Radical Religion in Cromwell’s England: A Concise History from the English Civil War to the End of the Commonwealth

215 Pages·2011·2.117 MB·English

by  Andrew Bradstock

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Andrew Bradstock is Howard Paterson Professor of Theology and
Public Issues at the University of Otago, New Zealand. He is the
author and editor of several books in the field of radical religion
and politics in seventeenth-century England, including Faith in
the Revolution: The Political Theologies of Müntzer and
Winstanley(1997),WinstanleyandtheDiggers,1649–1999(2000)
and – edited with Chris Rowland – Radical Christian Writings: A
Reader (2002).
‘Andrew Bradstock has balanced affection and scholarship in his
splendidintroductiontoasocialandreligiousworldinwhichmuch
isbizarrelydifferent,butmuchispropheticofmodernspiritualand
political explorations. It is a pity that contemporaries did not have
suchaclearandun-sensationalisedguidetotheradicalreligionofthe
Interregnum; it might have encouraged them not to subject James
Nayler to bodily mutilation, flogging and perpetual imprisonment.’
– Diarmaid MacCulloch, Professor of the History of the Church,
University of Oxford and author of A History of Christianity: The
FirstThreeThousandYears
‘The upheavals of the English civil war triggered an astonishing
explosion of ideas – on religion, politics, society, economics and
morality – that were unprecedented and without parallel in English
history. These ideas crystallised in a succession of new movements:
thepioneeringdemocraticLevellers;communistDiggers;millenarian
Fifth Monarchists, proclaiming an imminent kingdom of heaven on
earth;andQuakers,fieryandcombativeevangelistswhostruckfear
into most of their contemporaries. Andrew Bradstock brings these
movements to vivid life, capturing their spirit and excitement, and
explainingtheirideasandappeal.Heassesses,too,thechallengethey
presented to the government and to social order. His book provides
an accessible, scholarly, and up-to-date introduction to all these
groups, along with Baptists, Ranters and Muggletonians, and offers
an ideal introduction for both undergraduates and general readers.
Although most of these movements have long since vanished,
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Bradstock spells out in a stimulating conclusion how many of the
concernstheyraised–ondemocracy,authority,toleration,property
rights, and gender, for example – remain pressing issues today.’
–BernardCapp,FBA,ProfessorofHistory,UniversityofWarwick
‘At the heart of this important book is Andrew Bradstock’s concern
with the “power of religious ideas to inspire political action” in the
tumultuous years of the English revolution. He shows in lively and
lucid prose how attacks on the established church and speculation
aboutsin,salvationandreligioustruthhadprofoundimplicationsfor
seventeenth-centurygovernmentandsociety.Thewritings,arguments
andinterventionsofaremarkablearrayofindividualsandmovements
arepresented;Bradstockprovidesabalanceddiscussionofthelatest
scholarly debates on Quakers, Ranters, Levellers and the rest, but
often he allows his subjects to speak for themselves with generous
extractsfromthevividpamphletsinwhichpositionsweredefended,
andenemiesdenounced.Theauthorcoversinspirationalbutephemeral
movements,liketheDiggerswho,energisedbytheextraordinaryprose
ofGerrardWinstanley,soughttomaketheearth“acommontreasury
for all”, and other groups like Quakers and Baptists, who endure to
this day. Students, more advanced scholars and all those concerned
with the dramatic conflicts and fundamental debates of seventeenth-
centuryEnglandwillbenefitenormouslyfromBradstock’sbook,and
willbeencouragedtoreflectonthecontinuingrelevanceofhisthemes
to contemporary concerns with religious freedom and social justice.’
–AnnHughes,ProfessorofEarlyModernHistory,KeeleUniversity
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RADICAL RELIGION
IN CROMWELL’S
ENGLAND
AConciseHistoryfromtheEnglishCivilWar
totheEndoftheCommonwealth
ANDREW BRADSTOCK
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For Chris Rowland
Publishedin2011byI.B.Tauris&CoLtd
6SalemRoad,LondonW24BU
175FifthAvenue,NewYorkNY10010
www.ibtauris.com
DistributedintheUnitedStatesandCanadaExclusivelybyPalgraveMacmillan
175FifthAvenue,NewYorkNY10010
Copyright©2011AndrewBradstock
TherightofAndrewBradstocktobeidentifiedastheauthorofthisworkhasbeen
assertedbyhiminaccordancewiththeCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988.
Allrightsreserved.Exceptforbriefquotationsinareview,thisbook,oranypartthereof,
maynotbereproduced,storedinorintroducedintoaretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,in
anyformorbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recordingorotherwise,
withoutthepriorwrittenpermissionofthepublisher.
InternationalLibraryofHistoricalStudies,Vol58
ISBN:9781845117641(HB)
ISBN:9781845117658(PB)
AfullCIPrecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
AfullCIPrecordisavailablefromtheLibraryofCongress
LibraryofCongressCatalogCardNumber:available
Designedandtypesetby4wordLtd,Bristol
PrintedandboundinGreatBritainbyTJInternational,Padstow,Cornwall
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Contents
List of Illustrations vii
Preface and Acknowledgements ix
Introduction xi
Chapter One Baptists 1
Chapter Two Levellers 27
Chapter Three Diggers 51
Chapter Four Ranters 75
Chapter Five Quakers 95
Chapter Six Fifth Monarchists 117
Chapter Seven Muggletonians 139
Conclusion 159
Notes 169
Further Reading 177
Index 181
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ListofIllustrations
