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00:36On January 30th, 1649, the English killed their king.
00:43It had happened before, of course,
00:46all those Edwards and Richards violently done in by their own subjects,
00:51but this was different.
00:53Now the British monarchy itself had been exterminated.
00:57Now there was just the people and its parliament,
01:01the keepers of the liberties of England.
01:04But what was the point of freedom when you were frightened?
01:08What the people really wanted to know was who would keep them safe?
01:18Who would stop the soldiers from burning and pillaging,
01:22allow people to sleep quietly in their beds?
01:25Who would protect them from the wars of religion and politics
01:29which seemed to go on and on and on?
01:34Would it be parliament or would it be a great general like Oliver Cromwell?
01:41It doesn't matter, said the hard-headed philosopher Thomas Hobbes,
01:46a royalist who'd come back to Cromwell's England.
01:50What the country needs is a strong ruler who embodies all the people.
01:59Whatever or whoever can save the country from anarchy,
02:04whatever can save you from yourselves,
02:07never mind about what's right or wrong.
02:10Put yourself in the hands of the power that protects,
02:13the all-powerful Leviathan.
02:22If that's Oliver Cromwell, then so be it.
02:26It's the reasonable thing to do.
02:29But the Scots, the English and the Irish,
02:31were not about to be reasonable
02:33because they were much too busy being righteous.
02:36Over the next half-century,
02:38righteousness would kill a lot of the British.
02:41At the end of it all, reason would appear,
02:44but not before a lot of tears have been shed.
02:47Tears of rapture and tears of grief.
02:50Tears of rapture and tears of relief.
03:31Not everyone was lying awake at night, biting their nails about the plight of kingless Britain.
03:38For many, this was the dawn of a new age.
03:42It's true, no one had foreseen this during the civil wars,
03:46but in giving them victory, the Almighty had shown them
03:49that Albion must be turned into Jerusalem.
03:53He had lain the Stuart kings in the dust.
03:56The only king to follow now was King Jesus,
04:00and the only true government, that of his saints.
04:09Let them sing aloud upon their beds.
04:12Let the high praises of God be in their mouth and a two-edged sword in their head.
04:27The kingdom of God was at hand, the most blessed revolution of all,
04:31and no one was more convinced of this than Albion's holy warrior, Oliver Cromwell.
04:41Religion was not at first the thing contended for,
04:44but God brought it to that issue at last,
04:47and at last it proved that which was most dear to us.
04:54Cromwell called himself a seeker,
04:57and what he sought all his life was God's destiny for himself and for his country.
05:04At first, he'd been innocent of the Lord's design.
05:08For years, he'd just led the life of an obscure East Anglian country gentleman.
05:14Just as Cromwell was beginning to make his way in the world,
05:18some sort of crisis happened to his modest fortune.
05:22But what the world might have seen as misfortune
05:25was, through the cunning of the Almighty, his saving grace.
05:31He underwent some kind of religious conversion.
05:35The vanities were stripped away so he might be opened to the light.
05:43Oh, I lived in and loved darkness and hated the light.
05:47This is true.
05:48I hated godliness, yet God had mercy on me.
05:53Oh, the riches of his mercy.
06:00The sense that God had some special service for him
06:03made a new man of Cromwell.
06:06He knew where he was going.
06:08He knew what had to be done.
06:11What had to be done was to tear the sword
06:14out of the hands of the untrustworthy, papist-loving king.
06:20He went to war as a complete novice
06:23with no military experience whatsoever.
06:26But his sense of divine appointment was his armour.
06:30It made him supremely confident,
06:33cool under fire but never reckless.
06:38An aura of invincibility began to cling to him.
06:42He became the driving force of the godly revolution.
06:48When the vanquished king defied God's judgement,
06:53his blood was needed to expiate the crime.
06:57But it became obvious that doing away with the monarch
06:59was no guarantee of doing away with the monarchy.
07:04For if Charles couldn't be among his subjects in person,
07:07his proxy could.
07:13The Greek word icon means both an image and a copy.
07:17And the icon basilicae, the spitting image of the king,
07:21appeared within a week of his execution.
07:24It was an instant bestseller,
07:26going through 35 editions in a year,
07:29and it made Charles an imperishable martyr.
07:34A latter-day Christ sacrificed for the sins of his people.
07:39Like Christ, Charles, too, would be resurrected,
07:43wearing his heavenly crown,
07:44and made flesh in the person of his son, Charles II,
07:48awaiting the call from exile in France.
07:54The poet John Milton,
07:56an ardent champion of the Parliamentary Commonwealth,
07:59was hired to attack the cult of the king martyr
08:02as so much wicked idolatry.
08:05To persuade the fearful and the gullible,
08:08they didn't need a Charles I.
08:10In fact, they didn't need any Stuart monarch.
08:13Look, he wanted to say,
08:15just stop worrying about the dead king.
08:18You're the sovereign now.
08:19Come to think of it, you've always been the sovereign.
08:23Kings have been yours to hire or fire.
08:28But when Cromwell and Milton told the people
08:30that it was time for them to govern themselves,
08:34they didn't, of course, mean to be taken literally.
08:37What?
08:38Every jumped-up weaver or ploughman
08:40with some six-mini book learning,
08:42announcing he'd just appointed himself
08:44the magistrate of mucking on the world,
08:46granting himself the vote?
08:48Heaven forbid!
08:50That way lay chaos.
08:54No, the people should put the government of the state
08:57into the hands of the kind of men
08:59God saw fit us to exercise it,
09:02incorruptible men of substance and piety.
09:06Oh, I see, said free-born John Lilburn, the leveller,
09:11an ex-army officer who wanted to level the distance between the mighty and the humble,
09:16the rich and the poor.
09:17You mean the same kind of people who got us into this mess in the first place?
09:31We've all known a John Lilburn, haven't we?
09:33Some of us have even been John Lilburn.
09:36First of the barricades, first to be arrested, won't shut up.
09:39But love him or hate him, you know he won't go away.
09:46To squire Cromwell, he was a pain in the neck,
09:49a dangerous loudmouth, capable of wrecking discipline in the army.
09:56Lilburn, for his part, detested the new regime.
10:02All you intended when you set us a-fighting
10:05was merely to un-horse and dismount our old riders and tyrants
10:08so that you might get up and ride in their stead.
