At the eastern end of Westminster Abbey in the Lady Chapel built by King Henry VII is the RAF Chapel dedicated to the men of the Royal Air Force who died in the Battle of Britain between July and October 1940.
134-598: What is now the RAF Chapel was the original burial site of Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell in 1658. Cromwell was disinterred in 1661, after the Stuart Restoration , when his corpse was ritually hung from the gallows at Tyburn , where it was finally buried. The chapel received extensive bomb damage during the Battle of Britain in 1940 and its Tudor glass windows were blown out at the same time. A hole made in
268-466: 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 a military dictator, while others view him
402-585: 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
536-623: A "Committee of Safety" was appointed, of which Fleetwood and Lambert were members. Lambert was appointed major-general of all the forces in England and Scotland, Fleetwood being general. Lambert was now sent, by the Committee of Safety, with a large force to meet George Monck , who was in command of the English forces in Scotland, and either negotiate with him or force him to come to terms. It
670-486: A Baptist merchant after whom the Assembly got its derogatory nickname. Many were well educated. The assembly reflected the range of views of the officers who nominated it. The Radicals (approximately 40) included a hard core of Fifth Monarchists who wanted to be rid of Common Law and any state control of religion. The Moderates (approximately 60) wanted some improvements within the existing system and might move to either
804-666: 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
938-605: 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
1072-501: A fact that they themselves noticed and many urged Cromwell to call another Parliament to give his rule legitimacy. Unlike the prior Parliament, which had been open to all eligible males in the Commonwealth, the new elections specifically excluded Catholics and Royalists from running or voting; as a result, it was stocked with members who were more in line with Cromwell's own politics. The first major bill to be brought up for debate
1206-580: 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,
1340-567: 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 the funds being privately supplied by Prime Minister Lord Rosebery . Cromwell
1474-529: 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 was succeeded by his son Richard , whose weakness led to
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#17327719621341608-465: A military dictatorship. Instead, he ruled through a "nominated assembly" which he believed would be easy for the Army to control since Army officers did the nominating. Barebone's Parliament was opposed by former Rumpers and ridiculed by many gentries as being an assembly of inferior people. Over 110 of its 140 members were lesser gentry or of higher social status; an exception was Praise-God Barebone ,
1742-588: 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,
1876-561: 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
2010-582: 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
2144-409: 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
2278-762: 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 was appointed commander of the New Model Army cavalry under Sir Thomas Fairfax , and played
2412-679: 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
2546-696: A secret message sent by Monck, Charles II issued the Declaration of Breda , which made known the conditions of his acceptance of the crown of England. Monck organised the Convention Parliament , which met for the first time on 25 April. On 8 May it proclaimed that King Charles II had been the lawful monarch since the execution of Charles I in January 1649. Charles returned from exile on 23 May. He entered London on 29 May, his birthday. To celebrate "his Majesty's Return to his Parliament" 29 May
2680-596: 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 was marked by failure. He briefly contemplated emigration to New England , but became
2814-523: 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
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#17327719621342948-577: A stained glass window, the Battle of Britain memorial window, which was unveiled by King George VI on 10 July 1947. Subsequently, the Battle of Britain Roll of Honour was placed in the chapel. It contains the names of the 1,497 pilots and aircrew killed or mortally wounded during the Battle of Britain . Illuminated by calligrapher Daisy Alcock, the original work was paid for by Captain Bruce Ingram. It
3082-565: A three-year fixed-term (which the Lord Protector was required to abide by) and to reserve for the Parliament the sole right of taxation. The second, as a concession to Cromwell, was to make the Lord Protector a hereditary position and to convert the title to a formal constitutional Kingship. Cromwell refused the title of King, but accepted the rest of the legislation, which was passed in final form on 25 May 1657. A second session of
3216-442: 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
3350-647: Is paraded annually during the Service of Thanksgiving and Rededication on Battle of Britain Sunday. The ashes of Trenchard (1956) and Dowding (1970) were interred in the chapel. Notable RAF officers buried elsewhere are commemorated by memorials, e.g. "Bomber" Harris , the man who led RAF Bomber Command during much of the Second World War. A tradition has grown that the remaining Battle of Britain veterans and their families hold their own, private service in
