Radical political ideas Flashcards
How did the end of the Civil War lead to far more radical political ideas?
Civil war + regicide - led to collapse of censorship - opportunities arose for radical political ideas to emerge
- Promoted by Puritan sects - flourished for limited time
Millenarianism
- Belief that the 2nd coming of christ is near - leading to establishment of kingdom of God on earth, lasting 1000 years
- Intensified in Puritan ranks by the sense of living through monumental events - collapse of earthly monarchy enough to convince some that Christ was coming and rule of the saints was imminent
5th Monarchists
- 5th great empire would come to earth imminently w/ return of Jesus
- Followers of 2 preachers - Lodovic Muggleton and John Reeve - convinced they were chosen to begin preparing for Jesus as ‘Muggletonians’ - claimed to be forerunners of Christ himself
Levellers
Most important radical group - active from 1645:
- Leaders John Lilburne, William Walwyn, Richard Overton
- Issued pamphlets - called for larger franchise, new elections and equality under the law
‘An Agreement of the people’
1647 and 1649 - most influential work of the Levellers
How were Levellers influential in the aftermath of Civil War?
- Leveller elements of army called for change
- Colonel Thomas Rainsborough - highest-ranking Leveller in army
- Spoke out against army grandees, Cromwell and Ireton at Putney Debates in late 1647
- Argued that there was nothing in Bible to justify poor being excluded from politics
Leveller demands
1) Commons = central body
2) Abolish the Lords
3) New system based on universal male suffrage
4) New constitution
5) People equal before law and have religious freedom
How did Levellers want reform the legal system?
- Wanted local courts to be staffed by locally elected judges - and called for end to imprisonment for debt
Levellers’ treatment of women?
Didn’t advocate suffrage - even some said servants and those receiving poor relief shouldn’t have the vote - would be too influenced
Mixed treatment of women - but some Leveller women were influential and able to organise protests
- But they were easily dismissed by parliament - MPs claimed petitions presented by women weren’t serious
Were the Levellers successful?
- No doubt most successful group - but short-lived existence - leaders imprisoned in 1649 and Rump crushed it
- Ideas influenced later democratic movements - in English Revolution - responsible for encouraging conservatism in others
Main limit to success - internal disagreements - different pamphleteers would include rival proposals in publications - lack of a cohesive, consistent message
National support: minor - offers mostly no interest to rural poor
How influential was the New Model Army after 1647?
- Wasn’t widespread - served to encourage conservatism that emerged from grandees and Rump between 1649-53
How socially radical were Cromwell and other Rump leaders?
Not very socially radical - their privileged status, as gentry members, would be threatened - by supporting a radical group.
Ranters
- Small group of preachers - appeared in London in 1650
- Argued that those predestined to be saved by God were incapable of sin - could ignore man-made codes of social morality - believed that immoral sexual behaviour, drinking, swearing and crime were legitimate activities
- That they indulged in the drunken orgies that they were accused is doubtful - claims believed - by 1651 leaders in prison
Why was the impact of Ranters limited?
- Leader imprinted
- Effectively banned by the 1650 Blasphemy Act
- Sources about Ranters only written by their natural enemies - conservatives who would benefit from a population too fearful stray from the Protestant path
Regardless of support - fear of them more important - Rump used fear of Ranters to pass the Acts
Diggers
- Equally scandalous as Ranters in eyes of political nation
- Some groups called themselves ‘True Levellers’
- Claimed ownership of land was based on man-made laws invalidated by the king’s death
- Set up rural communes for poor on common land - dug vegetables on common land in Weybridge, Surrey in April 1649 - group increased gradually in size - small community
- Repeatedly faced angry opposition from local farmers and landowners
