Editing Oliver Cromwell (section)

== Politics: 1647–1649 ==
In February 1647, Cromwell suffered from an illness that kept him out of political life for over a month. By the time he recovered, the Parliamentarians were split over the issue of the King. A majority in both Houses pushed for a settlement that would pay off the Scottish army, disband much of the New Model Army, and restore Charles I in return for a [[Presbyterian polity|Presbyterian]] settlement of the church. Cromwell rejected the Scottish model of Presbyterianism, which threatened to replace one authoritarian hierarchy with another. The New Model Army, radicalised by Parliament's failure to pay the wages it was owed, petitioned against these changes, but the Commons declared the petition unlawful. In May 1647 Cromwell was sent to the army's headquarters in [[Saffron Walden]] to negotiate with them, but failed to agree.<ref>{{Cite web |date=10 May 2007 |title=A lasting place in history |url=http://www.saffronwaldenreporter.co.uk/news/a-lasting-place-in-history-1-377880 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170806142234/http://www.saffronwaldenreporter.co.uk/news/a-lasting-place-in-history-1-377880 |archive-date=6 August 2017 |access-date=6 August 2017 |publisher=Saffron Walden Reporter}}</ref>

In June 1647, a troop of cavalry under Cornet [[George Joyce]] seized the King from Parliament's imprisonment. With the King now present, Cromwell was eager to find out what conditions the King would acquiesce to if his authority was restored. The King appeared to be willing to compromise, so Cromwell employed his son-in-law, Henry Ireton, to draw up proposals for a constitutional settlement. Proposals were drafted multiple times with different changes until finally the "[[Heads of Proposals]]" pleased Cromwell in principle and allowed for further negotiations.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ashley |first=Maurice |author-link=Maurice Ashley (historian) |url=https://archive.org/details/olivercromwellpu00ashl |title=The Greatness of Oliver Cromwell |date=1957 |publisher=Collier- Macmillan Ltd. |location=London |pages=187–190}}</ref> It was designed to check the powers of the [[executive branch|executive]], to set up regularly elected parliaments, and to restore a non-compulsory [[Episcopal polity|episcopalian]] settlement.{{Efn|Although there is debate over whether Cromwell and Ireton were the authors of the Heads of Proposals or acting on behalf of Saye and Sele{{Sfn|Adamson|1987}}<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kishlansky |first=Mark |date=1990 |title=Saye What? |journal=Historical Journal |volume=33 |issue=4 |pages=917–937 |doi=10.1017/S0018246X00013819 |s2cid=248823719}}</ref>}}

Many in the army, such as the [[Levellers]] led by [[John Lilburne]], thought this was not enough and demanded full political equality for all men, leading to tense debates in Putney during the autumn of 1647 between Fairfax, Cromwell and Ireton on the one hand, and Levellers like [[Thomas Rainsborough|Colonel Rainsborough]] on the other. The [[Putney Debates]] broke up without reaching a resolution.{{Sfn|Woolrych|1987|loc=ch. 2–5}}<ref>See ''The Levellers: The Putney Debates'', Texts selected and annotated by Philip Baker, Introduction by [[Geoffrey Robertson]] QC. London and New York: Verso, 2007.</ref>