Oliver Cromwell: Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell Lord Protector In 1649, after the proclamation of the republican Commonwealth, Cromwell led a punitive expedition into Ireland, especially remembered for the massacre of the royalist garrison at Drogheda. He then initiated a policy of systematic dispossession of the Irish, transferring their lands to Protestant proprietors. In 1650 he invaded Scotland and routed the Scottish royalists at Dunbar; later he defeated the Scots and Charles II himself at Worcester (1651) and left the rest of the conquest of Scotland to Gen. George Monck. Cromwell, now virtual dictator of the Commonwealth, dissolved the Rump Parliament in 1653 after it had failed to effect reforms demanded by the army and had sought to perpetuate its power. His attempt to replace it by the Nominated (Barebone's) Parliament (see Barebone, Praise-God ), appointed by himself from nominations of the Independent congregations, resulted in a reckless, hopelessly divided body that was finally forced to dissolve itself. A group of army officers then drew up the constitutional document known as the Instrument of Government (1653), by which Cromwell became lord protector (see Protectorate ).

The Parliament of 1654, which was elected under the terms of the same document, wanted to prepare a new constitution and was soon dissolved. After that Cromwell resorted to open military government, dividing England into 11 districts, each administered by a major-general. Another, more amenable Parliament was summoned in 1656, and in 1657 it presented to Cromwell a new constitution known as the Humble Petition and Advice and offered him the crown. He declined the crown but accepted (with some modifications) the Humble Petition, which further increased his power and set up a second legislative chamber. The second session of this same Parliament, however, challenged the new constitution, and Cromwell dissolved it (1658) seven months before his death. Cromwell's foreign policy was governed by the need to expand English trade and prevent the restoration of the Stuarts, and by the desire to build up a Protestant league and enhance the prestige of the English republic.

He approved the Navigation Act of 1651, which led to the first (1652–54) of the Dutch Wars , and he pressed the war against Spain (1655–58) as a means of encroaching on Spanish rights of colonization in America. The Dutch war resulted in several important naval victories for the English under Admiral Robert Blake , but the Spanish war, apart from the sinking of a Spanish fleet (also by Blake), brought only Jamaica and imposed a great strain on English finances. Sections in this article: Oliver Cromwell Became Lord Protector After Winning The Civil War | Historic Royal Palaces 1653-58 Famous for winning the English Civil War Cromwell emerged as the Lord Protector of England after leading the Parliamentarian side to victory. Although he’d fought to get rid of the Stuart kings, he ended up being rather like a king himself. Cromwell at Hampton Court Palace As Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell moved into Hampton Court Palace where he used the former queen’s bedroom for himself. He travelled down from London to spend quiet weekends here. He enjoyed looking at Charles I ’s art collection, and also had several beautiful statues moved into the Privy Garden.

One of these was the lovely statue of Diana that ended up in the middle of the Round Pond in Bushy Park. Some of Cromwell’s Puritan supporters thought that he took rather took much pleasure in looking at these statues of naked ladies! In 1660 Charles II was invited back to England to become King. BBC - iWonder - Was Oliver Cromwell the father of British democracy? Was Oliver Cromwell the father of British democracy? 1599 1658Cromwell's legacy A meteoric rise to the top Oliver Cromwell was a fanatical puritan who enforced the abolition of Christmas. He rose from relative obscurity as an MP to become one of the most controversial figures in British history. Cromwell won the first civil war involving the whole of Britain and was the key figure in the execution of Charles I. Find out how a revolutionary who toppled a king, only to become a despot himself, paved the way for parliamentary democracy. 1599 An early religious radical Portraits showing Oliver Cromwell's wife Elizabeth and son Richard. Cromwell was born into a fairly wealthy family of landowners in Huntingdonshire. He was the only surviving son. His religious beliefs were shaped at school.

He was influenced by his teacher, Thomas Beard, who wrote a well known puritanical book called The Theatre of God’s Judgement, which portrayed the Pope as the Antichrist. It likely made Cromwell more anti-Catholic. He studied briefly at Cambridge University, but chose sport over his books. After his father’s sudden death, Cromwell returned home to assume control of the house. 1628 Opposed to a despot Portrait of King Charles I by Sir Anthony Van Dyck. Cromwell became MP for Huntington. His first term in Parliament lasted less than a year, not enough time to make an impression. King Charles I didn’t recall Parliament for another 11 years and Cromwell remained in obscurity. He became increasingly opposed to the King’s interpretation of Protestantism, which was at odds with his own austere puritan outlook. 1640 A radical, militant MP MPs who had supported the Scots rebels. Flight of the Five Members by John Seymour Lucas. When the King declared war on Scotland and was forced to recall parliament to raise taxes to pay for it, Cromwell became a leading opposition figure. He encouraged MPs to turn down the King’s request.

Charles I responded by entering the House of Commons with troops to arrest five rebellious MPs, but they had already fled. A radical group formed with Cromwell as one of the leaders, which responded by demanding the surrender of much royal power to Parliament. Indignantly, Charles I refused. Britain was set on the path to civil war. 1644 Revered as a war hero Cromwell at the Battle of Marston Moor, 1644. Cromwell further established his military prowess at the Battle of Marston Moor, when Parliament took control of northern England for the first time. His horsemen broke the Royalist cavalry and successfully attacked their infantry from the rear. Cromwell led from the front, even though he was injured in the neck. He returned to the battlefield to take part in the Parliamentarians' biggest victory to date. Now, Cromwell epitomised their cause. 1645 A supreme tactician You need to have JavaScript enabled to view this clip. Find out how the discipline of the New Model Army made it so effective. Clip from Roundhead or Cavalier: Which one are you?

