Oliver Cromwell

On the evening of January 30, 1649, the body of King Charles I of England was lying under black velvet in a room at Whitehall where Charles had spent the last days before his execution. That afternoon Charles had been beheaded on a platform before an audience that included his chaplain, throngs of public spectators, and government troops called out in case the King should make a last minute appeal to his people. Guarding the King's body were two of his noblemen, including the Earl of Southampton, both sitting nearby in a state of deep melancholy. According to legend, at about 2 a.m. the men heard the footsteps of someone coming slowly up the stairs. In a moment the door opened and they saw a dark figure, closely muffled in his cape, with his face hidden. The visitor approached the body, gazed at the face of the dead King for some time, and then shook his head. With a sigh, he whispered: "Cruel necessity." Then he left as quickly and quietly as he'd arrived. Although the guards never saw the man's face, the Earl of Southampton had no doubt as to whom the distinctive voice and gait belonged. They belonged to Oliver Cromwell - the man who had overthrown the King and signed the order for his execution.

The rise of a man like Oliver Cromwell and the fall of a King like Charles I could only have happened in this age of the mid 17th century, when a revolutionary fever was sweeping almost all of Europe, and when England itself was ripped apart by religious and political dissension. Even then, it is a remarkable story that a modest and pious English gentleman, with no military background, could defeat the King's army, push through the trial and execution of his monarch, and become himself the leader of the united Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Yet Oliver Cromwell did just that, in a period of only ten years.

• Oliver Cromwell Biography
• The Life of Oliver Cromwell
• Oliver Cromwell's family
• Who was Oliver Cromwell?
• Charles I and Oliver Cromwell
• Oliver Cromwell in English civil war
• Oliver Cromwell Revolutionary War
• Death of Oliver Cromwell
• Problems Oliver Cromwell Faced
• Oliver Cromwell Hero or Villain
• 10 Facts on Oliver Cromwell