Oliver Cromwell was the pivotal figure of the English Revolution. He emerged from relative obscurity to become Parliament’s greatest commander of cavalry in the Civil War, the leader of the radical wing of the mainstream revolutionary movement, and, eventually, the military strongman who attempted to impose a permanent political settlement following the execution of the King and the abolition of the monarchy. In a sense, he combined the roles of Robespierre and Napoleon in the French Revolution.
He has, of course, been the subject of an enormous quantity of biographical literature. Much of this, however, as Ronald Hutton is at pains to explain in this new study, is problematic.
The contemporary sources are highly partisan. This includes Cromwell’s own voluminous testimony. More of his own words are preserved than for any other British ruler before Queen Victoria. Many historians, with such an abundance of source material, have been tempted to take it at face value.
The Congress of Roman Frontier Studies