„Mein Plan ist es, mich zu beeilen, vergangen zu sein.“
— Oliver Cromwell
Letzte Worte, 3. September 1658
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Oliver Cromwell
Geburtstag: 25. April 1599
Todesdatum: 3. September 1658
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Oliver Cromwell war während der kurzen republikanischen Periode der britischen Geschichte Lordprotektor von England, Schottland und Irland. Ursprünglich ein einfacher Abgeordneter des englischen Unterhauses, stieg er im Bürgerkrieg des Parlaments gegen König Karl I. erst zum Organisator, dann zum entscheidenden Feldherrn des Parlamentsheeres auf. Mit der von ihm betriebenen Hinrichtung Karls endeten alle Versuche der Stuart-Könige, England in einen absolutistisch regierten Staat umzuwandeln. Allerdings scheiterten am Ende auch Cromwells Bestrebungen, England dauerhaft in eine Republik umzuwandeln.
In der Geschichte der Britischen Inseln ist Cromwell eine umstrittene Persönlichkeit. Manche Historiker bewerten ihn als Königsmörder und Diktator, während er anderen als Freiheitsheld gilt. In einer Umfrage der BBC von 2002 wurde er als Zehnter unter den 100 Greatest Britons gewählt. In Irland ist er wegen seiner Maßnahmen gegen die katholische Bevölkerungsmehrheit, die von manchen Historikern als „genozidal“ bezeichnet wurden, verhasst.
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„It's a blessed thing to die daily.“
— Oliver Cromwell
Context: It's a blessed thing to die daily. For what is there in this world to be accounted of! The best men according to the flesh, and things, are lighter than vanity. I find this only good, to love the Lord and his poor despised people, to do for them and to be ready to suffer with them.... and he that is found worthy of this hath obtained great favour from the Lord; and he that is established in this shall ( being conformed to Christ and the rest of the Body) participate in the glory of a resurrection which will answer all.
Letter to Sir Thomas Fairfax (7 March 1646)
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„No one rises so high as he who knows not whither he is going.“
— Oliver Cromwell
Statement to Pomponne de Bellievre, as told to Cardinal de Retz in 1651; Memoirs of Cardinal de Retz (1717) http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3846/3846.txt
Variant: One never rises so high as when one does not know where one is going.
„That which brought me into the capacity I now stand in, was the Petition and Advice given me by you, who, in reference to the ancient Constitution, did draw me here to accept the place of Protector. There is not a man living can say I sought it, no not a man, nor woman, treading upon English ground.“
— Oliver Cromwell
Context: That which brought me into the capacity I now stand in, was the Petition and Advice given me by you, who, in reference to the ancient Constitution, did draw me here to accept the place of Protector. There is not a man living can say I sought it, no not a man, nor woman, treading upon English ground.
Speech to Parliament http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=36881 (4 February 1658), quoted in The Diary of Thomas Burton, esq., volume 2: April 1657 - February 1658 (1828), p. 465-466
„We declared our intentions to preserve monarchy, and they still are so, unless necessity enforce an alteration.“
— Oliver Cromwell
Context: We declared our intentions to preserve monarchy, and they still are so, unless necessity enforce an alteration. It’s granted the king has broken his trust, yet you are fearful to declare you will make no further addresses... look on the people you represent, and break not your trust, and expose not the honest party of your kingdom, who have bled for you, and suffer not misery to fall upon them for want of courage and resolution in you, else the honest people may take such courses as nature dictates to them.
Speech in the Commons during the debate which preceded the "Vote of No Addresses" (January 1648) as recorded in the diary of John Boys of Kent
„You have accounted yourselves happy on being environed with a great ditch from all the world beside.“
— Oliver Cromwell
Speech to Parliament http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=36871 (25 January 1658), quoted in The Diary of Thomas Burton, esq., volume 2: April 1657 - February 1658 (1828), p. 361
„Do not trust to that; for these very persons would shout as much if you and I were going to be hanged.“
— Oliver Cromwell
Response to John Lambert's remarks that he "was glad to see we had the nation on our side" as they were cheered by a crowd in June 1650; as quoted by Gilbert Burnet in History of My Own Time http://books.google.com/books?id=-iswAAAAYAAJ&q="do+not+trust+to+that+for+these+very+persons+would+shout+as+much+if+you+and+I+were+going+to+be+hanged"&pg=PA145#v=onepage (1683); also in in God's Englishman by Christopher Hill (1970), Ch. VII, p. 188
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„I need pity. I know what I feel. Great place and business in the world is not worth looking after.“
— Oliver Cromwell
Letter to Richard Mayor (July 1650)
„If the remonstrance had been rejected I would have sold all I had the next morning and never have seen England more, and I know there are many other modest men of the same resolution.“
— Oliver Cromwell
On the passing of the revolutionary Grand Remonstrance of November 1641 listing Parliament's grievances against King Charles I, as quoted in A History of the Rebellion (first published 1702 – 1704) by Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon (1609 - 1674)
„Men have been led in dark paths, through the providence and dispensation of God. Why, surely it is not to be objected to a man, for who can love to walk in the dark? But providence doth often so dispose.“
— Oliver Cromwell
Answer to the Conference at the Committee at Whitehall, Second Protectorate Parliament (13 April 1657), quoted in The Diary of Thomas Burton, esq., volume 2: April 1657 - February 1658 (1828), p. 504
„This is our comfort, God is in heaven, and He doth what pleaseth Him; His, and only His counsel shall stand, whatsoever the designs of men, and the fury of the people be.“
— Oliver Cromwell
Letter to Sir Thomas Fairfax (21 December 1646)
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„I am neither heir nor executor to Charles Stuart.“
— Oliver Cromwell
Repudiating a royal debt (August 1651)
„You have sat too long for any good you have been doing lately... Depart, I say; and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!“
— Oliver Cromwell
Address to the Rump Parliament (20 April 1653)
„When I went there, I did not think to have done this. But perceiving the spirit of God so strong upon me, I would not consult flesh and blood.“
— Oliver Cromwell
On his forcible dissolution of parliament (April 1653) quoted in Flagellum: or the Life and Death Birth and Burial of Oliver Cromwell the Late Usurper (1663) by James Heath
„There are some things in this establishment that are fundamental... about which I shall deal plainly with you... the government by a single person and a parliament is a fundamental... and... though I may seem to plead for myself, yet I do not: no, nor can any reasonable man say it... I plead for this nation, and all the honest men therein.“
— Oliver Cromwell
To the First Protectorate Parliament (12 September 1654)
