Figure 10: Portrait of Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of ... · PDF fileTriumph of the Saint...

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SchnakenbergTriumph of the Saint

Figure 10: Portrait of Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of Britain, by Gaspar de Crayer

Tau SigmaJournal of Historical Studies: Vol. XXIV

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The Triumph of the Saint

Collin Schnakenberg

With the abrupt break between England and the Roman Catholic Church in the 1530s

came the establishment of various faction churches to the Church of England. By far,

the most numerous of these groups were the Puritans. The Puritans relied heavily on

John Calvin’s influence and thus believed in the basic tenets of Calvinism. However,

because the Anglican Church was the only legally recognized church in England under

the Act of Uniformity of 1558, the Puritans found themselves restricted. Nonetheless,

their influence grew, and Parliament soon became predominantly Puritan. The Puritans

despised what seemed to them the Catholic-like policies of Charles I. Religious, political,

and even economic tensions led into the English Civil War between parliamentary

forces, the Roundheads, and the king’s supporters, the Cavaliers. A hitherto unknown

Member of Parliament, Oliver Cromwell, led much of the parliamentary forces and

was largely successful. Parliamentary forces were even able to capture, try, and execute

Charles I. Charles’ son, Charles II, fled to France, leaving Parliament and thus the

Puritans completely in charge. To the radical Puritans, this victory led to the “triumph

of the Saints,” meaning Congregationalists, in England.1 They then established the

Commonwealth of England, leaving Cromwell to command the army. Cromwell would

use this position to gain more power and eventually become the leader of the English

Protectorate altogether. By using the various constitutions that emerged during the

Protectorate, Cromwell consolidated his power, and the effects of total control began

to shape his mind to adopt a more monarchical mindset than he had in the 1640s. In

some cases, a direct parallel appears between the policies of Cromwell and those of

his immediate predecessor, against whom Cromwell had rallied so much opposition,

particularly in his attitudes regarding his parliaments. In fact, as Cromwell increasingly

delved into matters of state as Lord Protector, he became progressively monarchical in

his tendencies and attitudes in order to effectively deal with the struggles that emerged

during his reign. By the time he died in 1659, Cromwell was a king in all but name; in

1. H. Mead, The People’s Art Union: The Historical Gallery of Portraits and Paintings with Brief Memoirs of the Most Celebrated Men, of Every Age and Country (London: Willoughby and Co., 1845), 38

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practice, if not literally, the Imperial Crown destroyed in the Civil War had been re-

forged and placed on his head.

As the Civil War raged, key members of Parliament decided that they needed

military reform in order to win the war. Their solution was the creation of the New

Model Army under Sir Thomas Fairfax. The New Model Army was revolutionary in

its time, for it placed merit over blood relation, although the officer corps came from

Parliament. The new reformed army helped settle military disputes within its ranks.2 At

the time, Cromwell was a member of both the army and the Long Parliament and thus

eligible for the rank of officer. Cromwell steadily accumulated power. As commander

of cavalry, Cromwell soon demonstrated extraordinary military prowess. Cromwell

proved himself to be a great military reformer as well. He had earlier debated with

Edward Montague, the Earl of Manchester, on letting men of low birth enter as officers

into the army. Manchester opposed this, lamenting,

Col. Cromwell raysing of his regiment makes choyce of his officers not such as weare souldiers or men of estate, but such as were common men, pore and of mean parentage, onely he would given them the title of godly, pritious men…I heard hem him oftentimes say that it must not be souldiers nor Scots that must doe this worke, but it must be the godly to this purpos.3

Cromwell also advocated the self-denying principle for the New Model Army, that is,

no Member of Parliament could hold office and a rank in the army simultaneously.4

After Cromwell succeeded in passing these reforms, the New Model Army obtained a

level of professionalism that exceeded Charles’ Royal Army, and Cromwell received

a commission as the Lieutenant General of the Horse, a position he used successfully

to augment the army effectively at the Battle of Naseby. As Cromwell continued in

the army, he became increasingly convinced that the Independents within its ranks

acted as God’s chosen instruments in England. In a letter to Oliver St. John, Cromwell

urged his friend to read Isaiah 8, 10, 11, and 14, which predict the fall of the kingdom

2. Mark Kishlansky, The Rise of the New Model Army (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979), 41.

3. Wilbur Cortez Abbott, The Writings and Speeches of Oliver Cromwell, Vol. 1 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1937), 216.

4. Kishlansky, 27.


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of Assyria and the perseverance of the godly saints.5 Cromwell progressively became

a proponent of dissolving the monarchy permanently and soon found his chance.

With the king captured following the Second Civil War, moderate Presbyterians in

Parliament considered negotiations with the king. Radical Independents in the army

led by Colonel Thomas Pride, however, distrusted Charles and pushed for his execution.

On December 8, 1648, in what is known as Pride’s Purge, the Independent radicals

barred any Member of Parliament who favored negotiation. Though Cromwell was

not personally involved, he entered Parliament the following day, an indication that he

supported the radicals in the army but still hoped to see himself as a negotiator between

the army and the moderates, a role he would use to consolidate power.6 Cromwell had

grown passionate in his hatred for Charles and the monarchy, and he expressed to

Algernon Sidney that they “will cut off his head with the crown upon it.”7 Pride’s Purge

was the death knell for Charles, who was executed at Whitehall on January 30, 1649.

