#“yo ur dads dead you need to be lord” richard: erm what the scallop???

[snake-in-your-garden]

sorry this took a bit but here is my explanation of richard cromwell !! i could be more detailed but then you’d have to wait like a week for this. so. here you go… (btw this isn't proofread so hopefully it's ok lol)

some background: king charles i thinks he’s so cool and the best and won’t listen to anyone including parliament. the house of commons doesn’t like that so much! they try to sort things out but then charles goes and tries to arrest the parliamentarians (people who want a republic or at least a constitutional monarchy) but they escape and then charles and some of his fans leave the area and forces are gathered by the cavaliers/royalists (pro-absolute monarchy) and then by the parliamentarians/roundheads and war breaks out (it's the english civil war)!! in the end charles gets his head chopped off and his wife and children get exiled. now there's a sort of republic thing called the protectorate/commonwealth. it's led by oliver cromwell, who, after 1653, is basically just a king by another title: lord protector.

so. richard, oliver cromwell's eldest surviving son is around. he is educated at felsted school. he was sort of involved in the civil war in 1647. after the civil war, he lives in the temple of london. at the age of 20 he is admitted to the society of lincoln's inn, where he studies law, but he is not called to the bar. also, he's been involved in small local government things, but did eventually have some parliament positions. he's good at his job and very diligent btw. but he's largely just hanging out and enjoys just hanging out! he likes sports and hunting and falconry and horse-racing. he’s vain and kind of un-puritan in his pursuit of fun times but is also very nice to everyone!

some more personal life things: he and his younger brother henry are like best friends :-). richard sends him some beagles at some point in time i don’t remember. on may 1 1649 richard marries dorothy maijor (who he called “doll”) and goes to live at her house. he actually prefers spending time with her over doing government stuff! in 1656 he was ill and then on january 27 1657 he was injured when a staircase collapsed. in july 1657 he was appointed chancellor of oxford university and was made a member of the council of state. in august 1657 was injured after a riding accident. 

anyway. so richard wants to live peacefully in the country, perhaps doing a little government work. he's not really ambitious, he's very relaxed.

then on september 3 1658 his father dies and richard is now lord protector; richard was notified on the day of his death that he was the successor, oliver just never bothered to tell him ig (there is some controversy over whether richard was actually named successor, though). richard had thought that oliver would recover from his illness so there were multiple things coming as a bit of a shock here.

anyway, richard is, by this point, widely beloved! he’s nice and good at making speeches. things go smoothly for a bit, but richard isn't as adept at governing as oliver was. he doesn't have his military experience, his confidence, or his intense religiosity. richard certainly makes a good effort at things, but he's not fit for such a high office, and is very aware of this himself, acknowledging his limited political capabilities. henry wants to visit england to help him out but he’s prevented from doing so.

first problem: the country has a huge debt which is kind of an issue. he tries to solve this with parliament, but he’s let a bunch of royalists and presbyterians (he may very well have been a presbyterian himself!) into parliament. there’s a lot of complicated political stuff going on here that i don’t quite understand but basically parliament is going very badly.

second problem: his peaceableness and desire to make everyone get along along with the fact that he isn't oliver cromwell makes the military start to dislike him. plus, the parliament doesn’t seem to like what the military is doing. richard tries to have parliament and the military just get along, but parliament really really doesn’t want to get along. so the military gets really really mad, they want richard to dissolve parliament. richard says no. the parliament is like “oooh pick us we’re like best pals,” but the miliary shows up and richard eventually agrees to their demands. the now-dissolved parliament feels betrayed by him. the rump parliament (small parliament from the days of the civil war) returns.

richard may have gone under house arrest at whitehall (the royal palace, during the protectorate the lord protector palace ig) feeling abandoned and betrayed by all the people he considered his friends. in july 1659, he’s forced to resign and he goes home.

the military controls things for a bit and then king charles ii arrives, back from exile (richard supported this, btw; i don’t mean he was a royalist, but he thought the return of the monarchy would probably be for the best at this point)! it’s the restoration of the monarchy! the stuarts are back in power!! (...and in 28 years will be the glorious revolution. ah well)

so. richard’s life post-military coup: before he was lord protector he went over his allowance; when he was lord protector creditors came to whitehall trying to arrest him; after he resigned he was in debt and had to flee the country (btw, he was promised that his debts would be paid off and that he would receive a pension if he resigned. neither happened). so in july 1660, he goes of to france. he’s going around to in paris and other european places outside of england under the name “john clarke” among others, partially to evade the law, partially to be left alone and not bothered by people being like “woah it’s the old lord protector guy,” though he doesn’t particularly mind if people know who he is. he stays in contact with his family while abroad. in 1665, there’s a list of people who have to come back to england or get beheaded. richard’s on the list but dorothy manages to get him off of it.

dorothy dies in 1676 and richard returns to england in 1680, possibly partially to attend his daughter’s marriage (her name is also dorothy). he’s hanging out in the countryside again, now with his pal thomas pengelly. he’s taken up drawing and stuff, he is still riding horses, he’s gone back to just relaxing. then he moves to live with his other daughters (dorothy jr. jr. [there was another dorothy before her but she died at the age of 1] died in 1681 btw) in hursley iirc? he’s pretty much fine with the monarchy now (at least outwardly) and keeps the king in his prayers. he dies in 1712 at the age of 85.

and that’s the story of richard cromwell!! truly he is kind of a loser but also i am his #1 defender

“he doesn't have his military experience, his confidence, or his intense religiosity. “ god i love how this absolute nerd of a man was put into this position. hes my new blorbo i cant thank you enough