10:11The soldiers read free-born John
10:13and actually believed they should have a vote.
10:17Give them an inch and they'd take a mile.
10:20Pretty soon the men would start believing
10:22their officers were the tyrants,
10:24Lilburn and the levellers said they were.
10:29They had to be stopped.
10:31An army was not, repeat not, a commune.
10:38I tell you, you have no other way to deal with these men
10:43but to break them or they will break you.
10:46Yea, and bring all the guilt of the blood and treasure
10:50shed and spent in this kingdom
10:52upon your heads and shoulders and frustrate
10:56and make void all that work
10:58that with so many years' industry, toil and pains
11:01you have done.
11:02I tell you again,
11:04you are necessitated to break them.
11:09Off to the tower
11:11went the leveller leaders
11:12like so many traitors.
11:15But then something astounding happened.
11:19A petitioning campaign to demand the release of the levellers
11:23was mobilised in London by leveller women.
11:27Now for the Puritans,
11:29the cardinal virtues of women were silence and meekness.
11:32But these women were shameless,
11:35obstinate, loud-mouthed
11:37and, it has to be admitted, brave.
11:41leveller women had always been involved
11:43in the movement's political campaigns.
11:46Elizabeth Lilburn had been politicised
11:48through her efforts to spring her reckless husband
11:51from one prison or another.
11:54Mary Overton had been brutally punished
11:57for printing and distributing her husband's tracts,
12:00tied to the end of a cart
12:02and dragged through London streets
12:03with her six-month-old baby
12:05pelted and abused like a common whore.
12:09But the most impassioned and articulate of the sisters
12:12was a woman called Catherine Chidley.
12:14She started as a charismatic preacher
12:17and turned to politics
12:18in an attempt to make the Commonwealth
12:20understand the particular sufferings of her sex.
12:26Considering that we have an equal share
12:29and interest with men in the Commonwealth
12:31and it cannot be laid waste
12:33and considering that poverty, misery and famine
12:38like a mighty torrent is breaking in upon us
12:41and we are not able to see our children hang upon us
12:45and cry out for bread
12:46and not have wherewithal to feed them,
12:49we had rather die than see that death.
12:56This was not what Oliver Cromwell had expected
12:59from Jerusalem.
13:01It got worse.
13:08In May 1649,
13:10some hundreds of soldiers mutinied
13:12and tried to combine forces in Oxfordshire.
13:17Cromwell rode hell for leather 50 miles in a day
13:21and caught them in the middle of the night at Burford.
13:30One of the prisoners,
13:32Anthony Sedley,
13:33locked in the church,
13:34expecting the worst,
13:35carved his name into the font.
13:39The next morning,
13:40three of his comrades in arms
13:42were led out into the churchyard
13:44and shot.
13:49Then,
13:50Oliver went off to get an honorary degree in law
13:53from Oxford.
13:56And he made sure that the mutinous soldiers
13:59were shipped off to a place
14:01where they could bend their frustration
14:02on someone else.
14:05Angry, are we?
14:06was his line.
14:08Want to know who's to blame
14:10for prolonging the civil wars?
14:14Say hello to the Antichrist
14:16across the Irish Sea.
14:20The target of Cromwell's march through blood
14:22was an army of royalists
14:24holding out in Ireland
14:25in the name of King Charles' son.
14:28In fact,
14:29it was as much Protestant as Catholic.
14:31But in his conviction,
14:32they were the legions of the devil.
14:34Cromwell was not about to make nice distinctions.
14:41At Drogheda,
14:42on the main road
14:43between Dublin and Ulster,
14:44he made it only too clear
14:46what he had in mind.
14:49There's no point sidestepping this horror,
14:52is there?
14:53This was Cromwell's war crime,
14:55an atrocity so hideous
14:57it's contaminated Anglo-Irish history
14:59ever since.
15:01But we need to get right
15:02just what this atrocity was.
15:05What it wasn't
15:06was the indiscriminate butchery
15:08of women and children.
15:09No eyewitnesses
15:11ever claimed to have seen
15:12any such thing.
15:14But what Cromwell did order,
15:16unhesitatingly
15:17and without any mercy,
15:19was in any case
15:20an act of unspeakable murder.
15:31At least 3,000 royalist soldiers
15:35were butchered at Drogheda.
15:38The vast majority
15:40after they had surrendered
15:41and disarmed.
15:51At St Peter's Church,
15:53Cromwell had his soldiers
15:55burn the pews beneath the steeple
15:57to smoke out the defenders
15:59who were incinerated in the flames.
16:02The general saw no need
16:04to hang his head
16:05about the massacre.
16:07We are come to break the power
16:09of a company of lawless rebels
16:10who, having cast off
16:11the authority of England,
16:13live as enemies
16:14to human society
16:15whose principles
16:16are to destroy
16:17and subjugate
16:18all men
16:19not complying with them.
16:21We come
16:22by the assistance
16:23of God
16:24to hold forth
16:25and maintain
16:26the lustre and glory
16:27of English liberty
16:28in a nation
16:29where we have
16:30an undoubted right
16:31to it.
16:33This is absolutely
16:35authentic
16:36Oliver Cromwell
16:37and today
16:37it makes for
16:39unbearable reading.
16:40No, it's not
16:42the confession
16:42of a genocidal lunatic
16:44but it is
16:45the confession
16:46of a narrow-minded
16:47pig-headed
16:48Protestant bigot
16:49and English imperialist
16:51and that
16:52surely
16:53is bad enough.
16:57Cromwell
16:58treated Ireland
16:59like the primitive
17:01colony
17:01he thought it was
17:03moving the native Irish
17:04off their farms
17:06and using the land
17:07to pay his soldiers.
17:08but before
17:09he could finish
17:10his pacification
17:12if that's what
17:13he thought it was
17:13another piece
17:14of unquiet Britain
17:16rose up
17:17to mock him.
17:19For the Scots
17:20had invited
17:21the 20-year-old
17:22Charles II
17:23to come and be
17:24their king
17:25and went to war
17:26on his behalf.
17:31Cromwell
17:32lured them
17:32into England
17:33in the summer
17:34of 1651
17:35where the Scottish
17:36army found itself
17:37caught
17:38between two
17:39massively bigger
17:40forces.
