Sunday, 4 August 2019

"Go!"

Oliver Cromwell:

In the name of God, go!
-copied from here.

You have sat too long for any good you have been doing lately... Depart, I say; and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!
-copied from here.

"'Go!' Barholm shouted. 'You have sat here far too long for any good you might be doing; in the name of the Spirit, go!'"
-The Forge, CHAPTER ELEVEN, p. 192.

Yet another historical allusion. In the Cromwellian case, I expect that the Time Patrol would be on hand to ensure that the Dissolution of the Long Parliament occurs on schedule in 1653.

6 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

And Cromwell's dissolution of the Long Parliament finally marked his triumph over his rivals for the rule of England. Yes, however much some Time Patrol agents disliked Cromwell, they would have to make SURE he would be able to consolidate his grip on power as dictator. One wonders what might have happened in history if Cromwell had lived longer, dying in 1668 instead of 1658. And would his able son Henry, rather than the ineffectual Richard, had succeeded Oliver as Lord Protector?

Your comments about Drake/Stirling's THE FORGE has gotten me to rereading it, and I'm already on Chapter 5.

Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,
DC Comics had an Elseworld based on Cromwell living longer and a religious dictatorship lasting down to the 20th century. The dictatorship suppresses superheroes, killing Kal-El with Kryptomite, but is opposed by guess who - a bat-garbed vigilante.
Paul.

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

KryptoNite, of course.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Interesting, I agree! The example I thought of was Orson Scott Card's SEVENTH SON, featuring an England where the Cromwellian Protectorate survived for centuries. With the exiled Stuarts becoming kings of the southern English colonies on the east coast of North America.

I'm a bit dubious about the "religious dictatorship," tho. As we've discussed before, Christianity is poor, stony ground for theocracy. I can imagine some kind of Calvinist Established Church in a Cromwellian England, but not that church taking over the state.

Sean

S.M. Stirling said...

By 17th century standards, Cromwell was a tolerant man. This did not apply to many of his followers and fellow-Puritans, of course.

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

I read that he was particularly welcoming to Jews.