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Henry Cromwell

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Vincent Gookin (1616?–1659) was an English surveyor-general of Ireland . He represented Irish constituencies in the Protectorate parliaments. In 1655 he published two pamphlets deprecating the enforcement of orders for transplantation of Irish to Connaught . He was a man of strong religious convictions, and an ardent republican .

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135-659: Henry Cromwell (20 January 1628 – 23 March 1674) was the fourth son of Oliver Cromwell and Elizabeth Bourchier , and an important figure in the Parliamentarian regime in Ireland . Henry Cromwell was born at Huntingdon on 20 January 1628. He was educated at Felsted School and Emmanuel College, Cambridge . Henry Cromwell entered the New Model Army towards the close of the First Civil War , and

270-585: A yeoman farmer. In 1636 Cromwell inherited control of various properties in Ely from his uncle on his mother's side, and his uncle's job as tithe -collector for Ely Cathedral . As a result, his income is likely to have risen to around £300–400 per year; by the end of the 1630s Cromwell had returned to the ranks of acknowledged gentry. He had become a committed Puritan and had established important family links to leading families in London and Essex . Cromwell became

405-666: A Scottish Covenanter attached to Manchester's army, who objected to Cromwell's encouragement of unorthodox Independents and Anabaptists. He was also charged with familism by Scottish Presbyterian Samuel Rutherford in response to his letter to the House of Commons in 1645. At the critical Battle of Naseby in June 1645, the New Model Army smashed the King's major army. Cromwell led his wing with great success at Naseby, again routing

540-683: A degenerate Englishman, and with having been corrupted by the Irish. He denied the charge, saying that he was elected by the English of Kinsale and Bandon to the Barebones Parliament , and his constituents had shown their regard for him by offering to pay his expenses to England. The controversy forms an episode in the great struggle, culminating in the appointment of Henry Cromwell as chief governor of Ireland in September 1655, for

675-605: A degree, immediately after his father's death. Early biographers claim that he then attended Lincoln's Inn , but the Inn's archives retain no record of him. Antonia Fraser concludes that it is likely that he did train at one of the London Inns of Court during this time. His grandfather, his father, and two of his uncles had attended Lincoln's Inn, and Cromwell sent his son Richard there in 1647. Cromwell probably returned home to Huntingdon after his father's death. As his mother

810-482: A fairly complete abstract of it in his Cromwellian Settlement . Though exceedingly temperate in its tone, it immediately elicited a sharp rejoinder from Colonel Richard Lawrence , a prominent member of the committee of transplantation. Gookin replied in The Author and Case of Transplanting the Irish into Connaught vindicated from the unjust aspersions of Col. R. Lawrence , London, 1655. He had been charged with being

945-580: 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." The Scots' reply was robust: "would you have us to be sceptics in our religion?" This decision to negotiate with Charles II led Cromwell to believe that war was necessary. His appeal rejected, Cromwell's veteran troops went on to invade Scotland. At first,

1080-663: A letter by Gookin to Henry Cromwell, in Lansdowne MS. No. 822, f. 26–7, dated 21 October 1656. The gist of the petition, which, for prudential reasons, was not published, may be gathered from a subsequent letter by Gookin to the Protector on 22 Nov. 1656. Gookin's views on this and other topics of historical importance are interesting and intelligent. Speaking in 1657 of the Decimating Bill at that time before parliament, he says: "In my opinion those that speak against

1215-529: A military dictator, while others view him a hero of liberty. He remains a controversial figure due to his use of military force to acquire and retain political power, his role in the execution of Charles I and the brutality of his 1649 campaign in Ireland . The debate over his historical reputation continues. First proposed in 1856, his statue outside the Houses of Parliament was not erected until 1895, most of

1350-588: A new charter for the town. As a result, he was called before the Privy Council in 1630. In 1631, likely as a result of the dispute, Cromwell sold most of his properties in Huntingdon and moved to a farmstead in nearby St Ives . This move, a significant step down in society for the Cromwells, also had significant emotional and spiritual impact on Cromwell; an extant 1638 letter from him to his cousin,

1485-561: A personal crisis during the late 1620s and early 1630s. In 1628 he was elected to Parliament from the Huntingdonshire county town of Huntingdon . Later that year, he sought treatment for a variety of physical and emotional ailments, including valde melancholicus (depression), from the Swiss-born London doctor Théodore de Mayerne . In 1629, Cromwell became involved in a dispute among the gentry of Huntingdon involving

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1620-582: A pro- Royalist Scottish army (the Engagers ) who had invaded England. At Preston , in sole command for the first time and with an army of 9,000, he won a decisive victory against an army twice as large. During 1648, Cromwell's letters and speeches started to become heavily based on biblical imagery, many of them meditations on the meaning of particular passages. For example, after the battle of Preston, study of Psalms 17 and 105 led him to tell Parliament that "they that are implacable and will not leave troubling

1755-406: A professed spirit of contradiction to whatsoever I would have, and took counsel together how to lay wait for me without a cause". His popularity was shown by a vote of parliament on 8 June 1657, settling upon him lands to the value of £1,500 a year, which he refused on the ground of the poverty of Ireland and the indebtedness of England. At the time of Cromwell's appointment the pay of the Irish army

1890-409: A property franchise of £200 per annum in real or personal property value set as the minimum value which a male adult was to possess before he was eligible to vote for the representatives from the counties or shires in the House of Commons. The House of Commons representatives from the boroughs were elected by the burgesses or those borough residents who had the right to vote in municipal elections, and by

2025-746: A role in some of this group's political manoeuvres. In May 1641, for example, he put forward the second reading of the Annual Parliaments Bill, and he later took a role in drafting the Root and Branch Bill for the abolition of episcopacy . Failure to resolve the issues before the Long Parliament led to armed conflict between Parliament and Charles I in late 1642, the beginning of the English Civil War . Before he joined Parliament's forces, Cromwell's only military experience

2160-471: A speech to the army Council on 23 March that "I had rather be overthrown by a Cavalierish interest than a Scotch interest; I had rather be overthrown by a Scotch interest than an Irish interest and I think of all this is the most dangerous". Cromwell's hostility to the Irish was religious as well as political. He was passionately opposed to the Catholic Church, which he saw as denying the primacy of