17:44At the Battle
17:45of Worcester
17:46on the 3rd
17:47of September
17:48it went down
17:49to a ruinous
17:50and irreversible
17:52defeat.
17:56Charles went
17:57on the run
17:58hidden by
17:58royalist sympathisers
18:00until he could
18:00get smuggled
18:01out of the country.
18:10So when
18:11Oliver Cromwell
18:12returned to London
18:13in the autumn
18:14of 1651
18:15it was as
18:17an English
18:17Caesar
18:18the like of whom
18:19had not been seen
18:20since the days
18:21of Edward I.
18:24If Cromwell
18:25was God's
18:26Englishman
18:26it was because
18:27he felt in his marrow
18:28that England
18:29was God's
18:30true promised land
18:31and the best thing
18:33that could happen
18:33for Britain
18:34was that it
18:35become as English
18:36as possible.
18:38The Stuart dream
18:39of a united
18:40Britain of course
18:41had been what
18:42had started
18:43the civil wars.
18:44Now Cromwell
18:45had ended them
18:46by making that dream
18:47a reality
18:48not as a united
18:50kingdom
18:50but as a united
18:52republic
18:52of Great Britain.
18:57But what kind
18:59of republic
18:59was it supposed
19:00to be?
19:01As much as
19:02anyone
19:02Cromwell
19:03knew the country
19:03was exhausted
19:04from almost
19:0515 years
19:06of war
19:07it was time
19:08as he said
19:09to heal
19:10and settle.
19:13But this
19:14didn't mean
19:15business as usual
19:16surely
19:17God didn't mean
19:18for so much
19:18blood and treasure
19:20to have been spilled
19:21only so that
19:22ungodly lawyers
19:24and money brokers
19:25could get richer.
19:26And that
19:27seemed to be
19:28the way things
19:29were going
19:29under the government
19:30of the parliament
19:31the keeper
19:32of the liberties
19:33of England
19:34as its style
19:35itself.
19:37It still sat
19:39as it had
19:39when its members
19:40had been purged
19:41by the army
19:41to allow the trial
19:43of the king
19:43to proceed
19:44ridiculed
19:45by its enemies
19:46as the rump.
19:47To Cromwell
19:49the rump
19:50was a monstrosity
19:52a bastion
19:52of selfishness
19:53and greed
19:54more like Sodom
19:56than Jerusalem.
19:57Worst of all
19:59it showed
19:59no signs
20:00at all
20:01of wanting
20:01ever
20:02to close down.
20:03When it came up
20:04with a bill
20:05designed to
20:05replace old members
20:07and keep itself
20:08going indefinitely
20:09this was
20:10the last straw.
20:16On April 20th
20:181653
20:19Cromwell
20:20marched down
20:21to Westminster
20:22in the company
20:23of a troop
20:23of musketeers.
20:31Moses
20:32was descending
20:34from the mountain
20:35and he was
20:36not a happy prophet.
20:42Well at first
20:43it seemed
20:43as though
20:44the member
20:44for Cambridge
20:45might actually
20:45behave himself.
20:47Cromwell
20:48sat in his
20:48usual seat
20:49he doffed his hat
20:51he asked the speaker
20:52respectfully
20:53if he might
20:54address the house
20:54and he even
20:55commended the rump
20:56for its care
20:57of the public good.
20:59But as he warmed
21:00to his task
21:01the niceties
21:02were tossed aside
21:03and he began
21:03to berate
21:04the astounded
21:05members
21:06for their indifference
21:07to justice
21:08and to piety.
21:10I expect
21:11you think
21:11this is not
21:12parliamentary language
21:14he said
21:14well
21:15I confess
21:16it is not
21:17and neither
21:18are you to expect
21:19any such
21:20from me.
21:22The hat
21:23went back on
21:24this is always
21:25a very bad sign
21:26and Cromwell
21:27started to march
21:28up and down
21:28in the middle
21:29of the chamber
21:29now
21:30shouting
21:31that the Lord
21:31had done with them
21:33and had chosen
21:33instruments
21:34more worthy
21:35of their calling.
21:37Now some poor soul
21:38tried to stop him
21:39in full spate
21:40but by this time
21:41Cromwell
21:42was in exterminating
21:43angel mode
21:44and brushed him
21:44aside contemptuously.
21:46You are no
21:47parliament
21:48he bellowed
21:49I say
21:49you are no
21:50parliament
21:51and with that
21:52he called in
21:53the musketeers
21:54the boots
21:55entered
21:55heavily
21:56noisily.
21:59Parliament
21:59was shut down.
22:07this was a
22:08depressingly
22:08modern moment
22:10a classic
22:10coup d'etat
22:11in fact.
22:12It was at this
22:13point that Cromwell
22:14crossed the line
22:15from mere bullying
22:16to outright
22:17dictatorship
22:18and in so doing
22:19he undid
22:20at a stroke
22:21the entire
22:22point of the war
22:23that he himself
22:24had fought
22:24against the king's
22:26unparliamentary
22:27conduct.
22:28Cromwell
22:29liked to claim
22:29he was striking
22:30a blow
22:31against what he
22:31called ambition
22:32and avarice
22:33but what he
22:34really wounded
22:35and fatally
22:36was the
22:37commonwealth
22:37itself.
22:48This is the
22:49point
22:49at which
22:50Cromwell
22:51could have
22:51seized power
22:52and everyone
22:53expected him
22:54to.
22:56But Cromwell
22:57wasn't working
22:58for himself
22:59he was working
23:00for God.
23:02In Parliament's
23:03place
23:04he would set up
23:05an assembly
23:05of men
23:06hand-picked
23:07for their
23:07piety
23:08it would be
23:09an assembly
23:10of saints
23:11and his language
23:13was very different
23:14as he exhorted
23:15them to go
23:16about their
23:17business.