(BBC Four, 2012) Cromwell helped establish the New Model Army, for the first time a force recruited on merit, not social class - the basis of today's army. He introduced discipline into his troops, which allowed his officers to better control and direct their men. For the first time, the soldiers were paid their wages on a regular basis. The result was a loyal and dedicated army. The most feared section of the New Model Army was the ‘Ironsides’ cavalry. A devastatingly effective military force, it inflicted the Royalists’ biggest defeat at the Battle of Naseby in 1645. Within a year the Civil War was over and Charles I was under house arrest. 1649 Revenge became genocidal You need to have JavaScript enabled to view this clip. See how more butchery was unleashed, notably at Wexford, leaving an indelible mark on Anglo-Irish relations. Clip: Story of Ireland (BBC Two, 2011). The Royalists regrouped and allied with the rebellious Catholics in Ireland. They aimed to invade Britain and overthrow the parliamentary regime.

Cromwell invaded Ireland and attacked a heavily fortified stronghold at Drogheda, on Ireland’s east coast. He stormed the city and slaughtered thousands – a bloody act, which he said was retribution for a Catholic massacre of Protestants in 1641. Cromwell returned to England and in 1651 crushed a Scottish invasion led by King Charles I’s son at the Battle of Worcester. Cromwell called it his ‘crowning victory’. Now Parliament had full control of the country. The man who could take Drogheda could take hell Sir Arthur Aston, Royalist commander of Drogheda 1653 Toppled any weakness Illustration of Oliver Cromwell ejecting the rump of the Long Parliament from the House of Commons. After the fighting had ended, Cromwell turned his attention to replacing an English government he thought had become corrupt. He found a ‘Rump Parliament’ of MPs, who appeared determined to extend their rule indefinitely. Cromwell harangued them on the floor of the House of Commons for being self-serving and then his troops forcibly shut down Parliament. He replaced it with ‘the assembly of saints’, a nominated group of men he considered suitably puritan.

But, when they too proved unsatisfactory, he had them removed as well. 1658 Cromwell's legacy The statue of Oliver Cromwell outside the Houses of Parliament. Cromwell died on September 3 of natural causes. An event still commemorated by the Cromwell Association. His son Richard inherited the title of Lord Protector, but he could not control the army. So in 1660 Charles I’s son was restored to the throne. When Charles II became King the British celebrated the end of Cromwell’s rule with arguably the biggest booze-up the country has ever seen. However the Restoration Settlement did not give back to the King financial control over the government and military. It was the start of the road to parliamentary democracy. This was Cromwell’s greatest legacy, Oliver Cromwell – the metrosexual: how the Lord Protector became the skin protector - Telegraph History Oliver Cromwell – the metrosexual: how the Lord Protector became the skin protector He is remembered as an austere, pious figure, unconcerned with his appearance – but now scientists have shed new light on Oliver Cromwell's "metrosexual" side.

Chemical tests on the contents of a collection of mysterious pots which once belonged to the Lord Protector have revealed them to be luxurious, perfumed cosmetics By Jasper Copping 8:30AM BST 06 May 2012 He is remembered as an austere and pious figure, unconcerned with his appearance – even demanding that portraits show "warts and all". But scientific research has shed new light on Oliver Cromwell, suggesting a more effete side to the republican ruler. Chemical tests on the contents of a collection of mysterious pots which once belonged to the Lord Protector have revealed them to be luxurious, perfumed cosmetics. The research was carried out by scientists at Exeter University and has been presented in an academic journal. Their analysis showed the contents to be soft soap, most likely made from olive oil. The team established that the items had no medicinal purpose, indicating they were purely used for cosmetic purposes. The products were also found to have been scented with a range of delicate fragrances. By contrast, more standard soaps from the period were made from animal fat or fish oils and could be foul smelling.

Related Articles Great Train Robbers 'planned second Royal Mail rail heist' 06 Jan 2013 England's 'lost' battlefields 04 Apr 2009 Sally Pointer, an expert in the history of cosmetics who assisted in the study, said: "This is not soap in the way we think of soap today. It was a cosmetic, luxury item. This is real top-of-the-range stuff – like going into Harrods and shopping from the most expensive make-up counter. It shows appearances were important, even for a person like Cromwell, who was very Godly, with personally very strong puritan convictions." The grooming products were taken from a small wooden chest which once belonged to Cromwell, who ruled as Lord Protector from 1653 to 1658, and which is kept at a museum dedicated to the Civil War victor in Huntingdon, the Cambridgeshire town where he was born. The item contained 55 glass pots, though some are now empty – suggesting they may have been used up by Cromwell. The scientist analysed the contents of four of the pots.