2295-442: A year, near the bottom of the range of gentry incomes. In 1654, Cromwell said, "I was by birth a gentleman, living neither in considerable height, nor yet in obscurity." Oliver Cromwell was baptised on 29 April 1599 at St John's Church , and attended Huntingdon Grammar School . He went on to study at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge , then a recently founded college with a strong Puritan ethos. He left in June 1617 without taking

2430-486: A year, which he succeeded in retaining. In his petition to Charles II for that object, Cromwell urged that his actions had been dictated by natural duty to his father, not by any malice against the king. He pleaded the merits of his government of Ireland, and the favour he had shown the Royalists during the time of his power. Clarendon , Ormonde, and many other royalists exerted their influence in his favour. Accordingly,

2565-550: Is elaborately traced by Noble and Waylen. His second son, Henry Cromwell, married Hannah Hewling, sister of the two Hewlings executed in 1686 for their share in the Monmouth Rebellion , and died in 1711, a major in Fielding's regiment. Attribution Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 1599 – 3 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician, and soldier, widely regarded as one of

2700-490: Is impossible for me to continue in this place upon so huge disadvantages". He was also charged to disband a large part of the Irish army, but not allowed to have a voice in the management of disbanding. Cromwell endeavoured to devise means of raising the money to pay them in Ireland, but found the country was too poor, and the taxes far heavier than in England. By using the utmost economy he wrote that £196,000 might suffice for

2835-507: The Banbury mutiny occurred with similar results. Cromwell led the charge in quelling these rebellions. After quelling Leveller mutinies within the English army at Andover and Burford in May, he departed for Ireland from Bristol at the end of July. Cromwell led a Parliamentary invasion of Ireland from 1649 to 1650. Parliament's key opposition was the military threat posed by the alliance of

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2970-624: The Bishops' Wars , lack of funds forced him to call a Parliament again in 1640. Cromwell was returned to this Parliament as member for Cambridge , but it lasted for only three weeks and became known as the Short Parliament . Cromwell moved his family from Ely to London in 1640. A second Parliament was called later the same year and became known as the Long Parliament . Cromwell was again returned as member for Cambridge. As with

3105-604: The Commonwealth of England . The "Rump Parliament" exercised both executive and legislative powers, with a smaller Council of State also having some executive functions. Cromwell remained a member of the Rump and was appointed a member of the council. In the early months after Charles's execution, Cromwell tried but failed to unite the original "Royal Independents" led by St John and Saye and Sele, which had fractured during 1648. Cromwell had been connected to this group since before

3240-660: The Covenanter regime. Cromwell therefore returned to England from Youghal on 26 May 1650 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 consisted mostly of long sieges of fortified cities and guerrilla warfare in the countryside, with English troops suffering from attacks by Irish toráidhe (guerilla fighters). The last Catholic-held town, Galway , surrendered in April 1652 and

3375-933: The Eastern Association under the Earl of Manchester . Cromwell gained experience in successful actions in East Anglia in 1643, notably at the Battle of Gainsborough on 28 July. He was subsequently appointed governor of the Isle of Ely and a colonel in the Eastern Association. By the time of the Battle of Marston Moor in July 1644, Cromwell had risen to the rank of lieutenant general of horse in Manchester's army. His cavalry's success in breaking

3510-585: The Grandees in the New Model Army and the Independents. Thus weakened, the remaining body of MPs, known as the Rump Parliament , agreed that Charles should be tried for treason. Cromwell was still in the north of England, dealing with Royalist resistance, when these events took place, but then returned to London. On the day after Pride's Purge, he became a determined supporter of those pushing for

3645-638: The Irish Confederate Catholics and English royalists (signed in 1649). The Confederate-Royalist alliance was judged to be the biggest single threat facing the Commonwealth. However, the political situation in Ireland in 1649 was extremely fractured: there were also separate forces of Irish Catholics who were opposed to the Royalist alliance, and Protestant Royalist forces that were gradually moving towards Parliament. Cromwell said in

3780-609: The P being an abbreviation for Protector , and soon others started to address Cromwell as "Your Highness". As Protector, he had to secure a majority vote in the Council of State. As the Lord Protector he was paid £100,000 a year (equivalent to £20,500,000 in 2023). Although Cromwell stated that "Government by one man and a parliament is fundamental," he believed that social issues should be prioritised. The social priorities did not include any meaningful attempt to reform

3915-586: The Province of Maryland , and islands in the West Indies . Cromwell soon secured the submission of these and largely left them to their own affairs, intervening only to curb other Puritans who had seized control of Maryland Colony at Severn battle , by his confirming the former Roman Catholic proprietorship and edict of tolerance there. Of all the English dominions, Virginia was the most resentful of Cromwell's rule, and Cavalier emigration there mushroomed during

4050-679: The Reformation had not gone far enough, that much of England was still living in sin, and that Catholic beliefs and practices must be fully removed from the church. It appears that in 1634 Cromwell attempted to emigrate to what became the Connecticut Colony in the Americas, but was prevented by the government from leaving. Along with his brother Henry, Cromwell had kept a smallholding of chickens and sheep, selling eggs and wool to support himself, his lifestyle resembling that of

4185-499: The Siege of Drogheda in September 1649, his troops killed nearly 3,500 people after the town's capture—around 2,700 Royalist soldiers and all the men in the town carrying arms, including some civilians, prisoners and Roman Catholic priests. Cromwell wrote afterwards: I am persuaded that this is a righteous judgment of God upon these barbarous wretches, who have imbrued their hands in so much innocent blood and that it will tend to prevent

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4320-648: The "Grandees" disagreed with these sentiments in that they gave too much freedom to the people; they believed that the vote should extend only to the landowners. In the Putney Debates of 1647, the two groups debated these topics in hopes of forming a new constitution for England. Rebellions and mutinies followed the debates, and in 1649, the Bishopsgate mutiny resulted in Leveller Robert Lockyer 's execution by firing squad. The next month,

4455-504: The Anabaptist party to be safely continued in Ireland, and advised his recall to England after a time, and the appointment of Desborough to act as his deputy. Before leaving Ireland he held a discussion with Ludlow on the lawfulness of the protectorate, which the latter has recorded at length in his Memoirs . In August 1654 a new Irish council was commissioned, and the council of state voted that Cromwell should be appointed commander of

