April 24, 1629 – Oliver Cromwell Boards the Lyon

The day before his thirtieth birthday, Oliver Cromwell, a minor gentleman from Huntingdonshire, departed Gravesend for the New World. Born into the lower end of landed gentry northeast of London, Oliver was the only surviving son, a middle child of ten born to his parents. His inheritance granted him a toehold into the upper class, and in 1620 he married Elizabeth Bourchier, the daughter of a wealthy leather merchant, Sir James Bourchier, who owned great swaths of Essex. The two began a happy, if hard working, life together blessed with many children.

Yet Oliver Cromwell was plagued by doubt and despair through his twenties. He sought treatment in London for valde melancolicus (as clinical depression was called in the era) and at last found relief through Puritanism, the new strain of religion quickly becoming popular through the growing middle class, perhaps introduced to it by his merchant father-in-law. Cromwell later wrote that he was the “chief of all sinners” who had come to see salvation in the rigorously disciplined denomination.

Alongside his religious growth, Cromwell entered local politics. He immediately began clashing with others over the formation of a new charter for Huntingdon and proved himself an eager contender. When elections were called for a parliament in 1628, his opponents managed to spread rumors that bumped him from the support of Montagu, the Earl of Sandwich.

Discouraged about his prospects at home, Cromwell thought back to a book he had read at Cambridge, Captain John Smith’s A Description of New England published in 1616. “Here every man may be master and owner of his owne labour and land… If he have nothing but his hands, he may… by industries quickly grow rich.” Cromwell admired the thought of gain through his own work and Providence without hindrance of backbiters, so he determined to join those among his father-in-law’s partners colonizing the New World.

Cromwell voyaged with the Higginson Fleet that arrived that July in Salem, on the north side of the newly chartered Massachusetts Bay Colony. His wife Elizabeth, six months pregnant, stayed behind with their three sons and daughter, Bridget, to settle affairs. When the ships returned to England, they carried a letter from Cromwell calling her to join him as quickly as possible, which they did on the Winthrop Fleet the following year. Cromwell had found his calling as a settler, and he held Salem (named for an early peaceful transition between governments) to be a paradise on Earth. Over the coming decades, Cromwell’s farm prospered, two more children were added to the family, and he became a leader among the congregation.

When the General Court of the colony called for organization of a militia for common defense in 1637, Cromwell’s name instantly became known throughout Massachusetts. He led his troops with strict discipline, intelligence, and the bravado of a man certain God is on his side. While the Civil War tore their homeland apart, Cromwell was eager to welcome veterans to his well-defended paradise. Through his connections with the merchants, Cromwell encouraged a mutual defense with other colonies on the western Atlantic in Virginia and Bermuda to ensure safety even as factions soaked up resources in England.

The test of Cromwell’s commonwealth came in 1651 when Parliament decreed that only English ships could trade legally in English ports. Dutch ships anywhere near English waters suddenly became prey for privateers, and tensions turned to war after English and Dutch fleets exchanged cannon-fire over a perceived slight of the Dutch not tipping one’s flags in salute.

With Nieuw Nederland situated between Massachusetts Bay and Virginia, Cromwell determined to make a precautionary attack. Aided by Swedish allies from the Delaware River, Cromwell’s troops, nicknamed the New Marine Army, used novel and daring sea, shore, and land tactics to conquer the Dutch North American colony. They then moved south, conquering St. Marin and he Antilles in the Caribbean and threatening Surinam.

War ended with the Dutch in 1654, just as it began anew against the Spanish. Cromwell continued to spread English authority in the Caribbean, faltering initially at the Siege of Santo Domingo in 1655 before pressing on and carving an English hold onto the island of Hispanola. He died while on campaign in 1658. According to legend, he became a prophet in his last hours and gave detailed descriptions of heaven. Some historians hold that this was due to the yellow fever that took his life. The location of his grave remains a mystery.

Cromwell’s legacy is a mixed one. Descendants of Puritans applaud his religious convictions, and military historians are fascinated by many of his actions. On the other hand, rumors stated that his conquests of Catholic colonies were brutal, even genocidal. While the actual numbers and treatment of those defeated are often under debate, Cromwell established English control on those islands, which lasted for centuries to come.

--

In reality, Cromwell did not leave England. He became a member of Parliament in 1628 under the patronage of the more powerful Montagues, the Earls of Sandwich. As a cavalry commander, he quickly rose through the ranks to lead the whole of the Parliamentarian forces to victory. With the establishment of the republican Commonwealth of England, Cromwell was named Lord Protector and ruled without question until his death, after which his body was exhumed and executed for treason.

April 13, 1657 – Oliver Cromwell Recommends Henry for the Crown

Not even a decade after the Parliamentarians of England convicted their king of treason in trial and executed Charles I by beheading, a new crown was offered to Oliver Cromwell, the man who had third signed the previous king’s death warrant. The English had fought for years in a brutal Civil War that killed nearly 100,000 over the question of kingship. Even as the hated Charles I was beheaded, clergyman Phillip Henry wrote the crowd gave a cry “as I never heard before and desire I may never hear again.” England wanted a king.

In all but name, and he had another Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell had become the new king of England. Cromwell spent the early years of his life as a moderately successful member of the gentry in Cambridgeshire. During his thirties, Cromwell underwent a radical religious conversion and dedicated himself as a Congregationalist Puritan, outspoken and willing to fight for his beliefs of individuality under God. He was elected to Parliament in the tumultuous years in the 1640s, soon joining the Roundheads as the Civil War began.

