CROMWELL, OLIVER

CROMWELL, OLIVER. – English statesman, b. 25 Apr. 1599 at Huntingdon, d. 3 Sept. 1658 in London. Educated from childhood in the strictest Puritanism, he already then felt a profound aversion to the Anglican Church and to the king, who was its head. He began his political career in 1628 as representative of Huntingdon in the House of Commons. Subsequently, during the Short Parliament (Apr.–May 1640) and the Long Parliament (which lasted from Nov. 1640 to March 1660, thus continuing beyond his death), he represented the city of Cambridge. A tenacious opponent of King Charles I, he began to make a name for himself at the outbreak of the civil war as a military man, especially through the formation of a cavalry corps. The decisive victory at Naseby (1645), which deprived the king of the core of his army, was due in large part to C.’s cavalry. Once negotiations with the king had begun, C. soon realized that a positive outcome would lead, sooner or later, to the victory of the Anglican Church, the persecution of the Puritans, and the undermining of his personal position and that of the army. C. therefore saw no way out other than the king’s death, because the sovereign’s mere exile or imprisonment would always have constituted a danger to the country. After the execution of Charles I (30 Jan. 1649), C. became the undisputed master of England under the title of “lord protector.” He had thus attained an office that enabled him to struggle by every means for the triumph of his Puritan ideals, which had nourished and sustained him throughout his life; but he did not prove broad-minded and incurred many enmities, provoking a widespread movement of opposition which, after his death, facilitated the restoration of the monarchy. He treated Catholics harshly and persecuted them in every way, requiring them to take the oath of abjuration, on pain of forfeiting two-thirds of their property and almost all their civil rights. He also prohibited Catholic priests from remaining on English soil.