In the autumn of 1896, the renowned historian of the 17th century, Samuel Rawson Gardiner, delivered six lectures on "Cromwell's Place in History" at the University of Oxford. Gardiner wrote that the "object of these lectures is not to deal with the biography of Cromwell, but to estimate his relation to the political and ecclesiastical movements of his time." Thus, each lecture puts the reader in the midst of a critical period of Cromwell's career, analyzing how and why he acted in response to the problems he encountered. (Summary by Pamela Nagami, M.D.)