"The Bloody Man"

[Fearless Leader]

Though I have considerably enjoyed all of your timelines EdT, this one is particularly interesting to me, as a few years ago I made a rough TL with a very similar Point of Divergence (in my TL, Cromwell left in 1639). Though obviously not as well researched or written as yours, I heartily look forward to seeing how your TL parallels and diverges from my own!

 

[PCSwitaj]

Interesting start...so we remove Cromwell from England and place him in New England helping out the efforts to establish the Saybrook colony. I can't wait to see what becomes of both Old England and New England!

 

[Archangel]

Subscribed, Ed!

 

[EdT]

how wil ireland develop if no one conviently shows up and kills the majority of catholic engligh settlers and lords?

Ah, I have a plan there as it happens! It has to be said though, Ireland will be something of a mess no matter who ends up in charge. As Grimm Reaper said, the Irish Confederates weren't blessed with the best organised, or united, leadership, and even if the English and/or the Covenanters don't get their act together enough to stamp out the rebellion, there's still the chance the Confederacy will fall apart into Civil War anyhow, as it pretty much did IOTL.

Interesting. I wonder what his wife's opinion will be, of this shooting star he saw while full of ale.

Cromwell's a clever chap, I'm sure he'll be able to couch things in more reasonable terms once he sobers up! Actually, on top of that the Cromwells had a very close and loving marriage, and Elizabeth did not like the enforced move to St Ives very much- so the chance of a new beginning might be rather tempting to her.

This looks really good I love your work! That alternate cover is very awesome! Also is your Caesar TL dead?

No, don't worry- the Caesariad isn't dead, and I will updating that relatively soon. Having two TLs at once will make both progress slower than I'd like, but as there's only another four parts to go on the Caesariad and all of them have bits already written, I reckon it's just about doable.

(Also, about that cover: am I the only one who thinks that figure in the center looks a bit like Teddy Roosevelt? Except for the "hands and feet are swapped" thing, that is...)

I can't see it myself tbh- for what it's worth, the image is taken from the cover of a 1646 pro-Royalist broadside entitled "The World Turned Upside Down", which in turn took it's name from a ballad of the time;

"Listen to me and you shall hear, news hath not been this thousand year:
Since Herod, Caesar, and many more, you never heard the like before.
Holy-dayes are despis’d, new fashions are devis’d.
Old Christmas is kickt out of Town.
Yet let’s be content, and the times lament, you see the world turn’d upside down."

I figured that it worked quite well both in terms of the time period and also as a representation of Alternative History...

 

[EdT]

Chapter 1

And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, [is] an exceeding good land. If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey.
Numbers 14: 7-8. ​

_____________________________________________


(Taken from “Cromwell: New England’s Founding Father” by Martijn White, Oxford 1941)

“Oliver Cromwell’s decision to emigrate to New England had many roots[1]. Famously, it was his final religious conversion, after years of wrestling with his faith, that provided the outward impetus for his migration. After struggling for so long with no direction to his life, he finally had been provided with a mission. John Hampden, in whom Cromwell often confided during this period, later wrote of his cousin that;

“This great man is risen from a very low and afflicted condition; one that hath suffered very great troubles of the soul, lying a long time under sore terrors and temptations, and at the same time a very low condition for outward things; in this school of afflictions he was kept, till his will was broken into submission to the will of God, who hath revealed the task He hath set for him. ”[2]

Cromwell too saw his decision to emigrate in terms of fulfilling the will of God. In a letter to his cousin Elizabeth St. John around the time of his conversion, he wrote to her that;

“You know what my manner of life had been. Oh, I hath lived in and loved darkness and hated light; I was a chief, the chief of sinners. This is true. I hated godliness, yet God had mercy on me…. If now I may honour my God through the plantation of the New World, I will be most glad. For truly no poor creature hath more cause to put himself forth in the cause of his God than I have. ”[3]

Yet in truth, there was also little to keep Cromwell in England. His property was meagre and had largely already been liquidated in 1631, when he was forced to move from Huntingdon, and he had angered a number of powerful landowners by his persistence in championing local commoners whose land rights had been lost through the drainage of the fens[4]. There seemed little chance of Parliament being reconvened, and even if it were, his reduced status made him an unlikely candidate for election. On top of these personal troubles could be laid the state of the country. Like many of the other puritans who left England in the years before the Revolution, Cromwell had grown increasingly convinced that the nation had turned from the path of righteousness and the social gospel, largely because of the determination of King and Bishops to pursue policies that directly resulted in the corruption of the populace.

