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Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector and ruler of the English Commonwealth after the defeat and beheading of King Charles I during the English Civil War, died on 3 September 1658 of natural causes. He was given a public funeral at Westminster Abbey equal to those of the monarchs who came before him.
Nov 13, 2020 · According to the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cromwell's head was put on a spike and displayed for more than 20 years but it then disappeared. Almost a century later, Cromwell's head resurfaced as a...
- He Was Distantly Related to Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s Chief Minister
- Relatively Little Is Known About The First 40 Years of His Life
- He Had Something of A Crisis of Faith
- When Civil War Broke Out, He Had Little Military Experience
- He Became Key to The Parliamentarians’ Success
- Cromwell Was One of The More Enthusiastic Regicides
- Cromwell’s Irish Campaign Remains Controversial
- Lord Protector – For Life
- Cromwell’s Rule Was Ambitious
- He Was Posthumously Executed
Oliver Cromwell was born in Huntingdon to a family in the landed gentry. His great-great-grandmother, Katherine, was Thomas Cromwell‘s older sister, and her sons chose to take her name, Cromwell, rather than their father’s. Oliver was one of 10 children, and the only boy to survive infancy.
For a man who would become so prominent in public life, Cromwell’s early years remain relatively obscure. He studied at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, and it’s thought that he studied at Lincoln’s Inn after this, but there is no recorded evidence of this fact. Aged 21, Cromwell married Elizabeth Bourchier, the daughter of a London leather mercha...
Whilst Cromwell was certainly exposed to Puritanism from early on, it seems that in the 1620s he had something of a personal crisis. Despite his successful election as an MP for Huntingdon in 1628, records show he sought treatment for a variety of issues, including depression, in the same year. In 1629, Charles dismissed Parliament: he would not ca...
When war rolled around in 1642, Cromwell had only ever participated in local militia. However, he quickly gathered troops and blocked a shipment of silver plate from Cambridge colleges to the king, and tried to participate in the Battle of Edgehill, but arrived too late to be of any use. Fortunately there were plenty of other opportunities for Crom...
Cromwell subsequently oversaw notable victories at Marston Moor and Naseby, and was the only MP who was excluded from the Self-Denying ordinance, allowing him to retain his role in Parliament and his military command. He also helped spearhead the founding of the New Model Army, which was based on skill and ability rather than social status: a new i...
The question of what to do with the deposed Charles I plagued the Parliamentarians. Many of them felt that killing the king was wrong: the doctrine of the Divine Right of Kingsrang deep. Others argued that the war would never be over while Charles remained alive. Cromwell was the third to sign Charles’ death warrant, and co-signed the actual warran...
Ireland remained predominantly Catholic and had made an alliance with the Royalists which had the potential to pose a serious threat to the newly founded Commonwealth of England. As a result, Parliamentarian forces invaded Ireland in 1649, sacking and capturinga number of strategically important towns and ports in brutal, bloody and protracted sieg...
In December 1653, Cromwell was made ‘Lord Protector’ for life: a role not entirely dissimilar to that of a monarch. He was called ‘Your Highness’ and had the power to call and dissolve parliament. In 1657, he was ceremonially re-installed as Lord Protector at Westminster Hall in an event which closely mirrored a coronation. The main aim at this poi...
Not content to simply heal the nation, Cromwell launched an ambitious foreign policy, including the ‘Western Design’ (which was effectively an armada against the Spanish West Indies) and a treaty with the avowedly Catholic France to supply troops and weapons in their war against Spain. Jews were allowed to re-enter and settle in England following t...
Cromwell died in September 1658, possibly from septicaemia following a urinary infection. He was buried with great pomp and circumstance at Westminster Abbey with a funeral based on that of James I. Two years later, in 1661, his body was exhumed and subject to posthumous execution. His head was then displayed on a spike outside Westminster Abbey un...
- Sarah Roller
Mar 14, 2021 · Cromwell’s body was beheaded and placed on a pike at Westminster Hall - where it stayed for 30 years. According to legend, the head left the pike after a gust of wind blew it down onto the ...
- Harry Gold
Apr 30, 2024 · Oliver Cromwell, one of the most influential and divisive figures in British history, was born in Huntingdon and his decapitated head is buried under Sidney Sussex College in Cambridge. But how...
This culminated in the 1660 Stuart Restoration, after which Cromwell's body was removed from Westminster Abbey and displayed at Tyburn. His head was placed on a spike outside the Tower of London, where it remained for 30 years, and ultimately reburied at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, in 1960.
Feb 17, 2011 · Oliver Cromwell played a leading role in bringing Charles I to trial and execution, and was a key figure during the civil war. Why does he remain one of the country's most controversial public ...
