Tag: Oliver Cromwell

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September 3, 1658 — Oliver Cromwell dies

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Hated by the Irish for his invasion the previous decade, Oliver Cromwell’s manner of death must have given them some satisfaction. He died from a malarial fever contracted during the invasion (and complicated by what appears to have been kidney stones).

Cromwell had come far and acheived much in his 59 years, but little that he had built long-survived him. His son Richard, who succeeded him as Lord Protector, resigned from that role due to a lack of political support less than a year later, and King Charles II was invited back to England to reinstate the monarchy the year after that.

In 1661, on the anniversary of King Charles I’s execution, Cromwell’s corpse was exhumed, and a symbolic posthumous beheading was carried out. His severed head would be a collector’s item for some years thereafter, before being reburied in 1960.

WarwickCastle CromwellDeathmaskcrop.JPG
By Chris Nyborg – Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

As mentioned in:

Oliver Cromwell — Monty Python

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May 8, 1654 — The Treaty of Westminster officially ends the first Anglo-Dutch War

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The first Anglo-Dutch War was largely a result of the formation of the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell after the execution of King Charles I. It began in 1652 with English attacks on Dutch merchant shipping, but quickly escalated into a full-scale naval conflict on both sides, which despite being more or less numerically equal was decisively won by the British – although there would be three more Anglo-Dutch Wars over the next 130 years, as the two preeminent naval powers of Europe contested for trade and colonies (Holland would win the second and third wars, but the English would ultimately win the fourth and decisive war).

The Treaty was signed after a lengthy negotiation process, and was notable in several respects. It was the first international treaty in which both nations agreed to be bound by the decisions of a third party arbitrator (in this case, Switzerland), as well as an article specifying an early version of what would today be called ‘mutual most-favoured nation status’, and is thus the foundation of the modern concept of international diplomacy. It was remarkably lenient to the Dutch, considering their defeat – a fact widely attributed to the Dutch negotiators simply being better than their English counterparts. It also contained a secret clause obliging the Dutch to enact the Act of Seclusion (forbidding Prince William III of Orange from ever being Stadtholder) which had dramatic effects on Dutch internal politics over the years that followed. Finally, it established England as a serious power in Europe, which had been inclined to dismiss this non-monarchy as no threat prior to that.

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December 16, 1653 — Oliver Cromwell becomes Lord Protector of England

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The final resolution of the power vacuum that existed in England after King Charles I was deposed was somewhat inevitable: Oliver Cromwell was always going to wind up at the top of the heap. Lambert’s creation of the Instrument of Government, following the dissolution of the Rump Parliament, and then that of the Barebones Parliament, provided for Oliver Cromwell to be appointed Lord Protector of England for life.

This was kingship in almost every respect: Cromwell would rule until his death, the position would be hereditary, and Cromwell would even wind up dissolving Parliament yet again to put a stop to reforms they wanted that he saw as overly democratic. By the time it ended, with Cromwell’s death in 1658, he was easily as unpopular as Charles had been before him. Some of the smarter Englishmen even realised that the problem with their political system might lie with autocracy in any form rather than monarchy itself.

Oliver Cromwell by Samuel Cooper.jpg
By After Samuel Cooper – one or more third parties have made copyright claims against Wikimedia Commons in relation to the work from which this is sourced or a purely mechanical reproduction thereof. This may be due to recognition of the “sweat of the brow” doctrine, allowing works to be eligible for protection through skill and labour, and not purely by originality as is the case in the United States (where this website is hosted). These claims may or may not be valid in all jurisdictions.
As such, use of this image in the jurisdiction of the claimant or other countries may be regarded as copyright infringement. Please see Commons:When to use the PD-Art tag for more information., Public Domain, Link

As mentioned in:

Oliver Cromwell — Monty Python

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June 3, 1653 — England triumphs over Holland in the Battle of the Gabbard

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The decisive naval encounter of the First Anglo-Dutch War, the Battle of the Gabbard saw the English, led by Generals at Sea George Monck and Richard Deane and Admirals John Lawson and William Penn triumph over the Dutch, led by Lieutenant-Admiral Maarten Tromp and Vice-admiral Witte de With. The Battle began on June 2, 1653, with a Dutch attack on the English fleet, but their numerical superiority was outweighed by the fact that the English were on heavier, more well-armed ships.

The following day, the English were reinforced, giving them a slight superiority in ship to ship terms (100 to the Dutch 98), but a much greater advantage in firepower, which they wasted little time in applying. The Dutch lost seventeen ships (6 sunk, 11 other captured) while the English lost none, and assured their control over the English Channel and the North Sea, instituting a naval blockade that strangled the Dutch. A month later, the Dutch succeeded in lifting the blockade, and the war ultimately limped to an inconclusive finish the following year. The next two decades would each see the British and Dutch go to war with each other again.

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September 3, 1651 — Cromwell’s forces triumph at Worcester

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The final encounter of the English Civil War was a bruising and thorough defeat for King Charles the First and his allies. Although between them, the Royalist forces and their Scottish allies numbered about 16,000, Cromwell’s Parliamentarians had mustered nearly twice as many soldiers, and with such a massive numerical superiority, the outcome was never truly in doubt.