All of this meant, as he would later write, that “God had weaned me of my affection for England”. To Cromwell, America offered a new start, where the “chosen Godly could transform the New World into a bulwark against the Antichrist”[5]. Little surprise then, that having made his decision to migrate in the summer of 1633, he threw himself into the task. Cromwell spent the following eighteen months were investing much of his remaining fortune into the Saybrook Company, making arrangements for his family (it was decided that only Robert, his eldest, would travel, Elizabeth and the remaining children to return to the care of Cromwell’s father-in-law until it was possible for her to follow her husband across the Atlantic), and- most importantly of all, as it turned out- ingratiating himself with the proprietors of the new Colony…”



(Taken from “New England: A History” by Robert Talbot, Miskatonic University Press 1937)

“In March 1635 the Propprietors of the Saybrook Company in London signed an agreement with Cromwell, whereby they appointed him “Governor of the River Connecticut in New England and all of the harbours and places adjoining”[6]. The Commission was initially only meant to last for two years, during which time Cromwell was expected to establish foundations for the new colony, much as John Endicott had done in Massachusetts; in the event, this responsibility would dominate the rest of his life.

Why Oliver Cromwell, who was a man of limited means and little fame? A major part of the explanation for the election of an obscure East Anglian gentleman to lead the Saybrook Company lies in the perceived unimportance of the corporation. If Saybrook had been a larger, more important venture, Cromwell would never have been entrusted with the responsibilities offered him. The later significance of the colony has misled many as to how it was viewed at the time; given their attempts, along with the Earl of Warwick, to seize control of the East India Company, New England was not even Lords Saye and Brooke’s first priority.

Yet the other major factor in the appointment of Cromwell over other, better connected rivals was his cast-iron commitment to the Saybrook cause. The majority of those who were planning to go to the mouth of the Connecticut had liquidated their English assets and were intending a permanent move; it was no surprise that investors planning to migrate themselves looked for a Governor as dedicated as they were, who could persuade them that “the welfare of the plantation depends on my assistance, for I have assurance that my charge is of the Lord, and he hath called me to do this work”[7].

The same, undoubtedly, could be said of John Winthrop the Younger, Cromwell’s principal, albeit friendly, competitor for the post[8]; unlike Cromwell, Winthrop had spent four years in New England, and so by the standards of the time was undoubtedly an expert in the region. But this very familiarity counted against him in the eyes of the Saybrook Company; did the Proprietors of the new colony really want their new venture governed by the son of the Governor of Massachusetts Bay? Confronted by the prospect of a cuckoo in the nest, the Saybrook investors decided that independence was the only option; and so went for the less distinguished, and in their view, more pliable man[9].”



(Taken from “Cromwell: New England’s founding Father” by Martijn White, Oxford 1941)

“Sometime in May, probably the 10th, Cromwell and his eldest son Robert[10], along with the younger Winthrop, boarded the Angel Michael, a 150 ton carrack, at Portsmouth. After a final farewell to his wife and younger children, the anchor was weighed and Cromwell departed for the New World. Two months later, on July 14th 1635, the Angel Michael anchored at Boston. It had been an uneventful passage by the standards of the time, with largely calm seas and little in the way of incident. In his first letter home, Cromwell spoke of how he set foot ashore, and gave thanks;

“that God had put an end to our long journey, being 1,000 leagues, and that is 3,000 English miles, over one of the greatest seas of the world…for though we were in a ship with 50 passengers, besides 23 seamen, 10 cows and heifers, 3 suckling calves and 4 mares, yet not one (of) these died.”[11]

Boston in the summer of 1635 was nothing much to look at; a motley collection of low timber huts and muddy streets clinging to the shores of the tree-lined Shawmut peninsula[12]. Yet it was the closest thing the New England had to civilisation, and the obvious base from which to strike out at the Connecticut valley. Oliver Cromwell spent his first night in the New World, and the weeks afterwards, as a guest at the mansion of the Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, John Haynes[13].”


