The making of Oliver Cromwell
10-Minute Talks
English - December 28, 2021 16:15 - 12 minutes - 11.6 MBSociety & Culture Arts history politics philosophy economics history of art psychology sociology law humanities social sciences Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658) is, in terms of sheer achievement, the greatest English commoner of all time and yet remains a deeply controversial figure. He represented himself, apparently compellingly, as an honest, pious, modest, and selfless servant of God and his nation, and yet most of his contemporaries found him ruthless, devious, and self-promoting. In this talk, Ronald Hutton sums up the findings of his latest book, The Making of Oliver Cromwell, which examines his actions and words in full context up until the end of the English Civil War in 1651, and proposes an answer to this apparent paradox.
Speaker: Professor Ronald Hutton FBA, Professor of History, University of Bristol
Image: Statue of Oliver Cromwell in front of the Palace of Westminster, London, UK. Via Getty Images