Case Study: Images of Oliver Cromwell
Reading:
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For this case study you are to analyze Chapter 15 Constitutional Rule in England and the Dutch Republic (Pgs. 492 - 498) and review the sources provided below. You are expected to be able to answer the guiding question in full depth with specific historical evidence and supporting details.
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For eleven years, from 1629 to 1640, England had been governed without a parliament; now for another eleven years, from 1649 to 1660, it was to be governed without a monarchy. Soon after the execution of King Charles I the monarchy and the House of Lords were abolished and England was names 'a Commonwealth or Free State'. A Council of State, composed of forty-one members who had to be elected every year, was appointed to carry out executive and administrative duties, working by means of a number of committees. Law-making remained with the Rump Parliament, that had been so often 'purged' on the pretext of impurities that only some ninety members now remained. Thus the new government was that of a select few or oligarchy and no clever phrasing could make it appear otherwise.
Cromwell had now become the leading figure in the land. A small country gentleman by origin, descendant of the younger branch of a family that derived its fortunes from the dissolution of the monasteries in the time of King Henry VIII, he had been converted to puritanism at about the age of thirty. Though he became a member of parliament when he was under thirty and had been active in local affairs, it was not until he was over forty that he had turned energetically to politics and discovered his genius as a soldier.
The tragedy of Oliver Cromwell was that he was never able to find a constitutional basis for his government. A patriotic Englishman, he regarded his fellow countrymen as a Chosen People who were the apple of God's eye, and he was anxious to do right, to preserve order, and to promote Christian well-being. But how could a soldier, raised to prominence by revolution after a series of civil wars and kept in power by his army, become a constitutional ruler?
Cromwell had now become the leading figure in the land. A small country gentleman by origin, descendant of the younger branch of a family that derived its fortunes from the dissolution of the monasteries in the time of King Henry VIII, he had been converted to puritanism at about the age of thirty. Though he became a member of parliament when he was under thirty and had been active in local affairs, it was not until he was over forty that he had turned energetically to politics and discovered his genius as a soldier.
The tragedy of Oliver Cromwell was that he was never able to find a constitutional basis for his government. A patriotic Englishman, he regarded his fellow countrymen as a Chosen People who were the apple of God's eye, and he was anxious to do right, to preserve order, and to promote Christian well-being. But how could a soldier, raised to prominence by revolution after a series of civil wars and kept in power by his army, become a constitutional ruler?
Guiding Question - Skill: Contextualization
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Answer the following questions after viewing the images of Oliver Cromwell
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Sources:
Source 2: Cromwell is ordering republican soldiers to chop down the Royal Oak. The tree is a symbol of the monarchy. If you look carefully you can see the royal crown, scepter and coat of arms in the tree. Hanging off the branches are Eikon Basilike (a book popular with royalists supposedly containing the reflections and thoughts of the king before his execution), the Bible, Magna Carta, statues and reports. Cromwell is standing on a ball described as a 'slippery place' and is just above the entrance to hell overturning his apparent piety.
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Source 4: Oliver Cromwell as King by unknown Dutch artist – With the unfortunate Charles I meeting his sticky end in the background, the Oliver Cromwell of this image stands to the fore in his stolen royal regalia. In the top left-hand corner, held by two devils, is a dog. As a symbol, the dog was used to represent loyalty as the Latin name for dog, fido, derived from that for fidus (loyalty,) and the sword it is holding in its mouth represented justice and authority.
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Source 6: This image was created by the republican regime, after the death of Cromwell, and on the succession of his son Richard as Lord Protector. During his lifetime, Cromwell had refused the offer of the crown. However he was given a very royal funeral. It was traditional to lay a monarch's body in state for a while before burial. This picture shows the wooden and wax effigy of Cromwell set up in the public hall of Somerset House. Significantly Cromwell is wearing the symbols of royal office - the crown, scepter and orb which he never wore during his life. This was a kind of posthumous coronation, which was designed to suggest continuity, with the protectorate taking over from the monarchy and with Richard Cromwell succeeding his father as Lord Protector.
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