23:21Love all the
23:23sheep
23:23love the lambs
23:25love all
23:26tender all
23:30But mystical
23:31rapture
23:32and politics
23:33don't go well
23:34together
23:34at least not
23:35in Britain
23:36and in a few
23:37months
23:38the unworkable
23:39assembly
23:39collapsed
23:40its leaders
23:41begging Cromwell
23:42to put it
23:43out of its
23:43misery
23:46He duly
23:48obliged
23:50Now they
23:51seem no
23:51alternative
23:52but to take
23:53the crown
23:53to become
23:55Oliver I
23:56first
23:57But this
23:58was still
23:58a step
23:59too far
24:00for a man
24:00whom God
24:01had told
24:01to punish
24:02the haughtiness
24:03of kings
24:04So instead
24:05he chose
24:06to become
24:06a lord protector
24:08That had a good
24:09ring to it
24:10authority
24:10but not
24:11tyranny
24:13He was king
24:14in all but
24:15name
24:16but a
24:16constitutional
24:17sovereign
24:18ruling
24:19with a council
24:20and a newly
24:21elected
24:21parliament
24:24His great
24:25hope
24:26was for
24:27a settling
24:27but the truth
24:29was that the
24:30protector himself
24:30was anything
24:31but settled
24:32in his own
24:33mind
24:33about the
24:34direction
24:34he should
24:35take the
24:35country
24:36Should Britain
24:37be righteous
24:38or reasonable
24:39It was a civil
24:41war he fought
24:42over and over
24:42again
24:43in his own
24:44head
24:46Squire Cromwell
24:47could see the
24:47virtues of a
24:48reasonable
24:49state of affairs
24:50Given a little
24:51breathing space
24:52the old world
24:53of the counties
24:54was coming
24:54ever so cautiously
24:55back to life
24:58Magistrates
24:59were sitting
24:59at courts
25:00Gentlemen
25:01riding to hounds
25:02War damaged
25:03houses being
25:04repaired
25:04Children
25:05being married
25:06off
25:06Friends
25:07and neighbours
25:08asked to
25:12dinner
25:13And not least
25:13when some
25:14of those
25:14gentlemen
25:15were elected
25:15to the
25:16protectorate
25:16parliaments
25:17the old
25:18connections
25:18between
25:19Westminster
25:19and the
25:20counties
25:20the secret
25:21of English
25:22government
25:23were at
25:24last
25:24being put
25:25back
25:25together
25:28But the
25:29righteous
25:29side of
25:30Cromwell
25:30fretted
25:31that this
25:31return to
25:32an older
25:32way of
25:33doing things
25:33was only
25:34too successful
25:35that it
25:36was not
25:36so much
25:37healing
25:37as
25:38backsliding
25:38royalism
25:40by the
25:41backdoor
25:41So in
25:431655
25:44Cromwell
25:46turned his
25:46mastiffs
25:47loose
25:50The
25:51Major
25:51Generals
25:55It was
25:56their job
25:56to take
25:57righteousness
25:58out into
25:58the shires
25:59the Protestant
26:00Taliban
26:01on horseback
26:02muffle the
26:03bell ringers
26:04snoop
26:05on the
26:05L houses
26:06lock up
26:07the
26:07fornicators
26:08cancel
26:09Christmas
26:15John Evelyn
26:16ardent
26:17royalist
26:18and gentleman
26:18of letters
26:19who grudgingly
26:20endured the
26:21leviathan
26:22of the
26:22Cromwellian
26:22state
26:23was one
26:24of countless
26:24people who
26:25found themselves
26:26on the
26:26short end
26:27of the
26:27general's
26:28bullying
26:30I went
26:31with my
26:31wife to
26:32London
26:32to celebrate
26:33Christmas
26:34Day
26:34Mr Gunning
26:35preaching in
26:36Exeter
26:37Chapel
26:37As he was
26:39giving us
26:39the Holy
26:39Sacrament
26:40the chapel
26:41was surrounded
26:41by soldiers
26:45all the
26:46communicants
26:46and assembly
26:47surprised
26:48and kept
26:48prisoner
26:49by them
26:49some in
26:50the house
26:50others
26:51carried away
26:56it was a
26:57public relations
26:58disaster
26:59for the
27:00protectorate
27:00the prudent
27:02Cromwell
27:02reasserted
27:03himself
27:03over the
27:04pious
27:04and he
27:05got rid
27:06of the
27:06major
27:06generals
27:07in a
27:07hurry
27:11there
27:11were some
27:12places
27:12though
27:12where the
27:13two instincts
27:14worked
27:14together
27:15and changed
27:16Britain
27:16as a result
27:17and this
27:18is one
27:18of them
27:19the synagogue
27:20of Bevis
27:20Marks
27:21in London
27:24Historians
27:24sometimes
27:25complain
27:25that it's
27:26difficult
27:26to find
27:27hard
27:27evidence
27:28of any
27:28good
27:28at all
27:29that came
27:29out of
27:30the
27:30protectorate
27:30well
27:31this is
27:32hard enough
27:33evidence
27:33for me
27:34for it
27:34was on
27:35these
27:35unforgiving
27:36backless
27:37oak
27:38benches
27:38that the
27:39first Jews
27:40to be admitted
27:40since the
27:41expulsion
27:42360 something
27:43years before
27:44parked their
27:45behinds
27:46it was under
27:47the protectorate
27:48that Jews
27:49were allowed
27:49finally to
27:50worship openly
27:51and to live
27:52openly
27:52what became
27:53a little piece
27:54of early
27:55multicultural
27:56London
27:56it's Oliver
27:57Cromwell
27:58we have to
27:58thank for that
27:59for opening
28:00a new chapter
28:01of Anglo-Jewish
28:02history
28:03my history
28:18his apocalyptic
28:19timetable
28:20told him
28:21that the
28:21conversion
28:22of the
28:22Jews
28:23would
28:23herald
28:24the
28:24coming
28:24of the
28:25last
28:25days
28:25but
28:26his
28:27business
28:27sense
28:27told him
28:28that
28:28through
28:29their
28:29network
28:29in the
28:30Dutch
28:30and
28:30Spanish
28:30trading
28:31world
28:31the
28:32Jews
28:32could
28:32be
28:32a
28:33priceless
28:33source
28:34of
28:34commercial
28:35and
28:35military
28:35intelligence
28:38piety
28:39and pragmatism
28:40those twin
28:41qualities
28:41so often
28:42at odds
28:43inside
28:43Cromwell's
28:44personality
28:44this time
28:45came together
28:46to make
28:47him
28:47as far
28:48as the