Cromwell was present for the beheading and was even second on the list of Charles’

executioners. The king was dead, and his replacement was quickly rising through the

ranks.

As the Commonwealth consolidated its rule, the New Model Army dealt

with various uprisings. The Levellers, a radical democratic group pushing for popular

sovereignty and extended suffrage, began a large, spontaneous uprising in Banbury.

As this rebellion fomented against the new revolutionary government, it had to be

put down as quickly as possible. The New Model Army under Fairfax and Cromwell

suppressed the revolt, gaining Cromwell much prestige.8 His actions during the first

two Civil Wars and afterwards persuaded Parliament to grant Cromwell complete

command of the planned invasion of Ireland, which was a Royalist stronghold. With

this large promotion for Cromwell, he gained both the powers of the Lord Lieutenant

5. Abbott, vol. 1, 644.

6. John Morrill, Oliver Cromwell and the English Revolution (London: Longman, 1990), 80-81.

7. David Underdown, Pride’s Purge: Politics in the Puritan Revolution (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971), 184.

8. G. E. Aylmer, The Levellers in the English Revolution (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1975), 45.

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and the Commander-in-Chief in deed if not in name.9 This invasion would occupy

most of Cromwell’s time during the Commonwealth period and would spawn many

atrocities by Cromwell and his troops in Ireland, including the sieges of Wexford and

Drogheda, where the Parliamentarians massacred the towns’ inhabitants as they were

negotiating surrender, in the hopes that these bloodbaths would subdue the rest of

Ireland.10 When Cromwell returned to England, trouble was brewing in Scotland.

Charles I’s son, Charles II, had raised an army and threatened an invasion from the

north. Sir Thomas Fairfax, still officially the head of the army, refused to march north.

In response, the Council of State appointed Cromwell as the true Commander-in-Chief

of the New Model Army.11 Cromwell achieved full success in the Scottish campaign,

defeating the Royalists in the battles of Dunbar and Worcester. By the end of the

campaign, Cromwell had achieved high military and political status as the effective

commander of the army. Throughout the Commonwealth, Cromwell viewed his role

in the new government as an influential leader in the military, though not necessarily

in politics.

After the forcible banning of the moderates in Pride’s Purge, the Long

Parliament had dwindled to the Rump Parliament, consisting of mainly radical

Puritans. While Cromwell campaigned in Ireland and Scotland, Parliament suffered

serious infighting between the remaining Presbyterians and the Independents. Much

of the army had wanted to host new elections in 1648 but instead had to deal with the

Ireland and Scotland campaigns. Now, when they returned in 1651, they pushed for

the Rump to set a date for its dissolution, which they eventually set for November 3,

1654. However, Cromwell and his fellow officers, concerned about the complacency

and corruption of its members, pressed the Rump to advance that date. Finally, the

Rump elected to prepare a bill to elect a new Parliament, but it was merely a legislative

attempt for the current Parliament to retain power.12 This bill proved too much for

9. Charles Harding Firth, Oliver Cromwell (London: Oxford University Press, 1900), 253.

10. T. F. Tout, An Advanced History of Great Britain (New York: Longmans, Green and Co., 1923), 463.

11. Winston Churchill, A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, vol. 2, The New World (New York: Dodd, Mead and Co., 1956), 295.

12. Godfrey Davies, The Early Stuarts (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1959), 173.


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Cromwell, who on April 20, 1653, called in forty musketeers to clear the house.

Bulstrode Whitelocke, a Member of Parliament, recorded the incident: “[Cromwell]

furiously bid the Speaker to leave his chayre, told the house they had ste long enough

unlesse they had done more good, that some of them were whore Masters…that others

were drunkards and…corrupt, unjust and scandalous…that it was not fitt they should

sit as a Parliament any longer, and desired them to goe away.”13 Cromwell and his men

locked the door to the House of Commons and disbanded the executive committee,

the Council of State. The Lord President of the Council of State informed Cromwell

of the mistake he had made: “Sir, we have heard what you did in the house in the

morning, and before many hours all England will hear it: but, Sir, you are mistaken to

think that the parliament is dissolved, for no power under heaven can dissolve them but

themselves, therefore take you notice of that.”14 Cromwell’s forcible dissolution, as a

sign of his increasing authoritarianism, paralleled Charles I’s attempt to arrest the Five

Members of the Long Parliament in 1642, an action that preceded the Civil Wars and

prompted the king to form a rival parliament, the Oxford Parliament.