****

Boston,
Massachusetts, July 1635

John Haynes took a small sip of sack- specially brought out for the occasion- and appraised his visitor across the dinner table. He has hardly improved with age, he thought sourly, as he compared the new Governor of the Saybrook with the young thug he vaguely remembered from his studies in Cambridge.

The man sitting in front of Haynes was scruffily dressed in a suit that seemed to have been made by a bad country tailor, had not been washed recently, and had not been particularly well-cared for. Discourteous, Massachusetts’ Governor thought to himself, as he noticed a speck of blood on his guest’s neck-band from a careless shave. Cromwell was not especially tall, although he was broad; neither was he particularly handsome, especially after considering the warts that marked his cheek, chin and forehead. What he did have, however, was a sort of threatening masculinity; high cheek bones, heavy-lidded eyes, a thick neck and above all a ruddy complexion that made him look permanently on the verge of an angry outburst. The nose particularly fascinated Haynes. Very large, somehow it was even ruddier than the rest of his face. Probably the result of drink, he thought nastily, focusing on the feature at the expense of failing to spot the intelligence sparkling in Cromwell’s grey-green eyes.

The overall effect, thought Haynes, was that of a backwoods squire; a nobody thrust into a position of responsibility, he considered who was of a rather more exalted background, though not exalted enough to have dispensed with a finely-developed sense of snobbery. That impression was only compounded when his guest spoke; his voice was a sharp rasp, earnest and seemingly quite humourless.

A tough, but a cunning tough, was his final conclusion, as Cromwell finished telling the tale of his voyage to Boston and began asking blunt, probing questions about the local natives. Haynes settled back into his chair with a sigh, as the servant brought the plate of corn porridge and venison. This is going to be a long meal, he thought.


****


(Taken from “The History of Saybrook, 1635-1801” by Henry Armitage, Picador 1945)

“Cromwell’s sojourn in Boston was quickly cut short. He was already uncomfortably aware of the fortified post established by the Dutch midway up the Connecticut Valley[14]; now, only a few weeks after his arrival in Boston, word reached New England of a prospective Dutch expedition to plant a fort at the mouth of the Connecticut. Appalled at the prospect of seeing his Colony snatched away from him, Cromwell acted with characteristic decisiveness, despatching a small canoe to the region containing 20 carpenters and other workmen, and led by two hired adventurers recommended by Winthrop, Edward Gibbons and Simon Willard[15]. Cromwell himself would follow on a few weeks later with the Younger Winthrop, six armed men, and two cannon, leaving his son in the care of his comrade’s father, with whom he had developed a friendship.

Cromwell’s speed proved fortuitous. The advance party landed on the west bank near the mouth of the Connecticut, and, finding no sign of the Dutch, established a shore battery and a small fort. On August 16th, two days after the arrival of Cromwell and his reinforcements, a Dutch ship appeared off the estuary, but withdrew on seeing the English occupation[16]. A relieved Cromwell christened the Fort ‘Providence’[17], and sent messages back to Boston recounting his fortune. As the summer began to fade, the settlement at Ft Providence already boasted a population in double figures; meanwhile, Sir Richard Saltonstall had dispatched twenty servants to establish a trading post a few miles up the river, in direct competition with the Plymouth traders already established there[18].

Yet even as the Saybrook venture took its first steps, more rivals emerged that threatened to strangle the colony in its cradle. Before the first colonists had even departed England, in 1634 some residents of Watertown followed John Oldham along the old Indian trail and established a trading post on the Connecticut River that eventually evolved into the town of Wethersfield[19]. More settlers were coming, too. By the time Cromwell had built his fort at the mouth of the Connecticut, the rich lands of the valley were disputed between no less than five claimants; the Dutch, Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts Bay, the new residents, and the Saybrook proprietors.

