Oliver Cromwell

The land settlement following the conquest transfers large amounts of land from Catholic owners to soldiers, creditors and Protestant settlers and provides for the transplantation of Catholic landowners to Connacht.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Personally implicated

Cromwell dissolves the first Protectorate Parliament in January 1655 after several months of conflict over executive powers. In 1658, he also dissolves the reconvened Parliament after less than two weeks of political confrontation.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

Cromwell divides England into districts placed under Major-Generals responsible for law and order, religious moral reform and surveillance of former Royalists. Property is sequestered, and the regime is perceived as a form of military government.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

The parliamentary conquest of Ireland leads to massacres, sieges, famine, displacement and a major transformation of land ownership. Wartime policies pave the way for the introduction of Protestant settlers and dispossession of a large proportion of Catholic landowners.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

Frustrated by the Rump Parliament, Cromwell enters the House of Commons accompanied by an armed force and forcibly brings the assembly to an end.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

Cromwell is among the signatories to the death warrant for Charles I, convicted by the High Court established by the Rump Parliament and executed on 30 January 1649.

Attribution

Directly implicated

After the capture of Drogheda, Cromwell's forces kill a very large number of defenders. In his own letters, Cromwell estimates approximately 3,000 people were put to death and presents the operation as divine judgment and a measure intended to discourage resistance.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

During the capture of Wexford, parliamentary troops kill or drown large numbers of soldiers and inhabitants. Cromwell himself reports that approximately 2,000 people were killed or drowned and describes the outcome as divine justice.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Command responsibility