All Saints Alive 8 Norah Anderson

Oliver Cromwell was one with a man of his calibre, of our greatest destiny awaited. Englishmen. The battle of Dunbar, He was born in 1599, in fought on Scottish soil, Norfolk, a landowner, and tested his resolve. Scotland a farmer. He was was in a state of unrest. sometimes underrated, Royalists still supported often misunderstood. Charles II and the zeal of the Cavaliers had laid the He was born in Norfolk, country waste. Cromwell one of ten children, seven sought to heal the wounds. of whom survived. As he Round Heads, as his grew up he was happy to supports were known and live in obscurity until the Cavaliers were in conflict day when he followed and again, this man who what he conceived as his hated violence, was forced duty. to fight a bloody battle.

He was ruled by his Other battles followed, but conscience. That sums up his actions struggling against all his desires Cromwell throughout his life. He was interested in never flinched from combat. He said 'If this be Quakerism and there must have been times God's will for me - so be it'. when he was tempted to join them. He had begun to feel anxiety about his eldest He met, and was influenced by that doyen of son, Richard. Unlike his father he was not a Quakers, James Fox. Their quiet faith would strong crusader and Cromwell worried about have suited his temperament. the fate of parliament after his death. He need not have worried. Richard proved John Hampden, a relative of Cromwell, ineffective in every way - shirking any shared his kinsmen's sense of duty. Both were decisions. He lived for a while abroad but essentially men of peace, but when the call returned to England later to live at Cheshunt came to defeat the devil and all his works, in Hertfordshire. He died in 1712, a pathetic they did not hesitate. With their horses’ reins figure of a man. Larger than life men are jangling, they rode out from Buckingham to often followed by mediocre sons. The the county town of . Hampden's Cromwells followed this pattern. statue stands in the centre of the town to this day. His weakling son was moribund but Cromwell's own problems in his earthly life John Milton wrote of Cromwell. 'He first were nearly at an end. The Protector of acquired the government of himself, and England died on 3rd September 1658. In the over himself. This was true of him all his life. annals of this country his name will go down Mastery of himself; followed by the defeat of as a great, yet humble man. the powers of evil. Let Milton's words be his epitaph: Oliver led a happy life with this wife and young family. He clearly loved his wife and 'He first acquired the government of himself' thought of himself as very blessed by his children. He could have been well content to spend his days in this domestic happiness, but