Fort Providence received a boost as the Saybrook Colony’s first summer drew to a close, for in September Henry Vane, the Reverend Hugh Peter, and a handful of colonists arrived in Massachusetts to challenge the rights of the river settlements to the land they had occupied[20]. The arrival of advocates for the new colony quickly bore some fruit, as in the depths of the New England winter John Haynes, the Colony’s Governor, was persuaded to establish a five-man commission to decide under whose jurisdiction the illegal settlements fell[21]. This development was welcome, but it soon became clear that legal proceedings in Boston were wholly insufficient to prevent the continued unauthorised settlement of the valley. While extra colonists for Ft Providence could be expected from England in the New Year, Cromwell soon recognised that only drastic action would prevent his new colony from being swamped by new arrivals from the rest of New England who cared little for the legalities of the Saybrook Grant.

As a result, after spending his first New England winter in Ft Providence- “so cold as some had their fingers frozen and in some danger to be lost”- Cromwell and three companions struck upstream to visit the new settlements and hopefully secure their allegiance.”



(Taken from “Cromwell’s mission to the Upper Connecticut” by Samuel Akers in the Journal of New England History, January 1947)

“The Connecticut River in March 1636 was a cold, forbidding and potentially dangerous place. The native population was disturbed, the majority of local inhabitants having been killed by an epidemic around a year before, and the survivors had been scattered by clashes between the Mohegan and Pequot tribes[22]. In addition, while the winter cold had moderated somewhat, the snow was still heavy and food was hard to find. Supplies were so low in Ft Providence that the expedition left as much as to stave off starvation as for its stated diplomatic aim; as it was, Cromwell and his men only ate well after surprising a group of Mattabessett Indians somewhere in the vicinity of modern Betchworth[23], forcing them to flee after a brief skirmish, and appropriating their food.

The following day (March 25th, according to Lion Gardiner’s[24] journal) the expedition rounded a bend in the river and found, about ten miles south of Wethersfield, an abandoned Indian village. Realising that this was the first place that a bridge could practically be placed across the river[25], Cromwell announced that he would direct the next group of colonists to arrive to settle the spot; this directly led to the foundation of Broughton later that year…

The expedition arrived in Wethersfield two days later, much to the shock of the settlement’s inhabitants, who had only barely survived the winter themselves and were not expecting visitors. It seems quite likely that the colonists were also intimidated, not just by the hard-bitten Gardiner, but by Cromwell’s stubborn determination to absorb Wethersfield into the Saybrook Colony. Armed with an array of patents, the arrivals firmly stated (entirely prematurely, given that the Commission established to rule on the matter would not report for another year) that the settlement rightfully fell under the authority of the Lords Saye and Brooke, and that the colonists must either recognise this authority or vacate the region. The proposal was accepted quickly; after debating the proposition for just over a day, the men of Wethersfield were swayed by the rhetoric of John Seeley[26], who argued for incorporation, quite possibly on the basis that it was the quickest way to be rid of Cromwell’s expedition.

With Wethersfield annexed, Cromwell’s expedition proceeded north upriver, past the brooding Dutch fortification that stood where Newtown now lies (Gardiner records that both he and Cromwell made sketches of the defences for later reference) to the new Plymouth Colony trading post at Windsor. Here, he received a less deferential reception; the Windsorians, having spent most of the autumn and winter feuding with the Saltonstall traders across the river, allegedly pelted Cromwell’s men with mud and manure until they beat a hasty retreat…”



(Taken from “The History of Saybrook, 1635-1801” by Henry Armitage, Picador 1945)

“By 1637, the Saybrook Colony was properly established; Fort Providence had become a thriving community and entrepôt, and the arrival of a shipload of colonists to settle Broughton, upriver, extended the Colony’s control into the interior. Tentative outposts were placed further afield too; Lion Gardiner led a small group of men westwards to the mouth of the Quinnipiac River to found the town of Bideford[27], while Warwick[28], named after the proprietor and settled by Ulstermen from County Down[29], represented the first English presence on Long Island. Saybrook was no longer a single fort clinging to the New England coast; it was now a loose collection of communities which desperately needed central direction and governance. Yet everything that had been done in the two years since the foundation of Ft Providence was provisional. Oliver Cromwell’s task had merely been to prepare the ground for the promised arrival of the Proprietors, who were actively preparing to emigrate; when they arrived, the regular governance of the Colony could begin.