28:48Jews
28:48were
28:48concerned
28:49a true
28:50lord
28:50protector
28:52but not
28:53king
28:54in the
28:55end
28:55and so
28:56unlike
28:57the king
28:58he had
28:58destroyed
28:59Cromwell
29:00could never
29:00shake off
29:01his sense
29:01of
29:01unworthiness
29:02it was
29:03what
29:04saved
29:04him
29:04and
29:05Britain
29:05from
29:06a
29:06true
29:06dictatorship
29:08Oliver
29:09Cromwell
29:10believed
29:10he worked
29:11for
29:11God
29:11real
29:12dictators
29:13think
29:13they
29:13are
29:13God
29:14it
29:15was
29:15those
29:15men
29:16who
29:16fancied
29:16themselves
29:17little
29:17gods
29:18Charles
29:18I
29:19or
29:19the
29:19Republican
29:20oligarchs
29:21who
29:21most
29:21aroused
29:22Cromwell's
29:23contempt
29:24simplicity
29:25was a
29:25word
29:26he used
29:26all the
29:26time
29:27about
29:27himself
29:27and
29:28it
29:28was
29:28the
29:28highest
29:29of
29:29moral
29:29compliments
29:30but
29:31to
29:31prolong
29:32the
29:32protectorate
29:33Cromwell
29:33actually
29:33needed
29:34to be
29:34more
29:35of a
29:35leviathan
29:36than
29:36he could
29:36ever
29:36stomach
29:37and
29:37that
29:38is
29:38both
29:39his
29:39exoneration
29:40and
29:40his
29:41failure
29:43and
29:44and
29:44it's
29:44one
29:44of the
29:44most
29:44extraordinary
29:45ironies
29:46of
29:46British
29:46history
29:47that
29:47Cromwell's
29:48protectorate
29:49demonised
29:50by both
29:50royalists
29:51and
29:51republicans
29:52alike
29:52ultimately
29:53formed the
29:54blueprint
29:55for our
29:55constitutional
29:56monarchy
29:57a chief
29:58executive
29:59who chose
29:59his government
30:00but who
30:01were both
30:01answerable
30:02to a
30:02regularly
30:03elected
30:04parliament
30:05but
30:06Cromwell
30:07himself
30:07would not
30:08live
30:09to see
30:09this
30:09happen
30:12on
30:13September
30:143rd
30:141658
30:15the
30:16anniversary
30:17of the
30:17battle
30:17of Worcester
30:18Cromwell
30:19died
30:19while
30:20an
30:20immense
30:21black
30:21tempest
30:22was raging
30:23over
30:23England
30:23ripping
30:24out
30:24trees
30:25and
30:25sending
30:26belfries
30:26crashing
30:27to the
30:27ground
30:35it
30:36was
30:37the
30:37old
30:37wives
30:38said
30:38the
30:39devil
30:39coming
30:40for
30:40his
30:40soul
30:44what
30:45Oliver
30:46Cromwell
30:46left
30:46behind
30:47was
30:47not
30:47a
30:48workable
30:48political
30:49system
30:49but
30:50a
30:50vision
30:50now
30:51he
30:51may
30:52have
30:52been
30:52an
30:52angry
30:53ruthless
30:53overbearing
30:55man
30:55perhaps
30:55even
30:55a
30:56manic
30:56depressive
30:57but
30:58that
30:58vision
30:58was
30:58something
30:59of
30:59startling
31:00sweetness
31:01a
31:01sighting
31:02of
31:02Jerusalem
31:03a
31:03place
31:04where
31:04everyone
31:04would
31:05be
31:05free
31:05to
31:06receive
31:06Christ
31:07in
31:07their
31:07own
31:07way
31:08provided
31:09that
31:09they
31:09did
31:09not
31:10disturb
31:10the
31:10peace
31:11and
31:11conscience
31:12of
31:12anybody
31:12else
31:13after
31:14all
31:15his
31:15marches
31:16and
31:16slaughters
31:17and
31:17fits
31:17of
31:18table
31:18pounding
31:19red-faced
31:20fury
31:20what
31:21it
31:21turned out
31:22Oliver Cromwell
31:23wanted for
31:23everyone
31:24was a quiet
31:25life
31:27but
31:28Catholics
31:28were excluded
31:29from this
31:30vision
31:30because
31:31for Cromwell
31:31as for
31:32the country
31:32at large
31:33Catholicism
31:34meant
31:34tyranny
31:35the protector
31:37may have
31:37left the
31:38country
31:38safe from
31:38despots
31:39but not
31:40from
31:40anarchy
31:41and after
31:42his death
31:42it returned
31:43with a
31:43vengeance
31:44power
31:45swinging
31:45between
31:45the soldiers
31:46and the
31:46politicians
31:47sleepless
31:48nights
31:48the nagging
31:49questions
31:50from ten
31:50years before
31:52who
31:53will keep
31:53us
31:53safe
31:54who
31:54do
31:55we
31:55obey
31:55where
31:56do
31:56we
31:56find
31:56a
31:56sovereign
31:57to
31:57protect
31:58us
32:00it took
32:00another
32:01hard-headed
32:02soldier
32:02to see
32:03the only
32:03way
32:03to
32:04restore
32:04order
32:05general
32:06George
32:06Monk
32:07had been
32:07a
32:07royalist
32:08in the
32:08civil
32:08war
32:09and a
32:09Cromwellian
32:10when it
32:10seemed
32:11that only
32:11the
32:12protector
32:12could
32:12keep
32:13the
32:13peace
32:13now
32:14he
32:15realised
32:15that
32:15with
32:16the
32:16Lord
32:16Protector
32:16gone
32:17there
32:17was
32:17only
32:18one
32:18person
32:19who
32:19could
32:19take
32:19his
32:19place
32:22that
32:23was
32:24a
32:24new
32:24king
32:28the
32:28irony
32:29about
32:29the
32:29restoration
32:29of
32:30Charles
32:30II
32:30was
32:31that
32:31he
32:31came
32:32to
32:32the
32:32throne
32:32not
32:33because
32:33England
32:34needed
32:34a
32:34successor
32:35to
32:35Charles
32:35I
32:36he
32:37came
32:37to
32:37the
32:37throne
32:37because
32:38England
32:38needed
32:38a
32:39successor
32:39to
32:40Oliver
32:40Cromwell
32:48there
32:49was
32:49universal
32:50rejoicing
32:51bonfires
32:52and
32:52feasting
32:53the
32:54chaos
32:54brought
32:55by
32:55Cromwell's
32:55death
32:56was
32:56ending
32:56and
32:57this
32:57new
32:57Charles
32:58seemed
32:58just
32:59what
32:59everyone
32:59had
33:00hoped
33:00for
33:00a
33:01model
33:01of
33:01sweet
33:02reason
33:02that
33:04at
33:04any
33:04rate
33:05is
33:05what
33:05Samuel
33:05Pepys
33:06thought
33:06Pepys
33:08was
33:08a
33:08pure
33:08product
33:09of
33:09Cromwell's
33:10England
33:10he
33:11was
33:11present
33:11when
33:11the
33:12new
33:12king
33:12boarded
33:12his
33:13flagship
33:13home
33:14en route
33:15the
33:16tall
33:16dark
33:17haired
