... this day and age, he has suffered a variety of split personalities at the hands of his interpreters, enemies and well wishers. In print, paint and plaster and myth he has been seen as devil incarnate, deluded fanatic, hero and man of God. That he was a perplexing character is hard to doubt. Even one of his closest comrades commented: "Cromwell will weep, howl and repent even while he doth smite you under the fifth rib." Evidence also suggests Cromwell was a man of honesty. When commissioning a portrait of himself, he told the painter: "I desire you would use all your skill to paint my picture truly like me ... warts and everything." The artist duly obliged. Reviled and revered In 1645, Cromwell's New Model Army famously destroyed the king's forces at the Battle of Naseby, then went on to put down rebellions in Wales and Scotland over the ...

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