3484-463: Is paraded through the abbey. Originally, it was escorted by 12 Battle of Britain veterans; today, the escort is made up of six veterans and six serving Junior Officers in the RAF. The RAF Fighter Command Silk Ensign is also carried through the abbey, borne and escorted by serving Junior RAF Officers from an extant Battle of Britain squadron that is currently operational. The Ensign Bearer always wears
3618-732: The Anglo-Scottish war of 1650–1652 . In 1653, after dissolution of the Rump Parliament, the Army Council adopted the Instrument of Government , by which Oliver Cromwell was made Lord Protector of a united "Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland", inaugurating the period now usually known as the Protectorate . After Cromwell's death, and following a brief period of rule under his son, Richard Cromwell ,
3752-507: 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
3886-624: 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
4020-544: 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
4154-660: 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
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4288-553: 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,
4422-881: 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
4556-596: The English Civil War , the reformed Navy under the command of Robert Blake defeated the Dutch in the First Anglo-Dutch War which marked the first step towards England's naval supremacy . In Ireland, the Commonwealth period is remembered for Cromwell's conquest of Ireland , which continued and completed the policies of the Tudor and Stuart periods. The Rump was created by Pride's Purge of those members of
4690-585: 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
4824-577: 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
4958-533: The Levellers ; Presbyterians who were willing to countenance the trial and execution of the King; and later admissions, such as formerly excluded MPs who were prepared to denounce the Newport Treaty negotiations with the King. Most Rumpers were gentry , though there was a higher proportion of lesser gentry and lawyers than in previous parliaments. Less than one-quarter of them were regicides . This left
5092-499: The Long Parliament who did not support the political position of the Grandees in the New Model Army . Just before and after the execution of King Charles I on 30 January 1649, the Rump passed a number of acts of Parliament creating the legal basis for the republic. With the abolition of the monarchy, Privy Council and the House of Lords , it had unchecked executive and legislative power. The English Council of State , which replaced
5226-699: The Monypenny Sword , a gift of the widow of Squadron Leader John Blackwell Sinclair Monypenny, who was killed in action in 1940. The service is a ticket-only event, arranged by the Royal Air Force Ceremonial Office. Notices are placed in The Times and The Daily Telegraph newspapers in June. Applications can be made in writing to SO3 RAF Ceremonial Events at RAF Northolt by former Battle of Britain aircrew, relatives of Battle of Britain aircrew now deceased (either during
5360-545: 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
5494-548: The Protectorate Parliament was dissolved in 1659 and the Rump Parliament recalled, starting a process that led to the restoration of the monarchy in 1660. The term Commonwealth is sometimes used for the whole of 1649 to 1660 – called by some the Interregnum – although for other historians, the use of the term is limited to the years prior to Cromwell's formal assumption of power in 1653. In retrospect,
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5628-586: 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
5762-679: 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
5896-499: 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
6030-450: 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,
6164-399: The Army and divisions quickly developed in the Parliament. One faction called for a recall of the Rump Parliament and a return to the constitution of the Commonwealth, while another preferred the existing constitution. As the parties grew increasingly quarrelsome, Richard dissolved it. He was quickly removed from power, and the remaining Army leadership recalled the Rump Parliament, setting
6298-561: 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
6432-404: 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
6566-399: 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
6700-403: 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
6834-406: 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
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#17327719621346968-427: 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
7102-424: 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
7236-537: 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
7370-456: The Parliament met in 1658; it allowed previously excluded MPs (who had been not allowed to take their seats because of Catholic and/or Royalist leanings) to take their seats, however, this made the Parliament far less compliant to the wishes of Cromwell and the Major-Generals; it accomplished little in the way of a legislative agenda and was dissolved after a few months. On the death of Oliver Cromwell in 1658, his son, Richard Cromwell , inherited
7504-408: 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
