Oliver Cromwell Appreciation Thread (1 Viewer)

[Moods For Mallards]

Share your thoughts here on the 350th anniversary of his death.
There was a bad-tempered exchange on The Tubridy Show (I know!) this morning between an amateur revisionist Cromwell-hugger and a traditionalist academic. The former seemed like a headcase.
Anyway, according to this guy, Cromwell never killed nobody who didn't have it coming. David Erving was invoked by the other guest.

 

[egg_]

There was a piece on him in some newspaper my parents bought a while ago, said something like the massacres in Drogheda and Wexford were pretty unremarkable by the standards of the time (they were offered surrender/fight with no quarter and chose the former). Sounds plausible to me. He did apparently hate Catholics though, I've no idea why

 

[Moods For Mallards]

By the way, Hidden Histories is back next week, the new series starting with a two part Cromwell rebranding (well, I'm sure it will be something like that, they don't do these kind of shows without a good helping of revisionism)..

 

[7 - No tomorrow]

Prod turncoat Martin Mansergh writing in the Irish Times on Micheál Ó Siochrú's new Cromwell book.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2008/0823/1219355354898.html



There'll also be a thing on the telly about Oliver's Army next Tuesday.

Cromwell: the Irish years


History re-enacted, warts and all: Owen Roe as Cromwell, the Battle of Rathmines, and troops in Limerick, from Hidden History: Cromwell in Ireland, a two-part series presented by Micheál Ó Siochrú, starting on RTÉ1 on September 9th

 

[the strange guy]

Look, he may have enthusiastically killed a load of Fenians but at least
he was involved in executing/the regicide of King Charles I of England.
They cancel each other out.

 

[Moods For Mallards]

Ah, Ó Siochrú - I wonder if he's the character on the radio this morning, if he has a book out.
Hmmm, Hidden History caused a bit of a furore among historians with their epoisode on the massacre at Coolacrease during the War of Independence:
http://www.rte.ie/tv/hiddenhistory/coolacrease.html
It's my favourite thing that RTE has done in years, overall, but judging by the radio show this morning, and if it is the man I think it is, I'd question his motives.

 

[7 - No tomorrow]

Look, he may have enthusiastically killed a load of Fenians but at least
he was involved in executing/the regicide of King Charles I of England.
They cancel each other out.

Aye, kings are worth way more than pawns.

 

[Moods For Mallards]

Wait, it's not him. grand.

 

[egg_]

Aye, kings are worth way more than pawns.

Zing!

 

[Scientician 0.8]

That new book was reviewed in the Sunday Times too I think. I'm all for history and having historical knowledge but jesus we really do have too long a folk memory in this country or maybe not enough.

Interesting factoid I read the other day. It seems that the majority of the 'indigenous' population of this island isn't of Celtic, Norman, Anglo-Saxon or Viking extraction but the main core genetic base is the neolithic first settlers. I must read up a bit more da'.

 

[billygannon]

I used to live in Ely, where Cromwell lived. His house is one of the most haunted places in the UK.
It's often claimed that Cromwell effectively brought democracy to England - in that after his parliament the power of the monarchy diminished.

That said, the English monarchy has never been that powerful - certainly not on the same scale as Russia or France.

It's pretty safe to say he was a dreadful man.

 

[Catwoman]

That said, the English monarchy has never been that powerful - certainly not on the same scale as Russia or France.

Yes and no - since Richard II kings couldn't rule without Parliament, though Charles II did away with it at the end of his reign (and was the last monarch to do so).

Cromwell wasn't unusual at the time for hating Catholics. They were seen as being loyal to a foreign power (The Pope) and the last ruling Catholic monarch (Mary Tudor) was rather keen on the old religious genocide.

When me and the Cavan man got married in Warwickshire last year, our bridal suite had a picture of Cromwell on the wall next to the bed.

 

[subbuteo !]

"Paying a courtesy call on the British foreign secretary Robin Cook in 1997, the Irish prime minister Bertie Ahern noticed a painting of Oliver Cromwell in the room. He instantly walked out and refused to return until the portrait of “that murdering bastard” had been removed."

 

[Pedronimus]

Interesting factoid I read the other day. It seems that the majority of the 'indigenous' population of this island isn't of Celtic, Norman, Anglo-Saxon or Viking extraction but the main core genetic base is the neolithic first settlers. I must read up a bit more da'.

You could read this...
The Atlantean Irish: Ireland's Oriental & Maritime Herritage by Bob Quinn

he tries to dispell the idea that we're Celts. But as I know very little about history I have no idea if he's talking rubbish or not.

 

[Lili Marlene]

"Paying a courtesy call on the British foreign secretary Robin Cook in 1997, the Irish prime minister Bertie Ahern noticed a painting of Oliver Cromwell in the room. He instantly walked out and refused to return until the portrait of “that murdering bastard” had been removed."

is that from his own press release/website/myspace?

 

[killy kill]

"Paying a courtesy call on the British foreign secretary Robin Cook in 1997, the Irish prime minister Bertie Ahern noticed a painting of Oliver Cromwell in the room. He instantly walked out and refused to return until the portrait of “that murdering bastard” had been removed."

unless his auld fella was with him, i don't believe that for a second

 

[taubstumm]

the main core genetic base is the neolithic first settlers

the neolithic guys are just blow-ins

it just means 'new stone-age' anyway

yeah, i'm pure paleolithic

 

[Scientician 0.8]

You could read this...
The Atlantean Irish: Ireland's Oriental & Maritime Herritage by Bob Quinn

he tries to dispell the idea that we're Celts. But as I know very little about history I have no idea if he's talking rubbish or not.

I saw the documentary on this years ago. It was quite compelling but I don't know whether it was hokum or not. The later maritime connection between the west coast and the continent though is quite in evidence, Spanish Arch, Galway, Donegal etc. If I recall correctly he drew parallels between West of Ireland culture and North African culture.

 

[Pedronimus]

If I recall correctly he drew parallels between West of Ireland culture and North African culture.

He did, but he wasn't the first to do it.

 

[Scientician 0.8]

That wasn't North African. It was Sub-Saharan.