ABSTRACT
This chapter gives an overview of Fleetwood's position in the year 1657 but focused on his relationship and communication with Cromwell and what we can recover of his relationship with Bridget. Fleetwood's political involvement in the years 1651 to 1655 was the basis of why he remained a central figure on the Council of State. Fleetwood's civil war service, his connection with the religious radicals, and his marriage to Bridget were key parts of his relationship with Cromwell. Fleetwood, in his position in Ireland, and even after his recall to London, remained a central figure in Cromwell's Protectorate, his marriage to Cromwell's daughter Bridget gave him a more direct link to Cromwell than other politicians, reinforcing their shared reflective religious outlook that we can see in their correspondence. As part of this, a consideration of Fleetwood and Bridget's Wallingford House is set alongside the other economic interests that Fleetwood built up that provide the backdrop for his greater political prominence after Cromwell's death, and the negative view of him portrayed in print by Fifth Monarchists and republicans trying to influence the New Model rank and file that was part of the failure of the English Revolution.