7638-485: 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
7772-462: The Privy Council, took over many of the executive functions of the monarchy. It was selected by the Rump, and most of its members were MPs. However, the Rump depended on the support of the Army with which it had a very uneasy relationship. After the execution of Charles I, the House of Commons abolished the monarchy and the House of Lords. It declared the people of England "and of all the Dominions and Territories thereunto belonging" to be henceforth under
7906-409: 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
8040-418: The Republican period. Still, the memory of the Parliamentarian cause, dubbed the Good Old Cause by the soldiers of the New Model Army, lingered on. It would carry through English politics and eventually result in a constitutional monarchy . The Commonwealth period is better remembered for the military success of Thomas Fairfax , Oliver Cromwell , and the New Model Army . Besides resounding victories in
8174-647: 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
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#17327719621348308-410: The Rump as basically a conservative body whose vested interests in the existing land ownership and legal systems made it unlikely to want to reform them. For the first two years of the Commonwealth, the Rump faced economic depression and the risk of invasion from Scotland and Ireland. By 1653 Cromwell and the Army had largely eliminated these threats. There were many disagreements amongst factions of
8442-484: 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
8576-448: The Rump on 20 April 1653, for reasons that are unclear. Theories are that he feared the Rump was trying to perpetuate itself as the government, or that the Rump was preparing for an election which could return an anti-Commonwealth majority. Many former members of the Rump continued to regard themselves as England's only legitimate constitutional authority. The Rump had not agreed to its own dissolution; their legal, constitutional view that it
8710-449: The Rump. Some wanted a republic, but others favoured retaining some type of monarchical government. Most of England's traditional ruling classes regarded the Rump as an illegal government made up of regicides and upstarts. However, they were also aware that the Rump might be all that stood in the way of an outright military dictatorship . High taxes, mainly to pay the Army, were resented by the gentry. Limited reforms were enough to antagonise
8844-477: 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
8978-414: 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
9112-448: 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
9246-471: The chapel prior to the Service of Thanksgiving and Rededication on Battle of Britain Sunday. The annual service on Battle of Britain Sunday is held in Westminster Abbey on the Sunday on or following Battle of Britain Day (15 September), and has taken place annually since 1943; the first service took place in St Paul's Cathedral and since has taken place in the Abbey. The format of the service has not changed since 1943. The Battle of Britain Roll of Honour
9380-539: 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
9514-417: 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
9648-399: The executive function formerly held by the King and his Privy Council, was forcibly dissolved by Cromwell on 20 April, and in its place a new council, filled with Cromwell's own chosen men, was installed. Three days after Barebone's Parliament dissolved itself, the Instrument of Government was adopted by Cromwell's council and a new state structure, now known historically as The Protectorate,
9782-417: 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
9916-561: 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
10050-649: 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
10184-564: The first several months of 1654 preparing for the First Protectorate Parliament by drawing up a set of 84 bills for consideration. The Parliament was freely elected (as free as such elections could be in the 17th century) and as such, the Parliament was filled with a wide range of political interests, and as such did not accomplish any of its goals. Having passed none of Cromwell's proposed bills, he dissolved it as soon as law would allow. Having decided that Parliament
10318-411: The gentry, who regarded the common law as reinforcing their status and property rights. The Rump passed many restrictive laws to regulate people's moral behaviour, such as closing down theatres and requiring strict observance of Sunday . Laws were also passed banning the celebration of Easter and Christmas. This antagonised most of the gentry. Cromwell, aided by Thomas Harrison , forcibly dismissed
10452-502: 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
10586-546: The governance of a "Commonwealth", effectively a republic. In Pride's Purge , all members of parliament (including most of the political Presbyterians ) who would not accept the need to bring the King to trial had been removed. Thus the Rump never had more than two hundred members (less than half the number of the Commons in the original Long Parliament). They included: supporters of religious independents who did not want an established church and some of whom had sympathies with
10720-704: 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,
10854-420: 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
10988-415: 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
