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Sale 82
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Lot 762
Cromwell, Oliver (1599-1658) English soldier and statesman who helped make England a republic and then ruled as Lord Protector from 1653 to 1658. He is one of the most controversial figures in the history of the British Isles, hated by some as a regicidal dictator, loved by others as a liberator.
In the 1630s, Cromwell became a radical Puritan after experiencing a religious epiphany which convinced him that he would be guided to carry out God's work. In 1640 he was elected to represent Cambridge in the Short Parliament, then in the Long Parliament. When civil war broke out between Charles I (who believed in the divine right of kings) and Parliament in 1642, Cromwell raised a force of cavalry called the "Ironsides" and rose from the rank of captain to lieutenant-general in three years. He convinced parliament to establish a professional army--the New Model Army, which defeated the King's forces at Naseby in 1645. After the King's alliance with the Scots and his subsequent defeat, Cromwell decided that the King should be brought to justice, and was a prime mover and shaker in the trial and execution of Charles I; his was the third signature on the King's death warrant. Cromwell became army commander and lord lieutenant of Ireland and crushed the Irish at Drogheda and Wexford, massacring both garrisons. After his defeat of the supporters of the future Charles II at Dunbar (1650) and Worcester (1651), the civil war was effectively ended and in 1653, he dissolved the Long Parliament and made himself Lord Protector. When he died in 1658, his son Richard was unable to hold together the various political, military, and religious factions, and General George Monck quietly engineered the restoration of Charles II to the throne in 1660. After the Restoration, Cromwell was subjected to a posthumous execution. On Jan. 30, 1661, his body was disinterred from Westminster Abbey, hanged at Tyburn and beheaded; his head was placed on a spike at the end of Westminster Hall, where the trial of Charles I had taken place.
Manuscript document signed ("O Cromwell") as Lord Lieutenant General of Ireland, one page, 7¾ x 7¾", Dublin, August 26, 1649. Addressed "To the Comandr. in Cheife of the Parliamt, shipps lyeing before the Harbor of Dublin and to all other captns and Comandrs of shipps whom it may concerne": I doe hereby give leave and lycence unto Collonell John Moore, Coll of a Regimt of Foote undr my Command to repaire into England to raise some Forces there, for the recrutings of the said Regimt and to make his retourne hither unto his said Domaines within the space of three Monthes from next ensueinge. Theise are herefore to require you to permit and suffer the said Coll John Moore quietly to pass with his six servants, without lett or molestation." Cromwell arrived in Dublin on Aug. 15, two weeks before he signed this document. Twelve days after he signed this order, he stormed the garrison of Drogheda, north of Dublin, massacring some 3,500 people; this and a massacre at Wexford on Oct. 11 broke Royalist resistance but also incurred the eternal hatred of the Irish. An extreme Puritan, Cromwell hated Catholicism. He saw the massacres as retribution for the massacre of Protestants which had taken place during the Irish rebellion of 1641 and told the Parliament: "I am persuaded that this is a righteous judgment of God upon these barbarous wretches…"
John Moore was one of the most important radicals in England during this period. He was appointed to the High Court of Justice to try the King and was a signatory of the death warrant. He held important positions, including Col. of Guards, Horse and Foot for the Parliament, which gave him the power to search, arrest and seize people and goods at his discretion. He was a commissioner of Ireland and after returning from England to raise the troops referred to in this document, he was made Governor of Dublin. While laying seize to Tecroghan Castle in May-June 1650, he died of a fever. Because his body was in Ireland, it did not suffer the posthumous execution accorded Cromwell and other deceased regicides. A few surviving regicides escaped and the remainder were either executed or imprisoned for life.
The document is lightly toned and creased, not affectng the signature. It is elaborately matted, framed (13½ x 13¼") and hinged to a larger frame, 21½ x 27¾", which holds an image of Cromwell and three plaques: a small nameplate, a transcription of the letter, and a longer biography of Cromwell.
Estimated Value $5,000 - 7,500.
The Arden Family Holdings of Beverly Hills.
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