CROMWELL: The Lord Protector

by Antonia Fraser ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 17, 1973

Antonia Fraser whose Mary Queen of Scots (1969) won both the accolades of the critics and the hearts of the public makes the enormous jump from the beleaguered, romantic queen to the righteous, stalwart Puritan dictator with ease -- confirming the impression that she is a writer of unusual insight and grace. Her self-appointed goal -- the ""humanizing"" of Oliver Cromwell -- has stumped most professional historians. Cromwell's stature has never been in doubt, but his personality has proved recalcitrant. Arrogant, impetuous, severe -- he was impelled not so much by ambition as the conviction that he was God's chosen instrument. The Lord Protector has failed to charm even his most vociferous defenders. Miss Fraser is not among the latter; her Cromwell is a fallible, paradoxical and essentially melancholic figure. Despite the ""creel necessity"" of the act, she finds Cromwell's jubilation at the execution of King Charles repellent and in strictly political terms a ""disastrous mistake."" Nor does she soft-pedal Cromwell's Irish vendetta -- blind, murderous rage drove him to the massacre of Drogheda. Fundamentally she believes that Cromwell saw his finest hour as creator and leader of the New Model Army; once in power he became not corrupt but increasingly implacable, forced by ""impossible circumstances"" to resort to political and financial manipulations worthy of his old foe, Charles Stuart. Nonetheless Fraser makes him out to be a kinder, more patient and conciliatory man than one had hitherto suspected. In the dark days when Parliament's relations with the King deteriorated day to day, it was Cromwell who played the unlikely role of the ""good committee man"" negotiating compromise and counseling moderation. An imperious ruler, he was a compassionate and tender husband and father. Above all he was a man rooted in the English countryside -- he delighted in hawking and hunting -- who never lost his affinity with the simple pastoral joys of the people he ruled. Inevitably, the book is more than a successful biography; Cromwell's destiny became the destiny of Puritan England. Fraser evokes the religious and political passions of this uniquely turbulent interregnum in English history as well or better than most scholars of the period. A majestic work.

Pub Date: Oct. 17, 1973

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1973

Categories: NONFICTION