1. A portrait of the Leveller leader John Lilburne at his trial for
treason at the London Guildhall in October 1649. He holds a
copyofSirEdwardCoke’s‘InstitutesoftheLawsofEngland’.
© The British Library Board, shelfmark C.37.d.51.(5)
2. The General Council of the Army, chaired by General Thomas
Fairfax, meeting in 1647.
© The British Library Board, shelfmark E 409/25
3. Thomas Rainsborough’s famous contribution to the Putney
Debates now immortalized in St Mary’s Church.
Photo:PaulDonnelly.BykindpermissionofStMary’sChurch,
Putney
4. A pamphlet hostile to the Ranters, published in 1650 during
their period of greatest influence.
© The British Library Board, shelfmark E 620.(2)
5. An anti-Quaker tract issued five years later. The same images
have been used to attack both movements.
© The British Library Board, shelfmark E 833.(14)
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RadicalReligioninCromwell’sEngland
6. Women were allowed to preach at Quaker gatherings, and at
some Baptist meetings, but they had many detractors, even
within these movements.
© Mary Evans Picture Library
7. A depiction of the punishment meted out to Quaker leader,
JamesNayler,forthecrimeofridingintoBristolinimitationof
the original Palm Sunday.
©TheTrusteesoftheBritishMuseum–reg.no.1953,0411.61.
8. AnengravedportraitofLodowickeMuggletonfromhisautobi-
ography‘TheActsoftheWitnesses’publishedin1699.
© The British Library Board, shelfmark 699.f.9.(1.)
9. Jerome Willis as General Thomas Fairfax in the 1975 film
Winstanley,basedonDavidCaute’snovel,ComradeJacoband
produced by Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo.
© The Kobal Collection/BFI
10. A memorial to Gerrard Winstanley installed in 2009 in the
parishchurchofCobham,Surrey,whereheservedforatimeas
a churchwarden.
Used by kind permission of David Taylor
11. ThecastoftheEnglishCivilWardramaTheDevil’sWhore,pro-
ducedforChannel4byCompanyPicturesandscreenedin2008.
©2008,aCompanyPicturesproductionforChannel4,directed
byPeterFlannery
12. AdemonstratorrecallsGerrardWinstanley’sviewsonproperty
outside the G20 world leaders summit in London in March
2009. The Digger leader was also quoted by Prime Minister
Gordon Brown in a speech on the eve of the summit.
© MJ Kim/Getty Images for TVNZ
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Prefaceand
Acknowledgements
LIKEMANYENTHUSIASTSfortheseventeenth-century‘radicals’,my
first encounter with most of them came via Christopher Hill’s
The World Turned Upside Down. I only met Dr Hill once, and we
spent more time discussing cricket in his native Yorkshire than
issuesfromanearliercentury,butforalltheinspiration,insightand
sheer pleasure that his numerous books have given me I am truly
thankful. I also wish to thank Denys Turner, who first enabled me
tostudytheLevellers,Diggersandtheircontemporariesinaformal
academic setting, and my subsequent research supervisors, David
McLellan and Peter Matheson, for stimulating further my thinking
about ‘religious radicalism’ and the historical movements and fig-
ures which embodied it. Another source of inspiration and encour-
agement has been Christopher Rowland – whose passion for the
groupsdiscussedhereandcommitmenttodiscoveringfreshinsights
into their work is totally infectious – and I express my gratitude to
both Chris, and another fellow-toiler in the field, David Taylor, for
their friendship and collaboration over many years.
For help and advice with specific sections of this book I thank
my colleague at Otago, Tim Cooper, who teaches a popular under-
graduate course on ‘Ranters and Radicals’ and whose kindness in
introducingmetosomerecentliterature,andreadingsomechapters
in draft, has proved invaluable; and my friend and fellow Bristol
alumnus Stephen Copson, a much-respected Baptist historian who
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RadicalReligioninCromwell’sEngland
kindlyreadandcommentedonpartofthisbookindraftandalerted
me to some scholarship I might otherwise have missed. I am also
gratefultoJimHolstun,forhisinspirationandencouragementover
the years, and John Gurney, for the way that he has broadened our
knowledge and understanding of the Diggers through his painstak-
ingresearch.Ihavemuchvaluedthesupportandencouragementof
my colleagues in the Department of Theology and Religion at
Otago,andtakethisopportunityformallytothankthem,asIdomy
editor at I.B.Tauris, Alex Wright, who conceived the idea of this
book and whose enthusiasm for and belief in it has been so vital to
itscompletion.
Few books are produced without some pain and sacrifice, as
much on the part of those around the writer as the writer him- or
herself.Thishascertainlybeenthecasewiththisproject,andforall
her patience, long-suffering and resilience, not to mention practical
help, advice and wisdom, I thank my wife and fellow voluntary
exile, Helen. This really has been a shared endeavour.
InonesenseIhavebeeninvolvedwiththesubjectmatterofthis
book all my life, having been raised in a Particular Baptist house-
hold and, like Gerrard Winstanley, ‘gon through the ordinance of
dipping’ in my youth. Writing this book I have often thought back
to the beliefs, practices and lifestyle of our chapel community back
then in 1960s and 70s south London, marvelling how in so many
ways we kept alive the traditions of our seventeenth-century
Puritan forebears. If this means that, in a way of which most of the
people in these pages would approve, I have been able to write on
the basis of experience and not just book learning, I count that a
huge privilege.
Dunedin
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