dual personalities

Well, this week we celebrate the birthdays of many worthy souls, but I have to say, none so worthy as Oliver Cromwell (25 April 1599 – 3 September 1658). I do love old Oliver, great-great-great-nephew, by the way, of another favorite, Thomas Cromwell. As an American and a member of the “rabble,” a lover of liberty, as a believer in public education for all and a Puritan at heart, I certainly sympathize with this Roundhead who rebelled against the absolute power of the monarchy and the divine right of kings.

“I had rather have a plain russet-coated captain that knows what he fights for, and loves what he knows, than that which you call a gentleman and is nothing else.”

–Letter from Cromwell to Sir William Spring. Sept. 1643

Indeed.

“I confess I have an interest in this Mr Cromwell; and indeed, if truth must be said, in him alone. The rest are historical, dead to me; but he is epic, still living. Hail to thee, thou strong one; hail across the longdrawn funeral-aisle and night of time!…”

Thomas Carlyle, Historical Sketches

You either love him or hate him. But even those who despise him, have to admit he was a good Protector of England.

“To give the devil (Cromwell) his due, he restored justice, as well distributive as comutative, almost to it’s ancient dignity and splendour; the judges without covetousness discharging their duties according to law and equity…..His own court also was regulated according to a severe discipline; here no drunkard, nor whoremonger, nor any guilty of bribery, was to be found, without severe punishment. Trade began again to prosper; and in a word, gentle peace to flourish all over England.”

Physician to the Cromwellian Court, George Bate, Post-Restoration indictment of his master Oliver Cromwell.

There seems to be little middle ground.

“He was a practical mystic, the most formidable and terrible of all combinations, uniting an aspiration derived from the celestial and supernatural with the energy of a mighty man of action; a great captain, but off the field seeming, like a thunderbolt, the agent of greater forces than himself ; no hypocrite, but a defender of the faith; the raiser and maintainer of the Empire of England.”

Lord Rosebery, in W.C. Abbott, The Writings and Speeches of Oliver Cromwell

I can relate to that “practical mystic.”

Anyway, I think this is a perfect occasion to watch Cromwell (1970) starring Richard Harris as Cromwell and Alec Guinness as Charles I. This is actually a really good movie, and I think Harris, although an Irishman and raised to be a hater, gets Cromwell just right. It is, indeed, one of his best film roles. Alec Guinness looks eerily like the King and manages to make him real and sympathetic.

Here’s a clip to whet your appetite: