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University of Richmond UR Scholarship Repository Honors Theses Student Research 12-20-1969 The Levellers' view of history Margaret Trowe Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.richmond.edu/honors-theses Recommended Citation Trowe, Margaret, "The Levellers' view of history" (1969). Honors Theses. Paper 712. This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Research at UR Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of UR Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The name "Levellers" applies to a. political organization which.func tioned as a potent force in the politics of England in the late 1640•s. During this period ~ fierce stru.ggle for power was being fought, partly on an ideological level. 'l'be fighting ot the first civil war had.ended in 1646; the arntT of Parliament had defeated the royalist forces and had captured the King. In the wake of military victory, the various factions among the victors began to vie for power. In 1645 and 1646 tracts support ing the establishment of a representative democracy, the guarantee of civil and religious freedoms, and the reform of the Judicial system were written independently bf Jchn Lilburne, Richard Overton, and William Walt,qn.l With the oircuiation ot the Petition of March. 1647, the organized efforts of the Levellers began.2 (The name "Levellers" was originally given to the party by its enemies, who accused members ot having the communistic goal of le>.(elling men's estates.J From 1647 throU&h 1649 a flood of pamphlets issued from the Leveller authors, who were often writing 1/fdrn prison cells. They received their support from the Aril\Y rank-and-file and the citizenry of London. Do2ens of petitions and protestations were published, often illegally, during this time. In addition, LeTeller ideas found expression in the radical Aftreement ot tpe People issued by the Arrrr:r Agitators (elected regimental ~presentatives) in late 1647, and the more moderate Agreemen~ R' thE! Peonle produced by the Officers in January. 1649. Both documents were presented to Commons as demands for a clear delineation of Parliament's rights and limitations, and a guarantee of religious and civil rights for every English.. man. .

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Levellers Standard
Registered Charity No: 272098 ISSN 0585-9980 SURREY ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY CASTLE ARCH, GUILDFORD GU1 3SX Tel/ Fax: 01483 532454 E-mail: [email protected] Website: ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/surreyarch Bulletin N u m b e r 3 2 8 April 1999 The True ^ Levellers Standard The State of Community opened, and-Prcfcntedtothe Sons of Men. Ferrard frififimtlej, fViSiam Everard, Richard Gtodffô^me^ tohn Paimery Thcmoi Starrer lohnSotith, fyiUiamHoggrillj John Cottrton, Robert SawjcTy miliam TajUry Thonuu Eder, Chrifiofhtr Clifford^ Henry Sickfrfiafe, John 3arker, InhnTajlor^^. Beginning to Plant and Manure the Wade land upon George-Hill, in the Parifti of* fValtony in the Countx'of Snrrm. 'm L 0 N D 0 Ny Printed in the Yeer. M D C X LI *. Surrey: Seed-bed of Christian Socialism 350th Anniversary of the True Levellers on George's Hill Introduction Tony Benn MP In Gerrard Winstanley's pamphlet The True Levellers' Standard Advanced, published on 26th April 1649, these words appear that anticipated the conservationists and commune dwellers of today, that denounced the domination of man by man, proclaimed the equality of women and based it all on God and Nature's laws: In the beginning of Time, the great Creator, Reason, made the Earth to be a Common Treasury, to preserve Beasts, Birds, Fishes and Man, the lord that was to govern this Creation; for Man had Domination given to him, over the Beasts, Birds and Fishes; but not one word was spoken in the beginning, that one branch of manldnd should r u l e o v e r a n o t h e r .
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The Levellers' Conception of Legitimate Authority
Araucaria. Revista Iberoamericana de Filosofía, Política y Humanidades ISSN: 1575-6823 ISSN: 2340-2199 [email protected] Universidad de Sevilla España The Levellers’ Conception of Legitimate Authority Ostrensky, Eunice The Levellers’ Conception of Legitimate Authority Araucaria. Revista Iberoamericana de Filosofía, Política y Humanidades, vol. 20, no. 39, 2018 Universidad de Sevilla, España Available in: https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=28264625008 This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International. PDF generated from XML JATS4R by Redalyc Project academic non-profit, developed under the open access initiative e Levellers’ Conception of Legitimate Authority A Concepção de Autoridade Legítima dos Levellers Eunice Ostrensky [email protected] Universidade de São Paulo, Brasil Abstract: is article examines the Levellers’ doctrine of legitimate authority, by showing how it emerged as a critique of theories of absolute sovereignty. For the Levellers, any arbitrary power is tyrannical, insofar as it reduces human beings to an unnatural condition. Legitimate authority is necessarily founded on the people, who creates the constitutional order and remains the locus of political power. e Levellers also contend that parliamentary representation is not the only mechanism by which the people may acquire a political being; rather the people outside Parliament are the collective agent able to transform and control institutions and policies. In this sense, the Levellers hold that a highly participative community should exert sovereignty, and that decentralized government is a means to achieve that goal. Araucaria. Revista Iberoamericana de Keywords: Limited Sovereignty, Constitution, People, Law, Rights. Filosofía, Política y Humanidades, vol. Resumo: Este artigo analisa como os Levellers desenvolveram uma doutrina da 20, no.
