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Oliver Cromwell Day is a British holiday.
September 3, 1658, is the anniversary of the death of Oliver Cromwell, one of the most controversial and infamous politicians in British history. He is one of two famous Cromwells. The first, Sir Thomas Cromwell, his great uncle, served under King Henry VIII until his execution in 1540.
Oliver Cromwell was a military and political leader and Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. In 2002, the British parliament voted him one of the 10 Greatest Britons of All Time. Acceptance of this label depends upon where one sits on the religious scale.
By the 1630s, Cromwell became the equivalent of a "Born Again Christian." In his day, the reference was "Congregation of the firstborn," a derivative of Puritanism. His starkly conservative religiosity informed his decisions from this point forward, believing that the whole of England had fallen into sin and the Crown should eradicate the Catholic faith from the country.
On December 16, 1653, Cromwell was sworn in as Lord Protector of Britain, four years after the execution of King Charles on January 30, 1649. Under his rule, with the assistance of parliament, Cromwell sought to reunite the nation, currently at odds due to civil war and uncertainty, and enforce a moral doctrine upon the people. Many believed he usurped monarchical power, and this brutal imposition of Puritanism would stain his record posthumously. He died in 1658.
But his story doesn't end there. Cromwell was so hated that his remains were dug up on January 30, 1661, and he was posthumously executed. True, it sounds like an oxymoron, but they did re-kill a dead man. Then his remains were hung in public, with his head stuck on a pike.
Years later, his reputation would grow. Some, such as the writer John Milton, saw him as a "Hero of Liberty." Others, including Winston Churchill, viewed him as a regicidal dictator and genocidal. Due to their strong affinity to Catholicism, the Irish and Scottish have issues with him to this day.
Whatever your opinion of Oliver Cromwell, there is one thing all can agree on: his life left a profound legacy and helped the United Kingdom become what it is today.
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