Oliver Cromwell and the Scottish Campaign

I am not normally a joiner, though I make an exception for the Cromwell Association. That is not because I am an unquestioning admirer of the Lord Protector, who remains an almost uniquely ambivalent figure: a fine general, though perhaps not as good as John Lambert, his political rival; an inspiring yet verbose speech-maker; a man of considerable personal tolerance but with an authoritarian streak made worse by an unquestioning belief in providence; and an unswerving commitment to government for the people – administered by his circle of the godly elect – rather than by the people. And then there is Ireland.

No, the attraction of the Cromwell Association is that, while being broadly sympathetic to the achievements of the Protector, it rarely delivers panegyrics; indeed, at one recent symposium, one of its more prominent members, a leading scholar of the 17th century, lamented the fact that most recent biographies of Cromwell had been too positive; it was time for someone to call him to account, to present a more critical view of his rule.


- See more at: http://www.historytoday.com/paul-lay/oliver-cromwell-and-scottish-campaign#sthash.EELAH3Q2.dpuf

The House of Cromwell never took root. His heir was horrible.

He could have wore a wig! [ sorry]

A likely tory.