exercises in the See also:fields than in the See also:schools, being one of the See also:chief match-makers and players at See also:football, cudgels, or any other boisterous See also:game or See also:sport." On the 22nd of See also:August 162o he married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir James See also:Bourchier, a See also:city See also:merchant of See also:Tower See also:Hill, and of Felstead in Essex; and his See also:father having died in 1617 he settled at See also:Hunting-See also:don and occupied himself in the management of his small See also:estate . In 1628 he was returned to See also:parliament as member for the See also:borough, and on the 1th of See also:February 1629 he spoke in support of puritan See also:doctrine, complaining of the See also:attempt by the See also:king to silence Dr Beard, who had raised his See also:voice against the " See also:flat popery " inculcated by Dr See also:Alabaster at See also:Paul's See also:Cross . He was also one of the members who refused to adjourn at the king's command till Sir John See also:Eliot's resolutions had been passed . During the eleven years of See also:government without parliament very little is recorded of Cromwell . His name is not connected with the resistance to the See also:levy of See also:ship-See also:money or to the See also:action of the ecclesiastical courts, but in 163o he was one of those fined for refusing to take up See also:knighthood . The same See also:year he was named one of the justices of the See also:peace for his borough; and on the See also:grant of a new See also:charter showed See also:great zeal in defending the rights of the commoners, and succeeded in procuring an alteration in the charter in their favour, exhibiting much warmth of See also:temper during the dispute and being committed to custody by the privy See also:council for angry words spoken against the See also:mayor, for which he afterwards apologized . He also defended the rights of the commoners of See also:Ely threatened by the " adventurers " who had drained the Great Level, and he was nicknamed afterwards by a royalist newspaper " Lord of the See also:Fens." He was again later the See also:champion of the commoners of St Ives in the See also:Long Parliament ' See also:Life of Sir H .

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Vane, by W . W . See also:Ireland, 222 . against enclosures by the earl of See also:Manchester, obtaining a See also:commission of the House of See also:Commons to inquire into the See also:case, and See also:drawing upon himself the severe censure of the chairman, the future Lord See also:Clarendon, by his " impetuous See also:carriage " and " insolent behaviour," and by the passionate vehemence he imparted into the business . See also:Bishop Williams, a kinsman of Cromwell's, relates at this See also:time that he was " a See also:common spokes-See also:man for sectaries, and maintained their See also:part with great stubbornness "; and his earliest extant See also:letter (in 1635) is an See also:appeal for subscriptions for a puritan lecturer . There appears to be no See also:foundation for the statement that he was stopped by an See also:order of council when on the point of abandoning England for See also:America, though there can be little doubt that the thoughts of See also:emigration suggested themselves to his mind at this See also:period . He viewed the " innovations in See also:religion " with abhorrence . According to Clarendon he told the latter in 1641 that if the See also:Grand Remonstrance had not passed " he would have sold all he had the next See also:morning and never have seen England more." In 1631 he converted his landed See also:property into money, and John See also:Hampden, his See also:cousin, a patentee of See also:Connecticut in 1632, was on the point of emigrating . Cromwell was perhaps arrested in his prcject by his See also:succession in 1636 to the estate of his See also:uncle Sir Thomas Steward, and to his See also:office of See also:farmer of the See also:cathedral See also:tithes at Ely, whither he now removed . Meanwhile, like See also:Bunyan and many other puritans, Cromwell had been passing through a trying period of See also:mental and religious See also:change and struggle, beginning with deep See also:melancholy and religious doubt and depression, and ending with " seeing See also:light " and with enthusiastic and convinced faith, which remained henceforth the chief characteristic and impulse in his career . He represented Cambridge in the See also:Short and Long Parliaments of 164o, and at once showed extraordinary zeal and audacity in his opposition to the government, taking a large 0.. See also:share in business and serving on numerous and See also:im- weirs portant committees . As the cousin of Hampden and first St .

John he was intimately associated with the leaders Parlitaary of the See also:

