What do you think?
Rate this book
The Letters, Writings, and Speeches of Oliver Cromwell #2
The Letters, Writings, and Speeches of Oliver Cromwell, Volume II: 1 February 1649 to 12 December 1653
This is the first truly scholarly edition of all the recorded writings and recorded speech acts of Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658) and consists of more than 1,000 texts. Oliver Cromwell, one of Britain's greatest and most controversial generals, rose from lowly provincial origins to preside over the trial and execution of a king, to undertake the most complete conquest of Ireland and Scotland ever achieved, and to spend the last five years of his life as head of state, as Lord Protector of Britain and Ireland. A passionate speaker who claimed to be called by God to overthrow tyranny in church and state, and a powerful advocate for a very broad religious liberty and equality, his speeches and letters reveal the public and the private man more completely than for almost any other early modern political leader. This new edition not only publishes a number of new items, but also edits a large number from recovered originals not previously edited. Every item has its own detailed introduction explaining the status of the text and its context or contexts, but also very full annotation - identifying for example almost every person, place and event mentioned in the text and also - where there is no holograph but also variant copies - all significant differences between variant early copies.
880 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 2022
3 people want to read
About the author
Oliver Cromwell
337 books32 followersOliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader and later Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland.
Born into the middle gentry, Cromwell was relatively obscure for the first 40 years of his life. After undergoing a religious conversion in the 1630s, he became an independent puritan, taking a generally (but not completely) tolerant view towards the many Protestant sects of his period. An intensely religious man—a self-styled Puritan Moses—he fervently believed that God was guiding his victories. He was elected Member of Parliament for Huntingdon in 1628 and for Cambridge in the Short (1640) and Long (1640 – 49) Parliaments. He entered the English Civil War on the side of the "Roundheads" or Parliamentarians. Nicknamed "Old Ironsides", he was quickly promoted from leading a single cavalry troop to become one of the principal commanders of the New Model Army, playing an important role in the defeat of the royalist forces.
Cromwell was one of the signatories of King Charles I's death warrant in 1649, and, as a member of the Rump Parliament (1649–53), he dominated the short-lived Commonwealth of England. He was selected to take command of the English campaign in Ireland in 1649–50. Cromwell's forces defeated the Confederate and Royalist coalition in Ireland and occupied the country – bringing to an end the Irish Confederate Wars. During this period a series of Penal Laws were passed against Roman Catholics (a significant minority in England and Scotland but the vast majority in Ireland), and a substantial amount of their land was confiscated. Cromwell also led a campaign against the Scottish army between 1650 and 1651.
On 20 April 1653 he dismissed the Rump Parliament by force, setting up a short-lived nominated assembly known as the Barebones Parliament, before being invited by his fellow leaders to rule as Lord Protector of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland from 16 December 1653. As a ruler he executed an aggressive and effective foreign policy. After his death from natural causes in 1658 he was buried in Westminster Abbey, but after the Royalists returned to power in 1660 they had his corpse dug up, hung in chains, and beheaded.
Cromwell is one of the most controversial figures in the history of the British Isles, considered a regicidal dictator by historians such as David Hume, a military dictator by Winston Churchill, but a hero of liberty by Thomas Carlyle and Samuel Rawson Gardiner. In a 2002 BBC poll in Britain, Cromwell was selected as one of the ten greatest Britons of all time. However, his measures against Catholics in Scotland and Ireland have been characterised as genocidal or near-genocidal, and in Ireland his record is harshly criticised.
Born into the middle gentry, Cromwell was relatively obscure for the first 40 years of his life. After undergoing a religious conversion in the 1630s, he became an independent puritan, taking a generally (but not completely) tolerant view towards the many Protestant sects of his period. An intensely religious man—a self-styled Puritan Moses—he fervently believed that God was guiding his victories. He was elected Member of Parliament for Huntingdon in 1628 and for Cambridge in the Short (1640) and Long (1640 – 49) Parliaments. He entered the English Civil War on the side of the "Roundheads" or Parliamentarians. Nicknamed "Old Ironsides", he was quickly promoted from leading a single cavalry troop to become one of the principal commanders of the New Model Army, playing an important role in the defeat of the royalist forces.
