OLIVER
CROMWELL
Cromwell in the Battle of Naseby in 1645 By Charles Landseer
CHAPITRE 1
�
OLIVER
CROMWELL
Oliver Cromwell through the eyes of the artists in the XVII century By Celia and Juliette
In the XVII century, England experienced different political crisis, between the Civil War in 1640 and the execution of King Charles I in 1649, the context socio-political in the country was fragile and changeable. This context allowed a figure like Cromwell to gain confidence and become a popular political figure in England. As an protestant he didn’t accept the King’s proximity to Catholicism
make many portaits of him, but he wasn't obliged to appreciate him. The first portrait of Cromwell was painted by Robert Walker in 1649. We can understand that Walker used to admire Cromwell with the fifties of portraits he made. We also can notice that Walker represent him in his best light, in fact, by his face he conveyed an image of serenity and selfconfidence. He painted him in a posture showing his imposing presence. His power is shown by his armour, his helmet and his sword by his side. He painted him here in order to convey an image of power and selfassurance. But Robert Walker wasn’t the only one to give a good image of Cromwell through their artworks, and rightfully so did other well-known painters as Van Dyck.
However, we know that Walker was Cromwell’s personal painter. In fact we can suppose that he was obliged to 2
This other painting, also made by Walker in the 1650's, shows Cromwell in a different light. Indeed, he is represented as a nobleman : his trousers legs are full. His shoes reflect the fashion atthe time. Furthermore, he
looks very much like a man of his time not as a warrior, since he just holding a stick in his hand, and his armor seems incomplete. Finally, the painted background represents clouds, and thus doesn't inspire happiness. To put it in a nutshell, Walker shows that he doesn't like Crowmell in different ways, and shows him as a man from the gentry,far from being preposterous and vain , which was another aspect of Cromwell’s personality.
Other painters used their art to give other images of the Lord Protector. To illustrate, we can take a look at this painting, made by Sir Peter Lely in 1653. This portrait was commanded by Cromwell, telling to Lely that he wanted a painting with his “warts and all�, and we can notice that the painter put his heart into this work. First, we can see that his face is full of red patches, and places without patches are, for their parts, pale. We can also notice that he has many deep wrinkles, that make him appear older than he is. He frowns, which gives him a stern look. But this one is softened by his mouth : indeed, he doesn't smile, and the whole gives the impression that he is resigned. Thanks to this analysis of Lely's painting, we can concludethat Cromwell is again shown in an unflattering . In fact, it leads us to think that Cromwell wasn't estimated by everybody.
3
There are however many painters who used to really admire Cromwell, as we can see with the following painting. This one was made by Van Dyke, also
during the 1650's. He gave a glorifying image of Cromwell by representing him on a horse. A horseman is usually brave and conveys an image of power and honor. Moreover the horse represent war and a political superiority hence the fact that he is associated to royality. That superiority is highlighted here by the presence of a man on foot near the horse to mark the difference of power. In fact the representation of a horse with the forelimb up stands for the image of royality ready to attack the opponents. Cromwell was famous for his ironside cavalry which beat the Royalist at the Battle of Naseby, one of the most known Cromwell’s battle. The presence of weapons and the horse improved the power as a soldier and show the role of Cromwell as Lieutenant General of the Eastern Army. The muscles of the horse are highlighted which show once again the powerfulness of Cromwell and also his cavalry composed of strong horses.
Cromwell wore on the following painting.
Futhermore, the powerfulness of Cromwell was not only shown through the paintings but also with his head on a British Half-Crown coin which dates back to 1658 with the inscription “ Oliver, by the grace of God and the Republic of England, Scotland and Ireland and other.� In fact, only the kings and the queens have their head on coins according to the reign established. So it conveys an image of authority and power and also produce a feeling of respect. Cromwell put in place those coins in 1656 and their production stopped when he died on 1658. The demonstration of Cromwell powerfulness went behind the British border as is it shown by the necklace 4
Indeed that necklace is a white mantle which frames a gold pendant representing the three crowns of Sweden. It is connected with the Swedish Queen Christina with whom he exchanged portraits in 1653. That pendant had been sent by herself to signal that peace was desired and show that she wasn't hostile to the English Republic.
At that time, the exchange of portraits was popular, it was a way to communicate with an other monarch to represent his power and magnificence. Collected portraits was also a way to show their own diplomatic prestige and their political relation with other reigns and countries. Offering such a gift to an other monarch could suggets the sharing of interests and cultural values, so a link was made between the different monarch who send portraits to each others.
But here the painting was made after his death according to the date so it might suggests that the painter wanted to show - the influence that had Cromwell on foreign reign and his power which was recognized by other monarch to whom he send that kind of gift - as Walker did with a
To conclude, we cannot help but notice that Cromwell used to a controversial figure during the 17th century because of the different sides that people took. Some of them admired him while the others thought he was a tyranical political figure.
portrait of Cromwell wearing the same pendant.
