1

17 Century Historical Outline, Barnes and Noble Series

Mary Tudor was England’s first ruling Queen. Her reign dominated by two goals, the restoration of Catholicism to England and to gain an alliance with her native Spain.

On the continent, the Catholic Church itself was renovating. The Council of Trent, 1545-63, clarified Catholic doctrine and proscribed heretical works through an Index of Prohibited Books, a renewal of the Inquisition, and the founding of new religious orders. Most important of these orders, The Society of Jesus, that is, the Jesuits, founded by Ignatius Loyala in 1540. Its members gave absolute obediance to the heirarchy of the church and were skilled teachers and missionaries.

Mary called three Parlaments 1553-5, to rescind religious legislation passed during Edward's reign, and to bring back old heresy laws, and to petition the Pope to welcom Enmgland back to the fold. she married Philip II of Spainb, champion of orthodixy, despite the uproar of subjects. Marriage triggered three rebellions in 1554. Most serious organized by Thomas Wyatt iin Kent, son of the poet. Delaying their attack on London, they missed capturing the Queen. Wyatt executed, as were Lady Jane Grey and her husband, mere pawns in bigger game.

In 1555, Mary got tough, and burned three hundred Protestants at Smithfeild, including Bishops Hooper, Latimer, Ridley, and Archbishop Cranmer. Her hard hand contributed significantly to the protestant truimph in England.

She dies in 1558

Elizabeth I 1558 - 1603

1

2

Elizabeth practived moderation in an age of religious and political fanaticism. She stimulated esprit and self confidence in her subjects, and managed well with loose reigns.

By settling an Anglican church in Englanjd, Eliz satisfied most Englishmen and spared her country the turmoil of the religious wars wracking France and Germany.

1559 Liz repealed Mary's heresy acts and passed Act of Supremacy, which abolished papal allegiance. She thus became Supreme Governor of the Church of England.

1559 Passed the Act of Uniformity to restore the Second Prayer Book, established the only legal form of public worship, and set up a Court of High Commision to enforce it

1562 Bishop Cranmer's Forty-Two Articles reduced to Thirty Five and adopted by convocation; in 1571 they were imposed by Parlament as the doctine of the Anglican church. Articles Framed in such a way as to allow variance of interpretation.

Oath of Allegaince to the Queen and governor required of all subjects. Clergy accepted changes, though thewse prelates lost their sees and were replaced by reformed clergy, many of whom were in exile during Mary's reign. The Protestant scholar, Mathew Parker became Archbishop of Canterbury.

Roman Catholics and Radical Protestants did not like Liz's settlement. Though government refused to punish passive Catholics turned away any kind of hard Catholic protest.

Pope Pius V excommunicated Elizabeth in 1570 Absolving her subjects from allegiance to her, as the Pope did, Jesuit plots to

2

3

overtake the throne, to reestablish, came to a head. Mary Queen of Scots considered the Queen in Rome. Leading continental Catholics financially backed plots ohn Elizabeth's life. Thus, after 1581, proselyting Caholics executed...more thant 200.

Puritans

Putitasns wanted to purge church of any practivce smacking of popery. They favoured Calvinistic doctrine and wanted a presbyuterian rather than episcopal form of church governemnt. House of Commons became Puritan sympathetic, and tried legislation to remodel church, but Elizabeth blocked, stating that Chruch policy was the business of the monarch, not of Parlament. Thwarted, Puritans turned to pamphleteering and congregational meetings. Thomas Cartwright, dismissed from Cambridge for his puritan beliefs, argued for church based ojn the Geneva code (Calvinism).

In the 1580's Puritans preachers started the classical movement to reform the church from within by building up a presbyterian organization on the parich level which would lead, hopefully, to a national synod.

Separists

Radical protestants who considered reform of Anglican church futile, so formed separate organizatiuons outside of it. They are known by the name of their founders....Brownists (Robert Brown)...Barrowists (Norman Barrow)...these were predecessors of the Congregationalists. They stressed congregational autonomy and separation of church and state. Govt repressed such groups, modifying powers of the Court Hioogh Commision to do so. Browists and Anabaptists forced to flee country. Anti Puritan, John Witgift, appointed Arch of Canter, 1583.

John Knox 1505-72 Church of Scotland

3

4

Scottish church on eve of Reformation corru0pt and welathy and ripe for reform. Knox and the nobility of Scotland stood against Mary Stuart for the Crown.

Knox a priest interested in reform, opposed to the French Catholic regency then in Scotland. While exiled to continent, Knox became disciple of John Calvin in Geneva, then returned in 1558 - same year the Dauphin married Mary Stuart,m and publicized her right to the English throne. Fearing absorption into a French Catholic empire, four Protestant nobles formed group called Lords of the Congregation and requested major changes from the regent (Mary Guise, mother of Mary Stuart). Rejected, Civil War broke out, and Knox lead the reformers, the French intervened, and Elizabeth had to help the reformers.

Treaty of Edinburgh, 1560 made French sever ties with Scots, thereby contributing to Scottish/Anglo Protestant alliance.