While removing the samples, curators found four labels – previously hidden underneath embroidered "lids" – which even state what perfumes the ointments used: "jasmine", "orange tree flowers", "bitter oranges" and "cassia" – a spice similar to cinnamon. The chest has been in the museum's collection since 1962, but following the research it is to form the centrepiece of a new exhibition, which opens next Saturday. The item has been leant to the museum by a descendant of Cromwell's. According to family tradition, it was given to him by the Duke of Tuscany. John Goldsmith, curator of the museum, said: “This research helps us to stand up this family tradition. There is no evidence that the contents were medicinal, so if they are not medicinal, they can only be cosmetic. It shows Cromwell wasn’t necessarily walking around all the time with mud on his face living a plain and austere lifestyle. “He had a more affluent lifestyle than is perhaps thought.

These items would have been very exclusive and very expensive.” Dr Patrick Little, an historian and chairman of the Cromwell Association, said the findings showed how Cromwell and the court he presided over were more lavish and fashionable than his puritan and soldierly image suggests. "There is plenty of evidence that his court was established in quite an elaborate and lavish way," he said. "He had to entertain ambassadors and foreign dignitaries and to be a powerful player in Europe. To do that, you had to go through with the ceremonies and rituals of a European court at the time. "If this was a gift from abroad, it shows that he is not perceived by people abroad as being austere. They would not send something that would not think would fit in." Biography of Oliver Cromwell » Biographies » Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell, 1599-1658 Rose from obscurity to become the most successful military and political leader of the Civil Wars. Lord Protector of England from 1654-8, he was offered—and refused—the Crown itself. Oliver Cromwell was born in Huntingdon on 25 April 1599 and baptised at the church of St John four days later.

He was the second son of the ten children of Robert Cromwell (d.1617) and Elizabeth Steward (d.1654). The family estate derived from Oliver's great-grandfather, Morgan Williams, a brewer from Glamorgan who settled at Putney in London. Williams married Katherine Cromwell, the sister of Thomas Cromwell, who became chancellor to Henry VIII. Through his association with Thomas Cromwell, Morgan Williams gained estates in Huntingdonshire after the confiscation of church lands at the Reformation. His son Richard changed the family name to Cromwell in honour of their benefactor. Oliver attended the free school attached to the hospital of St John in Huntingdon, where he was taught by Dr Thomas Beard, then spent a year at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. However, his university career was cut short by the death of his father in June 1617. He returned home to manage his family estate and to look after his widowed mother and seven unmarried sisters. Militant Puritan In August 1620, Cromwell married Elizabeth Bourchier (1598–1665), daughter of Sir James Bourchier, a London merchant.

The marriage was long and stable and produced nine children. Cromwell and his growing family settled in Huntingdon. Thanks to connections between the Cromwells and the powerful Montagu family, he was elected MP for Huntingdon in the Parliament of 1628 , where he became associated with the opposition to King Charles that culminated in the declaration of the Petition of Right in June 1628. At some time during the late 1620s, following a period of illness and depression, Cromwell experienced a profound spiritual awakening that left him with deep and uncompromising Puritan beliefs. In 1631, Cromwell's fortunes were in decline. He was forced to sell nearly all his property around Huntingdon and to lease a farmstead at St Ives, where he worked as a farmer for five years. The tide turned in 1636 when Cromwell's childless and widowed maternal uncle Sir Thomas Steward died, leaving him a substantial inheritance, including a house next to St Mary’s Church in Ely and the position of collector of tithes in the two Ely parishes of St Mary's and Holy Trinity.

Cromwell's improved social status and his connections with local Puritans led to his nomination as a freeman of the borough of Cambridge and election as MP for Cambridge in the two Parliaments of 1640. During the first week of the Long Parliament , he made a passionate speech that called attention to the injustice of the imprisonment of John Lilburne, and during the following month he was prominent in parliamentary attacks on episcopacy. Although he was not regarded as a fluent speaker, Cromwell's passion and sincerity gained him a reputation as a solid supporter of opposition leaders such as John Pym and Cromwell's own cousin, John Hampden. Cavalry Commander On the outbreak of the First Civil War in August 1642, Cromwell took up arms for Parliament. He led one of the earliest military actions of the war when with 200 lightly-armed volunteers he prevented the King's men from carrying off the silver plate of the Cambridge colleges. Cromwell raised a troop of sixty horsemen and effectively secured Cambridgeshire for Parliament. In October 1642, Cromwell's troop joined the army of the Earl of Essex and was present during the later stages of the battle of Edgehill.

The superiority of the Royalist horse impressed upon Cromwell the need for a well-trained Parliamentarian cavalry corps. Returning to East Anglia, he was careful to recruit only "godly, honest men" as his troopers and to lead them with firm discipline. His innate skills as a cavalry commander were in evidence at the skirmishing around Gainsborough in July 1643. Having helped to secure most of East Anglia for Parliament by the summer of 1643, Cromwell was appointed governor of Ely and promoted to colonel in the new Eastern Association army raised by the Earl of Manchester . Detail from Cromwell at Marston Moor by Ernest Crofts Rising to prominence in the Eastern Association, Cromwell attained the rank of lieutenant-general of horse in January 1644. He played a major role in Parliament's victory at Marston Moor , where his troopers routed both Prince Rupert's and Lord Goring's cavaliers. Rupert himself is said to have coined the name "Ironside" for Cromwell, which became popular with the army and was extended to his regiment.

