Oliver Cromwell

Gardiner, Samuel Rawson, 1829-1902Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.0

Word count: 452K words
Chapters: 46

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today. Oliver Cromwell by Samuel Rawson Gardiner. Author: Gardiner, Samuel Rawson, 1829-1902. Language: English. Class: DA: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: Great Britain, Ireland, Central Europe. Release Date: Feb 25, 2014

Editor's review

This biography of Cromwell by the nineteenth-century British historian Samuel Rawson Gardiner is an early scholarly study of a historical figure rather than a modern popular biography. Its value lies in showing how a Victorian historian understood the key figure of the seventeenth-century English Revolution: drawing on the archives and documents of his time, the author traces Cromwell's political and military career from country gentleman and member of Parliament to army commander and Lord Protector, and assesses his religious convictions and his choices regarding power. Because the book was written long ago, its judgments bear the clear stamp of their era; readers may treat it as a work in the history of historiography and read it alongside contemporary scholarship to observe how interpretations of the same figure change over time. The electronic edition comes from Project Gutenberg and is a public-domain English original, suitable as supplementary reading for a course on British history and for readers interested in early modern English politics and the Puritan movement, who can study it step by step.

Who it's for

A good fit for

History students studying the English Revolution and the age of Cromwell
Readers who want to know how nineteenth-century historiography evaluated Cromwell
English learners who need a public-domain English original for close reading
Enthusiasts interested in the Puritan movement and early modern political history

Not a good fit for

Readers who want only a light, popular biography and are not used to nineteenth-century prose
Readers expecting the latest contemporary scholarship
Beginners whose English reading ability is not yet sufficient for long sentences and original texts

Reading tips

First read a modern overview of the Cromwell era to establish a timeline before entering the book's narrative.
Note the author's value judgments as you read and compare them with contemporary historians' views to develop a critical awareness.
Organize the key turning points in Cromwell's changing roles chapter by chapter, keeping a brief chronology to aid understanding.
For the English original, consult reference works on names and places to reduce reading difficulty.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this a newly written contemporary biography of Cromwell?

No. The author, Samuel Rawson Gardiner, was a nineteenth-century British historian, and the book is an early scholarly study of a historical figure that reflects a Victorian historiographical perspective rather than the latest contemporary scholarship. It is best read within the context of the history of historiography.

What level of English is needed to read this book?

The book is an English original with long sentences and nineteenth-century written usage; a solid ability to read long English texts is recommended. If it proves difficult, read a modern English or Chinese general history of the English Revolution first, then return to the original.

Are there any practical points to note about using the electronic edition?

The book is published by Project Gutenberg as a public-domain e-book and can be obtained free of charge. Layout may differ across devices; using reading software that supports table-of-contents navigation is recommended, and keeping the original page numbers or chapter markers will make citation and comparison easier.

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About the author

Gardiner, Samuel Rawson, 1829-1902 Author

Samuel Rawson Gardiner (1829-1902) was a British historian known for his studies of seventeenth-century English political and religious conflict. Five of his works are held in this collection, all centred on England around the civil war period: a study of the figure of Oliver Cromwell, a narrative of the European conflict in The Thirty Years' War, 1618-1648, a two-volume Student's History of England, and an inquiry into What Gunpowder Plot Was. His writing is marked by careful use of source evidence and clear narrative, with close attention to original documents and a cautious approach to disputed episodes such as the Gunpowder Plot. His books have long been regarded as foundational reading on the Stuart era and the English Revolution. As public information is limited, biographical details are omitted here; the above notes only the subjects and style of his works.