Scottish Parlament 1560 broke with Rome, banned mass, adopted Calvinistic profession of faith and a book of discipline prepared by the first General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. Mary Guise dies that year, and a council of twelve set up until Mary Stuart could return from France.

Lacking a standing Royal Army, Elizabeth knew that her strength was in popular consent. Well educated, she could speak and write six languages.

Outbreak of religious wars in France between Catholics and Huguenots (French Protestants) in 1562 caused Liz to intervene for Huguenots, sending troops to Le Havre. The war a blunder, and Brits surrendered in 1563, losing Calais. Spain supported Elizabeth for a while, to hold her at bay while Spain fought France, so Phillip II proposed marriage. Philip backed plots against Liz, she let her buccaneers raid Spainish ships, all on the sly. they smiled at parties.

4

5

Irish rebelled during her reign, and Liz sent her court favorite, Earl of Essex, to quell the one with Spainish backing. he blundered, and was imprisoned when he got bakc to London. later executed for leading a rebiellion.

Mary Stuart constant threat. Married her cousin, Darnely, who, jealous of her secretary, murderd him in front of Mary, but she fell in love with Scottish border Lord, who plotted to blow up Darnely. Then they married according to Protestant rites. Her subjects roused, she is forced to abdicatge in favour of her son, James VI. Mary escapes prison 1568, flees to England, asks for sanctuary, gets it, then proceeds to plot for the throne. For nineteen years, plots formed round Mary. then executed.

Plots

Rising of the Northern Earls 1569

Ridolphi Plot 1571

Throckmorton Plot 1583

Babington Plot 1586...Mary caught on this one, tried, executed Feb, 1587.

War with Spain, after Philipp II decided he wanted to invade England. He convinced his mission to retore religious orthodixy to Europe. He fought the Protestant Triumvirate, William of Orange inn holland, Admiral Coligny, leader of the Huguenots, and Elizabeth. The forst two killed, but Liz survived invasion to see the Armada, on July 29, 1588, one hundred and thirty one ships, in the English channel. For none days, Admiral Howard, in smaller and faster ships fought a running battle with Armada, but could not break the crescent shape formation. Yet, sailing north round the British isles, storms sank a third of the ships, and Spain paddled home. This event convinced Liz and her subjects, that God was on their side. Even though the war went on 14 more years, for the rest of Liz's reign.

5

6

A problem of unemployed poor drifint round England, even though Liz practiced good economics by calling in debased money and restoring it with sound money, thus restoring countries credit. So, the legislators:

Statute of Apprentices, 1563 transferred regulation of labour to nationasl control, to control vagrancy by promoting full employment by requiring a seven year apprenticeship in the trades. Vagranst were troublemakers.

Poor Laws, 1597, 1601 the plague and harvest failures in the 1590's caused govt to nationalize poor relief, thus, state took over traditional role of the church.

Walter Raleigh

Francis Bacon

Sidney

Spenser

Shakespeare

beginning in 1576, theaters built in London which soon became the focus of popluar entertain,ment.

James I

Growing Puritan influence amongst the gentry meant Liz's safe settlements would not work for James. Yet, he ahd no thought to break down Episcopal structure. Since ecclesiastical governemnt was linked so closely to royal authority, King James argued that a retreat in religion was a retreat for royalty.

James thought to be a theorist, understanding books far better than people. He believed in the divind right of kings. He loved hunting, male favorites, and was inclined to be lazy and conduct govt in an erratic manner.

6

7

Ascended 1603

Hampton Court Conference, 1604 Eight hundred Puritan preachers presented the Millenary Petition to James, requesting simpler ritual, greater emphasis on preaching, and abolition of certain ceremonies, such as the cross in baptism. They also requested a translation of the Bible. Wanted office of Bishop abolished. this enrages James, yet, 1611, King James Version pub.

Catholic Plots after frindliness turned to disfavour of Catholics.

Famed Gunpowder Plot 1605, with Guy Fawkes caught in basement with kegs of gunpowder.

Parla,ment becomes more powerfull by the session, and by the third decade of the seventeenth century, the commons were in charge of initiation, formulation, and passage of laws.

1604 James and Robert Cecil ended War with Spain.

English Parlament refused to unite kingdoms of Scotland and Egnalnd, and refused citizenship to Scots.

Revolts in Ireland force govt to seize land in northern counties and settled Scottich Presbyterians in Ulster. liz began this colonization, James and Charles kept it up.

1618 Thirty years War...religious battles in Germany between Protestant Union of principalities and the Cathoolic League. War began in Bohemia, where protestants deposed their Catholic King and invited Frederick the Elector of the Palatinate, to take throne. A weak England could not participate, even though Jame's daughter married to Fred, who lasted one year before Spainish and German Hapsburgs with Catholic league for swift defeat. Yet, this effectively pulled James away from being politic with Spain.