Cromwell was one of the signatories of King Charles I's death warrant in 1649, and, as a member of the Rump Parliament (1649–53), he dominated the short-lived Commonwealth of England. He was selected to take command of the English campaign in Ireland in 1649–50. Cromwell's forces defeated the Confederate and Royalist coalition in Ireland and occupied the country – bringing to an end the Irish Confederate Wars. During this period a series of Penal Laws were passed against Roman Catholics (a significant minority in England and Scotland but the vast majority in Ireland), and a substantial amount of their land was confiscated. Cromwell also led a campaign against the Scottish army between 1650 and 1651.
On 20 April 1653 he dismissed the Rump Parliament by force, setting up a short-lived nominated assembly known as the Barebones Parliament, before being invited by his fellow leaders to rule as Lord Protector of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland from 16 December 1653. As a ruler he executed an aggressive and effective foreign policy. After his death from natural causes in 1658 he was buried in Westminster Abbey, but after the Royalists returned to power in 1660 they had his corpse dug up, hung in chains, and beheaded.
Cromwell is one of the most controversial figures in the history of the British Isles, considered a regicidal dictator by historians such as David Hume, a military dictator by Winston Churchill, but a hero of liberty by Thomas Carlyle and Samuel Rawson Gardiner. In a 2002 BBC poll in Britain, Cromwell was selected as one of the ten greatest Britons of all time. However, his measures against Catholics in Scotland and Ireland have been characterised as genocidal or near-genocidal, and in Ireland his record is harshly criticised.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
Read
August 8, 2023Among the most extraordinary figures from English history, Oliver Cromwell stands out for a number of reasons: at the age of 40 in 1640 he was merely a backbench MP and minor gentleman, but he died as Lord Protector and was very nearly king; at the outbreak of civil war in 1642 he was an inexperienced soldier, yet he rapidly demonstrated his flair as an officer and military strategist; finally, he was a religious zealot, who advocated freedom of conscience for Protestants, but not for Roman Catholics.
Cromwell is often seen as Charles I’s leading opponent on the battlefield and at Westminster, but his prominence rests squarely on the creation of the New Model Army in 1645 and his promotion as its Commander in Chief after the execution of Charles I in 1649. It is no wonder that the late Professor Barry Coward, an expert on all things Cromwell, entitled one of his talks ‘Will the Real Oliver Cromwell Please Stand Up’.
Readers of History Today will be familiar with Oliver Cromwell’s most famous utterances, such as his instruction to the artist Peter Lely to paint him ‘pimples, warts and everything’, or in popular parlance ‘warts and all’. Yet this is only recorded in Walpole’s Anecdotes of Painting in England (1764), published over a century after Cromwell’s death, and its veracity is highly debatable.
Read the rest of the review at HistoryToday.com.
Jackie Eales is Professor of Early Modern History at Canterbury Christ Church University.
Cromwell is often seen as Charles I’s leading opponent on the battlefield and at Westminster, but his prominence rests squarely on the creation of the New Model Army in 1645 and his promotion as its Commander in Chief after the execution of Charles I in 1649. It is no wonder that the late Professor Barry Coward, an expert on all things Cromwell, entitled one of his talks ‘Will the Real Oliver Cromwell Please Stand Up’.
Readers of History Today will be familiar with Oliver Cromwell’s most famous utterances, such as his instruction to the artist Peter Lely to paint him ‘pimples, warts and everything’, or in popular parlance ‘warts and all’. Yet this is only recorded in Walpole’s Anecdotes of Painting in England (1764), published over a century after Cromwell’s death, and its veracity is highly debatable.
Read the rest of the review at HistoryToday.com.
Jackie Eales is Professor of Early Modern History at Canterbury Christ Church University.
Displaying 1 of 1 review