However, Cromwell's encouragement of religious zealots among his officers and men drew criticism from Major-General Crawford , a Scottish Presbyterian attached to the Eastern Association. Cromwell became increasingly critical of the leadership of the Earl of Manchester, and denounced him before the House of Commons in November 1644 for his unwillingness to take decisive action against the Royalists. A leading supporter of the Self-Denying Ordinance , Cromwell was one of the few Members of Parliament exempted from resigning his commission in the army under its terms. He was officially appointed lieutenant-general of horse under Sir Thomas Fairfax in the New Model Army just before the decisive Parliamentarian victory at the battle of Naseby in June 1645, during which Cromwell routed Langdale's Northern Horse and rallied the Ironsides for a charge against the Royalist infantry that decided the outcome of the battle. Despite having no military training or experience prior to 1642, Cromwell was generally regarded as one of the greatest soldiers in England by the time he and Fairfax received the surrender of Oxford in June 1646. Army Grandee Cromwell supported the Agitators in the conflict between the Army and Parliament of 1647.

He was a firm advocate of parliamentary authority but he lost patience with those Presbyterian MPs who seemed willing to risk another civil war rather than settle the soldiers' grievances honourably. Acting independently of Fairfax, and in close association with his son-in-law Henry Ireton , he used the threat of military force to oust the Presbyterian Eleven Members from the House of Commons in August 1647. However, Cromwell opposed Leveller demands for manhood suffrage ("one man, one vote") and other social and political reforms. He tried to adopt a conciliatory attitude towards the King, proposing to restore him to power in the interests of achieving a peaceful settlement. This alienated radicals in the Army and in Parliament, who came to regard Cromwell as a hypocrite motivated by his own self-interest. In any case, Cromwell's attempts to secure a peaceful settlement were frustrated by the King's refusal to compromise and by his negotiations to bring a Scottish army into England, thus provoking another civil war. The Second Civil War When war broke out In 1648, Cromwell marched to crush a Royalist uprising in South Wales while Fairfax dealt with the Royalists in Kent and Essex.

Cromwell then went north to take command of Parliament's forces against the Duke of Hamilton's Engager army and their English Royalist allies. In August 1648, Cromwell led a daring campaign that resulted in the total defeat of the Scots at the battle of Preston . He then marched into Scotland and negotiated with the Marquis of Argyll to remove all Engagers and Royalist sympathisers from office in Scotland. Cromwell was in the north clearing up the last Royalist military resistance during the dramatic events of November and December 1648, when Ireton and the council of officers resolved to prosecute King Charles, the "Man of Blood". Cromwell delayed his return to London until the day after the Army's enemies in Parliament had been ejected in Pride's Purge. He claimed to have known nothing of the design, but nevertheless expressed his approval of the purge. Having realised at last that Charles could not be trusted, and recognising that the Army was determined to avenge itself upon the King, Cromwell became a relentless supporter of the King's trial and subsequent execution in January 1649. He had come to believe that regicide was an act of justice and the will of God.

Ireland and Scotland Cromwell in Ireland 1649-50 In 1649, Cromwell suppressed the Leveller mutinies in the New Model Army and prosecuted John Lilburne , whom he held personally responsible for the unrest amongst the soldiery. After meticulous preparations, Cromwell then took the army to Ireland (1649-50) where Royalist supporters of the Stuart dynasty had formed an alliance with the Irish Confederates. Cromwell's Irish campaign was a military success, and by the time he returned to England in May 1650, the provinces of Ulster, Leinster and Munster were substantially under the control of the English Commonwealth. However, Cromwell's reputation was indelibly stained by notorious massacres that took place during the attacks on Drogheda and Wexford in the autumn of 1649, which have lived on in Irish folk memory, making his name into one of the most hated in Irish history. When Charles II was proclaimed King of Scots in Edinburgh with the support of the Covenanters , Fairfax declined to lead an army of invasion into Scotland and resigned his commission.

Cromwell was appointed Captain-General and commander-in-chief of the Army in his place and marched into Scotland in July 1650. Although initially outmanoeuvred by Alexander Leslie, he succeeded in defeating the Scots at the battle of Dunbar (3 September 1650), which is regarded as the greatest of Cromwell's victories. After spending nearly a year trying unsuccessfully to persuade the Covenanters that Charles II was an unsuitable king for a godly nation, Cromwell lured Charles and the Scots into an attempt to invade England. Cromwell pursued from the north and decisively defeated the Scots and Royalists at the battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651, the anniversary of Dunbar and the last major battle of the civil wars. The Commonwealth After the execution of Charles I and the declaration of the republic in 1649, the English Commonwealth was governed by the so-called Rump Parliament and the Council of State . The Rump Parliament was regarded as an interim government and was expected to prepare for a permanent representative but divisions arose between factions in Parliament and in the Army over what form the new government should take.

When the military campaigns in Ireland and Scotland were over, Army leaders became increasingly impatient over Parliament's lethargy in formulating the new representative. Although Cromwell attempted to moderate the Army's more extreme demands, he too finally lost patience. On 20 April 1653, he led a body of musketeers to Westminster and forcibly expelled the Rump Parliament . His exact reasons for doing so are unclear; he may have come to believe that Parliament was planning to perpetuate itself. There were no plans for an alternative government in place and Cromwell made no attempt to take power himself. The Rump Parliament was replaced by the Nominated Assembly , popularly known as "Barebone's Parliament", which first met in July 1653. Cromwell regarded the Assembly as a "Parliament of Saints" and expected it to bring righteous, godly government to the Commonwealth. The Nominated Assembly was the most radical constitutional experiment of the 1650s, but the legal and ecclesiastical reforms it tried to introduce were regarded as too extreme by moderates.

