Cromwelliana The Journal of The Cromwell Association 2001 The Cromwell Association CROMWELLIANA 2001 edited by Peter Gaunt President: Dr BARRY COWARD, PhD, FRHistS Vice Presidents: Right Hon MICHAEL FOOT, PC CONTENTS Professor JOHN MORRlLL, DPhil, FBA, FRHistS Professor IV AN ROOTS, MA, FSA, FRHistS Cromwell Day, 2000. The Battle of Dunbar and Cromwell's Professor AUSTIN WOOLRYCH, MA, DLitt, FBA · Scottish Campaign. PAT BARNES By Dr Peter Gaunt 2 TREWIN COPPLESTON, FRGS Chainnan: Dr PETER GAUNT, PhD, FRHistS The Battle of Dunbar.· Honorary Secretary: MICHAEL BYRD By Stuart Reid 1Q 5 Town Farm Close, Pinchbeck, near Spalding, Lincolnshire, PEI I 3SG Cromwell and the 'Readmission' of the Jews in England, 1656. By Barbara Coulton 21 Honorary Treasurer: DAVID SMITH 3 Bowgrave Copse, Abingdon, Oxon, OXI4 2NL A Political Sculpture? The First Appearance of Matthew Noble's 'Oliver Cromwell'. THE CROMWELL ASSOCIATION was founded in 1935 by the late Rt Hon By Dr Stephen Porter 39 Isaac Foot and others to commemorate Oliver Cromwell, the great Puritan statesman, and to encourage the study of the history of his times, his Writings and Sources IV. Cromwell the Humanitarian; achievements and influence. It is neither political nor sectarian, its aims being essentially historical. The Association seeks to advance its aims in a variety of By Jane A Mills 51 ways which have included: a. the erection of commemorative tablets (e.g. at Naseby, Dunbar, Worcester, Obituary: Gerald Aylmer. Preston, etc); By Professor I.van Roots 57 b. helping to establish the Cromwell Museum in the Old Grammar School at Huntingdon; Cromwell Day, 1982. c. holding two annual meetings, one the now traditional memorial service by By the late Dr Gerald Aylmer 58 the Cromwell statue outside the Houses of Parliament, the other a business meeting at which the Council presents a report on its year's work for Obituary: Barry Denton. discussion by members. At both, an address is given by a distinguished By Alastair Bantock Cromwellian; 62 d. producing an annual publication, Cromwelliana, which is free to members; e. awarding an annual prize for work on a Cromwellian theme; Standards of the Ironsides, 1642-47. f. maintaining a small reference library for the use of members; By the late Barry Denton, MBE 64 g. supporting the formation of local groups of paid-up members of the Association meeting for study or social purposes; Cromwellian Britian XIV. Belton, Lincolnshire. ) ' h. acting as a 'lobby' at both national and local levels whenever aspects or By Jane A Mills 69 items of our Cromwellian heritage appear to be endangered. Select Bibliography of Publications 75 All enquiries about the library should be addressed to: MICHAEL BYRD, 5 Town Fann Close, Pinchbeck, near Splading, Lines, PEI l 3SG. Book Reviews. By Professor Ivan Roots 83 Press Liaison Officer: JOHN GOLDSMITH, Cambridgeshire Heritage, Castle Court, Shire Hall, Castle Hill, Cambridge, CB3 ()AP ISBN 0-905729-13-7 CROMWELL DAY 2000 God's and his son Jesus Christ's and it must prosper'. And yet in his THE BATTLE OF DUNBAR AND dealings with Scotland, Cromwell's surviving letters and speeches generally CROMWELL'S SCOTTISH CAMPAIGN do not emphasise this religious element, do not seek to portray the Scottish campaign as a form of religious crusade with anything approaching the same by Peter Gaunt strength and bitterness ·as Cromwell's colouring of his Irish campaign of 1649-50. As we shall .see, religion cut both ways and at times made 1. All ye nations, praise ye the Lord: all ye people, praise him. Cromwell uneasy, troubled or unsure. In summer 1650, as part of a 2. For his loving kindness is great toward us, and the truth of the delegation dispatched to persuade an uncertain Sir Thomas Fairfax to lead Lord endureth for ever. Praise ye the Lord. and command the proposed campaign to Scotland, Cromwell chose instead to emphasise the secular and practical rather than the spiritual motivation According to an account written by Captain John Hodgson, one of the for and goals of the venture - the Scots, he argued, were evidently planning parliamentary officers who fought at Dunbar, Cromwell halted his army to invade England to restore the Stuart monarchy, and so it would be better after they had broken the Scottish forces so that they could together sing to march north to ensure that the fighting, violence and bloodshed should these words, Psalm 117, before pursuing the fleeing Scots. As so often with take place on Scottish rather than English soil. Cromwell, religious motivation may have been underpinned by practical considerations - by halting to sing the shortest of the psalms, Cromwell Secondly, Cromwell saw God as actively involved in the Scottish venture. en.sured that his troops