4590-677: The Bible in favour of papal and clerical authority, and which he blamed for suspected tyranny and persecution of Protestants in continental Europe . Cromwell's association of Catholicism with persecution was deepened with the Irish Rebellion of 1641 . This rebellion, although intended to be bloodless, was marked by massacres of English and Scottish Protestant settlers by Irish ("Gaels") and Old English in Ireland , and Highland Scot Catholics in Ireland. These settlers had settled on land seized from former, native Catholic owners to make way for

4725-463: The Civil Wars, Cromwell believed that he was one of these people, and he interpreted victories as indications of God's approval and defeats as signs that God was pointing him in another direction. In December 1648, in an episode that became known as Pride's Purge , a troop of soldiers headed by Colonel Thomas Pride forcibly removed from the Long Parliament all those who were not supporters of

4860-451: The Crown for himself around this time, though the evidence for this is retrospective and problematic. Ultimately, he demanded that the Rump establish a caretaker government in April 1653 of 40 members drawn from the Rump and the army, and then abdicate; but the Rump returned to debating its own bill for a new government. Cromwell was so angered by this that he cleared the chamber and dissolved

4995-479: The Irish army and a member of the new council. This appointment seems to have been made at the request of Lord Broghill and other Irish gentlemen. In spite of this pressure it was not till 25 December 1654 that Cromwell became a member of the Irish council, though the date of his commission as major-general of the forces in Ireland was 24 Aug. 1654. The cause of this delay was probably Cromwell's reluctance to advance his sons (see Carlyle, Cromwell, Letter cxcix.) Whatever

5130-519: The King at the Treaty of Newport , that convinced him that God had spoken against both the King and Parliament as lawful authorities. For Cromwell, the army was now God's chosen instrument. The episode shows Cromwell's firm belief in Providentialism —that God was actively directing the affairs of the world, through the actions of "chosen people" (whom God had "provided" for such purposes). During

5265-406: The King would acquiesce to if his authority was restored. The King appeared to be willing to compromise, so Cromwell employed his son-in-law, Henry Ireton, to draw up proposals for a constitutional settlement. Proposals were drafted multiple times with different changes until finally the " Heads of Proposals " pleased Cromwell in principle and allowed for further negotiations. It was designed to check

5400-478: The King's trial and execution, believing that killing Charles was the only way to end the civil wars. Cromwell approved Thomas Brook's address to the House of Commons, which justified the trial and the King's execution on the basis of the Book of Numbers, chapter 35 and particularly verse 33 ("The land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it."). Charles's death warrant

5535-729: The Member of Parliament for Huntingdon in the Parliament of 1628–1629, as a client of the Montagu family of Hinchingbrooke House . He made little impression: parliamentary records show only one speech (against the Arminian Bishop Richard Neile ), which was poorly received. After dissolving this Parliament, Charles I ruled without a Parliament for the next 11 years. When Charles faced the Scottish rebellion in

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5670-565: The Natives of Ireland generally out of the three Provinces of Leinster , Ulster , and Munster into the Province of Connaught are shown, humbly tendered to every individual Member of Parliament by a Well-wisher to the good of the Commonwealth of England , 4to, London, for J. C., 1655. In this pamphlet, Gookin endeavoured to prove that if not indeed impossible, it was certainly contrary to "religion, profit, and safety", to strictly enforce

5805-537: The Parliament by force on 20 April 1653, supported by about 40 musketeers. Several accounts exist of this incident; in one, Cromwell is supposed to have said "you are no Parliament, I say you are no Parliament; I will put an end to your sitting". At least two accounts agree that he snatched up the ceremonial mace , symbol of Parliament's power, and demanded that the " bauble " be taken away. His troops were commanded by Charles Worsley , later one of his Major Generals and one of his most trusted advisors, to whom he entrusted

5940-468: The Parliament of 1628–29, it is likely that he owed his position to the patronage of others, which might explain why in the first week of the Parliament he was in charge of presenting a petition for the release of John Lilburne , who had become a Puritan cause célèbre after his arrest for importing religious tracts from the Netherlands. For the Long Parliament's first two years, Cromwell was linked to

6075-485: The Parliament of Saints, or more commonly and denigratingly called Barebone's Parliament after one of its members, Praise-God Barebone , was tasked with finding a permanent constitutional and religious settlement (Cromwell was invited to be a member but declined). However, the revelation that a considerably larger segment of the membership than had been believed were the radical Fifth Monarchists led to its members voting to dissolve it on 12 December 1653, out of fear of what

6210-447: The Protector should be induced again to resort to non-legal or extra-legal ways of raising money. Now John Lambert was removed, the odium of such things would fall nearer his highness. Errors in raising money were the most compendious ways to cause a general discontent. He advised the calling of a new parliament as soon as possible, but it should be preceded by the remodelling of the army and the cashiering of turbulent officers. He opposed

6345-402: The Protector's intentions may have been, and there are several references in the letters of John Thurloe and Henry Cromwell which prove that this reluctance was real, Fleetwood was re-called to England very soon after the coming of Henry Cromwell to Ireland. He landed in Ireland in July 1655, and Fleetwood left in September. The latter still retained his title of lord-lieutenant, so that Cromwell

6480-470: The Protectorate. Cromwell famously stressed the quest to restore order in his speech to the first Protectorate parliament . However, the Parliament was quickly dominated by those pushing for more radical, properly republican reforms. Later, the Parliament initiated radical reform. Rather than opposing Parliament's bill, Cromwell dissolved them on 22 January 1655. The First Protectorate Parliament had

6615-647: The Royalist cavalry. At the Battle of Langport on 10 July, Cromwell participated in the defeat of the last sizeable Royalist field army. Naseby and Langport effectively ended the King's hopes of victory, and the subsequent Parliamentarian campaigns involved taking the remaining fortified Royalist positions in the west of England. In October 1645, Cromwell besieged and took the wealthy and formidable Catholic fortress Basing House , later to be accused of killing 100 of its 300-man Royalist garrison after its surrender. He also took part in successful sieges at Bridgwater , Sherborne , Bristol, Devizes , and Winchester , then spent

6750-484: The Rump into setting dates for new elections, uniting the three kingdoms under one polity, and to put in place a broad-brush, tolerant national church. However, the Rump vacillated in setting election dates, although it put in place a basic liberty of conscience, but it failed to produce an alternative for tithes or to dismantle other aspects of the existing religious settlement. According to the parliamentarian lawyer Bulstrode Whitelocke , Cromwell began to contemplate taking