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The Levellers Movement and Had Been Amongst the Leaders of a Mutiny Against Cromwell, Whom They Accused of Betraying the Ideals of the ‘Civil War ’
Levellers Day book cover_Levellers Day book cover 04/05/2015 08:33 Page 1 Written by PETA STEEL T H E L E THE V Published in May 2 01 5 by SERTUC E Congress House, Great Russell Street L L London WC1B 3LS E R LEVELLERS MOVEMENT 020 7467 1220 [email protected] S M O V AN ACCOUNT OF PERHAPS THE FIRST POLITICAL MOVEMENT E M TO REPRESENT THE ORDINARY PEOPLE E N T Additional sponsorship from Including THE DIGGERS AND RANTERS, ASLEF, Unison South East Region, and Unite OLIVER CROMWELL, THE AGREEMENT OF THE PEOPLE and MAGNA CARTA South East S E R T U C Printed by Upstream PUBLISHED BY SERTUC 020 7358 1344 [email protected] £2 Levellers Day book cover_Levellers Day book cover 04/05/2015 08:33 Page 2 CONTENTS THE LEVELLERS 1 THE DIGGERS AND THE RANTERS 11 THE CIVIL WARS 15 THE NEW MODEL ARMY 19 AGREEMENT OF THE PEOPLE 23 THE PUTNEY DEBATES 27 THOMAS RAINSBOROUGH 31 PETITIONS 34 THE BISHOPSGATE MUTINY 37 THE BANBURY MUTINY 38 THE MAGNA CARTA 40 OLIVER CROMWELL 43 JOHN LILBURNE 49 GERRARD WINSTANLEY 55 RICHARD OVERTON 58 KATHERINE CHIDLEY 60 KING CHARLES I 63 THE STAR CHAMBER 66 JOHN MILTON 68 Levellers Day book new_Levellers book new to print 04/05/2015 09:07 Page 1 FOREWORD THERE’S little to disagree with the Levellers over: “they wanted a democracy where there was no King, and a reformed House of Commons that represented the people, and not the vested interests of the ruling classes ”.
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Radical Republicanism in England, America, and the Imperial Atlantic, 1624-1661
RADICAL REPUBLICANISM IN ENGLAND, AMERICA, AND THE IMPERIAL ATLANTIC, 1624-1661 by John Donoghue B.A., Westminster College, New Wilmington, PA, 1993 M.A., University of Pittsburgh, 1999 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the School of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2006 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH Faculty of Arts and Sciences This dissertation was presented by John Donoghue It was defended on December 2, 2005 and approved by William Fusfield, Associate Professor, Department of Communication Janelle Greenberg, Professor, Department of History Jonathan Scott, Professor, Department of History Dissertation Director: Marcus Rediker, Professor, Department of History ii Copyright by John Donoghue 2006 iii RADICAL REPUBLICANISM IN ENGLAND, AMERICA, AND THE IMPERIAL ATLANTIC, 1624-1661 John Donoghue, Ph.D. University of Pittsburgh, April 30, 2006 This dissertation links the radical politics of the English Revolution to the history of puritan New England. It argues that antinomians, by rejecting traditional concepts of social authority, created divisive political factions within the godly party while it waged war against King Charles I. At the same time in New England, antinomians organized a political movement that called for a democratic commonwealth to limit the power of ministers and magistrates in religious and civil affairs. When this program collapsed in Massachusetts, hundreds of colonists returned to an Old England engulfed by civil war. Joining English antinomians, they became lay preachers in London, New Model Army soldiers, and influential supporters of the republican Levellers. This dissertation also connects the study of republican political thought to the labor history of the first British Empire.
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Political Theology and the Levellers: a Discussion Of
Durham E-Theses Political Theology and the Levellers: A discussion of the theological sources of the political thought of the Levellers and of some implications for modern understandings of political liberalism MASON, COLIN How to cite: MASON, COLIN (2009) Political Theology and the Levellers: A discussion of the theological sources of the political thought of the Levellers and of some implications for modern understandings of political liberalism , Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/235/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Political Theology and the Levellers: A discussion of the theological sources of the political thought of the Levellers and of some implications for modern understandings of political liberalism Colin Mason Thesis submitted for Ph.D. degree Durham University Department
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1642-1652: The Diggers and the Levellers A history of the radical movements the Diggers and the Levellers which sprung up around the English Civil War. The political and social upheaval that resulted from the English Civil War in the seventeenth century [effectively two conflicts between 1642 -1646 and 1647/48] led to the development of a set of radical ideas centred around movements known as ‘Diggers’ and ‘Levellers’ The Diggers [or ‘True Levellers’] were led by William Everard who had served in the New Model Army. As the name implies, the diggers aimed to use the earth to reclaim the freedom that they felt had been lost partly through the Norman Conquest; by seizing the land and owning it ‘in common’ they would challenge what they considered to be the slavery of property. They were opposed to the use of force and believed that they could create a classless society simply through seizing land and holding it in the ‘common good’. To this end, a small group [initially 12, though rising to 50] settled on common land first at St George’s Hill and later in Cobham, Surrey and grew corn and other crops. This small group defied the landlords, the Army and the law for over a year. In addition to this, groups travelled through England attempting to rally supporters. In this they had some successes in Kent and Northamptonshire. Their main propagandist was Gerard Winstanley who produced the clearest statement of Digger ideas in ‘The Law of Freedom in a Platform’ published in 1652. This was a defence and exposition of the notion of a classless society based in secularism and radical democracy The relatively small group of followers of Digger ideas was never particularly influential and was quite easily suppressed by Cromwell and Fairfax.