The Proprietors had been quite clear to Cromwell as to what sort of Government he was to establish. Authority would be divided as in England, between an upper house of “gentlemen of the country” and a lower house of representatives of the freedmen. The Governor would be chosen from the members of the upper house. So far, this was not too different from what was already being practiced in Massachusetts Bay. But puritan peers such as the Proprietors, though willing to recognise lesser men as fellow saints, were not willing to allow such men to determine through annual elections whether the Colony’s leadership needed renewal. Instead, they stipulated that the upper house had to be hereditary, and that;

“Lord Viscount Saye and Sele, the Lord Brooke… and other such gentlemen of approved sincerity and worth as they, before their personal remove, shall take into their number, should be admitted for them and their heirs, gentlemen of the country. ”[30]

There was a second difference from the established practice of the Bay. Not only were magistrates to hold office for life, but the Proprietors also chose not to limit the franchise to church members, as occurred in Massachusetts. This progressivism worried many in Boston, but satisfied the commercial calculations of the Proprietors; such a provision would allow Saybrook to attract many Colonists who might not wish to settle in stricter circumstances further east[31].

In the summer of 1636, as Cromwell, ever with his eye on his vulnerable northern flank, decided to move his base of operations- and the Colony’s capital- upriver to Broughton. By this point, it seemed that he had all but completed the job he had been despatched to achieve. Saybrook was firmly rooted into the Connecticut soil, colonists were arriving every month, and all that now remained was for the Proprietors themselves to cast off their final commitments in England and cross the Atlantic to assume the leadership of the great venture. For a time, their arrival seemed imminent; Henry Lawrence had written in August stressing that the peers were so determined to settle on the Connecticut that “nothing but a plain impossibility could divert us from that place”[32].

Unfortunately though, the plain impossible intervened. Perhaps the liquidation of estates preparatory to emigration was too obvious; perhaps the King’s agents became aware of so many country gentlemen suddenly renting short-term accommodation in London. Either way, at the critical time the English authorities firmly clamped down on the planned exodus. A new Privy Council proclamation issued in April 1637 and reissued the following year prohibited emigration to New England without a license[33]. Not all the arrivals were put off; George Fenwick and the Reverend Hugh Peter arrived in the summer of 1636 and a trickle of others, including Edward Hopkins, Sir Matthew Boynton and Henry Lawrence[34] arrived over the next year or so. But the Peers were unable to escape the notice of the English authorities in the way that their lesser colleagues could. Even as Saybrook flourished, the dream of an aristocratic autocracy on the banks of the Connecticut was dashed.

The Crown’s actions were a bitter blow to Saybrook, although it is easy to imagine that Governor Cromwell slept a little easier at night without the prospect of the Proprietors’ autocratic rule being imposed. Yet these trials were as nothing as to those which would test the colony in its second winter, as the clouds of war threatened Saybrook for the first time…”

_____________________________________________


[1] The Point of Departure, of course, is that Cromwell, who in Our Timeline (IOTL) repeatedly considered emigration, either to Ireland or to New England as part of the Saybrook Colony, actually decides to make the move.

[2] A friend wrote this of Cromwell IOTL.

[3] Cromwell made similar comments IOTL, although at that point he saw his cause in slightly different terms to how he does in this Timeline (ITTL).

[4] IOTL, Cromwell established much of his political base in Cambridge and Huntingdonshire during the early 1630s by defending the land rights of the locals against predatory landowners such as the Earl of Bedford, who was active in the reclamation projects around the Isle of Ely.

[5] These sentiments were shared by John Winthrop IOTL, and were the major reason for his decision to emigrate.

