Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell was born on 25 April 1599 in Huntingdon. Cromwell was a highly visible and volatile member of parliament. In 1626, the King Charles I, dissolved the Parliament. As he had become unable to raise money without it, he had to assembled a new one in 1628. Among the members elected was Oliver Cromwell. The new Parliament drew up the Petition of Right in 1628, and Charles accepted it as a concession to get his subsidy, although it had limited the monarchs power. However, Charles was determined to rule without summoning another Parliament, and this required him to devise new means of raising extraordinary revenue. Charles I managed to avoid a Parliament for a decade, a time known as the "Eleven Years' Tyranny". The English Parliament, having controverted the king's authority, raised an army led by Robert Devereux. The civil war starts in 1642. Oliver Cromwell leaders the parliamentary army. Although Cromwell had some difficulty in finding judges to take part, in 1648, by a 68 to 67 vote, the Parliament found Charles I guilty of treason, being a "tyrant, traitor, murderer and public enemy". He was executed at the Palace of Whitehall in 1649. The Republic is settled in 1649 and in 1653 Cromwell dissolved the Parliament and makes his own dictatorship. In 1658, his health inexorably failed him and he died on 3 September and was buried in Westminster Abbey. Oliver Cromwell had gone from commoner to Lord Protector, the most powerful man in England.

Some quotes from Oliver Cromwell.
"Necessity hath no law. Feigned necessities, imaginary necessities, are the greatest cozenage men can put upon the Providence of God, and make pretences to break known rules by." (Speeches--To Parliament)
"It is not necessary for the public to know whether I am joking or whether I am serious, just as it is not necessary for me to know it myself." (Speeches--To Parliament)
"Paint me as I am. If you leave out the scars and wrinkles, I will not pay you a shilling." (Remark to the Painter, Lely)
"One never rises so high as when one does not know where one is going."(to M. Bellievre, found in "Memoirs" of Cardinal de Retz)
"Put your trust in God, but keep your powder dry."
"He who stops being better stops being good."
"Do not trust to the cheering, for those persons would shout as much if you and I were going to be hanged."
"What is all our histories, but God showing himself, shaking and trampling on everything that he has not planted."
"Make the iron hot by striking it."
"Subtlety may deceive you; integrity never will."