33:17man
33:17strode
33:18up
33:18and
33:18down
33:19the
33:19quarter
33:19deck
33:19telling
33:20the
33:20story
33:21of
33:21his
33:21escape
33:21after
33:22the
33:22battle
33:23of
33:23Worcester
33:23here
33:25was
33:25a
33:25king
33:25full
33:26of
33:26charisma
33:29he
33:30had
33:30magic
33:36but
33:37would
33:37his
33:37reason
33:38survive
33:38the
33:39emotions
33:39stirred
33:39by
33:40his
33:40return
33:42the
33:43diarist
33:43John
33:43Evelyn
33:44recorded
33:44with
33:45unrepentant
33:46royalism
33:46burning
33:47in his
33:47breast
33:48this
33:49day
33:49came
33:50in
33:50his
33:50majesty
33:51to
33:51London
33:51after
33:52a
33:53sad
33:53and
33:53long
33:53exile
33:54with
33:55a
33:55triumph
33:56of
33:56above
33:56twenty
33:56thousand
33:57horse
33:57and
33:57foot
33:58brandishing
33:59their
33:59swords
33:59and
33:59shouting
34:00with
34:00inexpressible
34:01joy
34:01the
34:02ways
34:03strewn
34:03with
34:03flowers
34:04the
34:04bells
34:05ringing
34:06I
34:07stood
34:07in
34:07the
34:07strand
34:07and
34:08beheld
34:08it
34:08and
34:08blessed
34:09God
34:09and
34:10all
34:10this
34:11without
34:11one
34:11drop
34:12of
34:12blood
34:12and
34:13by
34:13that
34:13very
34:14army
34:14which
34:14had
34:14rebelled
34:15against
34:15him
34:18the
34:19king
34:19was
34:19crowned
34:20at
34:20Westminster
34:21on
34:21the
34:2123rd
34:22of
34:22April
34:221661
34:24his
34:25reign
34:25was
34:26backdated
34:26to
34:27the
34:27day
34:27after
34:28his
34:28father
34:28had
34:28been
34:29beheaded
34:29but
34:31even
34:31before
34:31the
34:32king
34:32had
34:32been
34:32crowned
34:32there
34:33were
34:33those
34:33with
34:34long
34:34memories
34:34who
34:35were
34:35looking
34:35for
34:36revenge
34:38on
34:39January
34:4030th
34:411661
34:42exactly
34:4312
34:43years
34:44after
34:44Charles
34:45the first
34:45severed
34:46head
34:46dropped
34:46into
34:47the
34:47straw
34:47the
34:48remains
34:49of
34:49Cromwell
34:49and
34:50the
34:50regicides
34:50were
34:51dragged
34:51from
34:52their
34:52tombs
34:52and
34:53hanged
34:53from
34:54the
34:54common
34:54gallows
34:55at
34:55Tyburn
34:55before
34:56being
34:57buried
34:57in
34:58a
34:58deep
34:58pit
35:01over
35:02the
35:02next
35:02months
35:0311
35:04other
35:04king
35:04killers
35:05were
35:05hanged
35:05drawn
35:06and
35:06quartered
35:11the
35:12old
35:12Cromwellians
35:13watched
35:14all
35:14this
35:14intact
35:15full
35:15furtive
35:16silence
35:17they
35:18wondered
35:18just
35:18how
35:19reasonable
35:19this
35:20new
35:20regime
35:21might
35:21actually
35:21be
35:24killing
35:25the
35:25killjoys
35:26though
35:26Charles
35:26knew
35:27would
35:27not
35:28damage
35:28his
35:29popularity
35:29given
35:30a free
35:31vote
35:32the
35:32people
35:32would
35:33especially
35:34after
35:34the
35:34major
35:34generals
35:35vote
35:36for
35:36pleasure
35:36over
35:37piety
35:39and
35:43leading
35:44the
35:44dance
35:45of course
35:45was
35:46Charles
35:46himself
35:48constitutionally
35:49incapable
35:49of being
35:50so churlish
35:51as to
35:51spurn
35:52any woman
35:53generous
35:53enough
35:53to invite
35:54him
35:54into
35:55her
35:55bed
35:55they all
35:57did
36:01this was the golden age of ogling
36:03if puritan england had been governed by the ear wide open to receive the word of god the restoration restored
36:11the sovereignty of the eye
36:15its ruling passion was scopophilia the addiction of the gaze whether eyeballing an outrageous wig a plunging neckline a louse
36:27caught in the lens of a microscope or the constellations of the stars
36:31lavender
36:33lavender's blue
36:35diddle diddle diddle
36:37lavender
36:38lavender
36:40green
36:41charles's boyish enthusiasm with the latest optical instrument suggested he might turn out to be a new kind of steward
36:48one whose vision dwelled not in cloudy realms of absolutism but which was precisely focused concerned to observe reality political
36:58as well as physical
37:00he might in fact turn out to be that most unlikely thing a reasonable steward king
37:07this was a steward for whom the physical world was his alpha and omega who was earthy in his realism
37:15all too earthy some thought as they looked down in disgust at a theater of indolence punctuated by debauchery that
37:24had become the court
37:26they were not so worldly not so rational as to be free of the fear that someday there would be
37:33a reckoning
37:35someday soon as it turned out
37:41in the summer of 1664 a comet appeared in the skies over england its sallow tail could be seen with
37:49unprecedented clarity
37:50through the lens of the new telescopes owned among others by the king
37:56but what most people saw was disaster in the offing
38:00they had all read their almanacs they knew that the apocalypse would be heralded by pestilence fire and war
38:14a year later
38:15thousands of bodies killed by bubonic plague were being tossed each week into the great pit of aldgate
38:22and there was nothing that science could do about it except count the dead with the care demanded by modern
38:31statistics
38:34my father of death
38:38no one so true
38:45dear chariot
38:48come away
38:52come away
38:55come away
38:56dead
38:58come away
39:04one sixth of london's population perished
39:08the infection ebbed with the onset of autumn
39:11but the trepidation hung around
39:14for the number of the beast was 666
39:23and sure enough up from the smoky regions of hell in the first week of september 1666 came the diabolical
39:33fire
39:38in the early hours of sunday september the second the lord mayor of london was woken from his sleep
39:44to be told that a fire started in a baker's shop in pudding lane