6885-584: The Scottish capital of Edinburgh . The victory was of such a magnitude that Cromwell called it "A high act of the Lord's Providence to us [and] one of the most signal mercies God hath done for England and His people". The following year, Charles II and his Scottish allies made an attempt to invade England and capture London while Cromwell was engaged in Scotland. Cromwell followed them south and caught them at Worcester on 3 September 1651, and his forces destroyed

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7020-513: The agents employed in this negotiation but nothing was more opposed to the views of Henry than to promote the restoration of the Stuarts. "My opinion", he wrote on 21 March 1659, "is that any extreme is more tolerable than returning to Charles Stuart. Other disasters are temporary and may be mended; those not". The principles Cromwell had expressed in his reproof to Fleetwood forbade him to use his army for personal ends, or seek to impose its will on

7155-534: The aim of apportioning to the soldiers the lands allotted to them in payment of their arrears. It appears from a letter to Henry Cromwell on 14 April 1657, petitioning for an abatement of rent on lands granted him in 1650 "for favour", that he did not turn any of his offices to his own personal advantage. He represented Kinsale and Bandon under the Commonwealth, except in 1659, when, for party purposes, he surrendered his seat to Sir William Petty, and successfully contested Cork and Youghal against Lord Broghill. He died

7290-414: The aldermen and councilors of the boroughs. Cromwell's second objective was reforms on the field of morality and religion. As a Protectorate, he established trials for the future parish ministers, and dismissed unqualified ministers and rectors. These triers and the ejectors were intended to be at the vanguard of Cromwell's reform of parish worship. This second objective is also the context in which to see

7425-468: The bill have much to say in point of moral justice and prudence; but that which makes me fear the passing of the bill is that thereby his highness' government will be more founded in force and more removed from that natural foundation which the people in parliament are desirous to give him". On 7 July 1656 Gookin was appointed, along with Sir William Petty and Miles Symner, to the Down Survey , with

7560-448: The campaign went badly, as Cromwell's men were short of supplies and held up at fortifications manned by Scottish troops under David Leslie . Sickness began to spread in the ranks. Cromwell was on the brink of evacuating his army by sea from Dunbar . However, on 3 September 1650, unexpectedly, Cromwell smashed the main Scottish army at the Battle of Dunbar , killing 4,000 Scottish soldiers, taking another 10,000 prisoner, and then capturing

7695-654: The constitutional experiment of the Major Generals that followed the dissolution of the first Protectorate Parliament. After a Royalist uprising in March 1655 , led by Sir John Penruddock , Cromwell (influenced by Lambert) divided England into military districts ruled by army major generals who answered only to him. The 15 major generals and deputy major generals—called "godly governors"—were central not only to national security , but also viewed as Cromwell's serious effort in exerting his religious conviction. Their position

7830-472: The effusion of blood for the future, which are satisfactory grounds for such actions, which otherwise cannot but work remorse and regret. At the Siege of Wexford in October, another massacre took place under confused circumstances. While Cromwell was apparently trying to negotiate surrender terms, some of his soldiers broke into the town, killed 2,000 Irish troops and up to 1,500 civilians, and burned much of

7965-545: The end of June, gave an account of his conduct there to the council of state on 6 July, and then retired to Cambridgeshire. For the remainder of his life Cromwell lived in obscurity. He lost, in consequence of the Restoration, lands in England to the value of £2,000 a year, probably his share of the forfeited estates which had been conferred on his father. With the pay he had received during his service in Ireland he had purchased an estate worth between six and seven hundred

8100-400: The existing state of affairs depended solely on the life of the Protector. The news of his father's illness and the uncertainty as to his successor redoubled Cromwell's fears. The announcement that the Protector had before dying nominated Richard Cromwell was very welcome to Henry. "I was relieved by it", he wrote to Richard, "not only upon the public consideration, but even upon the account of

8235-513: The exportation of fifteen hundred or two thousand young boys of twelve or fourteen years of age. He does not seem to have sought to mitigate the rigour of the transplantation, or to have considered it either unjust or impolitic. On the other hand, his religious views were more liberal, and he remonstrated against the oath of abjuration imposed on the Irish Catholics in 1657. What distinguished Cromwell's administration from that of Fleetwood

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8370-688: The famous chief minister to Henry VIII. The Cromwells acquired great wealth as occasional beneficiaries of Thomas's administration of the Dissolution of the Monasteries . Morgan ap William was a son of William ap Yevan of Wales. The family line continued through Richard Williams (alias Cromwell) , ( c. 1500–1544), Henry Williams (alias Cromwell) , ( c. 1524 – 6 January 1604), then to Oliver's father Robert Williams, alias Cromwell ( c. 1560–1617), who married Elizabeth Steward ( c. 1564–1654), probably in 1591. They had ten children, but Oliver,

8505-417: The fifth child, was the only boy to survive infancy. Cromwell's paternal grandfather, Sir Henry Williams, was one of the two wealthiest landowners in Huntingdonshire . Cromwell's father was of modest means but still a member of the landed gentry . As a younger son with many siblings, Robert inherited only a house at Huntingdon and a small amount of land. This land would have generated an income of up to £300

8640-448: The final stages of the Scottish campaign, Cromwell's men under George Monck sacked Dundee, killing up to 1,000 men and 140 women and children. Scotland was ruled from England during the Commonwealth and was kept under military occupation, with a line of fortifications sealing off the Highlands which had provided manpower for Royalist armies in Scotland. The northwest Highlands was the scene of another pro-Royalist uprising in 1653–55, which

8775-422: The first half of 1646 mopping up resistance in Devon and Cornwall . Charles I surrendered to the Scots on 5 May 1646, effectively ending the First English Civil War . Cromwell and Fairfax took the Royalists' formal surrender at Oxford in June. In February 1647, Cromwell suffered from an illness that kept him out of political life for over a month. By the time he recovered, the Parliamentarians were split over

8910-445: The funds being privately supplied by Prime Minister Lord Rosebery . Cromwell was born in Huntingdon on 25 April 1599 to Robert Cromwell and his second wife Elizabeth, daughter of William Steward. The family's estate derived from Oliver's great-great-grandfather Morgan ap William, a brewer from Glamorgan , Wales, who settled at Putney and married Katherine Cromwell (born 1482), the sister of Thomas Cromwell , who would become