were in reasonably good order and back in line and God's messages directed the campaign, divine providences shaped actions formation before the horse embarked upon the pursuit of the remnants of and events, and the Lord intervened thus in favour of England. In August the Scottish army. But there is no reason to doubt the sincerity of 1650, as Cromwell was pulling his forces back from the Edinburgh area, the Cromwell's faith displayed on the battlefield of Dunbar - Cromwell chose Scots harried and began unnerving the rear of the English army around the phrase 'The Lord of Hosts' as the parliamentarian rallying cry and call Haddington during the night-time retreat. Things looked bad until 'the sign on the battlefield. His religious beliefs underpinned his actions at Lord by His good Providence put a cloud over the moon, thereby giving us Dunbar, as they underpinned his whole military career. the opportunity to fall back with little loss'. Towards the end of the Scottish campaign, the decision to push the English army north into Fife was On this the 350th anniversary of the triumph and the tragedy of the Battle depicted by Cromwell as a move determined by God: 'After our waiting of Dunbar, as well as Cromwell day, the 342nd anniversary of his death in upon the Lord, and not knowing what course to take, for indeed we know 1658, I would like briefly to highlight and to explore several aspects of nothing but what God pleaseth to teach us of His great mercy, we were Cromwell's religious beliefs and personal faith, as seen not just at Dunbar directed to send a part to get us a landing [on the Fife coast]'. Once across, but throughout his Scottish campaign of summer 1650 to summer 1651. God was again looked to: 'The greatest part of the army is in Fife, waiting what way God will further lead us'. Firstly, Cromwell saw the Scottish campaign, at least in part, as motivated and justified by religious concerns. This attitude is seen most clearly in Thirdly, and following on from this belief, Cromwell portrayed all the Cromwell's earliest recorded major speech, that to the General Council of successes and victories of the Scottish campaign as the work of God, as the. Army in March 1649, in which he reviewed the threats posed by both evidence of the Lord's hand, and not as the fruit of mortal, secular activities Scotland and Ireland. He portrays Scotland as a menace to the ne~ly-won of English troops or of their commanders, including himself. He wrote thus religious liberties enjoyed in England and Wales and he portrays the Scottish to the Speaker of the English parliament about Dunbar: 'It hath now pleased people as unwilling to accept that, by crushing royalism in the late 1640s God to bestow a mercy upon you, worthy your knowledge, and of the and pushing through the regicide, the English army had been doing God's utmost praise and thanks of all that fear and love His name; yea, the mercy will and had shown itself to be God's chosen instrument: 'They that are is far above all praise'. But lesser actions, too, were ascribed to the Lord, so displeased with the instruments, their anger reaches to God'. In working to that when the Scottish commander Leslie attacked parliamentarian quarters restore the Stuart monarchy in England and in Scotland, the Scots were at Hamilton, it was 'by the blessing of God, by· a very gracious hand of seeking 'the ruin and destruction of those that God hath ordained to be Providence', that they were beaten off and that many Scots were killed or instrumental for their good'. In summer 1651 he wrote that 'this c~use is captured while just six parliamentarians perished. The surrender of Edinburgh castle, following protracted negotiations, was a gift from God: 2 3 Cromwell,· religion was also an unsettling factor in his dealings with 'Sir, it hath pleased God to cause the Castle of Edinburgh to be surren~ered Scotland, and it led to expressions of deeply held regret and unease rarely into our hands, this day about 11 o'clock. .! must .needs say, i:ot any skill or found in Cromwell's military care¢r. Uncertainties grounded in his beliefs 1 : I wisdom of ours, but the good hand of God hath given you this place . I find expression in Cromwell's letters and speeches relating to Scotland and his Scottish campaign, in sentiments far clearer and more explicit than any Fourthly, victories and military successes in turn strengthe~ed ~romwell:s such misgivings he may· have had about dealing with royalists in England belief that he was doing God's will and that the Lord was, with him and ?is and Wales, and, very, very different from his attitude to the Irish and the men. This belief drove him on not merely to contmue .the Scottish I I approach he adopted during his Irish campaign.