Social Divisions: Political And Religious Radicalism, The Levellerd And Millenarians Flashcards
Who were the levellers?
- predominantly London based pressure group that sought political, economic and social reform
- developed from 1645 onwards- result of economic distress caused by the civil war - especially in London, in a time of political and religious uncertainty
- john Liburne
What are some examples of leveller activities?
- women’s petition, may 1649
- agreement of the people, October 1647
- their petitions, processions + pamphlets show how politics in this period moved beyond the control of the traditional political nation and onto the streets of London
- produced nearly 250 pamphlets between 1645 and 1649
How did the levellers influence the army between April-November 1647?
- leveller leadership realised that without the backing of the army, they had no chance of influencing the post war settlement
- sought to make use of the army’s adjutator movement to exploit the concerns of the lower army ranks; as the army leaders (grandees) continued to negotiate with Charles over the heads of proposals - lower ranks were worried that the officers might sell them out
- this fear was exploited by the levellers - who denounced the leading army officers, particularly Cromwell and ireton
- October 1647 -the case of the army truly stated pamphlet began to circulate within the army, attacking the leadership of the grandees for their continued attempts to settle with Charles
- army leaders began to see the levellers as a serious threat - agreement of the people discussed at Putney
What was the involvement of the levellers at Putney? October - November 1947
- general council of the army met with adjutators and representatives of the levellers to debate how England should be governed in the future
- debate came to focus on the levellers ideas for the extension of the franchise - provoked a heated argument between John wildman and Henry ireton
What were the main proposals made by the agreement of the people?
- proposed that all who wished to be citizens of the state had to sign the document
- sovereignty would reside in the people rather than a king or parliament
- wanted : elected MPs in proportion to the population of their constituency
- parliaments to be elected biennially
- Parliament should consist of one chamber or house
- short term = levellers succeeded in emphasising to ireton that he needed to keep their demands in mind if and when the army was going to deal with the king
- army leaders needed to work with the levellers
What was the significance of the role of the levellers at Putney?
- in the 1630s, the voices of civilian groups such as the levellers would not have been heard nor considered by Charles or others with political power
- Putney debates ended 5th November - clash between ireton + leveller sympthaises eg Rainsborough over the army leaders’ attempts to settle with the king
- Charles ended up escaping from Hampton court a couple days later
What united the higher rank and the lower rank army officers?
- Charles’ escape and the outbreak of the 2nd civil war - Cromwell and ireton reinforced their control over the army - partly through payment to the troops
- this prevented the levellers from provoking further discontent within the rank and file
- ireton and the army leadership arguably manipulated the levellers through such things as the white hall debates to keep them quiet until the army succeeded in killing the king
What were the December 1648 - January 1649 Whitehall debates?
-levellers met with the general council of the army to debate the first agreement of the people at Whitehall debates
- levellers wanted this document to form a new constitutional framework for the post-regicide regime
- failure to agree led to a clear divergence between levellers and army grandees
- after this failure ; both levellers and the officers drew their own versions of the agreement of the people
- the leveller second agreement (December 1648) different significantly from the officers agreement (January 1649) - especially on the extent of religious freedom
When were the levellers repressed?
- march 1649 - leading levellers including liburne were arrested
- they continued their propaganda against the rump parliament + army
- in the Hunting Of The Foxes - Cromwell was called a hypocrite
- produced a third agreement in 1649 to attempt to inspire an army mutiny
- this was quickly crushed by may 1649
- rump parliament had paid their troops - prevented unrest
- leveller influence in the army was over
Who were the diggers?
- political and economic + social response to the civil wars
- created by gerrard Winstanley + were separate from the levellers
- gained prominence in 1649 after the execution of the king
What were the methods of the diggers?
- established a commune outside London and saw communes as a solution to social inequalities
- their ideas challenged the nature of politics and society - but their influence was limited
- believed in total social and political equality - referred to themselves as “true levellers”
- first digger pamphlet was titled “the true levellers’ standard advanced”
- 1652 - pamphlet published called “the law of freedom in a platform” - argued that every man has the rights to enjoy the fruits of his labour without restraint + should not pay rent to landlords
Wha was the influence of the diggers?
- less immediate influence than the levellers did
- their commune only lasted a year before being destroyed by troops led by fairfax reacting to the demands of the local elite
- dominated by the personality of one man - winstanley
What ideas did the diggers have?
- direct action : winstanley stated that “action is the life of all, and if thou does not act, thou does nothing”
- communism : establishment of communes mirror an example of communism in action 200 years before the communist manifesto
- liberation theology : their ideas predate a radical Christian movement which aims to eliminate poverty and injustice
- environmentalism : establishment of communes mirror+ living in harmony with nature - forerunners of the environmental movement
When and why were the diggers repressed?
-march 1649 - diggers group led by William everard but including winstanley occupied waste ground at St George’s hill - thereby taking direct action to achieve their central goal of equality through common ownership of land
- winstanley claimed that their idea of equality through commonunal living had been confirmed by a vision from god
- their failure was due to the hostility from those who owned the land
- after 1 year of continued hostility - the digger community at St George’s hill collapsed
- short lived communes by diggers established at ; Kent, Middlesex etc
What was millenarianism?
- key strand in the English Puritanism + influenced levellers and diggers
Who were the fifth monarchists?
- recognised as a more formal emergence of millenarianism - came about in 1650 as Welsh and London millenarians linked together to campaign for religious, political, economic and social reform
- fifth monarchy derives the book of Daniel in the bible - Daniel had a vision of a kingdom that would last forever and would follow what he considered the four great earthly monarchies
- before this loosely organised group - there was no millenarian centred political group to pose a big enough threat to the state
Where were fifth monarchists found?
- the NMA
- eg colonel Thomas Harrison - became a prominent figure in developing the movement
