A perfect master of all the arts of dissimulation: who, turning up the whites of his eyes, and seeking the Lord with pious gestures, will weep and pray, and cant most devoutly, till an opportunity offers of dealing his dupe a knock-down blow under the short ribs. George Bate, Cromwell’s doctor
To give the devil his due, he restored justice, as well distributive as commutative, almost to its ancient dignity and splendour; the judges without covetousness discharging their duties according to law and equity ... His own court also was regulated according to a severe discipline; here no drunkard, nor whoremonger, nor any guilty of bribery, was to be found, without severe punishment. Trade began again to prosper; and in a word, gentle peace to flourish all over England. George Bate
A devotee of law, he was forced to be often lawless; a civilian to the core, he had to maintain himself by the sword; with a passion to construct, his task was chiefly to destroy; the most scrupulous of men, he had to ride roughshod over his own scruples and those of others; the tenderest, he had continually to harden his heart; the most English of our greater figures, he spent his life in opposition to the majority of Englishmen; a realist, he was condemned to build that which could not last. George Bate
Sylla was the first of victors; but our own
The sagest of usurpers, Cromwell; he
Too swept off the senates while he hewed the throne
Down to a block – immortal rebel! See
What crimes it costs to be a moment free
And famous through all ages. Lord Byron, Child Harold’s Pilgrimage canto IV
He lived a hypocrite and died a traitor. John Foster
His character does not appear more extraordinary and unusual by the mixture of so much absurdity with so much penetration, than by his tempering such violent ambition, and such enraged fanaticism with so much regard to justice and humanity. David Hume, History of England
A complex character such as that of Cromwell, is incapable of creation, except in times of great civil and religious excitement, and one cannot judge of the man without at the same time considering the contending elements by which he was surrounded. It is possible to take his character to pieces, and, selecting one or other of his qualities as a corner-stone, to build around it a monument which will show him as a patriot or a plotter, a Christian man or a hypocrite, a demon or a demi-god as the sculptor may choose. F A Inderwick
Cromwell, our chief of men, who through a cloud,
Not of war only, but detractions rude,
Guided by faith and matchless fortitude,
To peace and truth thy glorious way has ploughed
And on the neck of crowned fortune proud
Has reared God’s trophies, and his work pursued,
While Darwen stream with blood of Scots imbrued,
And Dunbar field resounds thy praises loud,
And Worcester’s laureate wreath. Yet much remains
To conquer still; peace hath her victories
No less renowned than war: new foes arise,
Threatening to bind our souls with secular chains:
Help us to save free conscience from the paw
Of hireling wolves whose gospel is their maw. John Milton, Sonnet XVI to the Lord General Cromwell
He has arrogated to himself despotic authority and the actual sovereignty of these realms under the mask of humility and the public service ... Obedience and submission were never so manifest in England as at present ... Their spirits are so crushed ... They dare not rebel and only murmur under their breath, though all live in hope of the fulfilment one day of the prophecies foretelling a change of rule ere long. Lorenzo Paulucci, Venetian secretary in England to Giovanni Sagredo, Venetian ambassador in France, 21 February 1654
At dinner we talked much of Cromwell, all saying he was a brave fellow and did owe his crown he got to himself, as much as any man that ever got one. Samuel Pepys, diary 8th February 1667
He was a practical mystic, the most formidable and terrible of all combinations, uniting an aspiration derived from the celestial and supernatural with the energy of a mighty man of action; a great captain, but off the field seeming, like a thunderbolt, the agent of greater forces than himself; no hypocrite, but a defender of the faith; the raiser and maintainer of the Empire of England. Lord Rosebery, cited W C Abbott
In short, every beast hath some evil properties; but Cromwell hath the properties of all evil beasts. Archbishop John Williams to King Charles at Oxford, cited Hackett’s Life of Archbishop Williams
The English monster, the center of mischief, a shame to the British Chronicle, a pattern for tyranny, murder and hypocrisie, whose bloody Tyranny will quite drown the name of Nero, Caligula, Domitian, having at last attained the height of his Ambition, for Five years space he wallowed in the blood of many Gallant and Heroick Persons. William Winstanley, cited W C Abbott
In truth Cromwell did much harm and little good in Ireland. C H Firth, historian
Cromwell’s New Jerusalem would be a place where every man could worship in his own way, as long as that worship was genuine and was not pressed on others. It did not however include papists. Steve Pickstock, The Sealed Knot Society
Later on he [Cromwell] and other English politicians ruled Ireland with a rod of iron. Dr Peter Gaunt
The year is 1640. A gentleman farmer in East Anglia has so far lived his life in obscurity. But now at the age of 40 he is on the verge of greatness. Great Britons: Cromwell, BBC 2002
To the horror of Charles I parliament began make assertions and pushing for a series of measures that challenged the authority of the king and the established church. But Charles wouldn’t back down. ibid.
