How One Family Remade Britain: Thomas and Oliver Cromwell, with Miranda Malins

Thomas Cromwell helped Henry VIII break with Rome, reshape government and establish the Church of England. A century later, his distant relative Oliver Cromwell helped defeat a king, establish a republic and became Lord Protector. Both men are usually remembered as exceptional commoners who rose through talent and ruthless pragmatism. But neither rose alone. What does the familiar ‘great man’ version of history miss? And how did one extended family acquire power, lose it and then rise again? In this episode, Mia Sorenti speaks with historian and author Miranda Malins about what placing Thomas and Oliver within a continuous family story reveals about the marriages, money, faith, loyalties and inherited political memory that sustained the Cromwell dynasty across two centuries. The conversation explores whether the English Civil Wars represented a continuation of the Reformation, why the label ‘revolutionary’ fails to capture the Cromwells’ pragmatism, and how family history can contextualise controversial figures without excusing their violence. It also recovers the lives of the lesser-known Cromwells, including the women whose relationships, intellect and influence helped shape the family’s fortunes. Miranda Malins is a historian and novelist specialising in Oliver Cromwell, his family and the Civil War and Commonwealth period. She is a long-standing trustee of the Cromwell Association and the author of The House of Cromwell: Power, Family and the Making of Modern Britain, available now. Mia Sorenti is Senior Producer at Intelligence Squared. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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