In his own words Oliver Cromwell was '...by birth a gentleman, living neither in any considerable height, nor yet in obscurity'. By the end of his life he had left a mark on history that no-one would forget. Edward Hyde , Lord Clarendon called him 'this extra-ordinary man' who had 'mounted himself upon the throne of three kingdoms, without the name of king but with a greater power and authority than had ever been exercised or claimed by any king'.

He became an exemplary military commander in spite of having no military training. He created an armed force that according to the Duke of Tuscany was 'the terror of the world'. Astounding achievements, especially when his beginnings were so relatively humble.

The common image of Oliver Cromwell is a dour and zealous Puritan, quick to anger and eager to stamp out anything that was not pious and Godly. The truth is far more complicated. The numerous proclamations he was to issue as the Lord Protector were rarely motivated by dogma but as a necessity to prevent his enemies from working against him. He was fond apparently of pillow fights as a middle aged man and a Pythonesque account by a Colonel Ewer tells of Cromwell and Henry Marten, once they had signed the death warrant for the execution of Charles I of then covering each other with the very same ink! He 'loved an innocent jest' but it was a style of humour lacking in refinement, to his advantage however was that it sat well with the common man such as his troops were.

Baxter said of him,

"He was naturally of such a vivacity, hilarity and alacrity, as another man is when he hath drunken a cup of wine too much."

But he earned as much notoriety for his fiery temper. However short his temper really was he was fully in control of it, as described by Cromwell's steward as Protector, Maidstone:

"His head so shaped as you might see it a storehouse and shop both of a vast treasury of natural parts. His temper was exceeding fiery but the flame of it kept down for the most part, was soon allayed with those moral endowments he had. He was naturally compassionate towards objects in distress A larger soul, I think. hath seldom dwelt in a house of clay."

All in all a very contradictory figure, larger than life who lived life to the full in many ways in spite of his Puritan beliefs. He was never a "Roundhead" who would cut their hair short and wear sombre clothing, he was more of a broad minded style of Puritan like many of his fellows in Parliament who wore their hair long and enjoyed some of the finer things in life. He was especially keen on instrumental music and singing and would later found the Committee for the Advancement of Music. He was well known for the occasional tipple, having a particular fondness for an ale called 'Morning Dew' or the occasional medicinal cup of wine and also port, which he may have introduced to England.

If his notoriety for slapstick in adult life is anything to go by it is likely he was a lively and high spirited child. His detractors, however, do their best to demonise Cromwell from cradle to grave with fanciful accounts including a tale of the infant Cromwell being carried onto the roof of Hinchingbrooke by a monkey, of punching King Charles in the nose while Charles was visiting Hinchinbrooke with his father James I and of being rescued from drowning by a clergyman who later told Cromwell he wished he had held him under. His youth did not escape scandalous comment either with claims he had made several women pregnant and earned the title of 'town bull of Ely'.

Colorful Infancy

Restoration writer James Heath paints a colourful and unashamedly biased picture of the young Cromwell in his text 'Flagellurn':

"He was born and descended of a very ancient knightly Family of his name in the County of Huntingdon, where for many ages they have bad a very large and plentiful patrimony; it will suffice therefore to deduce him from no further originals then Sir Henry Cromwel. his grandfather, a Gentleman highly honoured and beloved both in Court and Country. who had issue Sir Oliver his eldest Son, Henry. Robert. Richard and Sir Philip the youngest. (whose Son upon suspicion of poysoning his Master a Lawyer. was accused thereupon and convicted. and hanged some 35 years agoe.) This our Oliver Cromwel was Son of Mr. Rob. Cromwell the third Son of Sir Henry. a Gentleman who went no less in esteem and reputation then any of his Ancestors. for his personal worth. till his unfortunate production of this his Son and Heir, whom he had by his Wife Elizabeth Steward the Niece of Sir Robert Steward.

Cromwell's Baptismal Entry: AD 1599 (England's plague for 25 years (crossed out). Oliver the son of Robert Cromwell gentleman and Eli'abeth his wife born the 25th Day of April and baptised the 29th of the same month.

He was born April the 25 in St. Johns Parish in the town of Huntingdon and was Christened in that Church the 29 of the same Month Anno Domini 1599 where Sir Oliver Cromwell his Uncle gave him his name. Being received into the bosome of the Church by her Rites and Ceremonies, both which he afterwards rent and tore and ungraciously and impiously annulled and renounced.

From his Infancy to his Childhood he was of a Crosse and peevish disposition. which being humoured by the fondnesse of his Mother made that rough and intractable temper more robust and outrageous in his juvenile years and adult and Masterlesse at Mansestate.

Among the rest of those ill qualities which fructuatcd in him at this age, He was very notorious for robbing of Orchards, a puerile crime and an ordinary trespasse but grown so scandalous and injurious by the frequent spoyls and damages of Trees, breaking of Hedges and Inclosures committed by this Apple-Dragon, that many solemn complaints were made both to his Father and Master for redresse thereof, which missed not their satisfaction and expiation out of his hide, on which so much pains were lost, that, that very offence ripened in him afterwards to the throwing down of all boundaries of Law or Conscience and the Stealing and tasting of the Forbidden fruit of Soveraignty, by which (as the Serpent told him) He should be like unto a God.

From this, he passed unto another more manly theft: the robbing of Dove-houses, stealing the young Pidgeons, and eating and merchandizing of them and that so publiquely that he became dreadfully suspect to all the adjacent Country; and this was an unhappy allusory omen of his after Actions when he Robbd the King his Soveraign of his Innocence and Virtues, and prostituted them to the People and Souldiery and made the World about him afraid of his Villanies.

His father removed him to the Tuition of Dr. Beard, Schoolmaster of the Free School of that Town, where his Book began to persecute him, and Learning to Commence his great and irreconcileable Enemy, for his Master honestly and severely observing that and other his Faults (which like Weeds, sprung out of his rank and uncultivable nature) did by Correction hope to better his manners; and with a diligent Hand and careful Eye to hinder the thick growth of those Vices which were so predominant and visible in him; yet though herein he trespassed upon that respect and lenity due and usual to Children of his Birth and quality: he prevailed nothing against his obstinate and perverse inclination. The Learning and Civility he had, coming upon him like fits of Enthusiasme, now a hard Student for a Week or two, and then a Truant or Otiofo for twice as many Months; of no-setled constancy. the very tenour and mode of his future Life till his grand attainment."

More Birth of Cromwell

Introduction
Cromwell's Parents
The Montague Feud
The Short and Long Parliaments