Cromwell flourished in the war. His unbreakable nerve and daring spirit led to his nickname as “Old Ironsides.” He raised his own cavalry troop on silver captured from Cambridge colleges intended to arrive in support of the king and expanded his troop into a regiment in the Eastern Association under the Earl of Manchester. The war dragged on, and Cromwell came into conflict with his superiors, demanding more personal investment into the war. Manchester accused Cromwell of taking on “men of low birth,” to which Cromwell replied, “I would rather have a plain russet-coated captain who knows what he fights for and loves what he knows than that which you call a gentleman and is nothing else.” Cromwell’s ideals contributed to the New Model Army of 1645, of which he became the second-in-command.

In 1647, the Scots surrendered King Charles to the Parliamentary forces in exchange for ransom and in hopes of establishing a Presbyterian system. Cromwell refused to give up hard-won religious freedoms for a new hierarchy and instead began consulting directly with the captive king to establish a constitutional monarchy. While Cromwell managed to create a satisfactory Head of Proposals, others in the army did not think it went far enough, and the mission stalled until Charles’ escape that November, which incited the Scots into another wave of Civil War. Cromwell and the New Model Army crushed the invasions and resulting uprisings. The king sought to return to negotiations, but the Army refused and eliminated sympathetic members of parliament until it was clear the king would be executed.

The new Rump Parliament led to the smaller ruling council that brought on the Commonwealth while the Royalists attempted to rally in Ireland, calling upon Catholic sympathies. Cromwell was dispatched to Ireland, where he put down the insurrection ruthlessly and efficiently. While his death tolls were perhaps lower than larger invasions in the history of Ireland, he would forever gain notoriety as a murderous brute. His second son, Henry, became entwined with Ireland as major-general and later lord-deputy of the green isle, where he became popular for fairness between the Irish and the English settlers.

Cromwell’s power grew until he was promoted as Lord Protector of the Commonwealth, establishing a powerful executive position managed by a constitution. He sought to rebuild England and heal its many fractures in both body and soul. When Parliament became bent on radical ideals of republicanism, he dismissed them to avoid political strife over debating bills. Cromwell also liberalized the religious orders of England, allowing for local parishes and even informally granting Menasseh Ben Israel’s request to overturn the 1290 law expelling Jews from the country. Due to his popularity, the reformed Parliament invited him to become king under a new constitution in the Humble Petition and Advice.

Cromwell became tortured over the idea. He saw the great chance of healing, bringing philosophical royalists together with Cromwell’s allies on the more republican side. Yet, he had dedicated a decade of his life to eliminating the crown and establishing a new, fairer system. He consulted with his sons, as they would suddenly become princes in line for the throne. The eldest, Richard, had not fought in the Civil War and was only partially invested in politics. Henry, who had once suggested himself that Oliver become king, warned his father not to take the throne as it was a place of ill power.

Henry’s advice caused Oliver to reevaluate his position, which he had determined as a “policeman” for the nation, guiding it through executive power based on his moral standings. Without another man of such convictions, Cromwell questioned his legacy. Finally, in a speech on April 13, seven weeks after being offered the crown, Cromwell announced that he refused to become king, though he understood why the stability of a hereditary kingship was so important. To that end, he suggested his son Henry become king and that he himself remain as a weakened Lord Protector until his time to be replaced by election.

The split of power shocked Parliament but proved to be a compromise. Cromwellians were pleased to retain their leader and his executive office, Royalists were proud to have a hereditary line once again, and republicans enjoyed reinforced rights of Parliament for taxation and law under a king few knew. Henry was shocked as well and attempted to refuse, but his father would not let him and recalled his son from Ireland. Henry conceded and was crowned June 26, 1657. Anti-royalists were thrilled by the idea of a humble king, while the royalists admired how dedicated Henry was to his office as Henry IX.

Oliver Cromwell died in 1658, spending the last year dedicating himself to cementing his son’s position despite increasing illness. Cromwell was replaced by election, which was applauded by men such as the governor of Scotland George Monck for its smoothness and clarity. Lord Protectors would serve as long as they maintained leadership and could be ousted by bills overseen by the king. Henry died in 1674, succeeded by his son Henry X, who reigned until 1711 and was succeeded in turn by Thomas I until 1748.

During the term of Oliver I, who came to the throne at the age of six, Parliament took the opportunity to expand its powers widely, largely eclipsing the king. As Oliver came of age, he displayed his great-great-grandfather’s strength and served valiantly in the Seven Years’ War. He turned his popularity into political power, spurring the disenfranchised in charterless towns such as Manchester and those in the colonies to demand voting power. The issue threatened to spark another civil war as insurrections broke out in the American colonies, but ultimately in 1783 Oliver would win out and stack Parliament in his favor with thousands of new voters. Oliver continued to rule until 1821, overseeing the defeat of the French Empire and establishing England as the greatest naval and colonial power in the world.

Oliver I’s only surviving child was Elizabeth II (Elizabeth-Oliveria), whom he refused to allow to marry unless his son-in-law took the surname Cromwell to continue the line.

--

In reality, Cromwell refused the crown for himself or anyone else. His son Richard followed him as Lord Protector, but Richard’s lack of politicking caused him to resign after one year. The factions of Parliament proved unable to elect a successor, so George Monck marched the New Model Army on London, seizing the city and restoring Charles II. The Catholic Stuarts took the throne again until being ousted in the Glorious Revolution of 1688.