With the failure of the Rump, a new parliament was necessary in order to

continue the governance of the realm. Hoping to avoid the moderate Presbyterian

influence that the Rump had held, Cromwell and his fellow radical officers decided

to nominate the next parliament themselves. As a result, many of the army’s officers

became members, and the Puritans, or the “saints,” found themselves predominant in

its makeup. However, historians agree that even now Cromwell had not completely

dominated English politics. The members consisted of eighty-four moderates and only

sixty (albeit a very loud sixty) radicals.15 The Royalists coined this group the Barebone’s

Parliament after one of its members, Praise-God Barebones. It consisted of what

Royalists newspapers referred to as “tanners, wheelwrights, and the meanest sort of

mechanics,” and “obscure persons, generally Anabaptistical and men of blood.”16

Thus, the Parliament was chosen along much the same lines that Cromwell had chosen 13. Bulstrode Whitelocke, The Diary of Bulstrode Whitelocke 1605-1675, ed. Ruth

Spalding (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990), 286.

14. Edmund Ludlow, Memoirs of Edmund Ludlow, Esq. Lieutenant General of the Horse (London: A. Miller, D. Browne, and J. Ward, 1751), 176.

15. Abbott, vol. 3, 51.

16. Ibid, 50.

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the officers of the New Model Army in the 1640s. The Parliament, however, quickly

became embroiled in a debate over the use of tithes. Under the old royal system, tithes

paid the salaries of the Anglican ministers. However, in 1654, that seemed to have

the stench of Catholicism to the Puritans, and they sought to repeal the system. They

became deadlocked when they could not quickly find a system to replace the old. The

moderates worried that the attack on tithes would eventually translate into an attack on

their own property, for the clergy would still have to be paid. They denounced the entire

Parliament and asked Cromwell to disband it, to which the Parliament itself agreed.

In the official record of the House of Commons on December 12, 1653, it noted the

reason for the dissolution: “It being moved in the House this Day, That the Sitting of

this Parliament as now constituted, will not be for the Good of the Commonwealth;

and that therefore it was requisite to deliver up unto the Lord General Cromwell the

Powers which they received from him.”17 Thus the last hope of Cromwell and the

Puritans to establish a rule without a strong executive ended.

A mere three days after the failure of Barebone’s Parliament, an army

representative and Cromwell’s right hand man John Lambert proposed the Instrument of Government. The Instrument was England’s only codified written constitution. Partially

based on the earlier “Heads of Proposal,” the Instrument proposed that all legislative

authority should rest in the hands of a Lord Protector working with Parliament and

that executive authority should rest jointly with the Lord Protector and a Council.18 For

the first time since the Civil War, the executive powers separated, indicating a distrust

of representatives.19 Parliaments would meet every three years for a minimum of five

months. Distrust for the English people also seems to have permeated some of the

Instrument, for instead of expanding the voting bloc, it restricted it.20 Unsurprisingly,

the man Lambert had in mind for the office of Lord Protector was Oliver Cromwell.

The 33rd article of the Instrument dictated the permanence of Cromwell’s new office:

“That Oliver Cromwell, Captain-General of the forces of England, Scotland and 17. “House of Commons Journal Volume 7: 12 December 1653,” in Journal of the

House of Commons: Volume 7, 1651-1660 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1802), 363, accessed November 20, 2015, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/commons-jrnl/vol7/p363d.

18. Davies, 176.

19. Firth, 335.

20. Ibid., 335.


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Ireland, shall be, and is hereby declared to be, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth

of England, Scotland and Ireland, and the dominions thereto belonging, for his life.”21

This recommendation turned out well for Lambert, who received a promotion to

General and the first Lordship conferred by Cromwell.22 On December 16, 1653,

only four days after the failure of the Commonwealth, Cromwell formally became the

Lord Protector. The investiture itself was a humble affair. Cromwell dressed simply in

traditional Puritan attire, a plain black suit and cloak with a black hat. With Cromwell

were the Commissioners of the Great Seal, the Barons of the Exchequer, the judges,

the members of the Old Council, the Lord Mayor, the Recorder, the aldermen of

London, and the chief officers of the army.23 Even with the civil authorities present,

it was clear that Cromwell had obtained his office through the benefit of the army.

Cromwell said a simple oath in which he promised to uphold justice, peace, and law,

and “answer those great Ends of Religion and Liberty so long contended for.”24 Thus,

the Protectorate had begun in earnest, and Cromwell had gained full power not merely

in deed through his position as Lord General, but now in name as well through the

office of Lord Protector.

With his new Council, Cromwell secured the royal palaces of Whitehall, the

execution place of Charles I, and Hampton Court, as well as furnishings up to £20,000

from the royal household. During this time Cromwell also began to use Oliver P for his

signature, instead of his previous O. Cromwell. The P stood for Protector, and emulates

how former monarchs signed their names, using R instead, for Rex, which was Latin for

king (e.g. Charles R). Instead of addressing Cromwell as His Excellency, Lord General,

everyone addressed him as His Highness, the Lord Protector.25 A new Protectorate court

gave the Lord Protector the same servant positions that had been held by Cromwell’s

royal predecessors, including a Wardrobe Keeper, a Master of the Barges, a Master

21. Article, Instrument of Government, article XXXIII.

22. William Harbutt Dawson, Cromwell’s Understudy, the Life and Times of General John Lambert (London: William Hodge and Company, 1938), 183.

