Cromwell essay (typed, double-spaced, seven pages, 20%): Clayton Roberts has written the following about Oliver Cromwell:

Cromwell was a modest, rough-hewn man, who wanted to be painted warts and all, a cautious, even conservative man, whom religion and the pursuit of God's will made a revolutionary.... Oliver Cromwell was a reluctant dictator who always sought a civilian scabbard in which to conceal the sword. (A History of England, 3^rd ed, 1:375-7)

Compare and contrast this view with that of other historians, Cromwell's contemporaries, and Cromwell himself. Use material from both before and after 1649 (that is, suggest whether his motives and role changed over time). A good strategy would be to focus on one aspect of his thought and actions: religion, politics, or military/diplomatic. Use material from at least three chapters of Smith, Oliver Cromwell, and at least one of the handouts or documents in The Past Speaks.

Bibliography (Note: While no outside reading is required, beyond D.L. Smith, ed., Oliver Cromwell, Cambridge, 1991, you might consider any of the following for background information.)

Classic biographies are: C. Hill, God’s Englishman: Oliver Cromwell and the English Revolution 1970); B. Coward, Oliver Cromwell (1991); P Gaunt, Oliver Cromwell (1996); and C. Firth, Oliver Cromwell and the Rule of the Puritans in England (1903, but still fine indeed). Works by Antonia Fraser and Maurice Ashley are legion, but are a taste that I have not yet aquired.

C. Holmes, "Colonel King and Lincolnshire Politics, 1642-6," Historical Journal 16 (1973) [O.C.'s parliamentary career].

A.N.B. Cotton, "Cromwell and the Self-Denying Ordinance," History 62 (1977) [1644-45].

G.E. Aylmer, "Was Oliver Cromwell a Member of the Army in 1646-7 or Not?," History 56 (1971).

C. Hoover, "Cromwell's Status and Pay in 1646-7," Historical Journal 23 (1980).

M. Kishlansky, "What Happened at Ware?," Historical Journal 25 (1982) [Nov. 1647].

C.H. Firth, "Cromwell and the Expulsion of the Long Parliament," English Historical Review [Dec. 1648 by the classic Cromwellian].

J. Burke, "The War Model Army and the Problems of Siege Warfare, 1649-51," Irish Historical Studies 27 (1990).

A. Woolrych, "Cromwell as a Soldier," in J. Morrill, ed., Oliver Cromwell and the English Revolution (1990), pp. 903-918 (good collection overall).

For both Tudor Paper and Cromwell Paper you may wish to consult RHS Bibliography of British and Irish History. Use post-1945 publications on step one; search form on step two (these are both the defaults), then enter subject and, I recommend, journal as History Today. The latter is a reputable, well-illustrated journal mainly written by professional historians but for a more popular audience (and is available in Booth Library). Thus, Cromwell as person subject and History Today yields six article citations (you still have to go to the library). Tudor as subject with History Today yields 17; Henry VII and History Today yields 36 (some are for Henry VIII).