In December 1653—less than six months after its inauguration—moderates manoeuvred to dissolve the Assembly and to hand power over to Cromwell, whom they regarded as having granted it to them in the first place. Lord Protector Protectorate coat-of-arms Headed by Major-General Lambert , the council of officers proposed a new constitution. In discussions with the officers, Cromwell made it clear that he did not want to be made king. Seeking to maintain links with the ancient constitution yet distance himself from the disgraced monarchy, Cromwell proposed a revival of the title "Lord Protector", which had precedents going back to the 15th century. Under the terms of the Instrument of Government , executive power now passed to an elected Lord Protector advised by a Council of State. Cromwell was declared Lord Protector for life and formally installed at Westminster Hall on 16 December 1653. His decision to accept the office of Protector alienated many republicans and religious radicals, who regarded it as a betrayal of the principles for which the civil wars had been fought. In April 1654, Cromwell moved into Whitehall Palace, the former residence of King Charles.

No man rises so high as he who knows not whither he goes. Cromwell, as recorded in the memoirs of Cardinal de Retz Domestic Policy Despite opposition from many quarters, Cromwell held on to power throughout the 1650s by retaining the loyalty of the Army. He also tended to grant important positions in civil and military government to those with personal attachments to himself or who had reason to be grateful to him for their advancement. Senior army commands were granted to officers who had served with him during the civil wars, particularly those connected to his own family such as his son-in-law Charles Fleetwood and brother-in-law John Disbrowe . The dependence of the Protectorate régime upon a standing army in England, armies of occupation in Scotland and Ireland as well as a powerful navy led to unprecedented levels of taxation. Despite an aggressive foreign policy, Cromwell gradually reduced army numbers and levels of taxation, but this was never enough to satisfy his critics or to deal with arrears of pay in the army and navy. Cromwell's overriding concern in domestic policy was the creation of a broadly-based national church with toleration of radical Protestant groups who remained outside it but were prepared to keep the peace.

During the first year of the Protectorate, a central commission of clergy and laymen was established to examine candidates for the ministry ("Triers") and local commissions were appointed to eject ministers who proved unsuitable ("Ejectors"). Although Cromwell's religious policy made steady progress towards reconciliation among the Protestant sects, the emergence of the Quakers , who opposed all organised churches, was disruptive and alarming. Foreign Policy Within months of his inauguration as Protector, Cromwell negotiated a treaty to bring the first Anglo-Dutch war to an end, having never been in favour of war against a Protestant nation. However, his hopes of forming a grand alliance of the Protestant states of Europe came to nothing, and during 1654, Cromwell became involved in secret negotiations with the two great Catholic powers France and Spain. The two nations were at war with one another and each sought an alliance with the Protectorate against the other. Cromwell finally opted for an alliance with France and secretly promoted the Western Design to attack Spanish colonies in the West Indies.

The Anglo-Spanish War resulted in the seizure of Jamaica in 1655 and Dunkirk in 1658, but Cromwell's anti-Spanish foreign policy was criticised as damaging to English trade and commerce. Miltary Rule In September 1654, Cromwell summoned the First Protectorate Parliament , which was elected on a wider franchise than any previous parliament and which included MPs representing Scotland and Ireland at Westminster for the first time. Distrust between the Army leaders and civilian politicians became strikingly clear, however. Heated constitutional debates, amendments to the Instrument of Government aimed at strengthening Parliament's powers at the expense of the Protector's, and criticism of Cromwell's leadership by republican MPs prompted him to dissolve this Parliament at the earliest possible opportunity, in January 1655. Following the Royalist insurrections in March 1655 ( Penruddock's Uprising ), Cromwell felt obliged to impose direct military rule rather than attempt to govern through another civilian assembly. He had already come to regard the failure of the Western Design in its principal objectives as a sign of God's displeasure at the nation's progress.

Consequently, England and Wales were divided into twelve districts, each governed by a Major-General answerable directly to the Protector. The Major-Generals were charged not only with maintaining security but also with enforcing moral reform in the localities. The Rule of the Major-Generals proved deeply unpopular. Growing civilian disquiet and the need to finance military operations against Spain forced Cromwell to call the Second Protectorate Parliament in September 1656. Bowing to pressure from MPs who insisted that the Major-Generals were unconstitutional and against law and custom, Cromwell agreed to abolish the system in January 1657. “King in all but Name” 19th century engraving of Matthew Noble's statue of Cromwell The Protectorate gradually adopted the trappings of a monarchy. Cromwell was usually addressed as "your Highness" and by 1656 he was rewarding his loyal followers with knighthoods. In February 1657, a group of MPs headed by Lord Broghill presented a new constitution known as The Humble Petition and Advice under which Cromwell was formally offered the crown. This was primarily an attempt to stabilise the constitution under a civilian-led style of government.