23. Abbott, vol. 3, 136.

24. Ibid, 137.

25. Mary Taylor Blauvelt, Oliver Cromwell, A Dictator’s Tragedy (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1937), 231.

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of the Music, a Master of Ceremonies, and Gentlemen of the Bedchamber.26 Indeed,

Cromwell slowly gained the trappings of monarchy, which made the Continental

monarchs question his commitment to the revolutionary cause. In Sweden, Cromwell’s

ambassador, Bulstrode Whitelocke, had to convince Queen Christina that he did not

have such kingly ambitions.27 The Queen, upon hearing a reading of the Instrument of Government, promptly asked Whitelocke, “Why is the title Protector, when the power is

kingly?...New titles with sovereign power proved prejudicial to the state of Rome.”28

The radical republicans in England also began to fear the rise of a new Cromwell

monarchy.29 Whatever Cromwell’s feelings of his position, he sought to rule England

for the benefit of its citizens, even if that meant employing a military dictatorship.30

Cromwell realized that he needed a parliament to rule England effectively,

so he called the First Protectorate Parliament to meet on September 3, 1654. This

parliament was largely middle class, and the former Long Parliament constituted

a large portion of its ranks, as well as Cromwell’s friends and relatives.31 The First

Protectorate Parliament’s first priority, Cromwell asserted, was to consent to the

Instrument of Government. While the parliament was firmly under Cromwell’s control, he

did not claim the right of the Sovereign to appoint a Speaker, showing that Cromwell

was not fully monarchical at this point.32 However, after a mere fortnight of no

other discussion than constitutional reforms, the members of Parliament arrived at

Westminster Hall to discover the doors barred and the Lord Protector awaiting them

in the Painted Chamber. There, Cromwell forcefully informed the members that the

26. Roy Sherwood, The Court of Oliver Cromwell (London: Croom Helm, 1977), 168-173.

27. Whitelocke, Diary, 322.

28. Bulstrode Whitelocke, A Journal of the Swedish Embassy in the Years 1653 and 1654, Impartially Written by Bulstrode Whitelocke, ed. Charles Morton (London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1855), 317.

29. Maurice Ashley, England in the Seventeenth Century (Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1952), 101.

30. Abbott, vol. 3, 169.

31. Francis Warre Cornish, Life of Oliver Cromwell (London: Rivingtons, 1882), 296.

32. Samuel Harden Church, Oliver Cromwell, a History (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1895), 419.


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Instrument of Government had granted him power by will of the army, the city of London,

the county of Yorkshire, the English judges, and finally Parliament itself. Cromwell

argued that Parliament was trying to change the Instrument’s fundamental aspects, which

included government by the Lord Protector and Parliament, liberty of conscience, the

restrictions placed on Parliament, and the balanced control of the militia.33 By doing

so, Parliament attempted to restrict the powers of the Lord Protector, and Cromwell

could not abide this. The Instrument prevented Cromwell from disbanding Parliament

within five months, but once this deadline passed in January 1655, Cromwell dissolved

it.

Following the Protectorate’s unsuccessful attempt at reform, Cromwell decided

to rule through military dictatorship, that is, without a parliament, but still maintain

the law dictated through the Instrument. However, his plans changed due to several

Royalist plots, including an assassination attempt. In August of 1655, Cromwell divided

England into military districts, each ruled by a major general of the army.34 The goal of

the eleven major generals would be to uphold the Puritans’ moral reforms throughout

the realm, for during the dictatorship the most radical reforms occurred, including

bans on makeup, plays, Christmas, alehouses, fornication, casinos, and brothels.35 The

major generals also assumed responsibility for collecting taxes and enforcing loyalty in

the districts. The military rule was brutal and total, with a strict hierarchy that placed

Cromwell on the top. Despite the emphasis placed on the military by Cromwell, the

Lord Protector sought to reduce the size of the army, which the First Protectorate

Parliament had stressed. Over the summer and autumn of 1655, Cromwell disbanded

between ten and twelve thousand soldiers from the army.36 In effect, this system made

Cromwell the sole ruler of England without a parliament. Ironically, Cromwell had

stood with John Pym in 1640 as a member of the Short Parliament protesting the

33. John Morley, Oliver Cromwell (New York: The Century Co., 1900), 376.

34. George Macaulay Trevelyan, England Under the Stuarts (London: Putnam, 1949), 255.

35. Monarchy, “Oliver Cromwell, the King Killer,” directed by James Runcie, written by David Starkey, aired on October 10, 2005, on Channel 4.

36. Blauvelt, 249.

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eleven years that Charles I had ruled without a parliament in “tyranny.”37 Now, as a

dictator, Cromwell wielded more power than Charles had and was answerable only to

the army.

