Irish Examiner view: Difficult subject for a relaunch

Cromwell’s notorious legacy has been questioned and he may have been more accepting of other faiths than previously thought

New research suggests Oliver Cromwell was more committed to religious tolerance than previously believed.

It’s only taken 372 years, but good things come to those who wait. And now it’s Oliver Cromwell’s turn to be given a public relations makeover. It seems that, whatever the descendants of Drogheda and Wexford, or of those who had their lands confiscated, or who were transported to the West Indies may think, Cromwell is much misunderstood by Catholics.

New research suggests Cromwell was more committed to religious tolerance than previously believed. It suggests he wanted Jews to be able practise openly, and that Irish Catholics should have the right to worship freely if in private.

The charge is being led by the eminent historian John Morrill, emeritus professor of British and Irish history at Cambridge University, who is also an ordained Catholic deacon. Prof Morrill has spent 11 years tracking and examining 1,253 documents containing Cromwell’s words that exist in libraries and archives all over the world. Some have only recently come to light because of digital cataloguing online. Others are judged to have been poorly translated originally.

His conclusion: “Cromwell thinks that persecution is always counterproductive, because if you target militants, you finish up radicalising moderates. He also believes the way to convert people isn’t by persecution, but by kindness.”

The evidence is to be published in a new three-volume book, this autumn. Given that Cromwell is routinely dismissed as a war criminal, and the author of genocide and ethnic cleansing, Prof Morrill may have an uphill struggle to reclaim the reputation of the MP for Huntingdon in the eyes of Irish people, many of whom would like to see his statue removed from outside the Westminster Parliament.

In a world where so many judgements are founded on an oral tradition, or even worse, a social media comment, we should welcome the chance to study new material that challenges our assumptions, even if is centuries old.