Cromwell Born

‘Since it hath pleased the Almighty God, out of his infinite mercy, so to make us happy, by restoring of our native King to us, and us unto our native liberty through him, that now the good may say, magna temporum felicitas ubi sentire quoe velis, et dicere licet quoe sentias, we cannot but esteem ourselves engaged in the highest of degrees, to render unto him the highest thanks we can express. Although, surpris'd with joy, we become as lost in the performance; when gladness and admiration strikes us silent, as we look back upon the precipice of our late condition, and those miraculous deliverances beyond expression. Freed from the slavery, and those desperate perils, we dayly lived in fear of, during the tyrannical times of that detestable usurper, Oliver Cromwell; he who had raked up such judges, as would wrest the most innocent language into high treason, when he had the cruel conscience to take away our lives, upon no other ground of justice or reason, (the stones of London streets would rise to witness it, if all the citizens were silent.) And with these judges had such councilors, as could advise him unto worse, which will less want of witness…’

The text above helps set the scene for Walter Scott’s “Woodstock”. The "detestable usurper" referred to, Oliver Cromwell, was born on April 25^th, 1599.

Battle of Worcester

‘…The circumstances are familiarly known, to the reader of English history, of the march of the Earl of Derby, in I65l, with a corps from the Isle of Man for the service of the King; his joining the royal army on the eve of the battle of Worcester ; his flight and imprisonment at Chester, after that signal defeat ; and his trial and execution at Bolton in Lancashire, by the officers of the Parliament, on the I5th October of that year.

Immediately afterwards, Colonel Duckenfield, who commanded at Chester on behalf of the Parliament, proceeded with an armament of ten ships, and a considerable military force, for the reduction of the Isle of Man…’

The Battle of Worcester, which is mentioned in the introduction to Walter Scott’s “Peveril of the Peak” (text above), took place on September 3^rd, 1651.  The result was a victory for Parliamentarian forces under Oliver Cromwell.  James Stanley, the 7^th Earl of Derby, was executed well after the efforts of Charles II to regain his throne had failed.  Not as fortunate in hiding as Charles, Stanley was captured near Nantwich, tried for treason, and executed on October 15^th.

Battle of Preston

The Battle of Preston began August 17, 1648, lasting until the 19^th .  Parliamentarian forces under Oliver Cromwell won the battle, over Royalist forces, in lopsided fashion. 

Main sources of information on this battle are Oliver Cromwell himself, and a memoir written by Captain Hodgson, who was on the field of battle with Cromwell.  Thomas Carlyle, in a letter written on August 14, 1844, lists Cromwell’s fields of battle, including Preston.  In his description, Carlyle includes a reference to “Original Memoirs: being written during the Civil War".  This book contains the "Memoirs of Capt. Hodgson”, which Sir Walter Scott was involved in publishing.  From Carlyle’s letter:

Preston.
Moor near Preston, between that Town and Stonyhirst, on the north bank of the Ribble, in Lancashire: 17 August 1648; the chase, over Darwen Bridge, by Wigan to Warrington, lasts two days more, with a hot skirmish by the road, at ‘Redbank’ (a place near Winwick I should suppose). Cromwell's long Letter on the subject is abridged in Rushworth; can be found entire in the King's Pamphlets for the month in question;—it and all other details have been republished last year, in a convenient manner, by the ‘Chatham Society’ at Manchester, and are procurable with little difficulty. In Sir Walter Scott's Memoirs of the Civil War (Edinburgh, 1806) are some hints and notices by one Hodgson a Yorkshire captain, who was in the Fight;—very obscure and rude, but yielding light if well meditated and compared with others. An outline of the ground, the Moor, Ribble Bridge, Darwen Bridge &c would be very useful here.

And, from Captain Hodgson’s eyewitness memoir:

‘…The bullets flew freely; then was the heat of the battle that day.  I came down to the muir, where I met with Major Jackson, that belonged to Ashton's regiment, and about three hundred men were come up; and I ordered him to march, but he said he would not, till his men were come up. A serjeant, belonging to them, asked me, where they should march? I shewed him the party he was to fight; and he, like a true bred Englishman, marched, and I caused the soldiers to follow him; which presently fell upon the enemy, and, losing that wing, the whole army gave ground, and fled. Such valiant acts were done by contemptible instruments! The major had been called to a council of war, but that he cried peccavi. The Lancashire foot were as stout men as were in the world, and as brave firemen. I have often told them, they were as good fighters, and as great plunderers, as ever went to a field. This battle was about the 20th August 1648. It was to admiration to see what a spirit of courage and resolution there was 'amongst us, and how God hid from us the fears and dangers we were exposed to; what posture the enemy were in; their numbers (46,000 men, as reported); their threatenings, what they would do; how they were accoutered, and encouraged through the nation: They had cast lots for the spoil of us…’