9045-450: The godly group of aristocrats in the House of Lords and Members of the House of Commons with whom he had established familial and religious links in the 1630s, such as the Earls of Essex , Warwick and Bedford , Oliver St John and Viscount Saye and Sele . At this stage, the group had an agenda of reformation: the executive checked by regular parliaments, and the moderate extension of liberty of conscience. Cromwell appears to have taken

9180-414: The godly interest. In November 1656 two generals and a couple of colonels simultaneously threw up their commissions on account of their dissatisfaction with Henry's policy. Just as Cromwell was congratulating himself that the opposition of the Anabaptists was finally crushed, he was involved in fresh perplexities by the intrigues and resignation of Steele, the Irish Chancellor. After the second foundation of

9315-410: The goodness of God to our poor family, who hath preserved us from the contempt of the enemy". There is no sign that Cromwell ever sought or desired the succession himself. As the Protector's death had determined his existing commission as lord deputy, he now received a new one, but with the higher title of Lieutenant and Governor-General. It was with great reluctance that Cromwell was persuaded to accept

9450-441: The hat of authority", he held a thing of too slight importance to be the subject of earnest contention. Both directly and through Thurloe he urged his father to refuse the title, but to endeavour to obtain the new constitutional settlement offered him by parliament with it. The sudden dissolution of the Second Protectorate Parliament in February 1658 was a great blow to Cromwell's hopes of settlement, and he expressed his fears lest

9585-399: The head of so good an army, was one of the greatest safeguards of his brother's rule in England, and Broghill added, "Neither Ireland nor Harry Cromwell are safe if separated". At Dublin, therefore, he remained watching with anxiety the gathering of the storm in England, and hoping that parliament would bring some remedy to the distempers of the army. The meetings of the officers in London and

9720-704: The hope that they would convert to Christianity and therefore hasten the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, ultimately based on Matthew 23 :37–39 and Romans 11 . At the Whitehall conference of December 1655, he quoted from St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans 10:12–15 on the need to send Christian preachers to the Jews. The Presbyterian William Prynne , in contrast to the Congregationalist Cromwell,

9855-546: The influence of the Anabaptists . He reported that the army in general, with the exception of the Anabaptists, were well satisfied with the recent change, and recommended that Ludlow, of whose venomous discontent and reproachful utterances he complains, should be replaced as lieutenant-general by John Desborough . Charles Fleetwood , though a staunch supporter of the protectorate, he regarded as too deeply involved with

9990-472: The influence of the Earls of Warwick and Holland . A place in this influential network proved crucial to Cromwell's military and political career. The couple had nine children: Little evidence exists of Cromwell's religion in his early years. His 1626 letter to Henry Downhall, an Arminian minister, suggests that he had yet to be influenced by radical Puritanism. But there is evidence that Cromwell underwent

10125-415: The issue of the King. A majority in both Houses pushed for a settlement that would pay off the Scottish army, disband much of the New Model Army, and restore Charles I in return for a Presbyterian settlement of the church. Cromwell rejected the Scottish model of Presbyterianism, which threatened to replace one authoritarian hierarchy with another. The New Model Army, radicalised by Parliament's failure to pay

10260-574: The land may be speedily destroyed out of the land". A letter to Oliver St John in September 1648 urged him to read Isaiah 8, in which the kingdom falls and only the godly survive. On four occasions in letters in 1648 he referred to the story of Gideon 's defeat of the Midianites at Ain Harod. These letters suggest that it was Cromwell's faith, rather than a commitment to radical politics, coupled with Parliament's decision to engage in negotiations with

10395-813: The lands of Cromwell in Meath and Connaught were confirmed to his trustees by a special proviso of the Act of Settlement; but his family seems to have lost them in the next generation. They are said to have been illegally dispossessed by some of the Clanrickarde family, the ancient owners of the land bought by Henry Cromwell's arrears. During the latter years of his life Cromwell resided at Spinney Abbey in Wicken, Cambridgeshire , which he purchased in 1661. King Charles II seems to have been satisfied of Cromwell's peaceableness, for though more than once denounced by informers, he

10530-671: The last Irish Catholic troops capitulated in April 1653 in County Cavan . In the wake of the Commonwealth's conquest of the island of Ireland, public practice of Roman Catholicism was banned and Catholic priests were killed when captured. All Catholic-owned land was confiscated under the Act for the Settlement of Ireland of 1652 and given to Scottish and English settlers, Parliament's financial creditors and Parliamentary soldiers. Remaining Catholic landowners were allocated poorer land in

10665-474: The last major Scottish Royalist army at the Battle of Worcester . Charles II barely escaped capture and fled to exile in France and the Netherlands, where he remained until 1660. To fight the battle, Cromwell organised an envelopment followed by a multi-pronged coordinated attack on Worcester, his forces attacking from three directions with two rivers partitioning them. He switched his reserves from one side of

10800-432: The like to others. Liberty and countenance they might expect from me, but to rule me, or to rule with me, I should not approve of". This line of conduct he faithfully followed in spite of many provocations. His adversaries were powerful in England, and continually at the ear of the Protector; but Oliver, though chary of praise, and not giving his son all the public support he expected, approved of his conduct in this matter. At

10935-400: The mace. After the dissolution of the Rump, power passed temporarily to a council that debated what form the constitution should take. They took up the suggestion of Major-General Thomas Harrison for a " sanhedrin " of saints . Although Cromwell did not subscribe to Harrison's apocalyptic , Fifth Monarchist beliefs—which saw a sanhedrin as the starting point for Christ's rule on earth—he

11070-475: The manifesto published by them roused him to vehement expostulation on 20 October 1658 with Fleetwood, whom they had petitioned the Protector to appoint commander-in-chief. He was wroth at the slight to his brother, but still more at the aspersions cast on his father's memory, and, above all things, distressed by the prospect of renewed civil war. For the next few months Cromwell's letters are unusually few and short, caused in part by his attacks of illness, in part by