[6] This happens slightly earlier than OTL, mainly because of Cromwell’s organisational efforts.

[7] Similar reasoning IOTL allowed John Winthrop to beat other, more experienced candidates to be selected as first Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

[8] IOTL, Winthrop was given the role that Cromwell has been ITTL for this very reason.

[9] Arguably, OTL’s decision to go with Winthrop Jr doomed Saybrook; while Winthrop was talented and dedicated, he simply did not have the single-mind interest in the Colony’s welfare that was required, and could not (and would not) be provided by the Proprietors. As a result the Colony never really established itself properly.

[10] Robert died in 1639 IOTL; ITTL he’s effectively being brought along to act as his father’s secretary.

[11] The Revd. Mather expressed the same sentiments IOTL, although his trip was rather more stressful.

[12] ITTL, just as OTL, the city had been founded five years previously.

[13] OTL, John Haynes is regarded as one of the founders of Connecticut; a few years after his Governorship, various political agreements caused him to move to what is now Hartford.

[14] Fort Huys de Goede Hoop, opposite what IOTL became Hartford, was founded in 1623.

[15] Winthrop Jr led this expedition IOTL, and for the same reasons. However, as Cromwell arrives in New England several months earlier, the Dutch effort is forestalled rather than reversed.

[16] OTL, the Dutch arrived first but merely claimed the land by pinning a coat of arms to a prominent nearby tree, which Winthrop tore down on his arrival. ITTL Cromwell’s speed means the Dutch expedition doesn’t even set foot ashore.

[17] OTL it was named Saybrook, after the proprietors, and today is known as “Old Saybrook”.

[18] Saltonstall did the same IOTL as his contribution to the Saybrook effort. The Plymouth settlement became, IOTL, Windsor.

[19] Both these migrations occurred IOTL.

[20] IOTL, they arrived a little later in the year; ITTL everything has been brought forward slightly by Cromwell’s involvement.

[21] Thanks to a rather more vigorous colonisation effort, and the fact that the colony is linked less strongly to the Winthrop family, which was out of political favour at the time, the commission is rather more robust ITTL. IOTL, it comprised of eight people and put the jurisdiction issue into the long grass, legitimising the occupation by fait accompli.

[22] Smallpox came to the region in 1633 IOTL; it devastated the local population.

[23] OTL’s Higganum.

[24] Lion Gardiner was a prominent early colonist of New England, and IOTL commanded the Saybrook Fort. He eventually bought and settled Gardiner Island, off Long Island, which is still owned by his descendants today.

[25] This is the spot of OTL’s Middletown, CT.

[26] John Seeley was an experienced surveyor who was prominent in early Connecticut. IOTL he is best known for his service in the Pequot War, in which he was badly wounded.

[27] The site of New Haven IOTL.

[28] OTL’s Southold, NY.

[29] IOTL, these colonists, led by Revd John Livingstone, expressed an interest in settling the Saybrook Grant but little was done to assist them. ITTL, with much more activity and the colony not becoming effectively moribund immediately after its foundation, they actually make the journey to the New World.

[30] This was the intention for the Saybrook Colony IOTL as well; the concept died with the venture.

[31] IOTL Rhode Island and to a lesser extent the upper Connecticut towns and New Hampshire served this purpose; ITTL the Saybrook Proprietors are trying to get in on the ground floor, as it were.

[32] IOTL he wrote to John Winthrop Jr saying the same thing, and was just as misguided.

[33] This happened IOTL too, and for much the same reason. It sealed the fate of Saybrook, and starved it of important colonists. ITTL, enough has already been established that it is less of a blow, although it is a serious setback.

[34] Fenwick and Peter arrived IOTL and then settled in Massachusetts instead of Saybrook; Edward Hopkins ended up becoming one of the first settlers of New Haven and later led the Connecticut Colony, while Henry Lawrence emigrated to Holland rather than the New World. Matthew Boynton never emigrated at all.

 

[EdT]

And here's a map of the early settlements in New England ITTL and their dates of foundation, for reference; the major native tribes are also shown...