39:49his response was
39:51his response was
39:52pish
39:52that woman might pit it out
40:05as he snored on the flames reached the warehouses flanking the thames between the tower and london bridge
40:12brimful of tallow pitch and brandy
40:17a monstrous fireball came roaring and sucking out of the narrow streets feeding on the overhanging bays and gables
40:28in another hour two to three hundred houses had been swallowed by the flames
40:40john evelyn
40:41john evelyn who'd been saying for years that overcrowded london was a disaster waiting to happen
40:46took no joy in the fulfillment of his prophecy
40:52oh the miserable and calamitous spectacle
40:57god grant mine eyes that i never behold the like again
41:00who now saw ten thousand houses all in one flame
41:06the noise and crackle and thunder of the impetuous flames
41:10the shriek of women and children
41:12the hurry of people
41:13the fall of towers houses and churches like a hideous storm
41:19london was but is no more
41:39when the rain started a week after the outbreak of the fire allowing an early stop-taking the scale of
41:46the devastation horrified even the pessimists
41:4913,200 houses have been destroyed along with some of the most famous buildings of the city
41:58st paul's cathedral was in ruins
42:02the new leviathan it seemed had no fire insurance
42:08still there were those who were determined that london would rise as a phoenix from its ashes
42:14and like the reborn rebuilt rome astonished the world
42:20this sort of thing had long been on the mind of christopher wren
42:24mathematician architect and brilliant prodigy of the royal society
42:29so when roman antiquities were found in the debris around st paul's
42:33one of them a tablet bearing the latin inscription
42:36resurgam i shall arise
42:39wren took the message to heart
42:44london had once been a great roman city
42:47and now would outdo the ancients
42:50with great piazzas
42:52broad avenues calculated to afford geometrically satisfying vistas
42:57and up to 50 new churches
43:01and at its heart would be a new st paul's
43:05a cathedral the like of which had never been seen in northern europe
43:10he even built a giant wooden model to show the king and clergy just what they would be getting
43:18how could they not be awestruck by the huge dome that used the same technology as a microscope
43:24to flood the interior with light
43:27CHOIR SINGS
43:29CHOIR SINGS
43:31CHOIR SINGS
43:36CHOIR SINGS
43:51CHOIR SINGS
43:56CHOIR SINGS
43:57CHOIR SINGS
43:57CHOIR SINGS
43:58CHOIR SINGS
43:58CHOIR SINGS
43:59CHOIR SINGS
43:59CHOIR SINGS
43:59CHOIR SINGS
43:59CHOIR SINGS
44:00CHOIR SINGS
44:01CHOIR SINGS
44:01CHOIR SINGS
44:03CHOIR SINGS
44:04CHOIR SINGS
44:04CHOIR SINGS
44:05CHOIR SINGS
44:11CHOIR SINGS
44:13CHOIR SINGS
44:14CHOIR SINGS
44:17CHOIR SINGS
44:19isn't there. Most of all, they said, well, call us old-fashioned, but this looks suspiciously
44:26to us like a Catholic basilica. We'll be, if you pardon the phrase, damned if we're
44:31going to let St Paul's turn into St Peter's. When the king joined the critics and told
44:38him to go back to the drawing board, Wren's normally very dry eyes are said to have filled
44:44with tears. He would have his chance to build his domed cathedral, but only when it was
44:50joined to a long nave, something resembling a traditional church. The irony was that for
44:58all his Roman enthusiasm, Wren believed he was building a truly Protestant church. But
45:05his timing was terrible. Ever since the days of the Reformation, Britain had been victim
45:12to anti-Catholic fear. And once again, in Charles' reign, it erupted.
45:21Not all of it was misplaced. Charles was suspected of having secret Catholics in his government,
45:28and so he did. He was also suspected of making secret treaties with the militantly Catholic
45:35Louis XIV of France, and so he had. But there was worse, much worse. The king's own brother,
45:45James, Duke of York, had actually converted to the Roman church, and he made no secret of it.
45:51With no children born to the king, the first Catholic ruler since Bloody Mary was an imminent prospect.
45:58They were shivering in the shires. A century before, England's Queen Elizabeth had been threatened
46:06with Catholic assassination plots. The Jesuit lurking in the shadows was a permanent fixture in the
46:13popular nightmare. So when an ex-Jesuit called Titus Oates concocted a pack of lies about a plot to
46:22murder the king, invite a French invasion, and create a Catholic state under James, he tripped the
46:30Guy Fawkes alert. And when the magistrate investigating the charges was found mysteriously murdered on
46:38Primrose Hill, it seemed obvious that Oates knew what he was talking about. It sent the jittery country
46:45right over the edge.
47:00Anti-Catholic violence swept the country. Riots, burnings, lynch mobs, kangaroo courts.
47:11For some politicians, the ugly mood of the country was a golden opportunity to press their favorite
47:17cause. James, Duke of York, should never be allowed to sit on the throne. He had to be excluded.
47:26Anything to stop the cycle of religious wars from breaking out again.
47:32It was an extraordinary crisis in the history of the British monarchy.
47:37For at stake were not only the lives of hundreds of those victimized by all the lies and hysteria,
47:43but the fate of the polity itself. Because to concede exclusion was to accept that Parliament had
47:50the right to judge who was fit or unfit to occupy the throne. And that was a concession Charles II
47:57was
47:57absolutely not about to make.