Battle of Inverkeithing

‘The devotion of the young chief of Clan Quhele's foster father and foster brethren in the novel is a trait of clannish fidelity, of which Highland story furnishes many examples. In the battle of Inverkeithing, between the Royalists and Oliver Cromwell's troops, a foster father and seven brave sons are known to have thus sacrificed themselves for Sir Hector Maclean of Duart; the old man, whenever one of his boys fell, thrusting forward another to fill his place at the right hand of the beloved chief, with the very words adopted in the novel, "Another for Hector!"…’

The Battle of Inverkeithing was fought on July 20, 1651, with Covenanting forces fighting in support of Charles II, against the Parliamentarian army.  Cromwell’s forces won the day, providing a strategic advantage in the last of the English Civil Wars.  Sir Walter Scott’s observation above is taken from the preface to “The Fair Maid of Perth”.

Battle of Naseby

'Long and steadily did Sir Henry gaze on the letter, so that it might almost seem as if he were getting it by heart. He then placed it carefully in his pocket-book, and asked Alice the account of her adventures of the preceding night. They were briefly told. Their midnight walk through the Chase had been speedily and safely accomplished. Nor had the King once made the slightest relapse into the naughty Louis Kerneguy. When she had seen Charles and his attendant set off, she had taken some repose in the cottage where they parted. With the morning came news that Woodstock was occupied by soldiers, so that return thither might have led to danger, suspicion, and inquiry. Alice therefore did not attempt it, but went to a house in the neighbourhood, inhabited by a lady of established loyalty, whose husband had been major of Sir Henry Lee's regiment, and had fallen at the battle of Naseby. Mrs. Aylmer was a sensible woman, and indeed the necessities of the singular times had sharpened every one's faculties for stratagem and intrigue. She sent a faithful servant to scout about the mansion at Woodstock, who no sooner saw the prisoners dismissed and in safety, mid ascertained the Knight's destination for the evening, than he carried the news to his mistress, and by her orders attended Alice on horseback to join her father.'

The text above is from Walter Scott's "Woodstock".   The Battle of Naseby strongly impacted the outcome of the First English Civil War.  Charles I's forces, led by Prince Rupert of the Rhine were overcome by Parliamentarians, under Thomas Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell.  The Battle of Naseby took place on June 14, 1645.

James Hamilton's Execution

'On arriving at Preston, in Lancashire, Lord George Murray had to combat the superstition of the soldiers whom he commanded. The defeat of tbe Duke Hamilton in the great Civil War, with the subsequent misfortune of Brigadier Macintosh in 1715 had given rise to a belief, that Preston was to a Scottish army the fatal point, beyond which they were not to pass. To counteract this superstition, Lord George led a part of his troops across the Ribble bridge, a mile beyond Preston, at which town the Chevalier arrived in the evening. The spell which arrested the progress of the Scottish was thus supposed to be broken, and the road to London was considered as laid open before them.

The people of Preston received Charles Edward with several cheers, which were the first he had heard since entering England; but on officers being appointed to beat up for recruits, no one would enlist. When this was stated to the Prince, he continued, in reply, to assure his followers with unabated confidence, that he would be joined by all his English friends when they advanced as far as Manchester; and Monsieur D'Eguilles, with similar confidence, offered to lay considerable wagers, that the French either had already landed, or would land within a week. Thus, the murmurers were once more reduced to silence.'
 
Duke James Hamilton, remembered above in text from Sir Walter Scott's "Tales of a Grandfather", suffered a terrible defeat at the Battle of Preston.  With odds of nearly 2.5:1 in his favor, Hamilton managed to lose to Oliver Cromwell's forces.  Hamilton is remembered as a weak and ineffective leader.  Hamilton was captured at Preston, tried, and on March 9, 1649, decapitated.

Cromwell Posthumously Executed

'The figure of Oliver Cromwell was, as is generally known, in no way prepossessing. He was of middle stature, strong and coarsely made, with harsh and severe features, indicative, however, of much natural sagacity and depth of thought. His eyes were grey and piercing; his nose too large in proportion to his other features, and of a reddish hue.