The idea of an official kingship was still far from most of the public’s mind

but held appeal for some. The great poet Andrew Marvell anonymously published his

poem “First Anniversary of the Government under the Lord Protector,” in which he

addressed the question of kingship from a citizen’s perception:

For to be Cromwell was a greater thing, Than ought below, or yet above a King:…………………………………………He seems a King by long Succession born, And yet the same to be a King does scorn. Abroad a King he seems, and something more, At Home a Subject on the equal Floor.38

Not all of the people wanted Cromwell to remain crownless. Another poet, Edmund

Waller, proposed taking captured Spanish gold and using it to make the Crown jewels

of the Lord Protector:

Let the rich ore be forthwith melted down, And the state fix’d by making him a crown;With ermine clad, and purple, let him hold, A royal spectre, made of Spanish gold.39

Indeed, this gold was put to similar use. The English hired Pierre Blondeau to mint

new Protectorate coins imprinted with the Lord Protector’s image, crowned with a

laurel wreath, the Roman symbol of the emperorship.40 Much of this time was spent

promoting Puritanism throughout the realm, not just through moral reform, but

through the restriction of conflicting sects as well. During this time of dictatorship,

war also began in earnest between France and Spain. With the success of commercial

negotiations between France and England (which included a secret clause expelling 37. Abbott, vol. 1, 110.

38. Andrew Marvell, The Complete Poems, ed. George de F. Lord, Esq. (London: J.M. Dent and Sons, 1984), 93-104.

39. Edmund Waller, The Poetical Works of Edmund Waller and Sir John Denham, ed. George Gilfillan (Edinburgh: James Nichol, 1856), 72.

40. Antonia Fraser, Cromwell, the Lord Protector (New York: Alfred Knopf: 1973), 589.


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the Royalists from France), England faced imminent war with Spain. The attempted

seizure of a Spanish island in the West Indies, which the English assumed they could

accomplish without war, guaranteed the conflict.41 Cromwell needed money to fund

this expensive war with Spain and required a parliament to grant him the funds, much

like Charles’ need for funds following the eleven year tyranny.42 This war, along with

the urging of the increasingly unpopular major generals, ended Cromwell’s sole rule

in England and forced the Lord Protector to call the Second Protectorate Parliament

in 1656.

The new parliament reacted against the military rule imposed by Cromwell

and cried that it would have “no swordmen, no decimator.”43 This anti-military stance

led to a number of hostile parliamentarians, including crypto-royalists and radical

republicans. However, they were fiercely supportive of Cromwell and his policies.

Indeed, the tide of political changes turned yet again in Cromwell’s favor. The first action

the Second Protectorate Parliament undertook was that the office of Lord Protector

would be made hereditary, meaning Oliver’s son, Richard Cromwell, would inherit the

office upon the death of his father.44 Cromwell certainly did not discourage the House’s

pandering to him. The republican Edmund Ludlow recorded the exchange between

Cromwell and William Jephson, who had proposed in the House that Cromwell take

the Crown: “‘Get thee gone for a mad fellow as thou art.’ But it soon became clear

what madness he possessed; for Jephson immediately obtained a foot company for his

son, then a scholar at Oxford, and a troop of horse for himself: and not long after was

sent agent to the crown of Sweden, with a considerable allowance appointed to defray

the expenses of his journey thither.”45 Clearly, Cromwell rewarded the very one who

pushed so hard for kingship. The Parliament approached ever closer to the question of

kingship by two acts. The first was the radical Quaker James Naylor’s trial, which posed

serious questions about the judicial role of the House. The other was the dissolution of

41. Fraser, 263-264.

42. Firth, 412.

43. Ian Gentiles, Oliver Cromwell (Houndmills, Basingstroke, Hampshire: Palgrave, Macmillan, 2011), 165.

44. Fraser, 588.

45. Ludlow, 222.

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the Major Generals, brought about due to their own insistence.46 Under this parliament

the idea of the Humble Petition and Advice first arose. Designed to replace the Instrument of Government, the Humble Petition sought to install Cromwell officially as the King of

England on April 4, 1657. This was the chief function of this petition, for Whitelocke,

then a member of the Second Protectorate Parliament, commented: “The Parlem[en]

t had bin long about the settlem[en]t of the Nation & had framed a Writing w[hic]h

they stiled The Humble Pet[itio]n & advice of the Parlem[en]t of England Scot/land

& Ireland to His H[ighnes]s, the buisnes of it was for the Prot[ecto]r to have the Title

of King.”47

Upon receiving this petition and learning of the title to be bestowed upon him,

Cromwell decided to confer with a committee, of which Whitelocke was a member

and urged the Lord Protector to accept the royal title. In agreement with Whitelocke

was Lord Broghill, also known as Roger Boyle, the 1st Earl of Orrery. The thoughts

of Cromwell were murky at this time, for he refused to give an immediate answer to

the “kinglings” or the “Contrarians,” who opposed the new title. On both April 20

and April 21, 1657, Cromwell delivered an address to the committee that gave hope to

both sides without implying a leaning in either direction. Certainly, the discussion of

the title indicated the larger scope of Cromwell’s consolidation of power behind the

scenes, of which little record exists.48 Both sides pushed to persuade Cromwell on the

truthfulness of their position. Broghill and Whitelocke proved instrumental on the side

of the kinglings, arguing that as Lord Protector, the laws of the new government would

be fitted to him, rather than limited by the long known rights of kingship. Whitelocke

argued that the title of Protector was unstable and that the kingship was certain and

proven through centuries of English common law.49 William Lenthall pressed Cromwell

to accept, solely on the fact that Parliament had conferred the title upon him, and he

would be remiss to scorn Parliament’s wishes.50 The kinglings appealed to more than

the title of King, for the very concept of the kingship was deeply integrated into the 46. Fraser, 591-592.


