Western Michigan University ScholarWorks at WMU Dissertations Graduate College 4-1999 The Muggletonians: A People Apart Juleen Audrey Eichinger Western Michigan University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/dissertations Part of the History of Religion Commons Recommended Citation Eichinger, Juleen Audrey, "The Muggletonians: A People Apart" (1999). Dissertations. 1503. https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/dissertations/1503 This Dissertation-Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate College at ScholarWorks at WMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at WMU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE MUGGLETONIANS: A PEOPLE APART by Juleen Audrey Eichinger A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of The Graduate College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of History Western Michigan University Kalamazoo, Michigan April 1999 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. THE MUGGLETONIANS: A PEOPLE APART Juleen Audrey Eichinger, Ph.D. Western Michigan University, 1999 Muggletonians were followers of John Reeve and Lodowick Muggleton, seventeenth-century London tailors who believed that they were the last two witnesses o f the Spirit described in Revelation 11:3. A dizzying array of religious and political groups flowered for a time in mid-seventeenth-century England, inspired by the establishment of the Church of England and the continental Reformation in prior centuries, and unleashed by the collapse o f the English monarchy in 1640. Muggle­ tonians were long considered to be heretics or lunatics, one example of the many religious eccentrics and fanatics who flourished in England during this period. The opportunity now exists to reconsider this perception of Muggletonians. In 1978, the British Library acquired a long-lost collection of primary-source materials that includes Muggletonian tracts, letters, songs, and minute books from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries. These materials reveal the concerns of Muggletonian believers and document the evolution of Muggletonian belief and practice over three centuries. Unlike other studies, this dissertation focuses on the concerns o f ordinary Muggletonians rather than on the founders, and on the religious teachings of the group rather than its internal and external social relations. Furthermore, it notes Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Muggletonian links to the medieval heretical tradition rather than to the eighteenth- century antinomian tradition. It uses the archived materials, in concert with microfilm editions of original tracts, to examine Reeve and Muggleton’s claims to religious authority and believers’ responses to that authority. It investigates the Christology, soteriology, and eschatology expounded by Reeve and Muggleton and believers’ responses to those teachings. It identifies both the continuation and evolution of doctrine and practice among believers, particularly in the later seventeenth century, as they endured persecution by government and Church authorities, internal dissent, and the deaths of Reeve and Muggleton. It concludes that Muggletonians articulated a unique and coherent religious doctrine that set them apart from not only the Church of England but also from other seventeenth-century dissenting sects. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. 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UMI Number: 9923739 Copyright 1999 by Eichinger, Juleen Audrey All rights reserved. UMI Microform 9923739 Copyright 1999, by UMI Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Copyright by Juleen Audrey Eichinger 1999 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I owe many thanks and much gratitude to scores of people who have encouraged, led, and taught me through the years. While earning a Bachelor of Arts degree and two Master of Arts degrees from Western Michigan University, I studied with many fine professors who taught me, in class and by example, how to research and think and write. As an editor at Medieval Institute Publications, I have read hundreds of submissions from scholars around the world and have learned much about research, writing, and accuracy from those scholars. I am grateful to the professors in the Department of Comparative Religion who trained and supported me and continued to encourage me long after I had graduated: Dr. Byron Earhart, Dr. David Ede, Dr. Nancy Falk, and especially my mentor Dr. Guntram Bischoff. I am grateful to the medievalists in various departments who led me through my degree in Medieval Studies and, again, continued to encourage me long after I had obtained my degree: Dr. George Beech, Dr. Ernst Breisach, Dr. Otto Griindler, Dr. Tom Seiler, and Dr. Larry Syndergaard. Finally, I owe a heartfelt and hearty “Thank-you” to everyone whose help and encouragement enabled me to complete this dissertation: — Dr. T. L. Underwood, whose prompt and careful reading of every draft I sent him strengthened my arguments, clarified references, and saved me from several gaffes. Through our correspondence over several years, I not only have learned to appreciate his fine scholarship but also have been delighted to discover his wonderful ii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Acknowledgments—Continued sense of humor. — Dr. E. Rozanne Elder, who agreed to direct my dissertation despite her own overwhelming workload. In addition, Dr. Elder shepherded me through several independent study courses and always found time to review my work. Her sharp editorial eye always strengthened my writing and clarified my thoughts. — Dr. Otto Griindler, who was ever supportive, enthusiastic, and ready to sit down and discuss the intricacies of Christian theology. When I was sure that I would never start to write a dissertation, never finish it, and never be proud of it, Dr. Griindler would take time to first commiserate with and then encourage me. — Dr. Larry Simon, without whose moral support and offer to direct my studies in the early days o f my pursuit of the Ph.D. I might never have completed this odyssey. Dr. Simon’s confidence in me never faltered, even when my own did. —Dr. Age Rydstrom-Poulsen, with whom I had the opportunity to study while he was a Visiting International Scholar and who agreed to endure the experience of being a member of my Comprehensive Exam committee. — Dr. Davis, chairperson of the History department, whose support, humor, and advice were invaluable. — Dr. Thomas H. Seiler, my supervisor at Medieval Institute Publications, who generously allowed me a flexible work schedule in order to write this dissertation. — My co-workers, including many graduate assistants over several years, iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Acknowledgments—Continued whose lives my weekly absences surely affected. They evidenced interest, admiration, and patience. I am particularly appreciative of their attendance at my colloquium, and the perceptive questions they raised. — Candace Porath, my co-editor at Medieval Institute Publications, to whose red pen I was terrified to submit this dissertation but for whose willingness to review it I am extremely grateful. — So many friends and even acquaintances, who expressed interest