 

[Faeelin]

You know, we've been focused on the downsides for England; but a Puritan Connecticut and Rhode Island won't be the free thinking places of OTL, either. gah.

 

[imperialaquila]

You know, we've been focused on the downsides for England; but a Puritan Connecticut and Rhode Island won't be the free thinking places of OTL, either. gah.

That depends on how long Puritan rule lasts there. The more people come, the less of them will be Puritans, and that spells doom in the long run for the Puritains.

 

[Falkenburg]

Ah! Nice.
This is like uncorking a bottle of Late Bottled Vintage Port. Anticipating much enjoyment as this progresses.

Any chance Cromwell could build on the relationship with the (Irish) Plantations?

If political turmoil and military conflict can't be used to prompt a few thousands to head West, then Oliver isn't half as canny as I would have thought him.

Which could make all the difference along the road.

Falkenburg

 

[PCSwitaj]

I like. This should prove very interesting to the development of New England, and perhaps even prevent the fracturing that took place IOTL, based on your notes about Saybrook getting in on the ground floor so to speak and filling the role of Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. Connecticut would easily press their claims on Long Island now too.

Two questions: First, is the use of the term Revolution significant or is that an interchangeable term with Civil War in real life as well? And second, IOTL New York would, once coming under English control, claim the Connecticut River as its eastern boundry for a few decades, while Connecticut would claim out to the Hudson and even beyond, like so (best map I could find for this). Would we still see such disputes with a more firmly established Connecticut* (in the form of Saybrook)?

 

[Josephus]

Arkham, Mass.? Nice.

 

[SavoyTruffle]

Miskatonic University is a nice touch too.

 

[rcduggan]

I'm loving this, EdT - especially after seeing your second map on Deviantart ... can't wait to see where you go with it, this should be an exciting ride! Glad I can finally get in on the ground floor, as it were, of one of your timelines!

 

[mrmandias]

had grown increasingly convinced that the nation had turned from the path of righteousness and the social gospel,

Is "social gospel" anachronistic? It sounds anachronistic to me, but I am willing to bear correction.

Otherwise, masterful.

 

[EdT]

You know, we've been focused on the downsides for England; but a Puritan Connecticut and Rhode Island won't be the free thinking places of OTL, either. gah.

Very true. While Cromwell’s religious convictions are the same as OTL and he’s quite willing to let practical considerations take priority if necessary, the Saybrook proprietors have a very clear idea of the sort of colony they want to emigrate to, and it doesn’t involve much in the way of religious toleration. An *Anne Hutchinson affair would probably be smoothed over under Cromwell's watch if he were left to his own devices, but not if Lord Saye and Sele and Lord Brooke have anything to do with it.

Saybrook is still going to be a little more liberal than the Massachusetts Bay but not as much as Connecticut was IOTL; and for all that Cromwell is reasonably tolerant of doctrinal dissent, he has his limits. Roger Williams has just found himself a very powerful new enemy to add to all the others, and this probably doesn’t bode particularly well for the long-term success of the Providence Plantations.

Any chance Cromwell could build on the relationship with the (Irish) Plantations?

If political turmoil and military conflict can't be used to prompt a few thousands to head West, then Oliver isn't half as canny as I would have thought him.

Which could make all the difference along the road.

Excellent point. As it happens there was a surprising amount of interest in the Saybrook venture from Ulster in particular, which never really went anywhere after the colony folded. Even before 1641 there’s a better chance of attracting colonists who are getting increasingly wary of the situation in Ireland; after the rebellion starts, there’s a potentially impressive harvest to be reaped there, I agree.

Two questions: First, is the use of the term Revolution significant or is that an interchangeable term with Civil War in real life as well?

Some people refer to the Civil War as the “English Revolution” IOTL, and with good cause; as for whether there is more reason for historians of the future ABM-verse to use the phrase, you’ll have to wait and see…

And second, IOTL New York would, once coming under English control, claim the Connecticut River as its eastern boundary for a few decades, while Connecticut would claim out to the Hudson and even beyond, like so (best map I could find for this). Would we still see such disputes with a more firmly established Connecticut* (in the form of Saybrook)?