parliamentary party . His See also:sphere of action, efforts . however, was not in parliament . He was not an orator, and though he could See also:express himself forcibly on occasion, his speech was incoherent and devoid of any of the arts of See also:rhetoric . Clarendon notes on his first See also:appearance in parliament that " he seemed to have a See also:person in no degree gracious, no See also:ornament of discourse, none of those talents which use to reconcile the affections of the standers by; yet as he See also:grew into See also:place and authority his parts seemed to be renewed." He supported stoutly the extreme party of opposition to the king, but did not take the See also:lead except on a few less important occasions, and was apparently silent in the debates on the See also:Petition of Right, the Grand Remonstrance and the See also:Militia . His first recorded intervention in debate in the Long Parliament was on the gth of See also:November 1640, a few days after the See also:meeting of the House, when he delivered a petition from the imprisoned John See also:Lilburne . He was described by Sir See also:Philip See also:Warwick on this occasion:—" I came into the House one morning well clad and perceived a See also:gentleman speaking whom I knew not, very ordinarily apparelled; for it was a See also:plain See also:cloth suit which seemed to have been made by an ill See also:country tailor; his See also:linen was plain and not very clean; ... his stature was of a See also:good See also:size; his See also:sword See also:stuck See also:close to his See also:side; his countenance swollen and reddish; his voice See also:sharp and untunable and his eloquence full of fervour . . . I sincerely profess it much lessened my reverence as to that great council for he was very'much hearkened unto." On the 3oth of See also:December he moved to the second See also:reading of See also:Strode's See also:bill for See also:annual parliaments . His chief See also:interest from the first, however, See also:lay in the religious question . He belonged to the See also:Root and See also:Branch party, and spoke in favour of the petition of the London citizens for the abolition of See also:episcopacy on the 9th of February 1641, and pressed upon the House the Root and Branch Bill in May . On the 6th of November he carried a See also:motion entrusting the See also:train-bands See also:south of the See also:Trent to the command of the earl of Essex .

On the 14th of See also:

January 1642, after the king's attempt to seize the five members, he moved for a See also:committee to put the See also:kingdom in a posture of See also:defence . He contributed £600 to the proposed Irish See also:campaign and £Soo for raising forces in England—large sums from his small estate—and on his own initiative in See also:July 1642 sent arms of the value of See also:loo down to Cambridge, seized the See also:magazine there in August, and prevented the king's commission of See also:array from being executed in the See also:county, taking these important steps on his own authority and receiving subsequently See also:indemnity by See also:vote of the House of Commons . Shortly afterwards he joined Essex with sixty See also:horse, and was See also:present at Edgehill, where his See also:troop was one of the few not routed by See also:Rupert's See also:charge, Cromwell himself being mentioned among those See also:officers who " never stirred from their troops but fought till the last See also:minute." During the earlier part of the year 1643 the military position of See also:Charles was greatly See also:superior to that of the parliament . Essex was inactive near See also:Oxford; in the See also:west Sir See also:Ralph See also:Hopton had won a See also:series of victories, and in the See also:north See also:Newcastle defeated the Fairfaxes at Adwalton See also:Moor, and all See also:Yorkshire except See also:Hull was in his hands . It seemed likely that the whole of the north would be laid open and the royalists be able to See also:march upon London and join Charles and Hopton there . This stroke, which would most probably have given the victory to the king, was prevented by the " Eastern Association," a See also:union of Norfolk, See also:Suffolk, Essex, See also:Cambridgeshire and See also:Hertfordshire, constituted in December 1642 and augmented in 1643 by Huntingdonshire and See also:Lincolnshire, of which Cromwell was the leading spirit . His zeal and See also:energy met everywhere with conspicuous success . In January 1643 he seized the royalist high See also:sheriff of Hertfordshire in the See also:act of proclaiming the king's commission of array at St Albans; in February he was at Cambridge taking See also:measures for the defence of the See also:town; in March suppressing royalist risings at See also:Lowestoft and Lynn; in April those of Huntingdon, when he also recaptured See also:Crowland from the king's party . In May he defeated a greatly superior royalist force at See also:Grantham, proceeding afterwards to See also:Nottingham in accordance with Essex's See also:plan of penetrating into Yorkshire to relieve the Fairfaxes; where, however, difficulties, arising from jealousies between the officers, and the treachery of John See also:Hotham, whose See also:arrest Cromwell was instrumental in effecting, obliged him to retire again to the association, leaving the Fairfaxes to be defeated at Adwalton Moor . He showed extraordinary energy, resource and military See also:talent in stemming the advance of the royalists, who now followed up their victories by advancing into the association; he defeated them at See also:Gainsborough on the 28th of July, and managed a masterly See also:retreat before overwhelming See also:numbers to See also:Lincoln, while the victory on the 11th of See also:October at Winceby finally secured the association, and maintained the See also:wedge which prevented the junction of the royalists in the north with the king in the south . One great source of Cromwell's strength was the military reforms he had initiated . At Edgehill he had observed the inferiority of the parliamentary to the royalist horse, composed as it was of soldiers of See also:fortune and the dregs of the populace .

