Providence Lost

The Rise and Fall of Cromwell's Protectorate

De: Paul Lay

Narrado por: Gordon Griffin

England, 1651. Oliver Cromwell has defeated his royalist opponents in two civil wars, executed the Stuart King Charles I, laid waste to Ireland, and crushed the late king's son and his Scottish allies.

He is master of Britain and Ireland. But Parliament, divided between moderates, republicans and Puritans of uncompromisingly millenarian hue, is faction-ridden and disputatious. By the end of 1653, Cromwell has become 'Lord Protector'.

Seeking dragons for an elect Protestant nation to slay, he launches an ambitious 'Western Design' against Spain's empire in the New World. When an amphibious assault on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola in 1655 proves a disaster, a shaken Cromwell is convinced that God is punishing England for its sinfulness.

But the imposition of the rule of the Major-Generals - bureaucrats with a penchant for closing alehouses - backfires spectacularly. Sectarianism and fundamentalism run riot. Radicals and royalists join together in conspiracy.

The only way out seems to be a return to a Parliament presided over by a king. But will Cromwell accept the crown?

Paul Lay narrates in entertaining but always rigorous fashion the story of England's first and only experiment with republican government: he brings the febrile world of Oliver Cromwell's Protectorate to life, providing vivid portraits of the extraordinary individuals who inhabited it and capturing its dissonant cacophony of political and religious voices.

©2020 Paul Lay (P)2020 W. F. Howes Ltd

Reseñas de la Crítica

"A compelling and wry narrative of one of the most intellectually thrilling eras of British history." (The Guardian)

Dry and missing background

It seemed as though the author jumped into his narrative with little if any introduction or setting background of people or events. The events themselves are interesting, but I found the writing a bit dry and thought the author's modern biases came out a bit much.

a view of The Puritan moment.

This time starting the view from around Puritan ambitions at Providence Island threatening Spain's new world treasure.. ..touching on the "Grand Design" mixed failure to seize control of the Caribbean at Santo Domingo.
Before long, we are getting insights into personalities of parliamentarians and trials of religious dissenters, Oliver Cromwell's struggles of mind and conscience. Good details on a complicated time, this time beginning from a neglected angle. It is all interesting, good variety sample as the narrative wanders away from the selected region.
So what. Every bit of it is interesting, sampling an intensely complicated time between the times of kings.