Cromwell's powers would be limited as king because they would then be defined by precedent. Furthermore, since the offer came from an elected Parliament, there could be no further doubts regarding the legality of the Cromwellian régime. However, after much agonising and in the face of strong opposition from republicans and army leaders, Cromwell finally decided to reject the offer, saying "I will not build Jericho again". The Humble Petition was modified to remove references to the royal title and Cromwell was re-installed as Lord Protector on 26 June 1657. The installation ceremony was still reminiscent of a coronation, with Cromwell wearing a robe of purple velvet lined with ermine and carrying a golden sceptre. He took an adapted form of the royal coronation oath and left Westminster Hall in a coach of state amid cries of "God save the Lord Protector". Under the revised Humble Petition, he was now allowed to name his own successor. Lacking only a crown, Cromwell was "King in all but name". In 1658, Cromwell convened an Upper House of Parliament in which his nominees sat as peers.

Republicans regarded this as too similar to the former House of Lords and MPs questioned the titles, rights and legitimacy of the Upper House. Amid fears that elements of the army supported the republicans, Cromwell went in person to Westminster on 4 February 1658 and abruptly dissolved the Second Protectorate Parliament. Discouraged by his failure to settle the constitution or to reconcile the Puritan sects in a cohesive national church, Cromwell withdrew from public affairs. Over the next few months his health went into a sharp decline, exacerbated by the death from cancer of his daughter, Elizabeth, in August 1658. Death and Beyond During a bout of the recurring malarial fever that had afflicted him since the 1630s, Oliver Cromwell died at Whitehall on 3 September 1658—the anniversary of his victories at Dunbar and Worcester. A violent storm wracked England during the night of his death, said by his enemies to be the Devil carrying away his soul. He was buried in Westminster Abbey with a funeral service based upon that of King James I.

Oliver's eldest son Richard was nominated to succeed him, but the Protectorate had ended within a year of Oliver's death, to be followed in due course by the return of the Stuart monarchy. After the Restoration, a vengeful Parliament ordered the exhumation and posthumous execution of Cromwell's corpse, along with those of the prominent regicides, Ireton and Bradshaw. Their bodies were removed from their tombs and dragged to Tyburn gallows, where they were publicly hanged and beheaded on 30 January 1661, the twelfth anniversary of the execution of Charles I. The headless corpses were thrown into an unmarked pit, but the heads were displayed on spiked poles above Westminster Hall, where they remained for several decades. During the 18th and 19th centuries, Cromwell's head became a collector's curiosity and was sometimes put on public exhibition. After scientific analysis confirmed that the head was probably genuine, it was finally interred in 1960 in the chapel of Cromwell's old college Sidney Sussex, Cambridge, its precise location undisclosed.

Sources: The life of Oliver Cromwell By Ellen Castelow , Contributing Writer | Comments Oliver Cromwell ( 1599 - 1658), Lord Protector of England Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England, was executed on 30th January 1661 - two and half years AFTER his death... Early life Oliver Cromwell was born in Huntington, a small town near Cambridge, on 25 April 1599 to Robert Cromwell and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of William Steward. Although not a direct descendent of Henry VIII’s chief minister Thomas Cromwell (who was famously promoted to the earldom of Essex but later executed in 1540 when he fell from the King’s favour), Oliver Cromwell’s great-great-grandfather, Morgan Williams, married Thomas’ sister Katherine in 1497. It was Morgan and Katherine’s three sons who took the surname Cromwell in honour of their famous maternal uncle. This practice was repeated by many of their descendants, who also occasionally used the surname Williams-alias-Cromwell. (In contrast, in the wake of the Restoration some members of the family reverted to the surname Williams temporarily to distance themselves from any links to Oliver Cromwell.

) Morgan Williams and Katherine Cromwell’s eldest son Richard had two sons, Henry and Francis, both of whom also used the surname Cromwell. Like his father before him, Henry went on to be knighted and of his eleven children by his first wife, Oliver’s father Robert was one of the youngest. Whilst Cromwell’s later life as a military and political leader is well documented, his modest upbringing and early family life is not. Indeed for the first forty years of his life Cromwell remained relatively obscure and he himself remarked in 1654 that he was “by birth a gentleman, living neither in considerable height, nor yet in obscurity". It was not until the English civil wars of the 1640s that he had the opportunity to rise to power. Having been educated at Huntingdon grammar school (which now houses the Cromwell Museum) and later at the puritan influenced Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, run by a well-known Calvinist Samuel Ward, Cromwell first made a living as a minor landowner, farming and collecting tenancy rents following the modest inheritance left by his father.

Robert passed away in June 1617, which led to Cromwell leaving Cambridge without completing his degree to return to the homestead to support his mother and seven unmarried sisters. Whilst overseeing his father’s land Cromwell is said to have studied law briefly at Lincoln’s Inn of Court in London, where it is thought that he met his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Sir James Bourchier, a knighted London merchant and owner of a significant amount of land with strong connections to the puritan gentry of Essex. On his small income Cromwell supported both his wife and his ever expanding family (Oliver and Elizabeth had nine children in all, although only six survived into adulthood). As the only surviving son himself, Cromwell was also tasked with supporting his widowed mother, who outlived her husband by a further 37 years. Cromwell relocated to the Cambridge town of St Ives in 1631 and then to Ely in 1636 following the inheritance of property from his maternal uncle.

