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By William E. Steinman:
Part 113, Oliver Cromwell One:
May 23, 2005:
Let's look at this Oliver Cromwell fellow (1599-1658). Cromwell's pop, who died when he was just 18, was a member of one Parliament under Queen Liz. He was also a justice of the peace, making him an active local politician. This makes Oliver a kind of middle class country gentleman guy. He went to grammar school, for sure, and later spent some time at Cambridge and Lincoln's Inn where he picked up a bit of law.
We can be sure Oliver was solidly grounded in the Calvinist dogmas, making him solidly anti-Catholic. He was a fan of the bible and also of Sir Walter Raleigh. He seems to have favored Raleigh's "History of the World." We can't know for sure what he learned from Raleigh and what came from the bible. Suffice it to say, he was convinced that our sins are punishable on earth and God will guide the elect into the paths of righteousness. This was pretty much the standard religious wisdom of the Calvinists.
Although he had property, he was not a super well off guy. On top of bad harvests, for a time, he had the oppressive taxation of Charles I to contend with. This was a time when Charles was maintaining a pretty expensive navy and some extravagant expenditures at court. In 1628 Cromwell was a member of the ill fated Parliament that Charles dissolved in 1629. There were no more parliaments for the next 11 years. Meanwhile, Cromwell and many of his contemporaries were getting quite perturbed.
Cromwell was an outspoken man right from the beginning even in the 1628 Parliament. He did not like Charlie's Bishops and he said so. He though laymen should have direct dialog with God through prayer. He thought the clergy's task was to inspire men to prayer through preaching. He openly supported lay preachers and showed a bit of contempt for the pompous rituals of the episcopal big shots.
Cromwell also attended the next Parliament in 1640. Again little was accomplished because Charles dissolved that body in three weeks. This one became known as the Short Parliament. What Cromwell did there is acquire some friends and connections. After that, he returned again in late 1640 to what was called the Long Parliament. This one lasted for 13 years and was the beginning of Cromwell's political career.
In was in 1641 that Parliament produced the "Grand Remonstrance" and presented it to Charles. This was a list of grievances against the King with demands for reform. Much of the demands were about religious freedom. Cromwell was solidly behind the document and threatened to leave England if it did not pass Parliament. There is no evidence to make us supposed it was ever in danger of not passing. Of course, Charles I was not about to buy into the demands. He rejected them and the Civil War was quickly becoming inevitable.
Sure enough, after his aborted attempt to arrest some key members of the Parliament, the King left London in 1642 to get up his army. That is when Cromwell began to stand up and stand out. He got the consent of Commons to arm his constituents at Cambridge, for defense only, of course. Later, when the war began, he raised a troop of cavalry at Huntingdon. He led them off to Edgehill to serve under Robert Devereux, 3rd earl of Essex in the final battles of that engagement.
In 1643, Cromwell showed his military savvy by recruiting loyal men who could accept the discipline of war. For that, he ignored social status and religious beliefs. He was appointed colonel and managed to assemble an excellent cavalry regiment. He was tough on his men, but fair. He got them regular pay and expected in return, strict discipline, which he got. Those who could not measure up were cashiered. Needless to say, he had a crack regiment that remained well organized even in the heat of battle.
In the battle of Gainsborough in Lincolnshire he managed to re-form his troop and win the field. After another success at Winceby and the siege of Newark, the House of Commons was duly impressed with him. They agreed to create an offensive army to go after the Royalists in their home. there was some political nonsense, but Cromwell ended up being second in command under Edward Montagu, 2nd earl of Manchester in 1644. He was now a lieutenant general. At the same time he was assigned as a member of the committee between Scotland and England with responsibility for overall war strategy. He was a true soldier and kind of ignored the committee duty in favor of leading his troops.
After that, Cromwell got into a snorting contest with his superior, the earl of Manchester. He complained to the joint Scot, English committee. They tried to patch it up, but Manchester really was guilty of misfeasance and Cromwell took it to the Commons. There was a lot of snorting, but no action until Cromwell's proposal that no member of either house of Parliament be allowed to hold military commands was accepted. Cromwell was out but so was the bungling Manchester.
Sir Thomas Fairfax took over the new army and things went well for the Parliamentarians. Fairfax insisted that Cromwell join him which he did in spite of the Parliament's rule. Charles' remaining forces were destroyed at the battles of Naseby and Langport in 1645. Then they put Oxford under siege, but Charles escaped, at least temporarily. Much like our 21st century politicians, after the danger was past, the House of Commons tried to disband the army without offering much recompense. This movement was lead by Denzil Holles. The army really balked at that and Cromwell was really torqued when the Parliament hired the Scots to protect them from their own army. He abandoned London and went with his troops. Ho boy, Bummer!
Well, the army was quite aroused by this time. They kicked out all of their officers who supported the disbandment scheme. When the Scots turned Charles over the army kidnaped him and marched into London. This was in August of 1647. Holles exercised the better part of valor and fled the capital with a few allies. While they had him in custody, Cromwell tried to pursued Charles to agree to a settlement with Parliament allowing a constitutional government. It is not clear the army was really for this. The general attitude was that neither the King nor the Parliament were trustworthy. It was a tight spot for Cromwell. He was trying to be mediator between King, Parliament, and the army.
For sure, the army was now the major force in this situation.
All kinds of proposals were made. One was to abolish the monarchy
and the House of Lords. Cromwell was firm and insisted that the
authority of Parliament must stand. In the middle of his meditations
the army somehow managed to allow Charles to escape. that was
when Charles went to the Isle or Wight and tried to get the Scots
to help him reclaim his throne. That tore it for Cromwell. Until
then he had not been particularly against the King. He decided
to take the hard line of Parliament and voted for no negotiations
with Charles. By that time, the Royalists were ready to renew
the civil war with the Scots now on Charles' side. Thus began
the Second Civil War or revolution. Parliament was no longer a
factor. The war was between the Army on one side and Charles and
his coalition of Scots and Royalists on the other.
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