His manner of speaking, when he had the purpose to make himself distinctly understood, was energetic and forcible, though neither graceful nor eloquent. No man could on such occasion put his meaning into fewer and more decisive words. But when, as it often happened, he had a mind to play the orator, for the benefit of people's ears, without enlightening their understanding, Cromwell was wont to invest his meaning, or that which seemed to be his meaning, in such a mist of words, surrounding it with so many exclusions and exceptions, and fortifying it with such a labyrinth of parentheses, that though one of the most shrewd men in England, he was, perhaps, the most unintelligible speaker that ever perplexed an audience. It has been long since said by the historian, that a collection of the Protector's speeches would make, with a few exceptions, the most nonsensical book in the world; but he ought to have added, that nothing could be more nervous, concise, and intelligible, than what he really intended should be understood.

It was also remarked of Cromwell, that though born of a good family, both by father and mother, and although he had the usual opportunities of education and breeding connected with such an advantage, the fanatic democratic ruler could never acquire, or else disdained to practise, the courtesies usually exercised among the higher classes in their intercourse with each other. His demeanour was so blunt as sometimes might be termed clownish, yet there was in his language and manner a force and energy corresponding to his character, which impressed awe, if it did not impose respect; and there were even times when that dark and subtle spirit expanded itself, so as almost to conciliate affection. The turn for humour, which displayed itself by fits, was broad, and of a low, and sometimes practical character. Something there was in his disposition congenial to that of his countrymen; a contempt of folly, a hatred of affectation, and a dislike of ceremony, which, joined to the strong intrinsic qualities of sense and courage, made him in many respects not an unfit representative of the democracy of England...'

Sir Walter Scott's description of Oliver Cromwell comes from "Woodstock".  On January 30, 1661, Cromwell's dead body was exhumed from Westminster Abbey for a symbolic execution.  His head remained on display outside Westminster Hall until 1685.  January 30 was the day on which, in 1649, Charles I had been beheaded.

Lord Protector

'He started at first, rousing himself with the sensation of one who awakes in a place unknown to him; but the localities instantly forced themselves on his recollection. The lamp burning dimly in the socket, the wood fire almost extinguished in its own white embers, the gloomy picture over the chimney-piece, the sealed packet on the table--all reminded him of the events of yesterday, and his deliberations of the succeeding night. "There is no help for it," he said; "it must be Cromwell or anarchy. And probably the sense that his title, as head of the Executive Government, is derived merely from popular consent, may check the too natural proneness of power to render itself arbitrary. If he govern by Parliaments, and with regard to the privileges of the subject, wherefore not Oliver as well as Charles? But I must take measures for having this conveyed safely to the hands of this future sovereign prince. It will be well to take the first word of influence with him, since there must be many who will not hesitate to recommend counsels more violent and precipitate."...'

The text above is from Walter Scott's "Woodstock", which is set in 1651; the English Civil War.  Oliver Cromwell figures prominently in this novel.  Cromwell became Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland on December 16, 1653.

Prince Rupert of the Rhine

Samuel Pepys' diary entry for September 6, 1664 includes references to Prince Rupert, Cromwell,  and Cavaliers.  Prince Rupert was the leading military commander for the Royalists in the English Civil Wars.  Rupert was the grandson of James I of England, through James' daughter Elizabeth.  Rupert learned about the use of cavalry in war while imprisoned, having been captured by forces of the Holy Roman Emperor, while fighting with Dutch forces.  After his release (1642), he went to England, fighting for Charles I.  His efforts were notably felt at the Battle of Naseby, where Rupert led an attack against Parliamentarian forces.  Charles and Rupert's troops were less disciplined than Cromwell's and Naseby ended in defeat the Royalists.

Pepys:

SEPTEMBER 1664

6th. ... This day Mr. Coventry did tell us how the Duke did receive the Dutch Embassador the other day; by telling him that, whereas they think us in jest, he believes that the Prince (Rupert) which goes in this fleete to Guinny will soon tell them that we are in earnest, and that he himself will do the like here, in the head of the fleete here at home, and that for the meschants, which he told the Duke there were in England, which did hope to do themselves good by the King's being at warr, says he, the English have ever united all this private difference to attend foraigne, and that Cromwell, notwithstanding the meschants in his time, which were the Cavaliers, did never find them interrupt him in his foraigne businesses, and that he did not doubt but to live to see the Dutch as fearfull of provoking the English, under the government of a King, as he remembers them to have
been under that of a Coquin. I writ all this story to my Lord Sandwich tonight into the Downes, it being very good and true, word for word from Mr. Coventry to-day.