The two armies drew up on either side of this low valley ... Here in the middle there were more than 10,000 men shooting and stabbing at each other. ibid.
The army was increasingly mistrustful of parliament ... They published demands for liberty, justice and freedom from tyranny. ibid.
Once again England descended into Civil War, and Cromwell gave up the complexities of politics to return to the simple loyalties of battle. He won a series of victories and emerged even more convinced that God was on his side. ibid.
On 20th January 1649 King Charles I was put on trial in Westminster Hall. ibid.
Early on 30th January 1649 King Charles I walked through the Banqueting House at Whitehall and stepped through a first floor window on to a great scaffold. ibid.
Cromwell’s lasting reputation as a butcher here in Ireland rests on his wholesale killing of the garrison and also on the charge that he ordered the murder of unarmed civilians. The story about the civilians is a myth ... But there’s no doubt about the slaughter of the garrison. ibid.
On 16th December he accepted a new title – Lord Protector of the Commonwealth. ibid.
In the early seventeenth century the British Isles were engulfed by bitter religious and political conflict. The people divided into two warring tribes – the Roundheads, radical parliamentarians led by Oliver Cromwell, fighting to create a more egalitarian church and state, and the Cavaliers, Royalists led by Charles I, fighting to preserve the religious hierarchy and the king’s authority. Roundhead or Cavalier: Which One Are You? BBC 2012
Oliver Cromwell ruled as Lord Protector for nearly five years. ibid.
On September 11th 1649 Cromwell and his army of 12,000 men began to lay siege to the town. Fergal Keane, The Story of Ireland 3/5: The Age of Revolution, BBC 2011
Cromwell is just as much of a bloody dictator as was Stalin. Vladimir Putin
23rd November 1658: This ruler was not a king, he was instead a regicide, a king killer: his name was Oliver Cromwell. Monarchy by David Starkey s2e5: Cromwell the King Killer, Channel 4 2005
After a dozen battles and thousands dead the war had bogged down: for the parliamentarian the stalemate provoked crisis and soul-searching. ibid.
1645: The New Model Army: this was England’s first truly professional fighting force. ibid.
Charles characteristically overplayed it rejecting the astonishingly lenient terms he was offered by Cromwell and the other army leaders in order to guarantee religious toleration. ibid.
Cromwell was invested with a royal robe of purple velvet lined with ermine, a gilt bound and embossed Bible, a golden hilted sword, and a massive solid gold sceptre. He swore a version of the coronation oath. ibid.
Within three hours of his father’s death Richard was proclaimed to the sound of trumpets Lord Protector by the Grace of God. ibid.
Cromwell was anything but democratic. Dr Clare Jackson, The Stuarts II: A King Without a Crown, BBC 2014
One in five adult males would fight; one in twenty would die. ibid.
The commonest charge against Cromwell is hypocrisy – and the commonest basis for that is defective chronology. W C Abbott, Writings and Speeches of Oliver Cromwell