Reformation

[Rhyfelwyr]

but it seemed much more about public stability and less about actual salvation of the masses.

Meth was right on your French example, but I must disagree with this being true also of the English Civil War (or more appropriately, the British Wars of Religion).

Cromwell and the Parliamentarians were no doubt motivated by religious reasons, rather than a desire to keep peace. If anything, they were much too idealistic, and in the end that is what led to the collapse of the Commonwealth. The whole story of the British Wars of religion is one of the people attempting to save religion from the corruption of the landed interests, who thought religion was just a method of state control. As James I said in the Basilikon Doron, there's "no king without the bishops". The Catholic and Anglican churches had always served to uphold the monarchy, with such notions as the "divine right of kings" all being very unbiblical. It was King Charle's attempts through Archbishop Laud to force the Anglican 'Book of Common Prayer' upon the Presbyterian Scots that led to the outbreak of the conflict. The Scots were so angered at this attempt by Archbishop Laud to promote Arminianism over their Calvinist views, that they signed the 1638 National Covenant and invaded Newcastle. The motivation is purely religious, it is hardly bringing stability!

Of course, Charles wanted to raise an army to fight the Scots, but to do so he required the permission of Parliament. At this time, while the top nobles remained Anglo-Catholic, Puritanism was becoming popular amongst the lower gentry and the common townsfolk. By the time of the Scots invasion of 1640, there was a Puritan majority in Parliament. Like the Scottish Presbyterians, the Puritans were Calvinistic and although they organised their churches in a different way to the Presbyterians, they shared an opposition to the hierarchy of the established Anglican Church. So, the Puritans refused to fight their Presbyterian brothers to the north. Crippled for a time, the English could do little to stop the Scots rampaging across the north. For Parliament and the King, the breaking point came in 1641 with the massacre of thousands of Ulster Protestants, a combination of English Puritans and Scottish Presbyterians, at the hands of Catholic rebels. Of course, both King and Parliament wished to put this rebellion down, however Parliament did not trust the King to raise an army, fearing it would be turned against them. So, in 1642 the English Civil War began, with the Scots fighting alongside the Parliamentarian forces. After the formation of the English New Model army in 1645, they were able to comfortably defeat the King after a few relatively small battles.

The negotiations after this conflict are when you can really see how important the "salvation of the masses" was compared to "public stablity". At first, Cromwell and Ireton, negotiating for Parliament, has said they would accept an established church with an Episcoplian polity like that of the Anglicans, if the power of the Bishops would be significantly weakened. Being stubborn and filled with absolutist ideas from his father, Charles refused to accept despite his obviously precarious position. As these negotiations went on, Charles was fostering some sneaky alliances, which would lead to the outbreak of war once again in 1648.

By 1648, Charles had secured an alliance with the 'Engagers'. Led by the Duke of Hamilton, they betrayed the National Covenant and the rest of their Scottish counterparts, supporting the King if he would implement Prebyterianism across the three kingdoms for a period of at least three years. A similar divide could be seen in the English Parliament, as the 'Political Presbyterians' supported the return of the King with limited powers, whereas the more radical Independents such as Cromwell were vehemently opposed to the idea of monarchy by this stage. So, the Second Civil War began in 1648. Since the New Model Army was filled with radical Independents, under Cromwell it crushed the Engagers at Dunbar. Meanwhile, in Scotland the radical Covenanting faction which would become known as the Whigs (yes, those Whigs) took power in Scotland after the Whiggamore raid in 1650. They handed the King over to Cromwell, who had him executed in 1649, and the Second Civil War was over.

Here, again people put religious principles over temporal concerns. Many of the Puritans were from the lower skilled segments of society. Without political stability, they were missing out on all that the colonies had to offer, as well as the trade restrictions placed on them by the monarchical powers on the continent. It would have been to their advantage to compromise with the king, but they stuck to their principles (and to be fair, Charles I stuck to his too, until his death). Even Cromwell and the radicals, despite being congregationalists, had been willing to accept an established Presbyterian church, so long as the sects such as Baptists and Quakers would be tolerated.

