WHO WAS OLIVER CROMWELL?
When Civil War broke out in England in 1642 between the Parliament and King Charles I, Oliver Cromwell was the MP for Cambridge. Cambridge at the time was a hotspot for Puritanism in England. All the prominent thought leaders and theologians of Puritanism were clustered around the University and they liked to spend their evenings debating over a pint at the Old White Horse Inn that was located nearby.
Cromwell was actually a deeply spiritual man, he loved God and he had a sincere desire to see the Reformation really take root in England and lead people to have a genuine spiritual revival in their lives.
The Civil War broke out because of political tension but as Cromwell himself later pointed out it turned into a religious war largely because religion and politics were so intricately intertwined in 17th Century England.
After a year of fighting the Parliamentarians were winning and there was a chorus of different voices calling for all kinds of reform in England. Cromwell’s was one of the louder ones and he demanded serious religious changes which included the fairly radical move of completely dismantling the church of England in favour of a more congregationalist approach, allowing local congregations to be completely independent, and free to worship and believe whatever they wanted (as long as it was biblical of course).
By 1645 Cromwell wasn’t just a man with a loud voice in a sea of other voices. He had become a general, convincing Parliament to reorganize its army to have a more distinct religious flavor. The army would march to battle in the wake of a full-blown church service with hymns, prayer, and a fervent battlefield sermon to encourage them that their cause was of God.
Cromwell’s reorganization worked remarkably well because that year at the Battle of Naseby the Parliament defeated the King and his army in what would be a crushing blow. The King surrendered shortly after. Then came the conversation about what to do with the King. Cromwell and his faction of independents argued for executing the King and declaring England a Republic. After a period of going back and forth which included some time on the battlefield, the matter was decided. The King was tried by the Parliament, convicted and beheaded in public view outside Whitehall Palace in 1649.
The independents then declared England to be a Republic which they named the Commonwealth of England and Cromwell found himself in charge of the Council of State.
