How Did Sir Fairfax Become The Supreme Court?

Poor health was always the go to excuse for Sir Fairfax whenever it came to political involvement. Though the Captain-General of the New Model Army was a military mastermind, he turned over nearly all politics to his second in command, Oliver Cromwell, to handle. It is possible that the reason why Fairfax was such an involved field commander was that he was looking for ways to stay away from parliament. At the beginning of the Putney Debates, Sir Thomas Fairfax turned suddenly ill, and he selected Cromwell to take his place as moderator of the debates. Similar actions continued during the king’s trial. Fairfax was appointed to the special court to decide the fate of Charles I, however Fairfax never attended the actual trial. On the first day of the trial when Sir Fairfax’s name was called a voice responded with “He had more wit than to be here,” which turned out to be Fairfax’s wife. In fact, on the day of
Cromwell was one of a few members of parliament that could retain his military commission when the Self-denying Ordinance was put into place. Using his connected to both the army and parliament, Cromwell was able to gain significant power. Cromwell was a strong advocate for parliament to be the supreme governing body in England, and he used his rank in the army to threaten opposing members of parliament. Acting without the permission of his superior, Sir Fairfax, Cromwell used the threat of military power to remove eleven Presbyterian members of parliament. Levellers were also a political opponent of Cromwell because Cromwell did not agree that all men deserved the right to vote. At this point the actions of Cromwell were all in his own interest- he was a supporter of the Self-denying Ordinance since he was an exception, and he already met the requirements to