Prince Rupert is included in Walter Scott's "Peveril of the Peak":

Upon these visits, it was with great pleasure he received the intelligence, that Lady Peveril had shown much kindness to Mrs. Bridgenorth, and had actually given her and her family shelter in Martindale Castle, when Moultrassie Hall was threatened with pillage by a body of Prince Rupert's ill-disciplined Cavaliers. This acquaintance had been matured by frequent walks together, which the vicinity of their places of residence suffered the Lady Peveril to have with Mrs. Bridgenorth, who deemed herself much honoured in being thus admitted into the society of so distinguished a lady.

Battle of Marston Moor

The Battle of Marston Moor pitted Scottish Covenanters and English Parliamentarians against the Royalist forces of Charles I of England.  Marston Moor is close (7 miles) to the town of York, which was more central to military efforts.  York had been besieged by Scots forces under David Leslie as part of the First English Civil War.  Royalist forces under Prince Rupert of the Rhine marched toward York to relieve the city.  As various outfits on both sides of the conflagration gathered, they jockeyed for position.  The Scots/Parliamentarians ended up outflanked by Rupert's forces, but the Royalists delayed attacking to regain strength, gathering on the Moor. 

The battle took place on July 2, 1644, lasting two hours.  Initially disadvantaged, the Parliamentarian forces under Oliver Cromwell carried the day.  As a result of this defeat, Charles I effectively abandoned the north of England.

Walter Scott makes the Battle of Marston Moor the subject of his poem "Rokeby".  From Canto One:

XII.



"Wouldst hear the tale?-On Marston heath
Met, front to front, the ranks of death;
Flourish'd the trumpets fierce, and now
Fired was each eye, and flush'd each brow;
On either side loud clamours ring,
God and the Cause!'-' God and the King!'
Right English all, they rush'd to blows,
With nought to win, and all to lose.
I could have laugh'd-but lack'd the time
To see, in phrenesy sublime,
How the fierce zealots fought and bled,
For king or state, as humour led;
Some for a dream of public good,
Some for church-tippet, gown and hood,
Draining their veins, in death to claim
A patriot's or a martyr's name.
Led Bertram Risingham the hearts,
That counter'd there on adverse parts,
No superstitious fool had I
Sought El Dorados in the sky!
Chili had heard me through her states,
And Lima oped her silver gates,
Rich Mexico I had march'd through,
And sack'd the splendours of Peru,
Till sunk Pizarro's daring name,
And, Cortez, thine, in Bertram's fame."
"Still from the purpose wilt thou stray!
Good gentle friend, how went the day? "
 
...
 
XXXIV.



He starts-a step at this lone hour!
A voice!-his father seeks the tower,
With haggard look and troubled sense,
Fresh from his dreadful conference.
"Wilfrid!-what, not to sleep address'd?
Thou hast no cares to chase thy rest.
Mortham has fall'n on Marston-moor;
Bertram brings warrant to secure
His treasures, bought by spoil and blood,
For the state's use and public good.
The menials will thy voice obey;
Let his commission have its way,
In every point, in every word."
Then, in a whisper,- "Take thy sword!
Bertram is-what I must not tell.
I hear his hasty step-farewell!"

Rump Parliament Dissolved

" And as for the rumps of beeves," continued Tomkins, with the same solemnity, " there is a rump at Westminster, which will stand us of the army much hacking and hewing yet, ere it is discussed to our mind."


Sir Henry paused, as if to consider what was the meaning of this innuendo; for he was not a person of very quick apprehension. But having at length caught the meaning of it, he burst into an explosion of louder laughter than Joceline had seen him indulge in for a good while.

" Right, kuave," he said, " I taste- thy jest-It is the very moral of the puppetshow. Faustus raised the devil, as the Parliament raised the army, and then, as the devil flies away with Faustus, so will the army fly away with the Parliament, or the rump, as thou call'st it, or sitting part of the so-called Parliament. And then, look you, friend, the very devil of all hath my willing consent to fly away with the army in its turn, from the highest general down to the lowest drum-boy. Nay, never look fierce for the matter; remember there is daylight enough now for a game at sharps."
 
Scott's novel Woodstock, from which the above passage was taken, was set in 1651 during the English Civil Wars.  The Rump Parliament came into being on December 6, 1648, when Colonel Thomas Pride removed members of the Long Parliament that didn't support the Grandee faction of the army in its efforts to try Charles I for treason (Pride's Purge).  Retained members were termed "Rump"; as in the remainder.
 
