Oliver cromwell & the devil?

Question

being english i know all about cromwell what he stood for, the changes he & his officers brought about for good or bad. what i don't get is why even now people insist he did a pact with the devil in order to rule as protector general for a year. any suggestions?

Additional Details

i know that there is no such thing as the devil or god, i just asked for suggestions as to why people link the two

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

OK, here's one possibility.

Being English, you'll remember that Henry VIII had earlier "nationalized" the Catholic Church's properties in England and Wales, and established a new "Church of England" allied, more or less by default, with the emerging Protestant churches that arose after Martin Luther. So religion was an active force in that era and in English society. As you also know, after Henry did this, there were many conflicts in England itself with both Catholic and Protestant claimants of the English throne trying to retake it.

For Oliver Cromwell, a commoner and member of the then relatively powerless House of Commons, to manage to raise an army, gain great popular support, defeat Charles I and his forces and indeed, have him executed in the Tower of London, was an extraordinary accomplishment.

It would have been natural to conclude that such a feat required the help of a figure nearly as powerful as God, and that could perhaps only have been the devil, who is supposedly always looking for a way to attack God. By the way, It's also no accident that Cromwell took upon himself the title of "Lord Protector" awiting an appropriate new ruler.

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Asker's Comment:

you make a lot of sense, thankyou

Answer 2

ARE YOU MAD?!

Answer 3

Because some people are stupid, the devil does not exist and as such cromwell couldnt have made a pact with it

Answer 4

A bit of bad press put about by the royalists to ridicule his authority and to try and get the church to oppose him to the very end,

Answer 5

I believe they were hinting that the man of the cloth was not a man of God.

Answer 6

Oliver Cromwell is the father of the modern British Army. His New Model Army was regiment based and highly trained.

He was a God fearing Protestant and political reformer. He banned May Day celebrations and Christmas Day celebrations as being acts associated with blasphemy. He banned dancing and all types of musical theatre and drama.

Those who were opposed to his views, Peppyes for example, said, after Cromwell's death that he had a pact with the devil They would not have dared say this before the Restoration as Cromwell would have had them tortured and beheaded for treason.

Answer 7

First I have ever heard of it.

I think those disposed to the Catholic interpretation of history will consider O. Cromwell to be a villain, a despot, a cruel character.

Not knowing enough of history, I will reserve judgement till I read a good bio on the man.

Answer 8

many including myself saw him as an extremest protestant from a Quacker background who overthrew the devil in disguise as the church and Royaltys acceptance of the church , a bit of a simplistic oulook but there you go .

Answer 9

Cromwell has been a very controversial figure in the history of the British Isles – a regicidal dictator to some historians (such as David Hume and Christopher Hill) and a hero of liberty to others (such as Thomas Carlyle and Samuel Rawson Gardiner). In Britain he was elected as one of the Top 10 Britons of all time in a 2002 BBC poll. His measures against Irish Catholics have been characterized by some historians as genocidal or near-genocidal, and in Ireland itself he is widely hated. It would make sense for the Irish to believe that he made a deal with the Devil to gain the power and success he experienced.

Source(s):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Crom…
http://edwardvallance.wordpress.com/2008…
http://www.british-civil-wars.co.uk/biog…