Early Years Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell - The Early Years: 1599 - 1646. Huntingdon: 1599 - 1631. Oliver Cromwell was born in Huntingdon on 25th April 1599, to Robert Cromwell and Elizabeth Stewart. He was descended from the the older sister of the tudor statesman Thomas Cromwell. Cromwell's family were realtively low down in the gentry class - his father was a younger son and one of ten siblings so his inheritance was limited to a house in huntingdon and a small amount of land.

Cromwell studied at Sydney Sussex College, Cambridge, which was then recently founded and had a strong puritan ethos. He left in June 1617, immediately after the death of his father, without a degree. He needed to take charge of the family as his mother was widowed and his seven sisters unmarried. On 22nd of August, 1620, Cromwell married Elizabeth Bourchier, the daughter of Sir James Bourchier, a London merchant who owned extensive lands in Essex and had strong cnnections to the Puritan gentry families there. This brought Cromwell int contact with the likes of Oliver St. John, an English statesman and judge, and also other leading members of the London merchant community. At this stage, however, there is little evidence of Cromwell's own religion. Some of his letters from this period of his life suggest that Cromwell had yet to be influenced by radical puritanism. There is evidence that he went through a period of personal crisis during the late 1620s and early 1630s, and he sought treatment for melancholiafrom a London doctor. He was also caught up in a fight amongst the gentry of Huntingdon over a new charter for the town, as a result of which he was called before the Privy Council in 1630.

St. Ives and the Short and Long Parliaments: 1631 - 1642. In 1631, possibly as a result of the dispute, Cromwell sold most of his properties in Huntingdon and moved to a farmstead in St. Ives. This was a significant step down in society for Cromwell compared to his previous position. It also seems to have a had a major emotional and spiritual impact. A letter to the wife of Oliver St John describes his spiritual awakening and the language used in said letter places his beliefs firmly within those of the Independants, who believed that the Reformation had not gone far enough and England was still living in sin and unsaved. In 1636, Cromwell inherited control of various properties in Ely from an uncle as well as his uncle's job as tithe collector for Ely Cathedral. Thus his income is likely to have risen to around £3-4000 per annum and as a reslut, by the end of the 1630s Cromwell had returned to the ranks of the gentry. He had also become a commited puritan and established important family links to leadng Godly families in Essex and London. It was probably this transformation that confirmed his belief in Providentialism. Cromwell became a member of parliament for Huntingdn in the Parliament of 1628-29. He made little impact and the records for Parliament show only one, poorly received speech. After this congregation, Charles I dismissed parliament and ruled without them for the next eleven years sometimes known as the 'Eleven Years Tyranny'. When Charles faced the Scottish rebellioon known as the Bishops' Wars, shortage of funds forced him to call a Parliament again in 1640. Cromwell returned to the Parliament as a member for Cambridge, but it only lasted for 3 weeks and became known as the Short Parliament. What was to later become known as the Long Parliament was called later the same year. Again,

Cromwell returned as member for Cambridge. During the first two years of the Long Parliament, Cromwell was associated with a group of puritans in the houses of Commons and Lords whose agenda at this stage was that of Godly reformation: the executive checked by regular parliaments, and the moderate extension of liberty of conscience - to a certain extent, religious tolerance.

Military Commander: 1642 - 1646. Failure to resolve issues before the conclusion of the Long Parliament led to armed conflict between Parliament and Charles I in the autumn of 1642. Beforehand, Cromwell's only military experience was in the local county militia. Now at 43, he recruited a cavalry troup after blocking the delivery of the Cambridge colleges' silver plate to the King. They then fought the indecisive battle of Edgehill in October 1642, which prevented either side from gaining a quick victory in the war. The troup was recruited to be a full regiment in the winter of 1642-43, making up part of the Eastern Association under the Earl of Manchester. Cromwell gained experience and victories in his actions n East Anglia during 1643, most notably at the battle of Gainsborough on July 28, leading to his promotion to colonel in the Eastern Association and his Governance of Ely. By the time of the Battle of Marston Moor in July 1644, Cromwell had risen to the rank of Lieutenant General of the horse in Manchester's army. Marston Moor secured the north of England for the Parlimentarians but failed to end the royalist resistance. Cromwell's experience of the less-than-successful second Battle of Newbury led to a serious dispute with Manchester, whom he believed to be less than enthusiastc in his conduct of the war. In turn, Manchester later accused Cromwell of recruiting men of 'low birth' as officers in the army. This was against military tradition of the era; traditional, officers of an army were at the least of gentry rank. Cromwell believed that rank was not important - he recruited Godly, God-fearing men

for his army. In response to the failure to capitalize on their victory at Marston Moor, Parliament passed the Self-Denying Ordinance in early 1645, which forced members of the Commons and Lords such as Manchester to choose between civil office and military command. To a man - save Cromwell, whose commission was given continued extensions - they chose to renounce their military positions. The Ordinance also decreed that the army be 'remodeled' on a national basis, replacing the old county associations. In April 1645, the New Model Army finally took to the field with Sir Thomas Fairfax in command and Cromwell as Lieutenant General of cavalry, and second-in-command. By this time, the field army of the Parlimetarians outnumbered that of the royalists by a ratio of roughly 2:1. In the Battles of Naseby and Langport in June and July 1645, Cromwell participated in two decimating defeats of the Royalists that effectively ended the King's hopes of victory. For the rest of 1645 and the first half of 1646, Cromwell and the Parliamentarians took part in seiges and basically mopped up any remaining resistance all over England. Charles I eventually surrendered to the Scots on 5 May 1646, putting an end to the First English Civil War. Cromwell and Fairfax took the formal surrender of the Royalists at Oxford in June.