Oliver Cromwell

How and why has the rule of Oliver Cromwell been interpreted other than? There argon dissever of opinions rough Cromwell and they oblige differed a lot. Historians still dis chequer active him as yet instantly His cruelty and ruthlessness have left a mark and a memory that the choke 300 years have not been able to wipe. C V Wedgwood mentioned in the 1950s-60. He wrote many another(prenominal) books about the life of Charles I and this shows that his opinion of Cromwell wasnt a very nice one. He has utter that Oliver Cromwell has scarred life and they have not been able to lead aside rid of that nasty memory.Although Wedgwood disagrees about Cromwell, at that place atomic number 18 others that differ. Cromwell was the national herothe bang-upest because the most typical sideman of completely time. S R Gardiner express in 1902. Gardiner was a descendent of Cromwell and tined the idea of a Puritan Revolution. This source shows that he was a great fan of Cromwell and h e believed that he was the most typical Englishman of all time. I think he might have supported the Puritan Revolution idea because he might be a puritan himself and respected the ideas Cromwell had.I think both of these statements are biased as Gardiner was a descendant of Cromwell and Wedgwood wrote many book about Charles Cromwell agreed to execute Charles. In this essay I am going to beg off how and why his rule has been interpreted in unlike offices and why he was such a controversial man? Oliver Cromwell was a military and governmental leader who overpowered the English monarchy and temporarily off England into a republican, and served as passkey Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland. He was born at Cromwell House in Huntingdon on the 25 April 1599 to Robert Cromwell and Elizabeth Steward and he was a puritan.Cromwell was a commander of the New Model legions which defeated the royalists in the English Civil War. He was elected Member of Parliament for Huntingdon in 1628 and for Cambridge in 1640. He entered the English Civil War on the side of the Roundheads or Parliamentarians and became a key military leader. Nicknamed Old Ironsides, he was quickly promoted from leading a single cavalry troop to command of the entire army. Lots of heap turned against Cromwell and he turned against nation to. The levellers were the most famous multitude who turned against Cromwell and his ruling.The levellers were a political group during the civil war. The levellers list developed with growing conflict within the New Model Army in the wake of the First Civil War. The levellers believed in religious freedom, end to imprisonment for dept and that all male population should be able to vote for parliament and this should happen every 2 years. just now Cromwell didnt think this. What the levellers say is that the poorer people should have as overmuch riches as richer people. either you must cut them in pieces or they will cut you in pieces is what Cromwell is reported to say.But is this what the levellers valued? No, it wasnt. Cromwell do out that they were making the poorer people be as rich as the richer people when all they inadequacyed was for all male population to vote every 2 years etc. This might sum up on to the earth people still disagree with the choices he make today. John Lilburne was the leader of the levellers and had much support. The Levellers made full use of the printing press to circulate pamphlets and petitions, effectively developing the first mickle political propaganda techniques to be used in Britain.In 1649, Lilburne was jug in the tower of capital of the United Kingdom. Whilst he was in that respect he wrote a garner, we have much cause to distrust you for we know how many broken promises that you have made to the kingdom. He sent this letter as Cromwell met up with the leveller group every week to discuss ideas. For a long time Cromwell agreed with them, and afterward the king was executed the le vellers thought they could change. But then Cromwell turned against them. I know this from the sources I have seen in class. On the other hand many people agreed with the choices Cromwell made.People may think that the idea of not going to prison for not paying dept is wrongfulness and religious freedom is wrong as you are not respecting god. On the way down to London a group of 400 men in the leveller group was captured by the new model army. They were imprisoned in Burford church and the 4 leaders (Cornet Thomson, Private Church, Corporal Perkins and Chaplin heat content Denne) were up for execution. All 4 of them were minded(p) a chance to agree that there ideas were wrong and they would get killed. 3 refused to besides Chaplin Henry Denne agreed and was saved from execution.Even today Burford celebrate levellers day every year. Cromwell and Ireland didnt really get on in them days. Most of Ireland still doesnt agree with us now. At the time of Cromwell there were lots of Pro testants living in Ireland. This is strange because Ireland was a catholic country. But this happened because King Henry and queen Elizabeth I started to encourage English Protestants to go and take over land in catholic Ireland. They did this by either pushing the Irish off their land or by making the Irish massage for them. But in 1641, the Irish Catholics rebelled against the English ruleAt this point the king was still alive(p) and in was in the middle of the civil war so Cromwell couldnt possibly do anything about it but as soon as the king was executed and the war was over, thats when Cromwell made a stop to the Irish Catholic rebellion. In 1649, Cromwell landed in Ireland with 12,000 men to invade, his first target was Drogheda As he landed, Cromwell proceeded to take the other port cities on Irelands east coast. The first town to fall was Drogheda. Cromwells