This mixed opinion about him is widely shown through artistic and painting techniques as we saw with the different feelings which are conveyed by the paintings depending on the painter and his feelings towards Cromwell.
5
We all know Cromwell as a conqueror. That’s why a lot of artists were inspired by this image of him and painted or drew him in the 1650’s. In Van Dyck’s painting, Cromwell‘s represented lapping a horse, with a good, a majestic, an imperial look which shows his superiority. On others paintings, such as full length portraits, he’s shown with clothes of the time, wonderful boots, armor in silver. Or, in another one painted in 1649 by Robert Walker, he was dressed only with a silver armor and with the attributer of a knight: like the helmet, the sword etc. which shows that he was a Lord Protector, always ready to fight for his country. He’s also represented on coins which shows the importance the British gave him because they put him on their money as the Queen now etc. moreover his is depicted with a laurel crown and the clothes of the Roman times, just as Jules Caesar was. It highlights again the fact that he was a conqueror. So Cromwell representations tend to be the same, like a majestic conqueror compared to Jules Cesar, who was a really famous one, and as a Lord Protector or as a knight ready to fight for his country and beliefs. But the dark and cold colors on some portraits (like blue, green or black) don’t always represent his shadow as it usually does on paintings and seem to symbolize his dark side. Don’t forget that he is a controversial figure, like Jules Caesar was. As he always was represented as a conqueror with his silver armor and all his knight attributer, we can suppose today that it was not only a good thing. Because conquering meant blood and killing vi
at that time (like during the Roman times). The image conveyed is one of a brave warrior always ready to fight his enemies to “defend his nation and faith”, as he thought. The artists may have represented him all the same way because of that. Behind this aspect of being a conqueror who is “working” for his country, he was a character who was ready to do everything to serve his country, which includes killing population sometimes without any valuable reasons. That’s why the vision of what he did is now dividing the population’s pinion. Some see how benefic it was to conquer land and other see how horrific his way to conquer was and talks about “slaughter” to qualify it. The artists, by making repetitive representations of Cromwell, make us think about who he really was. It’s a way for them to help us to create our own opinion bout Cromwell and his deeds. These paintings show the importance of Cromwell in the art, the artists needed to paint him…
By Claire and Jordan This portrait of Charles I, now at Apsley House in London, is a late 17th-century copy of an original by Sir Anthony van Dyck, court painter to the king. Van Dyck’s work, particularly his paintings of Charles I and the court, was the dominant influence on English portraiture for the next 150 years.
vii
CHAPITRE 2
∏
ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT CROMWELL
“Cromwell lifting the Coffin-lid and looking at the body of Charles I”, by Hippolyte (Paul) Delaroche — a French painter with an affinity for English execution scenes. The painting is based on an apocryphal but irresistible legend, also used by Nathaniel Hawthorne in a tedious short story.
Oliver Cromwell was born in 1599, he was a popular man for all the things he did. He was a soldier and he was also a politician. Every British and Irish person has heard of him since he became Lord Protector in 1653. His aim was to protect England, Scotland, and Ireland. Irish people did not agreed with the Parliament established by Cromwell. There was an opposition between his religion and the religion of the Irish : he was protestant whereas the Irish in the XVII century were mostly Catholics.
impose his domination and his faith. It was because he wanted to keep Ireland under U.K regency. During the same period there was a war between the three countries, Ireland, Scotland and England. This is called the War of the Three Kingdoms; this war ignited a series of conflict between the three countries about the religion. One of the conflicts during this war was the slaughter in a town named Drogheda.
During the investment of the town, several Irish people found shelter in a Church. It was on the St. Peter’s Church but Cromwell’s Army didn't hesitate to kill everybody in the Church : they were all massacred. The actions committed by the army are a matter of war crime. At the end of the slaughter we could count more than 3000 people killed. Yet it is remembered as a victory of the New Model Army of Cromwell and the slaughter of harmless civilians.
This town was the first town in Ireland which was attacked by Cromwell and his army. Drogheda is located NorthEast of Dublin. The siege of Drogheda began in 1649. But we know that the conquest of the town was not easy at all, the town was protected by a big wall dating back to 12th century extending over the entire coast.
The other bone of contention between the Irish and Cromwell where their political ideology : the Irish were mostly royalist and Cromwell was a puritan, member of the parliament. When Cromwell became Lord Protector his motivation was to conquer Ireland because he wanted to keep Ireland under his thumb. That is he wanted to control the country and
surrender but he refused. So when they knew the answer, Cromwell’s army decided to attack the town, they beat down the corner tower in the east and south wall to open two breaches to enter the town.
