OLIVER CROMWELL – HERO OR VILLAIN? – PART 6 The appointment of Oliver Cromwell as Lord Protector, head of state and government, was generally popular. An ‘Instrument of Governance’, a written constitution, was drawn up, largely influenced by the army, which provided for the Lord Protector to rule through a council of state and required him to call a parliament every three years, which could not be dissolved save by its own consent until at least five months had passed, and it granted him £70,000 per annum for the upkeep of himself and his family. Initially the Council of State was, not unsurprisingly, packed with generals and army appointees. What was now needed was to turn the army from an ideology based organisation into a professional force, and this meant the careful weeding out of radicals, who wanted to go much further in reform of church and state than did Oliver. He made it clear that he believed that the existing social order, of ‘Nobleman, Gentleman and Yeoman’ should remain and had no time for the Levellers’ demands that all men should be equal. As an indication that he did not bear grudges, Oliver appointed the Earl of Manchester’s son as an admiral with a brief to reform and strengthen the navy. Even in Scotland Oliver was broadly accepted, even if only as the lesser of many possible evils.
In Ireland there's a saying, "Cromwell out-Heroded Herod."
Nothing anyone can ever say about him could convince me he was anything but a monster who, like Queen Elizabeth before him, attempted to literally exterminate the Irish people.
It is difficult to justify the slaughter of somewhere between 15 and 50 percent of the population of a country as “honorable” in any way, shape or form, as well as the discrimination against Irish culture and religion. Cromwell may have been good for England but he is rightfully a monster outside of it. I’ll look at your book but the title alone speaks to a bias in the author’s point of view. Maybe you should read some opinions about Cromwell from the Irish point of view.
I don’t think a lot of people appreciate the degree to which Oliver Cromwell’s actions and decisions affected both the world at large and the early American colonies in particular.
In Ireland there's a saying, "Cromwell out-Heroded Herod."
Nothing anyone can ever say about him could convince me he was anything but a monster who, like Queen Elizabeth before him, attempted to literally exterminate the Irish people.
May I suggest that you look at Tom Reilly's 'Cromwell: An honourable Enemy' for an alternative view?
It is difficult to justify the slaughter of somewhere between 15 and 50 percent of the population of a country as “honorable” in any way, shape or form, as well as the discrimination against Irish culture and religion. Cromwell may have been good for England but he is rightfully a monster outside of it. I’ll look at your book but the title alone speaks to a bias in the author’s point of view. Maybe you should read some opinions about Cromwell from the Irish point of view.
I will take a look, though it’ll be a hard sell…
I don’t think a lot of people appreciate the degree to which Oliver Cromwell’s actions and decisions affected both the world at large and the early American colonies in particular.