11205-797: The most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms , initially as a senior commander in the Parliamentarian army and latterly as a politician. A leading advocate of the execution of Charles I in January 1649, which led to the establishment of the Commonwealth of England , he ruled as Lord Protector from December 1653 until his death in September 1658. Although elected MP for Huntingdon in 1628 , much of Cromwell's life prior to 1640

11340-449: The nation. Accordingly, after vainly awaiting the expected instructions from Richard, and receiving from others credible notice of his brother's acquiescence in the late revolution, Henry on 15 June forwarded his own submission to the new government. Before receiving this letter parliament (the restored Rump ) on 7 June had ordered him to deliver up the government of Ireland and return to England. Obeying their orders he reached England about

11475-497: The non-native Protestants. These factors contributed to the brutality of the Cromwell military campaign in Ireland. Parliament had planned to re-conquer Ireland since 1641 and had already sent an invasion force there in 1647. Cromwell's invasion of 1649 was much larger and, with the civil war in England over, could be regularly reinforced and re-supplied. His nine-month military campaign was brief and effective, though it did not end

11610-572: The north of England for the Parliamentarians but failed to end Royalist resistance. The indecisive outcome of the Second Battle of Newbury in October meant that by the end of 1644 the war still showed no sign of ending. Cromwell's experience at Newbury, where Manchester had let the King's army slip out of an encircling manoeuvre, led to a serious dispute with Manchester, whom he believed to be less than enthusiastic in his conduct of

11745-401: The order for the actual beheading, so they brought their dispute to Cromwell...Oliver seized a pen and scribbled out the order, and handed the pen to the second officer, Colonel Hacker who stooped to sign it. The execution could now proceed." Although Fairfax conspicuously refused to sign, Charles I was executed on 30 January 1649. After the King's execution, a republic was declared, known as

11880-608: The orders and instructions for the removal of all the Irish natives into Connaught, based upon the act for the satisfaction of the adventurers of 26 September 1653. At the end of the nineteenth century, the pamphlet was thought to be very rare. Dunlop wrote that it was not mentioned by Ware in his Writers of Ireland . He mentions a copy (perhaps unique) in the Haliday collection in the Royal Irish Academy . John Patrick Prendergast , who first called attention to it, gave

12015-494: The other. The Putney Debates broke up without reaching a resolution. The failure to conclude a political agreement with the King led eventually to the outbreak of the Second English Civil War in 1648, when the King tried to regain power by force of arms. Cromwell first put down a Royalist uprising in south Wales led by Rowland Laugharne , winning back Chepstow Castle on 25 May and six days later forcing

12150-406: The outbreak of civil war in 1642 and had been closely associated with them during the 1640s. Only St John was persuaded to retain his seat in Parliament. The Royalists, meanwhile, had regrouped in Ireland, having signed a treaty with the Irish known as Confederate Catholics . In March, the Rump chose Cromwell to command a campaign against them. Preparations for an invasion of Ireland occupied him in

12285-472: The peaceable disposition of the Irish army, and commissioning three officers to represent their views in England. It is plain that he regarded his brother still as the legitimate governor, and was prepared to act for his restoration if so commanded. During this period of suspense the hopes of the Royalists ( Cavaliers ) rose high, and more than one overture was made to Henry on behalf of Charles II . Lord Falconbridge and possibly Lord Broghill seem to have been

12420-478: The people of Ireland, that his highness’s interest is irresistible here". The adversaries who rendered the task of governing Ireland so burdensome appear to have been the leaders of the military party who surrounded the Protector. Henry Cromwell frequently refers to them in terms of dislike and distrust, especially in his letters to Thurloe during 1657 and 1658. He considered them as opposed to any legal settlement and desirous to perpetuate their own arbitrary power. On

12555-546: The powers of the executive , to set up regularly elected parliaments, and to restore a non-compulsory episcopalian settlement. Many in the army, such as the Levellers led by John Lilburne , thought this was not enough and demanded full political equality for all men, leading to tense debates in Putney during the autumn of 1647 between Fairfax, Cromwell and Ireton on the one hand, and Levellers like Colonel Rainsborough on

12690-416: The present, but all he seems to have obtained was the promise of £30,000. In the opinion of Firth, to have succeeded under such unfavourable circumstances in maintaining tranquillity and apparent contentment is no small proof of Cromwell's ability as a ruler. "The hypocrisy of men may be deep", he wrote in April 1658, "but really any indifferent spectator would gather, from the seeming unanimity and affection of

12825-399: The proposal to tax the cavalier party promiscuously, but approved the imposition of a test on all members of the approaching parliament. Cromwell's great aim was to found the protectorate on as broad a basis as possible, to free it from the control of the military leaders, and to rally to its support as many of the royalists and old parliamentarians as possible. He knew that the maintenance of

12960-406: The protectorate by the "Petition and Advice", Cromwell was at length appointed Lord-Lieutenant by commission dated 16 November 1657. His new rank gave him more dignity and more responsibility, but did not increase his power or put an end to his difficulties. His promotion was accompanied by the appointment of a new Irish council, "the major art of whom", wrote Henry to his brother Richard, "were men of

13095-549: The province of Connacht . Cromwell left Ireland in May 1650 and several months later invaded Scotland after the Scots had proclaimed Charles I's son Charles II as King. Cromwell was much less hostile to Scottish Presbyterians , some of whom had been his allies in the First English Civil War, than he was to Irish Catholics. He described the Scots as a people "fearing His [God's] name, though deceived". He made

13230-469: The question of the acceptance of the crown offered to his father in 1657 his own views were almost exactly the same as those of the Protector himself. From the first Henry held the constitution sketched in the articles of the Petition and Advice to be "a most excellent structure", and was taken by the prospect of obtaining a parliamentary basis for the protectorate. But the title of king, "a gaudy feather in

13365-695: The radicals might do if they took control of the Assembly. After Barebone's Parliament was dissolved, John Lambert put forward a new constitution known as the Instrument of Government , closely modelled on the Heads of Proposals . This made Cromwell undertake the "chief magistracy and the administration of government". Later he was sworn as Lord Protector on 16 December, with a ceremony in which he wore plain black clothing, rather than any monarchical regalia. Cromwell also changed his signature to 'Oliver P', with

13500-451: The ranks of the Royalist cavalry and then attacking their infantry from the rear at Marston Moor was a major factor in the Parliamentarian victory. Cromwell fought at the head of his troops in the battle and was slightly wounded in the neck, stepping away briefly to receive treatment but returning to help secure the victory. After Cromwell's nephew was killed at Marston Moor, he wrote a famous letter to his brother-in-law . Marston Moor secured

