OLIVER CROMWELL – THE FIRST COMMONER TO RULE ENGLAND

Oliver Cromwell, an English soldier and statesman of outstanding gifts and a forceful character shaped by a devout Calvinist faith was lord protector of the republican Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland from 1653 to 1658. One of the leading generals on the parliamentary side in the English Civil War against King Charles I, he helped to bring about the overthrow of the Stuart monarchy and as lord protector he raised his country status once more to that of a leading European power from the decline it had gone through since the death of Queen Elisabeth I. Cromwell was one of the most remarkable rulers in modern European history; for although a convinced Calvinist, he believed deeply in the value of religious toleration. At the same time his victories at home and abroad helped to enlarge and sustain a Puritan attitude of mind, both in Great Britain and in North America,that continued to influence political life and social life until recent times.

Cromwell was born at Huntington in England on April 25, 1599, the only son of Robert Cromwell and Elisabeth Steward. Oliver went to the local grammar school and then in 1616 for a year attended Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. In August 1620 he married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir James Bourchier, a merchant in the City of London. By her he was to have five sons and four daughters.

Though in 1628 he had been elected a Member of Parliament for the borough of Huntingdon. King Charles I dissolved this Parliament on 1629 and did not call another for 11 years.

In the spring of 1640 Cromwell was elected Member of Parliament for the borough of Cambridge. In November 1640 Cromwell was again returned by Cambridge to what was to be known as the Lord Parliament, which sat until 1653, his public career began.

Cromwell had already become known in the Parliament of 1628-29 as a fiery and somewhat coarse Puritan, who had launched an attack on Charles I’s bishops. He believed that he individual Christian could establish direct contact with God through prayer and that the principal duty of the clergy was to inspire the laity by preaching. He criticized the bishop in the House of Commons and was appointed a member of a committee to investigate other complaints against him. He advocated abolishing the institution of the episcopate and the banning of a set ritual as prescribed in The Book of Common Prayer. He believed that Christian congregations ought to be allowed to choose their own ministers, who should serve them by preaching, and extemporaneous prayer. When in 1642 the King left London to raise an army, and events drifted civil war, Cromwell began to distinguish himself not merely as an outspoken Puritan but also as a practical man capable of organization and leadership. In July he obtained permission from the House of Commons to allow his constituency of Cambridge to form and arm companies for its defense, in August he himself rode to Cambridge to prevent the colleges from sending their plate to be melted down for the benefit of the King, and as soon as the war began he enlisted a troop of cavalry in his birthplace of Huntingdon.

When in December 1653, after a coup d’etat planned by Major General John Lambert and other officers, the majority of the Assembly of Saints (as the new Parliament was called) surrendered power into Cromwell’s hands, he decided reluctantly that Providence had chosen him to rule. As commander in chief appointed by Parliament, he believed that he was the only legally constituted authority left. He therefore accepted an “Instrument of Government” drawn up by Lambert and his fellow officers by which he became lord protector, ruling the three nations of England, Scotland, and Ireland with the advice and help of a council of state and a Parliament, which had to be called every three years.

Before Cromwell summoned his first Protectorate Parliament on September 3, 1654, he and his Council of State passed more than 80 ordinances embodying a constructive domestic policy. His aim was to reform the law, to set up a Puritan Church, to permit toleration outside it, to promote education, and to decentralize administration. The resistance of lawyers somewhat dampened his enthusiasm for law reform, but he was able to appoint good judges both in England and Ireland. He was strongly opposed to severe punishment for minor crimes. During his Protectorate, committees known as Triers and Ejectors were set up to ensure that a high standard of conduct was maintained by clergy and schoolmasters. He concerned himself with education, was an excellent chancellor of Oxford University, founded a college at Durham, and saw to it that grammar schools flourished as they had never done before.

In 1654 Cromwell brought about a satisfactory conclusion to the Anglo-Dutch War, which, as s contest between fellow Puritans, he had always disliked. His Council of State was divided, but eventually he resolved to conclude an alliance with France against Spain. He sent an amphibious expedition to the Spanish West Indies, and in May 1655 Jamaica was conquered.