Oliver Cromwell was born in Huntingdon, England, on April twenty-five,
1599. His parents, Robert and Elizabeth Cromwell, were members
of the landed gentry as well as Puritans, a sizeable Protestant
sect which sought major reforms in the mainstream Church of England.
Cromwell received his education from a prominent Puritan minister
and then attended Cambridge University, although his father's death
in 1617 ended Oliver Cromwell's education before he received his
degree. Three years after leaving Oxford, Cromwell married Elizabeth
Bourchier, with whom he had eight children.
Although raised by Puritans, Cromwell was not particularly pious
until sometime in the late 1620s or early 1630s, when he experienced
a religious epiphany. With his faith renewed, Cromwell developed
a new sense of mission, in which he envisioned himself fighting
for the cause of the Protestant Reformation in England and ridding
the church of its Catholic influences. In 1628, Cromwell was elected
to the House of Commons, one half of England's legislative branch.
For a while, he remained a rather political figure, known primarily
for his belligerence and strictly Puritan beliefs.
In 1640, tensions began to rise between King Charles I
and Parliament. Parliament objected to Charles's raising taxes
without first consulting them. Some members of Parliament were
also concerned by Charles's proximity to Catholicism, particularly
with regards to his queen, Henrietta Maria, who has herself Catholic.
Relations between the King and Parliament grew increasingly strained,
culminating with the outbreak of the English Civil War in August
1642. A staunch Parliamentarian, Cromwell raised an army in his
home county, and after a series of victories over the King's forces,
was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-General.
Parliament's army eventually defeated the King and his
supporters, the Royalists, and Cromwell emerged from the Civil
War as a bona fide hero. By the late 1640s, Cromwell effectively
became the leader of Parliament's army, which he consolidated into
a single force known as the New Model Army. After the execution
of Charles I in January 1649, Cromwell's influence over the military made
him a powerful political figure, and he assumed the prestigious
position of first chairman of the new Council of State.
For the next few years, Cromwell further bolstered his
reputation by leading a series of military campaigns in both Ireland
and Scotland. His campaign in Ireland was particularly brutal,
and Cromwell's troops massacred several thousand civilians, often
with Cromwell's consent, even instigation. When he returned to
Parliament in 1653, Cromwell was disgusted with the constant debating, and
used the Army to forcibly dissolve the House of Commons. A new
Parliament was elected, but after a coup d'état in
December 1653, Cromwell was named Lord Protector of the British
Republic and given full power.
Although he frequently wielded his power like the kings
before him, Cromwell declined the crown on more than one occasion.
He continued to impose his will in the name of the Reformation
and of the new regime, but his laws included the extension of religious
tolerance to all minority Protestant factions, the reorganization
of political representation in the House of Commons, and reforms
of the often-complicated English legal system.
As Lord Protector, Cromwell called two Parliaments into
session. Although Cromwell forcibly dissolved the first session,
his relations with the second Parliament were more cordial, and
in 1657 Cromwell allowed for the passage of a constitutional settlement
which recreated some institutions, such as the House of Lords,
which had been abolished after the Civil War. Cromwell also agreed
to make the office of Lord Protector a hereditary position, which
would pass to his eldest son upon his death. For much of his career
as Lord Protector, Cromwell had to strike a balance between the
country's remaining royalist and republican interests, although he
never succeeded in fully winning over any of these groups to his side.
Forced into a difficult balancing act in the last years of his
life, Cromwell became a somewhat melancholy and bitter man. He
died of pneumonia on September 1658, a month after the death of
his favorite daughter, Elizabeth. He was succeeded by his son Richard and
received a great state funeral. After the Restoration of the Stuart
monarchy in 1660, however, Cromwell's body was disinterred and
publicly hanged.
