Oliver Cromwell:

Born: 1599
Died: 1658

*What age was he when he

died?

Oliver Cromwell? Hero or Villain

What century is
this?
Timeline

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0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

1599 1658

What was happening in England at the time?

In England the King had traditionally been all powerful, but over the
centuries parliament had fought for more and more power. King
Charles the 1st of England was king during Cromwell’s early life. He
wanted to rule like the ancient Kings without parliament.

Parliament
was a meeting of
the lords and
V
important people
of England where
laws and
important
decisions were

This led to the break out of civil war in England in 1642 between those
who supported the King (the royalists) and the forces of the parliament
(the model army).
 This is where Cromwell comes in. Cromwell was a
member of parliament and the commander of the
Ironsides, an elite cavalry.
He convinced parliament to create the model army.

Cromwell was given the command of the army and led

them and parliament to victory against the King in
1645.

The model army were

the first professional
army and were a fully
equipped and elite
fighting force.

What was happening in Ireland at the time?

During this turbulent time things weren’t any better in Ireland.
In the previous century English protestant settlers had been given land
taken by force from Irish Catholics in Ulster (this was called the Ulster
plantation). Needless to say relations weren’t exactly good between
Protestants and Catholics as a result.

When the King (what was his name?) and the Parliament were having
their little row!!!, the Irish Catholics took their chance to rebel. In
1641 the Ulster Catholics rebelled killing a reported 3000 Protestants
along the way. This caused rebellion to break out all over Ireland with
atrocities being committed on both sides in a vicious war over the next
7 years.

To make matters even more messed up, the Irish Catholics sided with
the Royalists (the guys who supported the king) against the Parliament
(Cromwell’s side) in the Civil War.

Cromwell comes to sort Ireland out

When the civil war was over, Cromwell was sent to Ireland in 1649 to
quash the rebellion and restore peace to the land. Peace for Cromwell
however did not mean peace for Catholics in fact it meant the
opposite.
Cromwell was out for catholic blood!

Why?
• Cromwell was a devout protestant (a puritan). He saw
Catholicism as a threat to his own religion.
• The Catholics had sided with the King in the English civil war
against parliament.
• Protestants had returned to England during the rebellion of
1641 and told exaggerated stories of terrible violence and
crime against Protestants.
• He needed to pay his soldiers for their service in the civil war.

Question for 2 stars: What do you think he was going to use to pay his
soldiers!

Something else to think about!!

Cromwell’s soldiers had been fighting in a civil war. They had seen a
lot of death and killed a lot of their own country men. What effect do
you think this might have had on them?

Next time we’ll find out about what Cromwell got up to in Ireland and
what he did when he visited Limerick.