48. Abbott, vol. 4, 480-483.

49. Ibid, vol. 4, 484.

50. Ludlow, 223.


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English political system. Broghill argued that “this nation loves a Monarchy,” and John

Thurloe, the Secretary of the Council of State, wrote to Henry Cromwell “the title is

not the question. but it’s the office, which is known to the laws and this people. They

know their duty to a king and his to them. Whatever else there is will be wholly new and

be nothing else but a probationer, and upon the next occasion will be changed again.”51

Given that the English people had lived under four separate governments within the

past decade, Thurloe’s statement seems especially apropos. On April 21, Cromwell

again addressed the committee with evasive remarks about the title. The kinglings felt

confident in Cromwell’s acceptance of the title. Sir Francis Russell, father-in-law to

Henry Cromwell, Oliver’s son, told his son-in-law that “your father begins to come out

of the clouds, and it appears to us that he will take the kingly power upon him.”52

Eventually, the question of Cromwell’s acceptance came down to the lack of

support from the New Model Army, for the leaders of the army, Lambert, Charles

Fleetwood, and John Desborough, despised the kingly title and sought to convince

Cromwell to refuse the offer. Whitelocke wrote in his diary on April 20 that

the Prot[ecto]r was satisfyed in his private judgem[en]t that it fitt for him to take uppon him the Title of King & matters were prepared in order therunto, butt afterwards[,] by sollicitation of the Commonwealths men & fearing a mutiny & defection of a great part of the Army in case he shouldassume that Title & office, his mind changed, and many of the officers of the Army gave out high threatenings ag[ains]t him in case he should doe it he therfore thought best to attend some better season & opportunity for this busines, & refused it att this time w[i]th great seeming earnestness[.]53

Ludlow gives a bit more detail into the actions of the army officers. At a private dinner

with Fleetwood and Desborough, Cromwell asked them for their advice and “received

from them, as Col. Desborough since told me, such an answer as was not at all suitable

to his expectations and desires.”54 They strongly urged that Cromwell dismiss the title,

for “those who put him upon it were no enemies to Charles Stewart; and that if he

accepted of it, he would infallibly draw ruin upon himself and friends. Having thus

51. Fraser, 607.

52. Abbott, vol. 4, 508.


54. Ludlow, 223.

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sounded their inclinations…he told them that they were a couple of scrupulous fellows,

and so departed.”55 While the officers vehemently opposed the notion of kingship, they

did approve of the remainder of the Humble Petition and had presented it to Cromwell

with their approval. On May 7, Cromwell called together the House of Commons, and

many members expected him to so accept the Crown.56 However, before he met with

Parliament, he had one last meeting with Desborough and found that Colonel Pride

orchestrated a petition among the army officers to persuade Cromwell from accepting

the title. Presented with this veiled threat, the Lord Protector decided not to address the

House but instead to meet the committee. Thus the great parliamentarian war leader

of the 1640s soon found himself between his two great loves, the army and Parliament.

By May 15, Cromwell had officially renounced his claim to the Crown, and Parliament

decided to keep the title of Lord Protector.57 It was, as the great Cromwell historian

William Cortez Abbott noted, “the voice of Jacob but the hands of Esau.”58 This

decision met with complete stupefaction in Parliament. Clearly, although much has

been said of Cromwell’s refusal of the kingship, he refused the Crown solely from the

will of the army, for he himself was desirous of it.

Though Cromwell rejected the royal title, the rest of the Petition speedily passed

through Parliament, and Cromwell approved it. The next step was to invest Cromwell

again with the title of the Lord Protector. With Cromwell’s investiture, the new

government, which was under the Humble Petition rather than the Instrument of Government, would replace the old. As such, Parliament needed to dissolve. This dissolution was set

for June 26, 1657. On that day, Cromwell arrived for his investiture at Westminster

Hall, which differed from the traditional coronation place of Westminster Abbey. In

all other regards, however, the investiture closely resembled a coronation ceremony.

King’s Edward’s Coronation Chair, which had seated monarchs dating back to Edward

I during their coronations, moved to Westminster Hall.59 The Speaker of the House

55. Ludlow, 223.

56. Ibid, 223-224.

57. Whitelocke, Diary, 466-467.

58. Abbott, vol. 4, 514.

59. Maurice Ashley, The Greatness of Oliver Cromwell (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1957), 341.


82

of Commons, Thomas Widdrington, and other prominent members of Parliament,

including Whitelocke, placed an ermine cloak of royal purple upon him. Widdrington

then girt the Lord Protector with a sword and presented him with a scepter of “Massy

gould.”60 Following this presentation, Cromwell recited an oath, promising to “uphold

and maintain the True, Reformed, Protestant Christian Religion, in the Purity thereof,

as it is contained in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament…and shall

in all things, according to my best Knowledge and Power, govern the People of these