Cromwell took his time in the disposition of his forces, cutting off the King’s escape while wearing down his army. In a battle that lasted only a single day, the Parliamentarians surrounded the Royalists, driving them back within the walls of the city of Worcester, and capturing it shortly after nightfall. Few if any of the Royalists escaped, most being captured at the battle’s end or later that night, but the truly stunning result were the casualty lists: Cromwell lost only 200 of his 31,000, while 3000 Royalists were slain and more than 10,000 captured. The English Civil War was over, and Charles I would not long outlive it, although he did escape for a time.

Battle of Worcester.jpg
By Published by Machell Stace – How Scottish POWS Were Sold as Slave Labor in New England, Public Domain, Link

As mentioned in:

Oliver Cromwell — Monty Python

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August 15, 1649 — Cromwell lands in Ireland

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The initial stages of Cromwell’s invasion of Ireland started well for him. His forces triumphed over the Royalist and Irish forces at the battle of Rathmines on August 2, 1649, and Cromwell himself landed in Dublin on August 15, with a fleet of 35 ships. 77 more ships, also loaded with troops and materiel, landed two days later, reinforcing the already substantial forces of Cromwell.

His conquest of Ireland was bloody and brutal. Cromwell’s religious tolerance did not extend to Catholics, whose numbers included the over-whelming majority of the Irish. Cromwell’s invasion marked the beginning of more than three and half centuries of oppression of the Irish Catholic majority by their Protestant British conquerors, ending only in 1922 when the independent Republic of Eire was formed – and arguably not even then, considering the endless fighting between Protestant and Catholic in Northern Ireland even today.

Another thing that continues to the current day is the unpopularity of Oliver Cromwell in Ireland, for understandable reasons.

Oliver Cromwell by Samuel Cooper.jpg
By After Samuel Cooper – one or more third parties have made copyright claims against Wikimedia Commons in relation to the work from which this is sourced or a purely mechanical reproduction thereof. This may be due to recognition of the “sweat of the brow” doctrine, allowing works to be eligible for protection through skill and labour, and not purely by originality as is the case in the United States (where this website is hosted). These claims may or may not be valid in all jurisdictions.
As such, use of this image in the jurisdiction of the claimant or other countries may be regarded as copyright infringement. Please see Commons:When to use the PD-Art tag for more information., Public Domain, Link

As mentioned in:

Oliver Cromwell — Monty Python
Think Back and Lie of England — Skyclad

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January 30, 1649 — King Charles I of England is executed

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It is the decisive exclamation mark that ends the English Civil War. Never before had an English monarch been deposed, tried and convicted of high treason, and then executed. (To date, no other English monarch has suffered the same fate, either.) The decapitation of Charles the First made plain to the people of England and the courts of Europe that the winds of change were blowing in England.

Charles’ son, Charles II, would eventually be restored to the throne that was his by right of primogeniture, and in the interregnum that followed, England would be variously led by Parliament, by Lord-Protector Oliver Cromwell, and briefly, by Lord-Protector Richard Cromwell (Oliver’s less talented and determined son). The restored king was a damned sight more careful of Parliament, and the gradual decline of the power of the monarchy would only continue from this time onwards.

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January 6, 1649 – The Rump Parliament appoints a High Court to try the King

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The Rump Parliament was what remained of the British Parliament after Colonel Pride had purged it a month earlier, leaving only those parliamentarians who supported the army.

On January 6, 1649, the Parliament appointed a total of 135 men to constitute a High Court for the trial of King Charles I for tyranny. A quorum was declated to be twenty of these appointees.

The trial of Charles I commenced shortly thereafter, and duly returned the guilty verdict it was intended to.

Colonel Thomas Pride refusing admission to the Presbyterian members of the Long Parliament.
By Unknown – The Tudors and Stuarts, by M.B. Synge, Public Domain, Link

As mentioned in:

Oliver Cromwell — Monty Python

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December 6, 1648 — Colonel Pride purges the Houses of Parliament

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At the direction of Cromwell, Colonel Thomas Pride took elements of their forces – his own Regiment of Foot and Nathaniel Rich’s Regiment of Horse – and they moved to control access to the Houses of Parliament. As the Members arrived, they were checked off against a list that Pride had been issued by Lord Grey of Groby.

Of the 489 sitting MPs, the purge sorted them thusly:
— 18 permanently absent before the purge.
— 45 barred from Parliament and imprisoned
— 186 barred from Parliament but not imprisoned
— 86 voluntarily absented themselves
— 83 allowed back into Parliament after formally dissenting from the decision to accept the King’s proposals

The remaining 71 members were supporters of the army from the outset. Those who remained in Parliament after the purge were known thereafter as members of the Rump Parliament (as opposed to the Long Parliament that had existed before then).

PridesPurge.jpg
By Unknown author – The Tudors and Stuarts, by M.B. Synge, Public Domain, Link

As mentioned in:

Oliver Cromwell — Monty Python

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June 14, 1645– Cromwell’s forces triumph at Naseby

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Cromwell and Fairfax had recruited their New Model Army in the early months of 1645, taking advantage of King Charles I’s hesitation in attacking them to consolidate and train.

At Naseby, on June 14, 1645, the decisive battle of the English Civil War was fought. The Parliamentarian forces, under Cromwell, outnumbered the Royalists by almost two to one, and also commanded a stronger position. As the battle drew on, many of the Royalist soldiers surrendered, while other withdrew in disarray. The King, soundly defeated, fled to Scotland.

Battle of Naseby.jpg
By Unknown author – Encyclopædia Britannica online, Public Domain, Link

As mentioned in:

Oliver Cromwell — Monty Python