Moreover when they managed to enter in the town, they left a chance to the royalist commander of the town to 9
For the rest of civilians who were alive, they were sent ito Connaught; Cromwell is reported to have said « To hell or Connaught". It was the poorest Irish region; the lands were not fertile and bad for farming.
As regards the lands seized from the Catholics, there were redistributed to the English veterans of Cromwell. It is from there that comes the name of "The New Territorial Treaty". Nowadays, Oliver Cromwell is regarded differently by Irish people. He remains one of the most controversial figures in British history. On the one hand, some people saw him like a hero of liberty and admired him. On the other hand, other people regarded him as a tyrant, a dictator and hated him. The feelings are mixed but generally he is loathed in Ireland. Let’s play with us at our Drogheda quiz !!! https://play.kahoot.it/#/k/c30b3db2-0310-4faebbba-f0e7252b9faa By Camille, Marie and Jessica T.LCharles the 1st Quiz: Q1: Which King reigned during Cromwell’s times? A) Charles the 1st B) Charles Bovary C) Charles Bouvier 10
Charles had a high concept of royal authority, believing in thedivine right of kings. He spent a lot of money on the arts by inviting artists such asVan Dyck andRubens to make them work in England. He also bought a big collections of paintings by Raphael and Titian (this collection was later dispersed under Cromwell’s reign).
King Charles I: Charles I was born on 19 November 1600, he was the second son of James VI of Scotlandand Anne of Denmark. He became heir to the throne on the death of his brother, Prince Henry,in 1612. He succeeded, as the second Stuart King of England, in 1625 and he would reignuntil his execution in 1649.
Charles I instituted the post of Master of the King's Music (that still exist today), involving the supervision of a large band of musicians. So we can say that he was deeply touched by the beauty of art, which greatly increased the crown's debts. Charles was also deeply religious. He favored a High Anglican form of worship, and his wife,Henrietta Maria of France, was Catholic which offended his Protestants subjects. Charles dissolved parliament three times between 1625 and 1629. In 1629, he dismissed
11
parliament decided to rule his kingdom completely alone. At the same time, there was a crackdown on Puritans and Catholics. In November 1641, tensions and disagreements raised over who should command an army to suppress an uprising in Ireland. Finally, on 22 August 1642 at Nottingham, Charles raised the Royal Standard to make his loyal subjects support him.
Then Civil war began and the Royalists were defeated in 1645-1646 because of the parliament's alliance with the Scottish and the formation of the “New Model
Army”. His kingdom was finally constituted of Scotland, England and Ireland.
The Parliament was re-established and in May 1646, Charles placed himself in the hands of the Scottish Army (who handed him to the English Parliament; the Scottish had failed to win Charles's support to establish Presbyterianism in England). Charles really saw the monarchy as the source of stability and told the parliamentary commanders about his thoughts. In Scotland and Ireland, factions were arguing. In England there were signs
of division in Parliament between the Presbyterians and the Independents. Charles's negotiations continued from his captivity at Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight. They finally found an engagement with the Scottish: they provide an army for Charles in exchange of the imposition of the Covenant on England. This argument led to the second Civil War (1648), which ended with Cromwell's victory at Preston in August.
detained at Whitehall, waiting for his trial to begin. On 20 January, Charles was charged of “high treason”, they considered him as “a tyrant, traitor and murderer, and a public and implacable enemy to the Commonwealth of England”. He refused to plead by saying that he did not recognize the legality of the High Court (which hadn’t been approved by him). But the trial kept going on and he was sentenced to death on 27 January 1649. Three days later, Charles was beheaded in London, being the first king to be executed in Europe.
Charles at his trial, by Edward Bower, 1649
The Army decided that the King must be put on trial and executed. He was 12
Charles I in Three Positions by Anthony van Dyck, 1635–36
This painting, probably based on eye-witness accounts and contemporary engravings, records the execution of Charles I on 30 January 1649 at Whitehall, after a long and bitter civil war. The inset pictures on the left show Charles as he appeared at his trial, and below, Charles walking to the scaffold. Those on the right show the moments immediately after the execution: the axeman holds up Charles's severed head while spectators hurry to dip their handkerchiefs in royal blood. The central image, with the swooning woman, hints at a parallel with Christ's crucifixion. https://www.nationalgalleries.org/object/PGL 208 A quizz to test your knowledge : http://fr.ze-questionnaire.com/repondre.php?s=66369&d=RsbjR8rtD18
13
LET’S LEARN AND PLAY ! 1) https://app.360learning.com/#course/play/ 566f167beebd17fb9daa1867 login : cromwellquizz@hotmail.com password : lycjeanzay http://fr.ze-questionnaire.com/repondre.php?s=68555&d=
2) SPWbJCSASfD8
3) http://fr.ze-questionnaire.com/repondre.php?s=67879& d=SP6JnUkKQmUQ
xiv
xv