'Providence Lost: Cromwell's Western Design': a talk by Paul Lay

13-01-21 - 13-01-21,
7:30 PM - 9:00 PM

Admission: £5 Adults, £4 Students/Friends of the Museum

Location: Via Zoom

For the first of this season's lectures, the Cromwell Museum is delighted to welcome historian Paul Lay to talk about one of the less well known aspects of Cromwell's rule as Lord Protector.

Inspired by Elizabethan foreign policy, a belief in God’s providence and the writings of a former Catholic priest, Oliver Cromwell launched the ‘Western Design’ in 1654 to attack Spanish territories in the West Indies; it would prove to be a disaster. This talk will look at the reasons for this expedition, its impact on Cromwell and how it had a profound effect on the new Protectorate regime.

Paul Lay is the editor of History Today. He graduated in History at Birkbeck, University of London, winning the Dakin Prize. He is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a Trustee of the Cromwell Museum. His highly acclaimed book 'Providence Lost: the Rise and Fall of Cromwell's Protectorate' was published in 2020.

This is part of a four part lecture series on the Civil War period. Discounted combined tickets for all four talks can be purchased at: the Cromwell Lecture Series (click on this title for the link).

The other talks are by Andrea Zuvich on Sex and Sexuality in Stuart Britain, Miranda Malins on Imagining the Cromwells, and Steve Ellis & Mark Beattie-Edwards on the Wreck of the London.

PLEASE NOTE: This talk will be held online via Zoom. Joining details will be sent out the week before the talk.

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