Cambridge Edition September 2019

OL I VER CROMWE L L

STEP BACK IN TIME TO THE ENGLISH CIVIL WAR AND MAKE UP YOUR OWN MIND ABOUT WHETHER THE LORD PROTECTOR WAS A HERO OR A VILLAIN Inside Oliver Cromwell’s House

WORDS BY NICOLA FOLEY

reasonous traitor? Murderous tyrant? Or champion of social justice and democracy? Oliver Cromwell is one of the most divisive characters in British history – a man whose name continues to inspire heated debate more than 350 years after his death. Whichever side of the fence you stand on, there’s no denying the fact that Cromwell’s time in politics was one of the most remarkable our country has ever seen. After the execution of King Charles I in 1649 signalled an end to the civil war, the monarchy was overthrown and the country left kingless, but Cromwell refused to take the crown, instead choosing the title of Lord Protector. A short-lived period of republican rule ensued (the “Commonwealth of England”,

undergirded by the iron fist of Cromwell’s New Model Army), until the restoration of the royals came in 1660 when Charles II took the throne. To this day, it’s the only time in English history that the country has been without a monarch; a period that had far-reaching implications for notions of parliamentary sovereignty and the influence of the monarchy. The question of whether the former Lord Protector was a hero or a villain is asked at the Oliver Cromwell’s House attraction in Ely, where Cromwell lived with his family between 1636 and 1646. “Visitors get a chance to make their own decision after they’ve been round the house,” explains Aileen Sharp, Ely’s Tourism Development Officer. “We ask

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