13635-564: The remainder of his life. Although a firm believer in the "plantation policy" as a means of reducing Ireland to "civility and good government", he was one of the few colonists who really seem to have had the interest of Ireland at heart. He is chiefly known to us as the author of the remarkable pamphlet , The Great Case of Transplantation discussed; or certain Considerations, wherein the many great inconveniences in Transplanting

13770-469: The renewal of his commission. He was anxious to come over to England, not only for the benefit of his own health, but (after he had agreed to continue in the government of Ireland) in order to confer with Richard and his friends in England on the principles of Irish policy, and on the prospects and plans of the new government in England. However, both Thurloe and Lord Broghill strongly urged him not to come. The former wrote that his continuance in Ireland, and at

13905-402: The right to private worship of those who fell outside Puritanism—that led to his encouraging Jews to return to England in 1657, over 350 years after their banishment by Edward I , in the hope that they would help speed up the recovery of the country after the disruption of the Civil Wars. There was a longer-term motive for Cromwell's decision to allow the Jews to return to England, and that was

14040-557: The river Severn to the other and then back again. The editor of the Great Rebellion article of the Encyclopædia Britannica (eleventh edition) notes that Worcester was a battle of manoeuvre compared to the early Civil War Battle of Turnham Green , which the English parliamentary armies were unable to execute at the start of the war, and he suggests that it was a prototype for the Battle of Sedan (1870) . In

14175-479: The same time he warned him against being "over jealous", and "making it a business to be too hard" for those who contested with him. C. H. Firth states in the Dictionary of National Biography that in truth Henry's great weakness lay in the fact that he was too sensitive and irritable. His letters are a long series of complaints, and he continually talks of resigning his office. One of the first of his troubles

14310-689: The social order. Small-scale reform such as that carried out on the judicial system were outweighed by attempts to restore order to English politics. Tax slightly decreased, and he prioritise peace and ending the First Anglo-Dutch War . England's overseas possessions in this period included Newfoundland , the New England Confederation , the Providence Plantation , the Virginia Colony ,

14445-453: The subsequent months. In the latter part of the 1640s, Cromwell came across political dissidence in the New Model Army . The Leveller or Agitator movement was a political movement that emphasised popular sovereignty, extended suffrage, equality before the law, and religious tolerance. These sentiments were expressed in the 1647 manifesto: Agreement of the People . Cromwell and the rest of

14580-491: The substitution of a settled civil government in place of the rule of a clique of officers. For Henry Cromwell, even perhaps more than for Oliver Cromwell , Gookin felt a profound admiration, and seems to have been the author of the Ancient Protestants' Petition in defence of the former against the attacks of the military clique. There is an interesting account of the presentation of this petition to Cromwell, in

14715-406: The surrender of Tenby . The castle at Carmarthen was destroyed by burning; the much stronger castle at Pembroke fell only after an eight-week siege. Cromwell dealt leniently with ex-Royalist soldiers, but less so with those who had formerly been members of the parliamentary army, John Poyer eventually being executed in London after the drawing of lots. Cromwell then marched north to deal with

14850-541: The tact that he knew his letters were not secure. Cromwell's numerous correspondents in England kept him well informed of the progress of events there, but he bitterly complains that for some time before the dissolution of the Third Protectorate Parliament he had received no letters from the Protector. In answer to the letter of the English army leaders which announced the fall of his brother's government, he sent an ambiguous reply assuring them of

14985-529: The town surrendered. One of Cromwell's major victories in Ireland was diplomatic rather than military. With the help of Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery , he persuaded the Protestant Royalist troops in Cork to change sides and fight with the Parliament. At this point, word reached Cromwell that Charles II (son of Charles I ) had landed in Scotland from exile in France and been proclaimed King by

15120-470: The town. After taking Drogheda, Cromwell 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 put up a fierce defence but was eventually forced to surrender 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 2,000 men in abortive assaults before

15255-530: The wages it was owed, petitioned against these changes, but the Commons declared the petition unlawful. In May 1647 Cromwell was sent to the army's headquarters in Saffron Walden to negotiate with them, but failed to agree. In June 1647, a troop of cavalry under Cornet George Joyce seized the King from Parliament's imprisonment. With the King now present, Cromwell was eager to find out what conditions

15390-514: The war in Ireland. Before his invasion, Parliamentarian forces held outposts only in Dublin and Derry . When he departed Ireland, they occupied most of the eastern and northern parts of the country. After he landed at Dublin on 15 August 1649 (itself only recently defended from an Irish and English Royalist attack at the Battle of Rathmines ), Cromwell took the fortified port towns of Drogheda and Wexford to secure logistical supply from England. At

15525-459: The war. Manchester later accused Cromwell of recruiting men of "low birth" as officers in the army, to which he replied: "If you choose godly honest men to be captains of horse, honest men will follow them ... 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". At this time, Cromwell also fell into dispute with Major-General Lawrence Crawford ,

15660-476: The wife of Oliver St John, gives an account of his spiritual awakening at this time. In the letter, Cromwell, describing himself as having been the "chief of sinners", describes his calling as among "the congregation of the firstborn". The letter's language, particularly the inclusion of numerous biblical quotations, shows Cromwell's belief that he was saved from his previous sins by God's mercy, and indicates his religiously Independent beliefs, chief among them that

15795-585: The wounds of the 1640s and deepened antipathies to the regime. In late 1654, Cromwell launched the Western Design armada against the Spanish West Indies , and in May 1655 captured Jamaica . As Lord Protector, Cromwell was aware of the Jewish community's involvement in the economics of the Netherlands, now England's leading commercial rival. It was this—allied to Cromwell's tolerance of

15930-442: Was appointed commander of the New Model Army cavalry under Sir Thomas Fairfax , and played a key role in winning the English Civil War . The death of Charles I and exile of his son , followed by military victories in Ireland and Scotland , firmly established the Commonwealth and Cromwell's dominance of the new regime. In December 1653, he was named Lord Protector, a position he retained until his death in September 1658, when he