Oh, definitely. Even laying aside what happens to the New Netherlands, the region’s a mass of conflicting claims, some of which more enforceable than others. The Warwick Patent, which established the legality of the colony, is rather vague on boundaries and in any case was potentially superseded by another grant made two years later, which is where the New York claim to the Connecticut River comes from.

As far as Cromwell is concerned, the most important consideration is the northern border of the Saybrook Colony- what is it? Cromwell would doubtless claim that he was appointed Governor of “The Connecticut River and all places and harbours adjoining”, which effectively takes in everything up to OTL’s Canadian-New Hampshire border; the inhabitants of Windsor and Wickford (OTL Springfield, Mass) would argue otherwise, however, as would many in Boston.

Sorting out this sort of thing is going to be a major pre-occupation of Cromwell’s time as Governor. Luckily, he’s a persistent and ruthless sort, who is probably more inclined to take precipitate action to assert his claims than his rivals would imagine.

Arkham, Mass.? Nice.

Miskatonic University is a nice touch too.

Yep. Named after the Reverend Thomas Arkasden, formerly of Emanuel College, Cambridge, and Ampthill, Bedfordshire; he was inspired by a lecture Cromwell gave at his old alma mater in 1636 and brings his congregation over to New England along with him, along with a suspiciously extensive collection of esoteric books that will later form the core of the town’s university library…

I'm loving this, EdT - especially after seeing your second map on Deviantart ... can't wait to see where you go with it, this should be an exciting ride! Glad I can finally get in on the ground floor, as it were, of one of your timelines!

Well, remember that the maps aren’t necessarily canon- they represent my best guess at the time I made them but I generally retcon them as I go on. But yes, North America is going to look quite different quite quickly with Cromwell added to the equation.

Is "social gospel" anachronistic? It sounds anachronistic to me, but I am willing to bear correction.

Certainly the capitalised, progressive “Social Gospel” is anachronistic, but the un-capitalised phrase seems to be used a fair bit in modern discussion of the period, which is where I’ve got it from. It’s meant in the context of Puritans seeking to reform the world in the image of God’s Holy Kingdom; John Winthrop’s “Christian Charity” sermon is the sort of thing which I’m trying to get at.

I’m no theologian though, so it may well be that another phrase is more suitable. Open to suggestions if so!

 

[PCSwitaj]

Oh, definitely. Even laying aside what happens to the New Netherlands, the region’s a mass of conflicting claims, some of which more enforceable than others. The Warwick Patent, which established the legality of the colony, is rather vague on boundaries and in any case was potentially superseded by another grant made two years later, which is where the New York claim to the Connecticut River comes from.

As far as Cromwell is concerned, the most important consideration is the northern border of the Saybrook Colony- what is it? Cromwell would doubtless claim that he was appointed Governor of “The Connecticut River and all places and harbours adjoining”, which effectively takes in everything up to OTL’s Canadian-New Hampshire border; the inhabitants of Windsor and Wickford (OTL Springfield, Mass) would argue otherwise, however, as would many in Boston.

Sorting out this sort of thing is going to be a major pre-occupation of Cromwell’s time as Governor. Luckily, he’s a persistent and ruthless sort, who is probably more inclined to take precipitate action to assert his claims than his rivals would imagine.

Understandable in regards to the northern border, although I do wonder about the eastern boundry as well - what would become the state of Rhode Island should also be an interesting back and forth as formal boundries are attempted to be sorted, especially since IOTL Connecticut claimed it until the 1720s.

By the way, I've been bored of late, so I've got an email I'm about to send you in regards to our PM.

 

[MaskedPickle]

Interesting, I therefore suscribe to another EdT TL.

 

[Historico]

Hmmm, I will be watching this TL intently

 

[Arachnid]

Very promising start, looking forward to seeing where this will go.

 

[King Henry]

Just found this timeline, and it looks really promising. Although I admittedly did need to google half the names mentioned to understand if they were significant.