Nations according to Law.”61 This oath is somewhat similar to Charles I’s coronation

oath, which also emphasized the monarch’s desire to uphold the profession of the

Protestant faith, albeit one grounded in Anglicanism, and the laws and customs of

England.62 After Cromwell’s oath came the oaths of the new Council of State and the

members of Parliament. Foreign dignitaries and official government representatives

flanked Cromwell throughout the ceremony with drawn swords. After the oaths had

been administered, the trumpets sounded and a herald proclaimed Oliver Cromwell the

Lord Protector to the people, who loudly acclaimed, “God save the Lord Protector!”63

Following this display of pageantry, a number of prominent lords attended Cromwell

and carried his train as he climbed into his coach and drove to the royal palace of

Whitehall. The investiture ceremony, strikingly similar to a royal coronation, lacked

only the Archbishop of Canterbury, Westminster Abbey, and, of course, the Imperial

Crown, which had been destroyed in 1649.64 Thus, Cromwell began to view the office

of Lord Protector under a more monarchical view, as he became truly, and for better

or worse, a king in all but name.


61. Abbott, vol. 4, 565.

62. Elias Ashmole and Francis Stanford, The entire ceremonies of the coronations of His Majesty King Charles II. and of her Majesty Queen Mary, Consort to James II: As published by those learned heralds Ashmole and Sandford. With the prayers at full length. To which is prefix’d, an introduction historical and critical; likewise an appendix, containing many curious particulars (London: printed for W. Owen; L. Davis and C. Reymers; H. Chapelle; R. Davis; A. Chapeller; J. Walter; and C. Henderson, 1761), 39.


64. Starkey, Monarchy.

83


Cromwell’s behavior under the Humble Petition reflected this new viewpoint.

In late 1657, he decided to create new peerage, typically a right reserved only for a

monarch. Charles Howard, Cromwell’s former captain of the guard, became Viscount

Howard of Morpeth and Edmund Dunch received a title as Baron Burnell of East

Wittenham. Cromwell also made two other attempts to create hereditary peerages, but

both had floundered.65 When Parliament again convened in January of 1658, it was

not merely as the House of Commons, as it had been since the days of King Charles.

Instead, Commons joined what was termed as Cromwell’s “Other House.” This house

was essentially a new House of Lords, the old royalist house, which appeared over the

recess following the investiture. The members of the Other House included Oliver’s

sons Richard and Henry, as well as his friends George Monk, Lenthall, Broghill,

Fleetwood, Whitelocke, and Edward Montague, and an array of other earls and

lords.66 Out of the sixty-three peers chosen, eighteen were related to the Protector

directly or indirectly.67 The Lord Protector sought to infuse the House with royalist

tradition, perhaps unintentionally, by summoning the members with ancient writs

issued by previous Kings of England.68 A problem soon emerged, however, when many

of the lords refused to attend the session. One member, Sir Arthur Haselrig, even

demanded reentry into the House of Commons and attacked the principles of the

Other House from there.69 The republicans in the House of Commons were uneasy

with the new developments and the royalist leanings of Cromwell. Ludlow, perhaps

the most prominent of the republicans, recorded that they tried to show the council

the “unreasonableness of imposing such a house upon the nation,” by arguing that

the ancient reasons for the origin of the House of Lords were moot after the reign of

Henry III.70 The disdain from Commons meant that attendance was low in the new

house; of the sixty-three summoned, only forty-two accepted, and then only thirty-

65. Fraser, 645.

66. William Cobbett, Cobbett’s Parliamentary History of England, 1642-1660 (London: T. C. Hansard, 1808), 1518-1519.

67. Abbott, vol. 4, 684.

68. Ibid.

69. Cobbett, 1519.

70. Ludlow, 239.


84

seven appeared for the first meeting.71 When the new parliament session began on

January 20, 1658, the two Houses had still not settled their dispute. The republican

Commons, enraged at the perceived royalism, sought a way to rid itself of the Other

House. In a speech to both Houses on January 20, Cromwell did little to address this

internal bickering; he preferred instead to speak of possible “Popish” plots and the

need to promote the blessings of God.72 This speech also highlighted Cromwell’s failing

health, for the Lord Protector told Parliament, “I have some infirmities upon me.”73

The glory of the Protectorate was fading nearly as quickly as the Lord Protector’s

health.

