Chapter 44

Oliver Cromwell: Lord Protector


Introduction

I recall that a number of years ago, when we were on a tour of Westminster Abbey in London, the Anglican prelate who was our guide took every opportunity to express his hatred of Oliver Cromwell and the disaster which he had brought upon England in the 17th Century. Oliver Cromwell was that kind of a man: one either loved him or hated him. His enemies were many and were from the side of those who supported the Anglican Church, as well as Calvinist Presbyterianism who despised his form of church government. But that he was an important figure in the history of England as well as in the history of the Reformation in the British Isles cannot be denied.

He has gained his niche in the history of the church by being the most startling example of one who, in the cause of Christ, rises against his ruler and brings about his overthrow. English Protestantism today is influenced by Cromwell's rebellion against the king.

Background

To have some understanding of the role Cromwell played in English history, we must know something of events in the land at the time he lived.

The Reformation in England had produced the Anglican Church, so much like Protestantism in its doctrine, but so much like Roman Catholicism in its hierarchical church government and liturgy. Within the church from the time of Queen Elizabeth, England's ruler in the latter half of the 16th Century, was a large group of men who, influenced by the Calvin Reformation in Geneva, wanted complete reformation in the church, including Presbyterianism in church government and liturgical reformation in worship. Because they were interested in purifying the church, they became known as Puritans.

On the throne of England ruled the cruel Stuarts: in Cromwell's early life, James I (the one responsible for our King James Version of the Bible) and later, Charles I, beheaded at Cromwell's instigation. These Stuarts were convinced that their own royal prerogatives were inseparably bound up with the Anglican Church, of which they were the head. As James I expressed it: "No bishop, no king." However, they were always suspected, with some justification, of really working secretly for the return to England of Roman Catholicism. The Stuarts were embroiled in a bitter struggle with Parliament for political control. The Stuarts needed Parliament because only Parliament could pass tax laws, but Parliament was intent on curbing Stuart power.

In Europe a continent-shaking conflict was going on between Protestant forces and Roman Catholic armies: The Thirty Years War was destroying Germany, and the Eighty Years War had brought about untold suffering to Dutch Protestants and was not, in Cromwell's time, settled. Spain could not be forgotten, for only recently had she launched her mighty armada against England in an effort to restore England to papal rule, and the wreckage of Spanish ships still strewed the coastline of Scotland and Ireland as a constant reminder of the perfidy of the Romish Church.

If all this were not enough, Scotland wanted nothing so much as to retain its political independence from England, and Roman Catholic mobs in Ireland had butchered thousands of Protestants throughout that troubled land.

Cromwell's Early Life

Into all this seething unrest Cromwell was born on April 25, 1599, at the end of a century of reformation and just before that most crucial 100 years of church history -- the 17th Century.

He was born of middle class parents by the name of Robert Cromwell and Elizabeth Steward. Both of them were Protestants and devoted Calvinists. Robert Cromwell had served in Queen Elizabeth's Parliament and was active in local affairs. They were small land owners and suffered along with most people under the heavy burden of taxation, for the Stuarts needed untold revenue to support the royal navy and to finance the luxurious extravagances of the Stuart court. Oliver was the second child of the family, in which were composed of two other sons and seven sisters. But the death of Oliver's two brothers in their infancy and the death of his father when Oliver was 18 years old, put the responsibilities of support and the management of their small holdings on Oliver's shoulders.

After a mediocre education in grammar school, Oliver was sent to Cambridge to study; but his studies were brought to an end by the death of his father, and his further education consisted exclusively in wide reading.

Although not much is known of Oliver's early years, it seems as if he lived a rather boisterous and profane life. He speaks of his conversion at about 20 years old shortly after his marriage to a staunch Calvinist girl by the name of Elizabeth Bourchier, with whom he had five sons and four daughters. Oliver himself speaks of the fact that from the date of his conversion, his reading was almost exclusively limited to the Bible, and he was known till his death as a man who had a rare knowledge of Scripture far exceeding that of most of England's ministers.

Following the example of his father, he immersed himself in local affairs and was, in 1628, sent to Parliament. His stay there was not long, for the Parliament was angrily dissolved by Charles in 1629. Under the burden of Stuart taxing policies, he suffered great want, but his financial burdens were somewhat eased when in 1638 he fell heir to his uncle's estate. He was now a member of England's gentry.