48:01But Charles met the most serious crisis of his reign with his most powerful weapon,
48:08reason. He offered a compromise. His brother would be allowed to succeed if he agreed to be
48:14a private Catholic and not to lay a finger on the Church of England.
48:20Riding the wave of paranoia, the newly elected Parliament summoned to Oxford turned him down.
48:26They assumed that memory was on their side, that this Charles would remember the fate of his stubborn
48:33father, who had triggered a war when he too had been suspected of being soft on Catholicism.
48:40But historical memory is a double-edged sword.
48:49When the Commons filed into the great hall of Christchurch to hear what they thought
48:54would be the royal capitulation, they found themselves instead confronted by a Leviathan in
49:01ermine.
49:04This is the King's will, he said in effect. Take it or leave it.
49:12It was a breathtaking gamble. Backed up by the House of Lords, Charles had left the exclusionists
49:19in the Commons no alternative but to go to war.
49:26And he was betting that the memory of the last round would be a deterrent. He was right. The
49:34granite and marble tombs of the dead from Edge Hill, Mastermoor and Worcester were still being carved.
49:41That war had begun as a parliamentary protest and ended in Puritan crusade. Who wanted that back?
49:49Not the exclusionists. They blinked first.
49:56James did get the keys to the Kingdom when his brother died in 1685, and he inherited a new
50:03parliament with a massively royalist majority, along with widespread public sympathy. Within three years,
50:10his brother died in 1685, and he had been in 1685, and he had been in 1685, and he had
50:12been in 1685.
50:18James never had any intention of hiding his faith.
50:23His Catholicism wasn't just a private comfort to be celebrated away from the public gaze.
50:29No, James was going to be a visible Catholic King.
50:34But he was playing a dangerous game.
50:41When James tried to reverse anti-Catholic laws, the pillars of the establishment,
50:46the country gentry and the Church of England, were horrified.
50:51When the bishops complained, the king declared,
50:54''I shall find a way to do my business without you.''
50:59The protesting bishops were locked up in the tower.
51:07James's timing was disastrous.
51:11For he was doing all this when Louis XIV, the militantly Catholic King of France,
51:16was threatening Europe.
51:20By January 1688, James had managed to alienate all his natural allies,
51:26and to turn himself into an even more dangerous version of his father, Charles I.
51:32He was even filling the officer ranks of the army with Irish Catholics.
51:40The only consolation was that at 52, he had no son.
51:44The next in line to the throne was his daughter Mary,
51:49a staunch Protestant who'd married the Dutch prince, William of Orange,
51:53hero of the resistance to Louis XIV.
51:56On June 10, 1688, all this changed.
52:02James's wife, Mary of Modena, gave birth to a boy
52:05who was duly baptised with Roman rites.
52:09Now, not only was the king Catholic, so was his dynasty.
52:16What could be done?
52:17Well, something quite extraordinary.
52:21A group of seven leading statesmen sent a message to Holland
52:25with an explosive request.
52:28Prince William, they asked,
52:30''Would you mind invading Britain and saving us from a Catholic king?''
52:37William of Orange wanted to save his country from Catholic despots all right,
52:42but the country he had in mind first, foremost and always was the Dutch Republic.
52:48English politics were always a sideshow for William to the main event.
52:52That was the great European war against Louis XIV.
52:59What choice did he have?
53:01There would be British troops in that war.
53:03To make sure they'd be fighting for him, not against him,
53:07exactly 100 years after the Spanish Armada had failed to do the very same thing,
53:12William set out to conquer Britain.
53:20He was nothing if not farer.
53:2360,000 copies of William's manifesto blanketed England
53:27in an effort to present the planned invasion
53:29as a response to a spontaneous uprising against the Catholic tyrant.
53:35It was so persuasive that he succeeded in making James
53:39seem the foreigner in his own land and the Dutchman the true Brit.
53:48The fate of the Armada was a sobering thought,
53:50so his Dutch invasion force made the Spanish one seem puny.
53:55This time, there were 600 vessels and up to 20,000 troops.
54:15He landed at Torbay on November the 5th, Guy Fawkes Day.
54:20Obviously, God was a Protestant.
54:24When he realised that this Protestant invasion was really going to oust him,
54:29James' courage failed him.
54:31His resolution in meltdown, his knights haunted by the ghost of his beheaded daddy,
54:37he fled the kingdom.
54:46William claimed that he'd come just to restore English liberties,
54:51but now he had Dutch soldiers in the streets.
54:54And if he'd decided to be king after all, who was going to say otherwise?
55:06In February 1689, William of Orange and Mary Stuart were proclaimed king and queen of England.
55:16But during the ceremony, something profoundly novel happened.
55:21A declaration of rights was read out, listing the conditions under which the new monarchs would be allowed to sit
55:27on the throne.
55:31Parliament had changed the job description of the ruler.
55:34It turned out that the country did not need Leviathan.
55:38What it wanted was a chairman of the board, and Dutch William fitted that role to a tee.
55:46William III would fight his wars by asking, not demanding, funds from the elected representatives of the people.
55:55And ruling together with Parliament, his government looked remarkably like a reasonable version of Oliver Cromwell's protectorate.
56:07History has called this a glorious revolution.
56:11It was probably neither.
56:13But afterwards, the British monarchy would never be the same again.
56:25But the old monarchy had one last desperate play to make.
56:29In March 1689, James landed in Ireland with 20,000 French troops.
56:38The Catholic Irish flocked to their king.
56:41Like the English, they had become pawns in someone else's chess game.
56:52Outside Drogheda, two armies, two worlds faced each other across the river Boyne.
56:58One belonged to the old world of faith and fervour.
57:02The other, Dutch and German professionals, were part of a modern war machine.
57:09The other, Dutch and German professionals, were part of a modern war machine.
57:19No prizes for guessing who won.
57:23Nobody.
57:34That is a patriotic duty of Irish men and Irish women to engage in that legitimate armed struggle.
57:43We will never surrender!
57:46Never!
57:48Never!
57:49Never!
57:50Never!
57:51Never!
57:51Never!
57:52Never!
57:52Never!
57:52Never!
57:53Never!
57:54I would appeal to Unionists to engage fully in the search for a lasting peace.
58:06My Christ and Saint Patrick, the nation's our own.
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