The rise in status which the inheritance provided, along with a commitment to the puritan way of life as a result of Cromwell’s self declared ‘spiritual awakening’ in the 1630s, arrived during a time of extreme political and religious unrest in England. However, whilst Cromwell became an MP for Cambridge he was not significantly involved in national politics until the 1640s. Military and Political Leader The summer of 1642 saw the outbreak of the first English Civil War between the Royalists, the supporters of King Charles I who claimed that the King should have absolute power as his divine right as king, and the Parliamentarians who favoured a constitutional monarchy and later the abolition of the monarchy and the House of Lords completely. Colloquially, Royalists were also called Cavaliers in reference to the Latin caballarius, meaning horseman and in Henry IV, Part 2 Shakespeare used the word to describe a haughty member of the gentry. Parliamentarians were referred to as ‘roundheads’ because many Puritan men wore their hair cropped in what would today be described as a ‘bowl cut’ in contrast to the long ringlets favoured by their royalist counterparts as dictated by courtly fashion of the day.

Both names were used derisively by their opponents. From the very beginning Cromwell was a committed member of the parliamentary army. He was swiftly promoted to second in command as lieutenant-general of the Eastern Association army, parliament’s largest and most effective regional army, followed by a further promotion to second in command of the newly formed main parliamentary army, the New Model Army in 1645. When Civil War once again flared up in 1648 Cromwell’s military successes meant that his political influence had greatly increased. December 1648 saw a split between those MPs who wished to continue to support the King and those such as Cromwell (known as the ‘rump parliament’) who felt that the only way to bring a halt to the civil wars was through Charles’ trial and execution. Indeed Cromwell was the third of 59 MPs to sign Charles’ death warrant. Westminster Hall (above, left) where the trial of King Charles I took place, and his subsequent execution (above, right) Following the King’s execution in 1649, The Commonwealth of England was introduced and lead by a Council of State to replace the monarchy.

Cromwell led the English military campaigns to establish control of Ireland in 1649 and later Scotland in 1650. This resulted in the end of the Civil War with a Parliamentary victory at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651 and the introduction of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland. Cromwell was appointment to Lord General, effectively commander in chief, of the parliamentary armed forces in 1650. In December 1653, Cromwell became Lord Protector, a role in which he remained until his death five years later. Whilst he later rejected Parliament's offer of the crown, preferring to describe himself as a ‘constable or watchman’ of the Commonwealth, Cromwell’s role as the first Lord Protector was akin to that of a monarch involving “the chief magistracy and the administration of government”. However, the Instrument of Government constitution decreed that he must receive a majority vote from the Council of State should he wish to call or dissolve a parliament, thus establishing the precedent that an English monarch cannot govern without Parliament's consent, which is still upheld today.

Death and Execution It is thought that Cromwell suffered from kidney stones or similar urinary/kidney complaints and in 1658 in the aftermath of malarial fever Cromwell was once again struck down with a urinary infection, which saw his decline and eventual death at the age of 59 on Friday 3 September. Co-incidentally this was also the anniversary of his victories at Worcester and the Scottish town of Dunbar during the Scottish campaign of 1650-51. It is thought that Cromwell’s death was caused by septicemia brought on by the infection, although his grief following the death of his supposed favourite daughter Elizabeth the previous month from what is thought to be cancer certainly contributed to his rapid decline. Both Cromwell and his daughter received an elaborate ceremony (Cromwell’s funeral was based on that of King James I) and buried in a newly-created vault in Henry VII's chapel at Westminster Abbey. Following Cromwell’s death his son Richard succeeded him to become Lord Protector. However, Richard lacked the political and military power of his father and his forced resignation in May 1659 effectively ended the Protectorate.

The lack of a clear Commonwealth leadership lead to the restoration of Parliament and the monarchy in 1660 under Charles II. On 30 January 1661, Oliver Cromwell's body, along with that of John Bradshaw, President of the High Court of Justice for the trial of King Charles I and Henry Ireton, Cromwell’s son-in-law and general in the Parliamentary army during the English Civil War, were removed from Westminster Abbey to be posthumously tried for high treason and ‘executed’. This symbolic date was chosen to coincide with the execution of Charles I twelve years previously. The three bodies were hung from the Tyburn gallows in chains before being beheaded at sunset. The bodies were then thrown in a common grave and the heads were displayed on a twenty foot spike at Westminster Hall, where they remained until 1685 when a storm caused the spike to break, tossing the heads to the ground below. Unusually, at the time of Charles I’s execution Cromwell had allowed the King's head to be sewn back on to his body to allow his family to pay their last respects to the corpse. Cromwell's own head was found by a soldier who hid it in his chimney.

On his deathbed, he bequeathed the relic to his daughter. In 1710 the head appeared in a 'Freak Show', described as 'The Monster's Head'. For many years the head passed through numerous hands, the value increasing with each transaction until a Dr. Wilkinson bought it. The head was offered by the Wilkinson family to his Alma Mater, Sydney Sussex College in 1960. It was given a dignified burial in a secret place in the college grounds. It is said that Cromwell’s daughter Elizabeth, his supposed favourite child, had used her influence over her father to seek mercy for several royalist plotters and prisoners during the Civil War. It is thought that her intercessions on behalf of the royalists were taken into account when most Cromwellians were removed from Westminster Abbey because her body was not exhumed during the Restoration, although her final resting place in the Cromwell vault is now shared with Charles II’s illegitimate descendants! Popular culture Despite his death over 350 years ago, to this day Cromwell continues to provoke a strong reaction following his significant role in a dramatic and troubled period of British history.

