The Commonwealth of England - 1649-60
In a weary speech to parliament on 4 February 1658 Oliver Cromwell told MPs that ‘I would have been glad, as to my own conscience and spirit, to have been living under a woodside to have kept a flock of sheep, rather than to have undertaken such a place as this’. In the 1630s, Oliver Cromwell raised chickens and sheep for their eggs and wool. 20 years later he was offered the crown. He helped lead an army to defeat and execute Charles I, becoming one of the most successful military leaders in British history. He now led a country that had become a republic, it had sailed into unchartered waters. As the nation leaned on the leadership and dogged personality of Oliver Cromwell would it be strong enough to sustain the religious and political ideals upon which it had been founded?

Characters

Oliver Cromwell – 1st Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland
and Ireland (1653-58)
Richard Cromwell – 2nd Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland
and Ireland (1658-59), son of Oliver Cromwell
Charles I – King of England (1625-49)
Charles II – King of England (1660-85), son of Charles I
Thomas Fairfax – Commander of the New Model Army
George Monck – Prominent military leader under the Commonwealth
John Lambert – Prominent Parliamentarian and military leader
Arthur Aston – Prominent Royalist and military leader, Governor of Drogheda
Prince Rupert – Royalist cavalry commander, nephew of Charles I
David Leslie – Scottish cavalry commander
Praise-God Barebone – Puritan preacher and MP, gave his name to Barebone’s parliament
Menasseh Ben Israel – Portuguese rabbi

John Morrill – Historian
GM Trevelyan – Historian
John Evelyn – contemporary writer and diarist

Edward the Confessor – King of England (1042-66)

Credits

Music - The Old Bachelor - Henry Purcell

chamonesteyn brush-strokes-on-a-canvas
inspectorj ambience-seaside-waves-close-a
richardemoore cw-battle-endsinvictory