soldiers promised to spare the lives of any who laid down their arms.But when they had all in their power, the wor d, no turd went round. This was from a letter written by Marquis of Ormonde, the leader of the Irish Catholics, on 29th September 1649. The word quarter meant that if the enemy surrendered and gave up their weapons, it was then wrong to kill them. This was one of the two important 17th coulomb rules of warfare. So, this commendation shows that Oliver Cromwell recklessly killed innocent people. This is probably why people still disagree with him today oddly people in Ireland as it might be there ancestors who got murdered. But am I organism a bit biased here?This was Marquis of Ormonde interpretation of what happened, so what about the other half(prenominal) of the story. Oliver Cromwell wrote a letter reporting what happened. The letter stated that he offered surrender four times. Here are two examples, a summons (order) to deliver (surrender) the town, receiving no satisfactory answer and were summoned, but they refused to yield some(prenominal) of these examples do show t hat Cromwell was cooperative and gave a chance for them to surrender. These quotes might be the ones that make people support him as he gave them lots of chances to surrender but they refused.The massacre of the garrison in Drogheda, including some after they had surrendered and some who had sheltered in a Church was received with horror in Ireland, and is remembered even today as an example of Cromwells decisions. Many people in them day thought that the sole(prenominal) way to bring post law and order was to bring back monarchy. But the problem was, they couldnt possibly bring back Charles II as Cromwell agreed with the execution of Charles I and ran Charles II off to France. The only man who could, was Cromwell. In February 1657, he was offered the crown but he rejected the offer.This could have been for many reasons. matchless reason could have been that hi army might turn against him. Cromwell tried all possible agency to persuade the army officers to approve his plan. He i nvited himself to dine with General Fleetwood and Colonel Desborough, where he began to go on about monarchy. They told him that those who offered it were friends of Charles Stuart. This was written at the time by Edmund Ludlow. This show that maybe Cromwell did want monarchy but his army warned him off by apothegm they told him that those who offered it were friends of Charles Stuart. Also, one hundred officers said to His Highness that he should not take the agnomen of king because it was not pleasing to his army this backs up the quote from Edmund Ludlow as it is saying that the army give notice him not to take the title of king. Also they call Cromwell His Highness which shows that they already think he is aright and loyal. This might have been a reason why people agree with Cromwell as he did want monarchy back but it was the army who stopped him. On the other hand, Lord Clarendon quoted this man, against the desires of all noble persons, took the gage of three kingdoms.W ithout the name of king, but with a greater power and authority than had been claimed by any king. He is saying that he does not deserve the title of king as he already has much power than any other king and he wrongly rules three kingdoms. People may agree with this and dont think that Cromwell should have ruled all three kingdoms and made people ensue them when he wasnt even king. But is this quote biased? Well, it might be as Lord Clarendon was a supporter of the Stuarts. When Cromwell became lord protector, all the opinions about him differed.Lots of people agreed with him becoming lord protector, for example, Cromwell would have rather taken a shepherds staff than the Protectorship. Nothing went more against his feelings than show of greatness. But he saw it was necessary at the time, to keep the nation from falling into extreme disorder. This shows that he wasnt too lancinating on the lord protector but he accepted it to help the nation. This could be a reason why people look up to him as he didnt do it for his own likings but to help other people.Another quote from a Bristol Baptist says, The days of Oliver Cromwell were marvellous days of prosperity, liberty and peace. This quote is saying that because of Cromwell becoming Lord Protector, the nation became a better place. On the other hand some people disapprove him and see him as a devil. For example, there was a cartoon titled Cromwells carry. This cartoon shows a chariot drawn by two dragon like creatures, Cromwell at the back with the devil. In the chariot there are three ladies which represent the three Kingdoms. Cromwell is holding the scales of liberty and an backer is in a cage.The chariot is running over parliament and in the background two wolves are chasing five sheep. I think these animals represent Cromwells men are the wolves chasing the towns people. This motion-picture show shows that the artist thinks that Cromwell is already ruling too much and has locked away all freedom. B ut this goes against the other quote which stated that when Cromwell was in rule it was marvellous days of prosperity, liberty and peace. There has always been lots of different views about Cromwell and they have all differed through time.In the Victorian period people thought that Cromwell was a great man who helped to make Britain a fairer, stronger and more religious country. The Victorian were proud of being ruled by an elected parliament and in 1899they built a statue of him outside houses of parliament to mark the 300th anniversary of his birth. But in the 1930- 40s many historians thought he was a cruel military dictator. Historians have given us many Cromwells. Christopher Hill said in 1970 and he is basically saying that there is lots of different view of Cromwell.