16065-438: Was attracted by the idea of an assembly made up of men chosen for their religious credentials. In his speech during the assembly on 4 July, Cromwell thanked God's providence that he believed had brought England to this point and set out their divine mission: "truly God hath called you to this work by, I think, as wonderful providences as ever passed upon the sons of men in so short a time." The Nominated Assembly, sometimes known as

16200-409: Was eight months in arrears, and £180,000, owing from the English exchequer, was necessary to clear the engagements of the Irish government. The difficulty of obtaining this money, as also the appointment of the hostile councillors, he attributed to his adversaries in the Protector's council. "Those who were against my coming to this employment, by keeping back our monies have an after game to play, for it

16335-432: Was further harmed by a tax proposal by Major General John Desborough to provide financial backing for their work, which the second Protectorate parliament —instated in September 1656—voted down for fear of a permanent military state. Ultimately, however, Cromwell's failure to support his men, sacrificing them to his opponents, caused their demise. Their activities between November 1655 and September 1656 had, however, reopened

16470-538: Was in 1647 either a captain in Harrison's regiment or the commander of Fairfax's lifeguard. Heath and Wood identify him with the commandant of the life-guard. In the summer of 1648 Henry Cromwell appears to have been serving under his father in the north of England. In February 1650 Cromwell had attained the rank of colonel, and followed his father to Ireland with reinforcements. He and Lord Broghill defeated Lord Inchiquin near Limerick in April 1650. In 1653 Cromwell

16605-487: Was in the trained bands, the local county militia. He recruited a cavalry troop in Cambridgeshire after blocking a valuable shipment of silver plate from Cambridge colleges that was meant for the King. Cromwell and his troop then rode to, but arrived too late to take part in, the indecisive Battle of Edgehill on 23 October 1642. The troop was recruited to be a full regiment in the winter of 1642–43, making up part of

16740-626: Was marked by failure. He briefly contemplated emigration to New England , but became a religious Independent in the 1630s and thereafter believed his successes were the result of divine providence . In 1640, Cromwell was returned as MP for Cambridge in the Short and Long Parliaments . He joined the Parliamentarian army when the First English Civil War began in August 1642 and quickly demonstrated his military abilities. In 1645, he

16875-559: Was merely his deputy — the position which he had intended Desborough to fill. The object of the change in the government of Ireland was to substitute a settled civil government for the rule of a clique of officers, and to put an end to the influence of the Anabaptists, who had hitherto monopolised the direction of the government. The policy of Cromwell towards the native Irish was very little milder than that of his predecessor. His earliest letters show him zealously engaged in shipping young women and boys to populate Jamaica. He suggested to Thurloe

17010-419: Was never disquieted on that account. Noble collects several anecdotes of doubtful authority concerning the relations of Charles II and Cromwell. He died on 23 March 1674 ( O.S. ), aged forty-six, and was buried at Wicken Church in Cambridgeshire. On 10 May 1653 Cromwell married Elizabeth (died 7 April 1687), daughter of Sir Francis Russell . They had five sons and two daughters, the history of whose descendants

17145-484: Was nominated one of the representatives of Ireland in the Barebones Parliament . On 22 February 1654 Henry Cromwell was enrolled in Gray's Inn (this was merely an honorary registration). After the dissolution of that parliament and the establishment of the Protectorate , his father despatched him to Ireland on a mission of inquiry to discover the feelings of the Irish officers towards the new government, and to counteract

17280-570: Was put down with deployment of 6,000 English troops there. 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 was away on campaign from the middle of 1649 until 1651, and the various factions in Parliament began to fight amongst themselves with the King gone as their "common cause". Cromwell tried to galvanise

17415-415: Was signed by 59 of the trying court's members, including Cromwell (the third to sign it). Though it was not unprecedented, execution of the King, or regicide , was controversial, if for no other reason than the doctrine of the divine right of kings . Thus, even after a trial, it was difficult to get ordinary men to go along with it: "None of the officers charged with supervising the execution wanted to sign

17550-674: Was some danger of Cromwell's resignation or removal, shows the feelings with which this party regarded his rule. The Presbyterians and the more moderate sects of Independents , hitherto oppressed by the predominance enjoyed by the Anabaptists, expressed a like satisfaction with his government. With the Anabaptist leaders Cromwell had, in January 1656, an interview, in which he very plainly stated his intentions towards them. "I told them plainly that they might expect equal liberty in their spiritual and civil concernments with any others; and ... that I held myself obliged in duty to protect them from being imposed upon by any; as also to keep them from doing

17685-405: Was strongly opposed to the latter's pro-Jewish policy. Vincent Gookin (surveyor-general) Gookin was the eldest son of Sir Vincent Gookin (c. 1594–1638) and his first wife Mary Wood. Some years after the death of his father, in 1648, he appears to have disposed of his Gloucestershire property to a Dr. Samuel Bave, and to have migrated to Ireland , where he continued to reside during

17820-480: Was succeeded by his son Richard , whose weakness led to a power vacuum . This culminated in the 1660 Stuart Restoration , after which Cromwell's body was removed from Westminster Abbey and displayed at Tyburn . His head was placed on a spike outside the Tower of London , where it remained for 30 years, and ultimately reburied at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge , in 1960. Winston Churchill described Cromwell as

17955-409: Was the different policy adopted by him towards the English colony in Ireland. Instead of conducting the government in the interests of the soldiery, and in accordance with their views, he consulted the interests of the old settlers, the ancient Protestant inhabitants of Ireland, and was repaid by their confidence and admiration. A letter addressed to the Protector by Vincent Gookin , at a time when there

18090-410: Was the mutinous condition of Ludlow's regiment, which he took the precaution of disbanding as soon as possible. Then, without Cromwell's knowledge, petitions were got up by his partisans for his appointment to Fleetwood's post, which afforded Hewson and other Anabaptists the opportunity of public protests on behalf of their old commander, in which they identified the deputy's supporters with the enemies of

18225-583: Was widowed, and his seven sisters unmarried, he would have been needed at home to help his family. Cromwell married Elizabeth Bourchier (1598–1665) on 22 August 1620 at St Giles-without-Cripplegate , Fore Street, London. Elizabeth's father, Sir James Bourchier, was a London leather-merchant who owned extensive lands in Essex and had strong connections with Puritan gentry families there. The marriage brought Cromwell into contact with Oliver St John and leading members of London's merchant community, and behind them

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