11122-574: 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
11256-671: 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
11390-534: 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
11524-400: 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
11658-546: The military governor of Scotland, General George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle . The ordinance declared that "the people of Scotland should be united with the people of England into one Commonwealth and under one Government" and decreed that a new " Arms of the Commonwealth ", incorporating the Saltire , should be placed on "all the public seals, seals of office, and seals of bodies civil or corporate, in Scotland" as "a badge of this Union". Cromwell and his Council of State spent
11792-497: 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
11926-560: 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
12060-401: 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
12194-494: 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
12328-406: 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
12462-401: The period of republican rule for England was a failure in the short term. During the 11-year period, no stable government was established to rule the English state for longer than a few months at a time. Several administrative structures were tried, and several Parliaments called and seated, but little in the way of meaningful, lasting legislation was passed. The only force keeping it together was
12596-504: The personality of Oliver Cromwell , who exerted control through the military by way of the "Grandees", being the Major-Generals and other senior military leaders of the New Model Army . Not only did Cromwell's regime crumble into near anarchy upon his death and the brief administration of his son, but the monarchy he overthrew was restored in 1660, and its first act was officially to erase all traces of any constitutional reforms of
12730-490: 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
12864-497: 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
12998-671: The radical or conservative side depending on the issue. The Conservatives (approximately 40) wanted to keep the status quo , since common law protected the interests of the gentry, and tithes and advowsons were valuable property. Cromwell saw Barebone's Parliament as a temporary legislative body which he hoped would produce reforms and develop a constitution for the Commonwealth. However, members were divided over key issues, only 25 had previous parliamentary experience, and although many had some legal training, there were no qualified lawyers. Cromwell seems to have expected this group of amateurs to produce reform without management or direction. When
13132-581: 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
13266-441: The radicals mustered enough support to defeat a bill which would have preserved the status quo in religion, the conservatives, together with many moderates, surrendered their authority back to Cromwell, who sent soldiers to clear the rest of the Assembly. Barebone's Parliament was over. Throughout 1653, Cromwell and the Army slowly dismantled the machinery of the Commonwealth state. The English Council of State , which had assumed
13400-451: 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
13534-461: 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
13668-557: 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
13802-450: The ruling class but not enough to satisfy the radicals. Despite its unpopularity, the Rump was a link with the old constitution and helped to settle England down and make it secure after the biggest upheaval in its history. By 1653, France and Spain had recognised England's new government. Though the Church of England was retained, episcopacy was suppressed and the Act of Uniformity 1558
13936-617: 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 ,
14070-580: The stage for the return of the Monarchy a year later. After the Grandees in the New Model Army removed Richard, they reinstalled the Rump Parliament in May 1659. Charles Fleetwood was appointed a member of the Committee of Safety and of the Council of State, and one of the seven commissioners for the army. On 9 June he was nominated lord-general (commander-in-chief) of the army. However, his power
14204-507: The stonework has been preserved and covered with glass. The Dean of Westminster was approached early in 1943 by Mr. N. Viner-Brady who suggested the idea of a memorial to The Few and Dean Labilliere chose a small chapel as suitable for the purpose. Marshal of the Royal Air Force Lord Trenchard and Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding headed a committee to raise funds for the furnishing of this chapel and for
14338-453: 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
14472-406: 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
14606-525: The title, Lord Protector. Richard had never served in the Army, which meant he lost control over the Major-Generals that had been the source of his own father's power. The Third Protectorate Parliament was summoned in late 1658 and was seated on 27 January 1659. Its first act was to confirm Richard's role as Lord Protector, which it did by a sizeable, but not overwhelming, majority. Quickly, however, it became apparent that Richard had no control over
14740-529: 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
14874-470: 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
15008-475: 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