It is because of the coming events that Cromwell would become portrayed as a tyrant, and military dictator. The Independents remained dominant in the New Model Army, however the Political Presbyterians became dominant in the Parliament. Sadly, temporal interests, often commerce-related, were starting to infringe upon the Puritan ideals on the political scene. Parliament allowed for the Anglo-Dutch war to take place, much to Cromwell's disgust at fighting the only Calvinist nation on the continent. Also, Political Presbyterian officers (not to be confused with the Scottish Prebyterians who continued to support Cromwell!) began to purge non-conformists from any positions of influence, especially Anabaptists with the reputation they gained after the Jan of Leyden farce. Of course, such actions were in complete contrast to the 'Westminster Confession of Faith', the document which secured religious freedom for all those who practice the Reformed (Calvinist) faith, and which was used by both English Puritans and Scottish Presbyterians. So, with Parliament betraying the Commonwealth principles, Cromwell and the radical New Model Army stepped in to abolish it. This made him unpopular with many, but he put his beliefs before his self-interest. It is because of this that Cromwell is portrayed as a tyrant today, although I think he did what was right.

Now we come to the other events which have led to Cromwell being hated nowadays. In 1649, his troops invaded Ireland. There were no battles to fight in Britain for the moment, and so Cromwell, being a soldier, put the New Model Army to use. In part, they were looking to restore order after the massacres of 1641, but crucially Charles I's exiled son, Charles II, had led a revolt in Ireland, with the support of the Anglo-Catholic royalists, and the Irish Catholic peasantry. So, Cromwell invaded Ireland and won a string of battles. There were many atrocities on both sides, although Cromwell never gave the orders to kill an innocent civilain (of the supposed massacre in Drogheda claimed by Irihs nationalist historians, they tend not to mention that of the thousands killed, they were all either soldiers or priests/tonwsfolk who had armed themselves).

While he was crushing the Irish, tensions were boiling over on the English/Scottish border. Despite being Cromwell's allies, the Scots were increasingly concerned at what they thought to be the 'sectarian' society emerging in England, with Baptist and Quaker sects living in isolation instead of working together in a Godly Republic. Similarly, these sects were uncofomfortable with the Scottish Kirk, believing it to be exercising a little more power over people's religious freedoms that it should. Sadly, the Scotland had remained unstable ever since the Whiggamore Raid, and so the disillusioned factions within the General Assembly accepted Charles II as King. Disturbed by this turn of events, Cromwell and the New Model Army returned across the sea to put down the traitors. At fist, the Kirk and the Parliamentarians fought a propaganda war. It was a bizarre conflict, with both sets of pamphlets appealing to the elect on both sides (since they did share a faith, unlike with the heretical Irish), and relating to the understanding of the 1643 Solemn League and Covenant, the document which sealed the Scottish alliance with Parliament. Despite their victory at Dunbar and Cromwell's hope that the Whigs would support him, they still believed in the return of a limited monarchy, and so Cromwell was forced to invade. It was tragic this conflict had to take place. Indeed, Fairfax and other leaders in the New Model Army chose to resign rather than fight their Calvinist brothers, and decision which Cromwell respected. The English troops actually got on very well with the common Scottish folk, especially with the radicals in the south who were disgusted at the Kirk's support for Charles II.

While Cromwell had secured peace for the time being, it was not to last. The Godly Republic was damaging trade and the relations with the continental powers. For the state to be recognised as legitimate, the monarchs would have to return. With unrest in England, Scotland, and espeically Ireland, the New Model Army struggled to keep order in all places at all times. As an experienced soldier, Oliver Cromwell held it together until his death. However, his son Richard, despite being an honest man, was a less able leader, and so under General Monk Charles II was restored to power in 1660.

Cromwell could have made the Commonwealth last if he just wanted to keep the peace, but he stuck to his principles, and the Godly Commonwealth he envisaged was just too good for a fallen world.