In 1640 he was sent again to Parliament when it was called by the king. This Parliament became known as the long Parliament, for it met till 1653. It was the Parliament responsible for the overthrow of the monarchy and for the calling of the Westminster Assembly.

But in the Parliament he was something of a misfit. Parliament was composed at least in part of wealthy gentry, cultivated and urbane, witty in speech and dressed in the latest fashions. Cromwell came with homespun clothing, crude, relatively uneducated, not gifted in flowery language, and a figure to be despised by his peers. Yet he was also a fiery speaker capable of moving men with his oratory. In his maiden speech he appeared before the assembly with a spot of blood on his collar and little to recommend him. When Hampden was asked who that was, he uttered the prophetic words: "That slovenly fellow which you see before us, who hath no ornament in his speech; I say that sloven, if we should come to a breach with the King (which may God forbid) in such case will be one of the greatest men of England."

Cromwell's War Against Charles

Oliver Cromwell used his platform in the House of Commons for attacks on Anglican episcopacy, which attacks were, almost by necessity, made also against the king, who agreed wholeheartedly with James: "No bishop, no king!" Royal politics in England, with the king the head of the Anglican Church, were so closely interwoven with Anglican episcopacy that the two could not possibly be separated in England's life.

Gradually, as the number of Puritans increased in Parliament, the balance swung from support of the king and Anglicanism to strong opposition. And the king, fearful of his throne, began to prepare his army as his sole weapon to destroy Puritan forces which threatened him and his church.

Another factor, however, came into play in the complicated politics of the times: the Puritans themselves were by no means united. The Presbyterian Puritans not only favored a strong Presbyterian Church in England but pressed hard for such a Presbyterian Church to be the State Church in the place of the Anglican Church. But with this position Cromwell strongly disagreed. He wanted complete freedom of religion in England, with every person permitted to worship God according to his own conscience. He wanted, more than anything else, each congregation left free to choose its own pastor and to determine its own faith and worship. In essence, Cromwell wanted a form of Independentism in church government without any government interference of any kind. He had developed these views early in life and never wavered from them. This put him strongly at odds with many fellow Puritans and especially with the Scots Presbyterians who hated him.

But the essential disagreements were between Parliament and the king. And when Parliament saw that the king was marshaling his forces to defend his royal prerogatives, Parliament also saw the need to raise an army to defend its own position. Things were moving swiftly towards civil war, and civil war soon broke out.

Civil War

The civil war, between the army raised by Parliament, and the forces loyal to the king of England, can be divided into three separate phases.

The first phase involved skirmishes chiefly around the area of Cromwell's home. When Parliament decided, partly at Cromwell's urging, that the time had come to raise an army under its direction to oppose Royalist forces, Cromwell immediately proceeded to do so by forming a troop of 60 men from his own home area to fight the king's armies. It was this effort on his part which revealed his skill in training men, his grasp of strategy in battle, and his determination to lead a group of well-trained and highly disciplined soldiers which came to the fore and drew the attention of others. These abilities also brought Cromwell victories in the few, relatively minor, battles in which he engaged. He learned early the value of highly trained and mobile cavalry regiments which were able to attack unexpectedly the enemies' flanks.

But his idea of an army was quite different from that of others. To quote from Encyclopedia Brittanica:

From the very beginning he had insisted that the men who served on the parliamentarian side should be carefully chosen and properly trained, and he made it a point to find loyal and well-behaved men regardless of their religious beliefs or social status. Appointed a colonel in February (1563), he began to recruit a first-class Cavalry regiment. While he demanded good treatment and regular payment for his troopers, he exercised strict discipline. If they swore, they were fined; if drunk, put in the stocks; if they called each other Roundheads -- thus endorsing the contemptuous epithet the Royalists applied to them because of their close-cropped hair -- they were cashiered; and if they deserted, they were whipped. So successfully did he train his own cavalrymen that he was able to check and re-form them after they charged in battle.

In addition to this stringent discipline, Cromwell's army had a distinctly religious flavor. Preaching services were regularly conducted; God-fearing men were recruited; Psalms were sung before battle and after the conflict was concluded. And Cromwell expected his men to conduct themselves as servants of Christ.

