Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell – Hero or Villain

Oliver Cromwell is one of the most confusing and misinterpreted characters of history. Some say that Cromwell is a hero, freeing England from the Royalists. On the other hand, a number of societies say that he is a murderous villain which wanted the crown for himself. Neither opinion is without drawbacks, so we will focus on the facts and find out – is Cromwell bad or good.

Let’s start with the Irish Rebellion. It is known that the Irish Catholics rebelled against the English in 1641.According to the English, the Irish committed brutal and fatal acts, but action was postponed to be dealt with after the Civil War. The Catholics of Ireland supported the son of Charles I and were clearly against Cromwell. There are several accounts of what happened at the day the assault took place. Irish writers say that the rebels surrendered, but were still put to death with their children, wives and friends. Other accounts say that the Irish refused to surrender and so the English were forced to attack. There is actually no way of knowing the truth of that incident, for both countries say their own story.

Now let us explore the matter of Cromwell and his Parliament. During the period after the Civil War, England was governed by “the Rump” – all that was left of the Long Parliament. Cromwell had hoped that it would let each Protestant worship freely and would issue elections for new Parliaments. In fact, the Parliament did none of these. Cromwell was not in the best of situations, so naturally he decided to get rid of the current ruling force. Accounts tell that Cromwell entered the House with two dozen musketeers and forcefully dissolved the parliament of that day. Barbarous, isn’t it? That is not all. The new Parliament, issued by Cromwell and the “people”, devised a new constitution. The constitution gave great power to the Lord Protector, who was Cromwell.

Now there is one question: Was Cromwell technically a king? The answer is yes and no. Cromwell did not officially take up the status of a king, but in fact did a king’s job and had more power than any king before the Civil War. In 1654 a new Parliament was elected again, but Cromwell was not happy with it. The new Parliament wanted to restrict the power to worship within the country and Cromwell was fully against the idea. So, he dismissed the Parliament once again. Charles experimented with the governing of the city – once he divided the country into eleven districts each with their own “Major General”, but that was not popular. These experiments occurred for three years, until the ideas ran out.

There was chaos and rebellion at that time. People rioted that land should belong to all. There was disarray. Many people thought that the only way to bring back order was to revive monarchy. But they were picky. They did not want Charles’s I son as king of the nation, so – as the only logical solution – they asked Cromwell, he was offered the crown. The army was against the notion – England must be ruled without a king. Though Cromwell actually refused the crown in the end, it is said that Oliver tried all possible means to persuade the officers to approve the concept. Nevertheless, Cromwell accepted a new constitution by which his son would be the next Lord Protector of the nation and a ceremony was to be held to recognize the Lord Governor, not very different from a coronation.

There is no real answer to the question if Cromwell was a hero or a villain. There is never an answer, for each person decides for himself. In my personal opinion, Cromwell was not very much different from Charles. He was arrogant and self-absorbed – a regular ruler, by all means. He was better than most and worse than some. No-one really can say the truth, for the truth does not exist.