Grandees were comprised largely of landed gentry, as opposed to Levellers, who we today might consider more populist, favoring equality before the law and religious tolerance.  Oliver Cromwell was a Grandee.
 
On April 20, 1653, Cromwell dissolved the Rump.  The Rump had previously agreed to disolve, but hadn't Cromwell felt that rumpers were "designing to spin an everlasting thread".  According to The Book of Days, Cromwell took control of the Parliament stating 'You are no parliament! Some of you are drunkards '—bending a stern eye upon Mr. Chaloner; 'some of you are _______ {whores},' a word expressive of a worse immorality, and he looked here at Henry Marten and Sir Peter Wentworth —'living in open contempt of God's commandments. Some of you are corrupt, unjust persons—how can you be a parliament for God's people? Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. Go!'

George Fox

George Fox, who died on January 13, 1691, founded the Religious Society of Friends; the Quakers.  Fox began his career as a weaver, but began preaching around 1647, when he was approximately 23.  Fox traveled widely in his ministry, reaching the Borderlands about 1657.  There he influenced one Walter Scott of Raeburn, 2nd Great Grandfather of Sir Walter Scott of Waverly fame.

Both Walter (Raeburn) and his brother Gideon ventured into Quakerism; around 1660, according to a letter of Sir Walter Scott's published in "Friends Intelligencer: a religious and family journal, Volume 23".  This publication contains a response Scott wrote to a letter from a member of the Society of Friends who'd inquired whether Scott had come across any records relating to the Friends among his family papers.  Scott wrote back:

"I received your letter yesterday, and lose no time in replying.  I have particular family reasons for desiring to oblige the society of Friends, as two of my ancestors, one by my mother's and the other by my father's side were members of that respectable body..."

The ancestor on his mother's side was John Swinton of Swinton, who had worked with Oliver Cromwell in administering Scotland.  The two Scott brothers mentioned above were pulled back to Presbyterianism by their older brother William Scott, who took legal action with the Privy Council of Scotland against the heretic Walter Scott, having him imprisoned - first in Edinburgh, later in Jedburgh.

George Monck

From Scott's "Woodstock":

At length Cromwell died, his son resigned the government, and the various charges which followed induced Everard, as well as many others, to adopt more active measures in the king's behalf...After this, although the estate was terribly unsettled, yet no card seemed to turn up favorable to the royal cause, until the movement of General Monk from Scotland.

George Monck (or Monk), who died on January 3, 1670, is notable for having maneuvered politically through several regimes.  One constant in his life was his military success.  Monck fought against the Scots (1639-1640) and Irish (1641) under Charles I, again against the Irish under Cromwell, and at Cromwell's side against the Scots at the Battle of Dunbar (1650).  Charles II appealed to Monck while he was in Cromwell's employ, but Monck was too close to the Protector to switch sides at this time.  After Cromwell's death, Charles again approached Monck, who now saw an advantage in supporting Charles and the ultimate Restoration.  Charles raised Monck to Duke of Albemarle in gratitude for his support, and gave him the Province of Carolina in America.

Thomas Carlyle

Thomas Carlyle was born on December 4, 1795, in Ecclefechen, Scotland. Carlyle began his career as a math teacher, and later became a historian, satyrical writer and essayist. One of his best known quips is his labeling of economics as "the dismal science". He developed an interest in the philosophy of Johann Gottlieb Ficthe and German Idealism, which followed from the work of Immanuel Kant, and led to Georg Hegel.

One concept that Carlyle accepted from his absorption in German philosophy was the idea of the great man; the heroic leader. He published his "On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History" in 1841; a study of several heroic leaders, including, among others- Shakespeare, Oliver Cromwell, Odin, and Sir Walter Scott. The following is from this work:

"Of Rousseau's literary talents...not genuinely poetical...Look at a Shakespeare, at a Goethe, even at a Walter Scott! He who has once seen into this, has seen the difference of the True from the Sham-True, and will discriminate them ever afterwards."

Oliver Cromwell

September 3rd was a meaningful date for Cromwell. In 1650, that date saw Cromwell's first victory over Scotch Protestants, at the battle of Dunbar. His final battle in this campaign occured the following year, at Worcester. The third time was not the charm, however, as it spelled his death; 1658.

Scott writes on Cromwell in his "Woodstock".