Cromwell was not completely decrepit at this point, however. Frustrated at

the slow progress Parliament evidenced toward reconciliation and apprehensive of

potential Royalist plots originating in Parliament, the Lord Protector suddenly decided

to dissolve it on February 4, 1658, after a mere fifteen days. Upon learning of Cromwell’s

intentions, Fleetwood approached him to reconsider this rash action, much as he had

influenced the Lord Protector on the refusal of kingship. Cromwell, however, refused to

listen. “You are a milksop! By the living God, I will dissolve the House.”74 In his speech

formally disbanding Parliament, Cromwell outlined one of the major problems of this

Parliament: “If there were an intention of settlement, you would have settled upon this

to have altered or allayed. Ye had the free exercise of a legislative power to have offered

your judgment and opinion when you pleased. But this hath not been done, it hath not;

but what hath been done? Truly that I cannot speak to you of but with shame and with

grief and sorrow.”75 So ended the last parliament of Oliver’s Protectorate. Unlike the

dissolution of the First Protectorate Parliament, Cromwell did not wait the required

five months but acted quickly to end the parliament before internal rivalries got out of

hand. Cromwell spent much of his remaining time in power reflecting on his diligent

71. Abbott, vol. 4, 685.

72. Ibid, vol. 4, 705-708.

73. Ibid.

74. Gentiles, 177.

75. Abbott, vol. 4, 731.

85


campaigns in Flanders and the glories that came of them.76 Indeed, such reflection

must have given great comfort to Cromwell, who finally showed the signs of illness.

In the early afternoon of September 3, 1648, Oliver Cromwell died, leaving

his son Richard Cromwell to take the title of Lord Protector per the mandates of

the Humble Petition. Upon nearing his death, Cromwell asked a nearby minister if it

were possible to fall from grace. When he received a negative, he sighed, “Then I

am safe, for I know that I was once in grace.”77 His body was interred in the private

chapel of Henry VII in Westminster Abbey, and on November 23, a public funeral was

held. Reactions to Cromwell’s death varied. Many saw the Lord Protector’s death as

advantageous, the republicans in the army and the royalists rejoiced, and those involved

in the Protectorate mourned.78 The public funeral was deeply ceremonial and reflected

the royal image that Cromwell had gradually cultivated throughout the Protectorate.

Indeed, the whole ceremony echoed the funeral of King James I but was “more stately

and expensive.”79 A large procession accompanied the body, and the public could see

the trappings and armor of the late Lord Protector. In death Cromwell received that

which eluded him in life. Placed at the head of Cromwell and on the top of the wax

death mask appeared the very symbol of the office Cromwell desired and refused, the

Imperial Crown.80 Cromwell had finally gained the title of kingship he had wielded in

practice as Lord Protector.

The rule of Oliver’s son, Richard Cromwell, proved disastrous. Having led

the Roundheads in the Civil War, Oliver had maintained respect and admiration from

the army, the source of the radical republicans. Richard enjoyed no such luxury. The

army removed him following the dissolution of the Third Protectorate Parliament and

recalled the old Rump Parliament. Faced with political chaos, General George Monk,

a Cavalier turned Roundhead, marched down to London and was instrumental in 76. Fraser, 655.

77. Morley, 463.

78. Ludlow, 233.

79. Thomas Burton, “Cromwell’s death and funeral order,” in Diary of Thomas Burton Esq: Volume 2, April 1657 - February 1658, ed. John Towill Rutt (London: H Colburn, 1828), 516-530, accessed November 20, 2015, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/burton-diaries/vol2/pp516-530.

80. Burton, Diary.


86

restoring the Stuart monarchy under Charles II. So ended England’s experiment of

rule by parliament instead of monarch. With the Restoration in 1660, the reputation

of Oliver Cromwell was defamed. On January 30, 1661, the bodies of Cromwell,

Thomas Pride, Henry Ireton (Parliamentarian general during the Civil War), and

John Bradshaw (judge over the trial of Charles I) were disinterred, given a mock trial,

hanged, and decapitated.81 The historical opinion of Cromwell has varied ever since,

with some believing Cromwell the archetype of modern political liberty and some

viewing Cromwell as a brutal and unnecessary dictator. Dialectically, a moderate

approach could pull from these two theses. The monarchical tendencies of the Lord

Protector developed evolutionarily over the 1650s. Cromwell was at the start of the

Commonwealth a general, focusing little on matters of state but on campaigns in

Ireland and Scotland. However, he quickly supported his fellow republicans in the

army, such as Colonel Thomas Pride in the expulsion of the moderates in the Long

Parliament. He began his time as leader behaving similarly to his generalship by calling

in the military to forcibly remove the Rump Parliament. With the failure of Barebone’s

Parliament, Cromwell realized the necessity of strong executive leadership to lead the

realm effectively. Thus the Instrument of Government presented Cromwell as the Lord

Protector, the strong executive needed to unite the different factions. Cromwell did

not yet view himself as the monarch, as seen by the simplicity and humility in his first

investiture. Even this did not solve England’s problems, however, and Cromwell ruled

without Parliament as a military dictator. When Parliament was recalled, they presented

the Humble Petition and Advice, giving Cromwell power even the Stuart monarchy had

not wielded. By this point in Cromwell’s career, he was much more open to the idea

of the monarchy and seriously considered accepting the title when it was offered to

him. Despite his refusal, the second investiture showed that Cromwell had grown close

to the monarchical view, for the investiture was notably similar to a coronation. By

Cromwell’s funeral, the Crown was more than just offered; it was re-forged and placed

at Cromwell’s head. Oliver Cromwell had become a king.

81. Samuel Pepys, Diary of Samuel Pepys (London: George Bell and Sons, 1893), accessed November 21, 2016, Project Gutenberg.

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