He has prompted numerous monuments, films, television and radio programmes and been broadly referenced throughout popular culture, from being the codeword to warn of an imminent German invasion of Britain in 1940 to Monty Python’s 1989 Oliver Cromwell and more recently the 2004 single by Morrissey, Irish Blood, English Heart. However Winston Churchill’s suggestion to name the British battleship HMS Oliver Cromwell when he was First Lord of the Admiralty did not gain royal approval, funnily enough! Tweet If you enjoyed this article, you might also like... Phantom Battle of Edgehill - The Battle of Edgehill on October 23rd 1642, was the first battle of the English Civil War - and is reputed to be contested again and again by ghostly armies at the battle site ... Bits and Pieces - Like Cromwell, other famous people have had body parts 'taken' or 'lost'... Living History Events Diary - Try our events diary to meet with some Roundheads and Cavaliers ... Ely - The ancient city of Ely occupies the largest island in the Fens.

The "Isle of Ely" is so called because it was only accessible by boat until the waterlogged Fens were drained in the 17th century. It was an Anglo Saxon princess, Saint Ethelreda, who founded ... Advertising Oliver Cromwell - British History - HISTORY.com Oliver Cromwell A+E Networks Introduction English solider and statesman Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658) was elected to Parliament in 1628 and 1640. The outspoken Puritan helped organize armed forces after the outbreak of civil war in 1642, serving as deputy commander of the “New Model Army” that decimated the main Royalist force at the 1645 Battle of Naseby. After the death of Charles I, Cromwell served in the Rump Parliament and set to reform the legal system in part through the establishment of the Blue Laws. He commanded campaigns in Ireland and Scotland in the early 1650s, and served as “lord protector” of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland from 1653 until his death.

Google Although he became one of the most famous figures in English history, Oliver Cromwell began life as an ordinary country gentleman; when the English Civil War broke out in 1642, he was a middle-aged father of five children with no military training. Yet within a decade, according to one leading Royalist statesman and historian, he “mounted himself into the throne of the three kingdoms [England, Wales, and Scotland] without the name of a king but with greater power and authority than had ever been exercised or claimed by any king.” Cromwell’s power stemmed from his military ability and his unique relationship with his troops. As soon as the war began, the creation of a pious and professional army to serve the English Parliament became his principal concern, and in 1645 he pushed for the formation of a standing army, with central funding and central direction. Under the command of Thomas Fairfax, with Cromwell as his deputy, this “New Model Army” quickly routed the main Royalist force at the Battle of Naseby (June 14, 1645), marking the beginning of a string of remarkable victories that within a year forced Charles I to surrender.

Cromwell always led his cavalry from the front, although it took its toll: he sustained combat injuries and often laughed hysterically immediately before and after action. But close contact with his troops paid dividends, for Cromwell managed to lead his “Ironsides” back into battle when other units paused to plunder. The decision to execute the king in 1649 provoked a Royalist reaction in Ireland and Scotland that threatened the security of the new republic in England and forced Cromwell back into the field. He began his Irish offensive with a massacre of the combined forces of the Catholic Confederates and the Protestant Royalists at Drogheda (September 1649); the following month the town of Wexford, base of the Irish navy, met a similar fate. Scotland’s decision to invade England in support of Charles II in 1650 forced Cromwell to leave the completion of the reconquest of Ireland to others while he focused his efforts on subduing the Scots.

His stunning victories first at the Battle of Dunbar (September 3, 1650) and then at Worcester (September 3, 1651) not only forced Charles II to flee to the Continent for nearly ten years, but also effected the political integration of the three kingdoms-ruled after 1653 by Cromwell as lord protector, advised by the Council of State, and with a single Parliament meeting at Westminster-for the first time in their history. Cromwell, a committed Puritan, and his godly “Ironsides” attributed their successes on the battlefield to divine intervention and now set out to create a godly society by establishing a body of evangelical preachers, by reforming the legal system, and by introducing legislation such as the Blue Laws (1650) against blasphemy, cursing, drunkenness, and adultery. Cromwell believed in liberty of conscience for his fellow Christians-“I meddle not with any man’s conscience”; a truly revolutionary concept for the day-but in every other respect he remained a social conservative. He feared the democratic ideas of the so-called Levellers (English radicals); he believed in rule by the godly, not by the people in general.

After 1649 he genuinely strove to reconcile the traditional political nation to his regime; yet in 1657 he rejected a proposal, known as the “Humble Petition and Advice,” which implored him to become king. That the Protectorate rested on a bed of pikes-with a standing army of some sixty thousand men, together with a large navy-is no myth; but it was not until a Royalist rising broke out in March 1655 that Cromwell finally resorted to blatant military rule, placing the various regions of England and Wales under the command of senior army officers. In addition, his government pursued an aggressive foreign policy, fighting wars first against the Dutch (1652-1654) (see Anglo-Dutch Wars) and then against Spain (1656-1659). Excoriated as a usurper and hypocrite by his adversaries and venerated as a savior and hero by his supporters, Cromwell died on September 3-the anniversary of two of his greatest victories-in 1658 of “a bastard tertian ague” (probably malaria).

Almost as soon as his son, Richard, took over the reins of power, his subordinates in Scotland and Ireland began to plot the restoration of Charles II. The “British Republic” gave way to monarchy again in 1660. The Reader’s Companion to Military History. Edited by Robert Cowley and Geoffrey Parker. Copyright © 1996 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Tags

Question: In which year did Oliver Cromwell become Lord Protector?
Answer: 1653