S8 Ep697: 6. Oliver Cromwell: Lord Protector of the Republic Guest Author: Jonathan Healey Following the regicide, England became a republic under the "Instrument of Government," a written constitution drafted by John Lambert. Oliver Cromwell rose as Lord Protector
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
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🗓️ 5 April 2026
⏱️ 7 minutes
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Summary
6. Oliver Cromwell: Lord Protector of the Republic Guest Author: Jonathan Healey Following the regicide, England became a republic under the "Instrument of Government," a written constitution drafted by John Lambert. Oliver Cromwell rose as Lord Protector, using military skill to bring stability to a nation surrounded by hostile European monarchs. Though he refused the crown in 1657, favoring a rule based on Parliamentary authority, Cromwell’s reign was defined by his personal strength and the imposition of unpopular Puritan values. Despite his inconsistencies and brutal campaigns in Ireland, he successfully held disparate factions together until his death in 1658, after which the republic began to collapse. (6)
1650 JAN LIEVENS
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| 0:34.7 | I'm John Batchel with Jonathan Healy. His new book is The Blazing World, a new history of Revolutionary England, 1603 to 1689. |
| 0:42.3 | It is now time to say the king is dead and not say long live the king. Parliament has choices to make. |
| 0:51.3 | And a man named John Lambert writes, instruments of government, in which, from his |
| 0:57.3 | understanding of the violence of the age, he looks to a way of guaranteeing the power of the people |
| 1:04.2 | through Parliament. But he names a man, Lord Protector, who is Oliver Cromwell. Thomas Fairfax, |
| 1:16.6 | the general of the new model army, has stepped away and will not participate in the parliamentary debates, but Oliver Cromwell steps forward. |
| 1:21.6 | And Jonathan, you write that Cromwell's five years in power, thanks to Lambert's design, can be regarded as successful, |
| 1:31.3 | noting the massacres in Ireland, noting some of the inconsistencies about Cromwell. Is that |
| 1:37.3 | the opinion of Cromwell here in the 21st century in England, that Cromwell had his his weaknesses but there was strength in his rule. |
| 1:46.2 | Well, I mean, there's definitely, I mean, it's hard to argue that there isn't strength. |
| 1:49.7 | That doesn't necessarily mean that he's a good thing or anything like that. |
| 1:54.4 | He, when you consider what the situation was in 1649, where England had shockingly brutally murdered its monarch, |
| 2:04.6 | if you want to take the line of, you know, what a lot of people in Europe would have thought at the time. |
| 2:09.6 | All the kings in Europe were appalled. |
| 2:12.6 | Yeah, absolutely. It's only Switzerland, which sort of sends us kind of, you know, |
| 2:16.6 | congratulations because Switzerland is a republic. But everyone else is horrified. And then, of course, |
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