Cromwell; Hero or Villain?

[Jubal]

Another slightly cruddy and very old Hero or Villain style essay, this focuses on Cromwell. I have very mixed feelings about him myself; he removed the monarchy, which was probably necessary, but he prevented the people being fundamentally free, which probably wasn't. I dunno if I still stand by all of this, so don't lynch me on it. Have a read; see what you think.

Oliver Cromwell

[Darkstar707]

A "Cultist" is what I would call him. He obviously didn't act according to the Bible, thats for sure...

"When the Catholic rebels in Drogheda refused to surrender, after beating the rebel forces, he found that the remainder of the population was hiding in the church

[Jubal]

Cromwell was a bit of a nutter. Puritanism was very much based in repentance, but he kinda broke free of that and decided he was too awesome to need to repent.

[Darkstar707]

Cromwell was a bit of a nutter. Puritanism was very much based in repentance, but he kinda broke free of that and decided he was too awesome to need to repent.

Exactly.

Plus he was a hypocrite to the extreme.

[Bridgeburner]

Nice paper. The quote at the end is fantastic. Personally, as an observer who has no real cultural impact from Cromwell, he is a tragic figure. He was a true believer in what he thought was right. As history points to numerous times, believers are the most dangerous of men. It should be noted however that he was a man and seems to have fallen into that totalitarianism common of modern African rulers. Liberator turned despot. Interesting legacy indeed.

[Jubal]

I think the really interesting thing about Cromwell was that he broke the aura around our monarchs of godliness, and in a very sudden/brutal way. The fact we'd done that already set us up well for later democratic developments and probably helped Britain remain stable while France, for example, had its revolution and the other countries of Europe ended up in turmoil.

[Bridgeburner]

I cannot remember where but i oread an article that said Cromwell singlehandedly ended the Divine Rights of Kings. In one swift motion he sent shivers throughout the world. I always wondered if he actually thought what he had done would last or if he knew that the Royalists would return. I ponder on.