April 25th: Oliver Cromwell

Today is the birth date of Oliver Cromwell, born in 1559. Hero or terrorist? You decide.

1. It's often said that Oliver Cromwell cancelled Christmas in 1647. Not exactly, apparently. It was fine for people to fast and pray, since it was a commemoration of events mentioned in the Bible - what was banned was any kind of secular celebration - feasting and drinking and the like. So the people could celebrate Christmas, they just weren't allowed to enjoy it.
2. Controversy still rages about whether Cromwell was a hero or a villain. Arguments for him being a bad guy include that he had King Charles II executed, his part in the massacres of Drogheda and Wexford in Ireland, which he justified as "righteous judgement of God upon these barbarous wretches". If someone said that today, they'd be branded a terrorist. Although he didn't actually order the massacre of Wexford, he condoned it by not punishing those who took part.
3. Cromwell was only one of 59 people to sign the death warrant of Charles II, so he wasn't solely responsible for that; but he was in favour of it.
4. One good thing that came out of his time was the constitutional safeguard which meant no monarch could ever rule alone - Parliament would have a moderating influence; although Cromwell himself left no written constitution or instructions for how to run a country.
5. One of his closest comrades once commented: "Cromwell will weep, howl and repent even while he doth smite you under the fifth rib," suggesting that while he had no compunction about killing people if he thought it necessary, at least he didn't enjoy it.
6. Cromwell became the Member of Parliament for Huntingdon in the Parliament of 1628–1629, as a client of the Montagu family of Hinchingbrooke House. He made just one speech (against the Arminian Bishop Richard Neile), which was poorly received.
7. Cromwell had no formal training in military tactics. He relied upon common practice and a natural talent for leadership. He took great care to train his troops well, equip them fully and impose tight discipline.
8. He died from malaria and a kidney infection. His last words were "My design is to make what haste I can to be gone."
9. Cromwell's enemies weren't satisfied that he should have died of natural causes, so three years after his death they dug up his body, hung it at Tyburn and mutilated it. In some accounts, the severed head was mounted on a pole and blew off one windy night and landed at a soldier's feet. Later still, people raised questions about whether vengeful royalists had got the right body, and all these indignities could have been suffered by an innocent corpse.
10. Cromwell once said, "No-one rises so high as he who knows not whither he is going."