II.

Early Life

Cromwell was born at Huntingdon in central England, on April 25, 1599, in a minor branch of a once-prosperous family. He was educated in the local grammar school and spent a year at Calvinist-dominated Sidney Sussex College at the University of Cambridge. His father’s death interrupted his studies, and he returned home to care for his mother and to manage his meager inheritance. In 1620 Cromwell married Elizabeth Bourchier, daughter of a prominent London merchant, and they lived a quiet life together, first in Huntingdon and then at Saint Ives in Cambridgeshire. Cromwell did not prosper in these years; while he could claim the rank of a gentleman in Huntingdon, he had to rent land in Saint Ives, and his income declined as his family grew. In 1636 he inherited from an uncle both lands and a minor office in the eastern cathedral town of Ely. Cromwell became an able estate manager and an efficient tax collector. His fortunes grew, and by 1640 he was one of Ely’s wealthiest men.

It was during these years of struggle that Cromwell experienced a religious conversion in which he came to believe that he had been chosen for eternal salvation. This conversion decisively changed his life. Following his conversion, Cromwell strengthened ties with friends and relations who shared his religious outlook. He became part of a network of people discontented with the government of Charles I, who they believed was ruling in an arbitrary manner and was not doing enough to suppress Roman Catholics. For 11 years Charles had governed without calling Parliament, and when he was forced to do so in 1640 to raise money to put down a rebellion in Scotland, Cromwell and his friends sought selection to Parliament. When Parliament convened, they entered the House of Commons ready to challenge the king.