Oliver Cromwell was a relatively obscure MP from East Anglia during the lead-up to the English Civil Wars and the early stages of that conflict. It was only as he began to excel militarily that he began to make his mark.
See War for an assessment of Cromwell and a history of the English Civil Wars.
Parliamentarian forces triumphed over the Scottish royalists at the Battle of Dunbar in September 1650, so ending the third civil war, and, a year later, at the Battle of Worcester, when Charles II made his last attempt to wrest back the throne before fleeing to France and nine years of exile.
Cromwell was now unquestionably the most powerful man in the land. There only remained the task of settling the government of England.
Parliament still consisted of the Rump – the MPs, elected in 1640 under Charles I, remaining after the successive purges of the Civil Wars and the regicide. The army was its greatest headache. A huge arrears of pay had built up, and they refused to disband until they received what they were owed.
But to Cromwell, the Rump was an obstacle to settling the constitution. They had abolished the House of Lords along with the monarchy, and now claimed absolute power to rule. By an Act of 1641, only they could call new elections. Cromwell pushed for fresh ones, but the Rump procrastinated.
Finally, his patience snapped. On 20 April 1653, with the help of 40 musketeers, he dissolved the Rump. It was an illegal act, one that, Cromwell admitted, 'made his hair to stand on end'.
Eight months later, the army produced its 'Instrument of Government'. It recommended an elected Commons under a head of state appointed for life, with formal separation of powers, joint control of the army and religious liberty. When the army council offered the position of head of state – lord protector – to Cromwell, he accepted.
He needed only 6,000 troops in England to keep the peace, but a further 40,000 were required to hold down Scotland and Ireland. The taxes now levied by the Protectorate nourished a low-level but growing unpopularity. In 1656, Cromwell decided on a novel solution: a special 10% 'decimation tax' on convicted royalists, to be enforced by 11 major-generals, who would also be responsible for waging war on vice and promoting a reformation of manners.
Parliament – which Cromwell had been forced to summon to raise money – responded to the protector's arbitrary use of power with the Humble Petition and Advice of May 1657. This constitutional document included a new upper house to be occupied by Cromwell's own nominees, and Cromwell himself was given the responsibility of naming his own successor – and humbly requested to take the crown.
But the army was aghast that its godly revolution might end up with the replacement of the House of Stuart by the House of Cromwell. They lobbied hard against the title of king. After weeks of agonised indecision, Cromwell decided that he would accept the powers but not the title.
He didn't have long to enjoy them. He died on 3 September 1658, having named his son Richard Cromwell as his successor.
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 The Oliver Cromwell Website
www.olivercromwell.org
Owned by the Cromwell Association, this site looks at Oliver Cromwell's life as a soldier, politician and private individual.
Britain's very own Taliban
www.newstatesman.com/200112170042
Fascinating New Statesman article by historian Tristram Hunt who asserts that 'Oliver Cromwell's Puritans were fundamentalists who banned Christmas, outlawed holly and covered up their women', and that Cromwell himself was not the hero of the common man and protector of democracy that New Labour has tried to paint him.
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God's Englishman: Oliver Cromwell and the English Revolution by Christopher Hill (Penguin, 1990)
First published in the 1960s, Hill brings all his considerable knowledge of the period to bear on the relationships 'God's Englishman' had with God and England. While the historian's Marxism certainly influences his views of early modern England, it by no means prejudices his analysis.
Get this book
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 Cromwell Museum
Grammar School Walk
Huntingdon PE29 3LF
Tel: 01480 375 830
E-mail: CromwellMuseum@cambridgeshire.gov.uk
Website: www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/
leisure/museums/cromwell/
Occupying the old grammar school where Cromwell was once a pupil, the museum contains a collection of portraits, documents, coins, medals and personal objects associated with or owned by Cromwell. It 'sets out neither to celebrate or denigrate his achievements but to interpret where possible the significance of "God's Englishman"'.
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