15142-514: 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
15276-571: The war or since), past or present members of the RAF or its reserve forces and members of the public. Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 1599 – 3 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician, and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms , initially as
15410-459: 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 ,
15544-476: 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
15678-585: 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
15812-438: 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
15946-556: 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 the famous chief minister to Henry VIII. The Cromwells acquired great wealth as occasional beneficiaries of Thomas's administration of
16080-465: Was declared through "An Act declaring England to be a Commonwealth ", adopted by the Rump Parliament on 19 May 1649. Power in the early Commonwealth was vested primarily in the Parliament and a Council of State . During the period, fighting continued, particularly in Ireland and Scotland, between the parliamentary forces and those opposed to them, in the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland and
16214-432: 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
16348-538: Was given its shape. This new constitution granted Cromwell sweeping powers as Lord Protector , an office which ironically had much the same role and powers as the King had under the monarchy, a fact not lost on Cromwell's critics. On 12 April 1654, under the terms of the Tender of Union , the Ordinance for uniting Scotland into one Commonwealth with England was issued by the Lord Protector and proclaimed in Scotland by
16482-487: 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
16616-524: Was into this atmosphere that General George Monck marched south with his army from Scotland . Lambert's army began to desert him, and he returned to London almost alone. On 21 February 1660, Monck reinstated the Presbyterian members of the Long Parliament "secluded" by Pride, so that they could prepare legislation for a new parliament. Fleetwood was deprived of his command and ordered to appear before parliament to answer for his conduct. On 3 March Lambert
16750-455: Was not an efficient means of getting his policies enacted, Cromwell instituted a system of direct military rule of England during a period known as the Rule of the Major-Generals ; all of England was divided into ten regions, each was governed directly by one of Cromwell's Major-Generals, who were given sweeping powers to collect taxes and enforce the peace. The Major-Generals were highly unpopular,
16884-570: 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
17018-496: Was repealed in September 1650. Mainly on the insistence of the Army, many independent churches were tolerated, although everyone still had to pay tithes to the established church. Some small improvements were made to law and court procedure; for example, all court proceedings were now conducted in English rather than in Law French or Latin . However, there were no widespread reforms of the common law . This would have upset
17152-525: Was sent to the Tower, from which he escaped a month later. Lambert tried to rekindle the civil war in favour of the Commonwealth by issuing a proclamation calling on all supporters of the " Good Old Cause " to rally on the battlefield of Edgehill. However, he was recaptured by Colonel Richard Ingoldsby , a regicide who hoped to win a pardon by handing Lambert over to the new regime. The Long Parliament dissolved itself on 16 March. On 4 April 1660, in response to
17286-415: 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
17420-410: Was strongly opposed to the latter's pro-Jewish policy. Commonwealth of England The Commonwealth of England was the political structure during the period from 1649 to 1660 when England and Wales , later along with Ireland and Scotland , were governed as a republic after the end of the Second English Civil War and the trial and execution of Charles I . The republic's existence
17554-675: Was the Militia Bill, which was ultimately voted down by the House. As a result, the authority of the Major-Generals to collect taxes to support their own regimes ended, and the Rule of the Major Generals came to an end. The second piece of major legislation was the passage of the Humble Petition and Advice , a sweeping constitutional reform which had two purposes. The first was to reserve for Parliament certain rights, such as
17688-465: Was undermined in parliament, which chose to disregard the army's authority in a similar fashion to the pre–Civil War parliament. On 12 October 1659 the Commons cashiered General John Lambert and other officers, and installed Fleetwood as chief of a military council under the authority of the Speaker . The next day Lambert ordered that the doors of the House be shut and the members kept out. On 26 October
17822-445: Was unlawful was based on Charles' concessionary Act prohibiting the dissolution of Parliament without its own consent (on 11 May 1641, leading to the entire Commonwealth being the latter years of the Long Parliament in their majority view). The dissolution of the Rump was followed by a short period in which Cromwell and the Army ruled alone. Nobody had the constitutional authority to call an election, but Cromwell did not want to impose
17956-583: 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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