" Do you think," he had said, " that the See also:

spirits of such See also:base, mean See also:fellows will ever be able to encounter gentlemen that have See also:honour and courage and See also:resolution in them ? You must get men of a spirit that is likely to go as far as gentlemen will go or you will be beaten still." The royalists were fighting for a great cause . To succeed the parliamentary soldiers must also be inspired by some great principle, and this was now found in religion . Cromwell See also:chose his own troops, both officers and privates, from the " religious men," who fought not for pay or for See also:adventure, but for their faith . He declared, when answering a complaint that a certain See also:captain in his See also:regiment was a better preacher than fighter, that he who prayed best would fight best, and that he knew nothing could " give the like courage and confidence as the knowledge of See also:God in See also:Christ will." The superiority of these men—more intelligent than the common soldiers, better disciplined, better trained, better armed, excellent horsemen and fighting for a great cause—not only over the other parliamentary troops but over the royalists, was soon observed in See also:battle . According to Clarendon the latter, though frequently victorious in a charge, could not rally afterwards, "whereas Cromwell's troops if they prevailed, or though they were beaten and routed, presently rallied again and stood in good order till they received new orders "; and the king's military successes dwindled in See also:pro-portion to the See also:gradual preponderance of Cromwell's troops in the parliamentary See also:army . At first these picked men only existed in Cromwell's own troop, which, however, by frequent additions became the See also:nucleus of a regiment, and by the time of the New See also:Model included about i1,000 men . In July 1643 Cromwell had been appointed See also:governor of the Isle of Ely; on the 22nd of January 1644 he became second in command under the earl of Manchester as See also:lieutenant-See also:general of the Eastern Association, and on the 16th of February 1644 a member of the Committee of Both Kingdoms with greatly increased See also:influence . In March he took Hillesden House in See also:Buckinghamshire; in May was at the See also:siege of Lincoln, when he repulsed See also:Goring's attempt to relieve the town, and subsequently took part in Manchester's campaign in the north . At See also:Marston Moor (q.v.) on the 2nd of July he commanded all the horse of the Eastern Association, with some Scottish troops; and though for a time disabled by a See also:wound in the See also:neck, he charged and routed Rupert's troops opposed to him, and subsequently went to the support of the Scots, who were hard pressed by the enemy, and converted what appeared at one time a defeat into a decisive victory . It was on this occasion that he earned the See also:nickname of " See also:Ironsides," applied to him now by See also:Prince Rupert, and afterwards to his soldiers, "from the impenetrable strength of his troops which could by no means be broken or divided." The movements of Manchester after Marston Moor were marked by great apathy . He was one of the moderate party who desired an See also:accommodation with the king, and was opposed to Cromwell's sectaries .

He remained at Lincoln, did nothing to prevent the defeat of Essex's army in the west, and when he at last advanced south to join Essex's and Waller's troops his management of the army led to the failure of the attack upon the king at See also:

Newbury on the 27th of October 1644 . He delayed supporting the See also:infantry till too See also:late, and was repulsed; he allowed the royal army to march past his outposts; and a fortnight afterwards, without any attempt to prevent it, and greatly to Cromwell's vexation, permitted the moving of the king's See also:artillery and the See also:relief of Donnington See also:Castle by Prince Rupert . " If you See also:beat the king ninety-nine times," Manchester urged at Newbury, " yet he is king still and so will his posterity be after him; but if the king beat us once we shall all be hanged and our posterity be made slaves." " My lord," answered Cromwell, " if this be so, why did we take up arms at first ? This is against fighting ever hereafter . If so let us make peace, be it ever so base." The contention brought to a crisis the struggle between the moderate Presbyterians and the Scots on the one side, who decided to maintain the See also:monarchy and fought for an accommodation and to establish See also:Presbyterianism in England, and on the other the republicans who would be satisfied with nothing less than the See also:complete overthrow of the king, and the See also:Independents who regarded the See also:establishment of Presbyterianism as an evil almost as great as that of the Church of England . On the 25th of November Cromwell charged Manchester with " unwillingness to have the See also:war prosecuted to a full victory "; which Manchester answered by accusing Cromwell of having used expressions against the See also:nobility, the Scots and Presbyterianism; of desiring to fill the army of the Eastern Association with Independents to prevent any accommodation; and of having vowed if he met the king in battle he would as lief See also:fire his See also:pistol at him as at anybody else . The lords and the Scots vehemently took Manchester's part; but the Commons eventually sided with Cromwell, appointed Sir Thomas See also:Fairfax general of the New Model Army, and passed two self-denying ordinances, the second of which, ordering all members of both houses to lay down their commissions within See also:forty days, was accepted by the lords on the 3rd of April 1645 . Meanwhile Cromwell had been ordered on the 3rd of March by the House to take his regiment to the assistance of Waller, under whom he served as an admirable subordinate . " Although Beginning of See also:Civil War . Cromwell's soldiers . he was See also:blunt," says Waller, " he did not See also:bear himself with See also:pride or disdain . As an officer he was obedient and did never dispute my orders or argue upon them." He returned on the 19th of April, and on the 23rd was sent to See also:Oxfordshire to prevent a junction between Charles and Prince Rupert, in which he succeeded after some small engagements and the storming of Blechingdon House .

His services were See also: