Faber & Faber

God's Executioner: Micheál Ó Siochrú

• £14.99 (Paperback)
• Add to basket

Synopsis:

On the 350th anniversary of his death, Oliver Cromwell continues to bestride the stage of Irish history like a colossus.

He spent only nine months of his eventful life in Ireland, and yet there he stands accused of war crimes, religious persecution and ethnic cleansing on a dramatic scale. The massacre of thousands of soldiers and civilians by the New Model Army at both Drogheda and Wexford in 1649 must rank among the greatest atrocities in Anglo-Irish history, although the full extent of the slaughter is still a source of controversy.

In a century of unrelenting, bloody warfare and religious persecution throughout Europe, Cromwell was, in many ways, a product of his times. As Commander-in-Chief of the army in Ireland, however, responsibility for the excesses of the military must be laid firmly at his door, while the harsh nature of the post-war settlement also bears his personal imprint. Cromwell was no monster, but he did commit monstrous acts. A warrior of Christ, somewhat like the crusaders of medieval Europe, he acted as God’s executioner, convinced throughout the horrors of the legitimacy of his cause, and striving to build a better world for the chosen few. He remains, therefore, a remarkably modern figure, relevant to our understanding of both the past and the present, somebody to be studied closely and understood rather than revered or reviled.

Micheál Ó Siochrú takes both new and existing evidence and presents a radical reinterpretation of Cromwell’s conquest of Ireland, placing it in the broader context of the conflicts in England, Scotland and across Europe.

Tags:

Categorised as:

Non-fiction

Sub-categories:

History

Places:

Ireland

People & Characters:

Oliver Cromwell

Genres & Themes:

Invasion; Military; Religion; Violence; War