Oliver Cromwell was by no means an extreme Puritan. By nature he was neither cruel nor intolerant. He cared for his soldiers, and, when he differed from his generals, he did not punish them severely. (For example, when he dismissed John Lambert, he gave him a generous pension.) He was devoted to his old mother, his wife, and family. (The stories spread by Royalists that he was an admirer of a number of ladies have little substance to them.) While he concerned himself with the spiritual welfare of his children because he believed that “often the children of great men have not the fear of God before their eyes,” he committed the mistake of not preparing for the practical tasks of government his eldest son, Richard, whom in the last days of his life he nominated to succeed him as protector. Music and hunting were among his recreations. He delighted in listening to the organ and was an excellent judge of horses. He was known to smoke, to drink sherry and small beer, and to prefer English food; he permitted dancing at the marriage of his youngest daughter. In his younger days he indulged in horseplay with his soldiers, but he was a dignified ruler. Sir Peter Lely, the famous Dutch painter, pictured him as he was in his prime (although the portrait was apparently not painted from life); the numerous paintings from life by Robert Walker dating from the beginning of the Civil War show him looking more of a fanatic.

As lord protector, Cromwell was much more tolerant than in his fiery Puritan youth. Once bishops were abolished and congregations allowed to choose their own ministers, he was satisfied. Outside the church he permitted all Christians to practice their own religion so long as they did not create disorder and unrest. He allowed the use of The Book of Common Prayer in private houses and even the English Roman Catholics were better off under the Protectorate than they had been before.

Although many Quakers were kept in prison for disturbing the peace, Cromwell was on friendly terms with George Fox, the founder of the Society of Friends, and explored religious questions with him. When in the winter of 1656 a Quaker entered Bristol in imitation of Christ’s entry into Jerusalem, Cromwell tried, though unsuccessfully, to save him from the fury of Parliament, which voted heavy punishments on the blasphemer. The year before, Cromwell interviewed two of the leaders of the Fifth Monarchy Men, an extreme sect: he pointed out to them that they had been imprisoned for sedition but emphasized that no one would hinder them from preaching the Gospel of Christ.

In politics Cromwell held no fixed views except that he was opposed to what he called arbitrary government. Before the execution of Charles I, he contemplated the idea of placing one of Charles’s sons upon the throne. Cromwell also resisted the abolition of the House of Lords. In 1647 he said that he was not “wedded and glued” to any particular form of government. After the Assembly of Saints failed, he summoned two elected parliaments (1654–55 and 1656–58), but he was never able to control them. His failure to do so has been attributed to “lack of that parliamentary management by the executive which, in correct dosage, is the essential nourishment of any sound parliamentary life” (H.R. Trevor-Roper). In between these two parliaments (1655–56), he sanctioned the government of the country by major generals of the Horse Militia who were made responsible for law and order in groups of counties. But he soon abandoned this experiment when it met with protests and reverted to more normal methods of government. In the spring of 1657 he was tempted by an offer of the crown by a majority in Parliament on the ground that it fitted in better with existing institutions and the English common law. In the end he refused to become king because he knew that it would offend his old republican officers. Nevertheless, in the last year and a half of his life he ruled according to a form of government known as “the Petition and Advice.” This in effect made him a constitutional monarch with a House of Lords whose members he was allowed to nominate as well as an elected House of Commons. But he found it equally difficult to govern either with or without parliaments.

Although in the late 17th century Cromwell was execrated as a brave bad man, it was admitted that he had made his country great. In the 18th century, on the other hand, he was considered a nauseating hypocrite, while the 19th century, under the influence of the writer and historian Thomas Carlyle, regarded him as a constitutional reformer who had destroyed the absolutism of Charles I. Modern critics are more discriminating. His belief in God’s providence is analyzed in psychological terms. Marxists blame him for betraying the cause of revolution by suppressing the radical movement in the army and resisting the policy of the Levelers. On the whole, he is regarded only in a very limited sense as a dictator but rather as a patriotic ruler who restored political stability after the Civil Wars and contributed to the evolution of constitutional government and religious toleration.