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The Leveller Influence in the New Model Army from 1647 to 1649 G
University of Richmond UR Scholarship Repository Honors Theses Student Research 1-15-1964 The Leveller influence in the new model army from 1647 to 1649 G. Elaine Johnson Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.richmond.edu/honors-theses Recommended Citation Johnson, G. Elaine, "The Leveller influence in the new model army from 1647 to 1649" (1964). Honors Theses. Paper 504. This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Research at UR Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of UR Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE LEVELLER INFLUENCE IN THE NEW NODEL ARNY FR011 1647 TO 1649 G. Elaine Johnson Senior Thesis January 15, 1964 PREFACE Although the scope of this paper, from February of 1647 to January of 1649, would seem rather limited, the actual impact of Leveller principles and methods was felt during this short span of time. After the final Agreement of the People in early 1649, the movement seemed to center around personal attacks, reiteration of previous ideas, and defensive measures. The establishment of the Commonwealth, under the thumb of Oliver Cromwell, left behind all the Leveller plans of government, which had been discussed and approved by the Agitators and the Army Council. Other aspects of the Leveller movement, such as their concept of religious toleration, could have received greater attention, but it was not felt necessary to the sense of the paper. Likewise, the political situation and intrigues of the period could have been covered in a more thorough manner, but only the events pertinent to the Army-Leveller relationship were explained in detail.
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John Lilburne
LOCAL STUDIES CENTRE FACT SHEET NUMBER 22 John Lilburne Who was John Lilburne? The Lilburnes were originally a Northumberland family taking their name from the villages of East and West Lilburn, in the parish of Bamburgh, Northumberland. Richard Lilburne, married to Margaret Hixon, was a landowner of estates at Thickney Puncharden and elsewhere in County Durham. They had 4 children of which John was the third eldest and was probably born in Sunderland in 1614. After attending schools in Bishop Auckland and Newcastle-upon-Tyne, John was apprenticed to John Hewson, a London clothier and Puritan. He stayed with Hewson from around 1630 to 1636 and in 1636 was introduced to the Puritan physician John Bastwick, an active pamphleteer against the government of the Church by bishops, who with William Prynne and Henry Burton, was persecuted by Archbishop William Laud. John Lilburne ‘Freeborn John’ Lilburne became involved in the printing and On 2 July 1644 he fought at Marston Moor and later that distribution of unlicensed Puritan books and pamphlets month negotiated the royalist surrender of Tickhill Castle in London, for which he was arrested in December in Yorkshire. However, membership of the New Model 1637 and later brought before the Court of Star Army, which was instituted in army reorganisations of Chamber. He obstinately refused to take the oath and early 1645, would have required him to take the solemn claimed that his prosecution was unlawful. His sentence league and covenant. was to be whipped from the Fleet prison to the New Palace Yard, Westminster, where he was to stand in the pillory, then to be imprisoned until he conformed and admitted his guilt.
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Rethinking Libertarianism: Elizabeth Anderson's Private Government
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Why Did People Want the King Back in 1646
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Ines L. Mubgar-Spencer 1 to What Extent Did the NMA Change The
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Londons Liberty in Chains Discovered: The Levellers, the Civic Past, and Popular Protest in Civil War London Philip Baker abstract The Leveller movement, based in London, recruited its most persist- ent supporters from the capital. Nevertheless, until recently, historians have not examined the impact of the city’s history, institutions, and customs on the Lev- ellers themselves, the nature of their campaign, and the content of their program. Philip Baker argues that the Levellers should be located within a long-standing tradition of protest concerning the rights and freedoms of London’s citizenry. An analysis of the relationship between the Levellers’ political action and its cultural roots sheds light on why they took up some of the positions they did. But the Lev- ellers, far from being prisoners of London’s past, developed a politicized interest in the city’s constitutional history that was part of their wider involvement in the national constitutional conflicts of the mid-1640s. keywords: John Lilburne; John Wildman; rights and responsibilities of London citizenship; seventeenth- century elections and voting rights in Britain; influence of London’s history and political culture on the Levellers the levellers have been regarded as the most forward-looking and “modern” of the so-called radical groups of the mid-seventeenth-century English Revolution. Their views on the innate equality of man, on freedom of religious con- science, on the right to vote, and on the need to entrench these principles in a written constitution are cited frequently as a “program . fitter for the twentieth century than for their own.”1 Nevertheless, historians have, at the same time, acknowledged that their 1.
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