But his reputation as a successful leader of men brought him fame and rapid advancement in a larger army that was ordered formed by Parliament.

The first skirmishes did not deter the king from pursuing his policies, and the second phase of the conflict brought about full civil war. After a number of battles in which Cromwell was successful against Royalists troops, and after the king's armies had been decisively defeated on the plains of Worchester, Charles fled to the Isle of Wright off the coast of Scotland. Charles' flight brought the second phase to an end and many among the Parliamentary leaders favored a cessation of hostilities.

But Charles, from his place of safety, continued to pursue his course of action, convinced that divisions among Cromwell's troops would still bring him victory. And so, after a period of peace, the war was renewed in the third phase of the struggle. But Charles was again decisively defeated and captured by the Scots. He was handed over to Parliament in London. He was tried by the High Court of Justice in which Cromwell played a leading role and was ordered executed for high treason. His execution took place on January 30, 1649.

Cromwell's Rule

Cromwell's successful defeat of Royalist forces and the subsequent murder of the king paved the way for Cromwell to become the "Lord Protector" of England. His fame grew, and his power increased, until he assumed effective rule over the land.

Cromwell was sorely tempted when a majority of Parliament offered him the throne in the belief that a monarchy was more in keeping with England's institutions. But he steadfastly refused. In effect, however, Cromwell was a constitutional monarch who ruled with a House of Lords whose members he was allowed to nominate. Because the House of Commons often resisted his policies, he too, as Charles was wont to do, dismissed Parliament and ruled by executive decree.

His rule, usually apart from Parliament, was for the most part successful. He eased the poverty of the oppressed, for he was always to be found on the side of the common man. He established a new church government in England which was essentially Independentistic and even invited exiled Jews to return to England. He made just laws in which all men were equal before the courts. He restored power to the people. He furthered the cause of education and established good schools. And in foreign affairs he adopted policies which made England once again the great power it had been under the rule of Good Queen Bess (Elizabeth).

The final phase of England's Civil War was carried on against the recalcitrant Scots and Irish. The Scots, deeply devoted to Presbyterianism, hated Cromwell's principles of freedom of religion and, because of their longing for independence from England, they revolted against Cromwell's rule.

After marching with an army into Scotland and defeating the Scots at Dunbar, Edinburgh, and Perth, Cromwell returned to London with Scotland effectively under England's rule.

But Ireland was still a problem. The Roman Catholics in Ireland had risen in anger against the Protestant minority, and Irish Presbyterianism had suffered greatly at the hands of these Catholics. Cromwell marched into Ireland to rescue Irish Presbyterianism, and in doing so brought Ireland into the British Commonwealth.

Cromwell was a man with a wide knowledge of Scripture and a deep personal faith. He was convinced that God fought on his side and that all his victories were to be ascribed to the benevolent favor of divine providence which directed him and his forces. He always ascribed his triumphs on the battlefield to God's intervention and took them as indicators of God's blessing upon his cause.

He was, though short in stature, a man of iron resolve and showed his skills both in battle and in government. But he was not without his faults. There is a story told that, while sitting for a portrait, he noticed the artist was painting a far more attractive picture than was justified by Cromwell's appearance. Sternly he instructed the artist to paint "Cromwell with all his warts."

History has painted a picture of Cromwell as a man who had nothing but warts; but gradually over the years a moe balanced picture has emerged and his many good qualities have been recognized.

He was a man who, before its time, promoted freedom of religion, and that legacy alone has marked him as memorable in England's history.

Ever since Cromwell's campaign in Ireland his health was poor. In August, 1658, after his beloved daughter Elizabeth had died of cancer, he became very ill with malaria. Though taken back to London, he died at 3:00 on September 3 and his body was secretly buried in Westminster Abbey on November 10, 13 days before a state funeral.

It proved impossible for England to survive without a monarch, and shortly after his death Charles II, another Stuart, was brought to the throne of Britain.

In 1661 Cromwell's body was dug up and hung at Tyburn, where criminals were executed. His body was then buried beneath the gallows, but his head was stuck on a pole on top of Westminster Hall, where it remained till the end of Charles' reign.