Within a century, the Cromwell family produced two of the most powerful, impactful and controversial commoners in British history. Thomas served the Tudors, helping to forge Henry VIII’s autocratic state and the Church of England; Oliver led a revolution that executed a king, abolished the monarchy and established a republic, before founding a ruling dynasty. […]
Thomas Cromwell, Oliver Cromwell, and the many links between them
What links Thomas and Oliver Cromwell, apart from the name? They were related, and for at least three centuries people have got the two confused. Both led dramatic changes to church and state. And, as Miranda Malins explains, there are other “uncanny historical parallels” between the two powerful statesmen. One of the Edwardian music hall […]
The Rebel Daughter by Miranda Malins
Ely, 1643, and England is convulsed by civil war, setting King against Parliament and neighbour against neighbour. As the turmoil reaches her family home in Ely, 19-year-old Bridget Cromwell finds herself at the heart of the conflict. With her father’s star on the rise as a cavalry commander for the rebellious Parliament, Bridget has her […]
Oliver Cromwell’s war on Christmas?
Probably the one thing that most people could tell you about Oliver Cromwell (other that that he had warts) was that he banned Christmas. It is a ‘fact’ that is often referenced today, with comparisons being made to modern restrictions on festivities due to Covid-19. Is it true though? Stuart Orme, curator of the Cromwell […]
The Puritan Princess by Miranda Malins
London, 1657. The youngest daughter of Oliver Cromwell, 18-year-old Frances, is finding her place at England’s new centre of power. Following the turmoil of Civil War, a fragile sense of stability has returned to the country. Her father has risen to the unprecedented position of Lord Protector of the Commonwealth, and Frances has found herself […]
Oliver Cromwell’s daughter Frances, the ‘puritan princess’
Miranda Malins, author of The Puritan Princess, writes for Historia about the extraordinary life of Oliver Cromwell’s youngest daughter, Frances, and how we need to forget everything we thought we knew about the Lord Protector’s rule. The caricature of Oliver Cromwell’s protectorate is that it was a joyless, masculine, military dictatorship presided over by a […]
Mr Beeston and the Cockpit
Jemahl Evans brings us a brief history of London’s first West End theatre. The Cockpit Theatre in Drury Lane was initially, as its name suggests, a venue for cockfights and animal baiting on the east side of Drury Lane with an entrance in Cockpit Alley. As such it was the first playhouse in the West […]
Historia Interviews: Antonia Senior
Antonia Senior talks to Elizabeth Fremantle about her new novel The Tyrant’s Shadow. The Tyrant’s Shadow follows on from the events of your previous novel Treason’s Daughter, was it always your intention to write more than one book with these characters? I had intended to write only one book. It was my then editor’s idea […]