7

8

1607, Jamestown established by The London Company

1619 Virginai set up first legislature modelled on Parlament.

1620 second colony set up by Separatists who left england in Mayflower for Massachusets, in order to follow freely their religious beliefs in America. Nine years later, under a charter from Charles, Mass Bay Colony a safe haven for English Puritans. By 1640, Fourteen thousand inhabitants

King Charles 1625-49

Charles, King at 25, undertook sic reckless military campaings, all of which failed, agaisnt German Catholics, Spain, france. Thus, England was broke for the thiry years War.

for Spain 1625 Charles wanted 40.000 from parlament, but refused to discuss his battle plans with parlament. they refused the money. He wnet ahead with poorly supplied troops. drunken soldiers failed to take Cadiz. Mauled by storm, sailing home.

for France 1627, war breaking out after charles marriage to Henrietta Maria, sister of Louis XIII in first week of reigh, gave ships to /France. Said ships turned ohn Huguenots at La Rochelle. Crews mutinied. three expeditions sent to relieve French Protestants at La rochelle. Disasters. Peace in 1630

Thus, spending liek a wildman, and not giving Parlament a sense of where the money goes, greivances in the Parlament. john eliot, Thomas Wentworth, John Pym, john Hampden, squires all, lead complaints

first Parlament 1625 opposition to King's Catholic marriage limited his financial request to one seventh, in reciept.

econd Parlament 1626 Parlament refuses to vote war supplies for king. He goes ahead with war, housing troops in private homes to save expense. Dissolves Parlament, which ahs tried to impeach his friend, Buckingham.

8

9

Third Parlament and the Petition of Rights, 1628 Wanting more money, King force by Parlament to sign Petition of Rights, a document that limited royal prerogative, requested protection for ancient liberties, forbade imprisonment without showing cause, martial law in time of peace, forced laons or taxes without parliamentary consent, and the billeting of soldiers without private home's consent. Like Magna Carta of 1215, ultimately limited power of monarchy, though its immediate effects were slight.

Second Session, 1629 Buckingham assasinated by Felton, a naval officer, and the nbation rejoiced. king grieved. Religious griveances took priority over fiscal matters, and Commons launched attack on High Church policies of Bishops. When speaker tried to adjourn session, members held him in his chair while Commons passed three hasty resolutions condemming anyone who introduced innovations in religion, or who advised levying tonnage and poundage without parliamentary consent, or who would pay such taxes. Eliot and eight others arrested.

Personal Rule, 1629, 40 caused Charles to try anything he could to squeez taxes and fines out of subjects. Invoked long lost Forest laws, invented new monopolies and sold patents to companies, invoked old statute requiring landowners with annual income of 40 pounds to be knighted. A large fee levied to be knighted. Levy arousing most complaint the Ship Money Tax Seacoast towns, which had paid for coastal protection in the past, during war, now expected to pay during peacetime. Too, charles demanded money for inland protection. John Hampden refused to pay, but in Court, King won judgement, but lost popular one.

1633 William Laud made Archbishop of Canterbury and won royal support for religious uniformity in public worship according to High Church (Anglo-Catholic) tradition. Puritans accused him of reverting to Catholicism, but Laud, througyhy courts of the Star Chamber and High Commision, took stern measures against Puritans. His measures promoted much migration to new world, and ultimate civil war.

9

10

1637 Scots Prayer Book charles and Laud tried to force Scots to accept new prayer book and an Anglican episcopacy. Scotland hard core Presbyterian. Scots rioted. National Covenant pledged Scottich allegiance to Charles, but swor to resit to the death all religious changes contrary to their Kirk. chasrles invaded, and lost, being short on men and money. First Bishop's War, 1639, ended in truce.

Scots invaded England, refused to leave, while Charles called short Parlament to raise funds, only to find them angry, unwilling to discuss war funds until they aired their greiveances. dissolved. Scots demanded 850 pound a day support, until arrangements could be met for truce. To pay bill, charles had to call the Long Parlament. 1640

Long Parlament, 1640

1. Abolished Star Chamber and High Commision

2. No Dissolution of Parlament without its consent

3. Triennial act demanding Parlamnet meet every three years.

4. No type of taxation without Parlamentary consent.

5. Strafford, thought at bottom of bad govt for last decade, impeached. Failing to convict, Commons resorted to a bill of attainder that required no proof, only kings approval. threatened by mobs, Charles signs friends death warrant May, 1641. Laud executed 1645.

6. Puritans introduced Root and Branch Bill that sought to abolish Bishops and radically reform church. This alienated those who had earlier backed radical bills. Then, Irish massacred Wnglish and Scottish settlers in Ulster. Parlament wanted to crush Irish force, but did not want to place large army in hands of King. Grand Remonstrance demanded parliamentary approval of Kings advisors and army officers. Yet, this

10

11

Remonstrance passed by only nine votes, an indication that parliamentarians did not want radical change in govt.

Yet, charles, with troops, marched on the House of Commons and arrested five of its leading members, though having been forwarned, they had fled. Charles then fled to the north, and prepared to raise an army to show he was king.

Nineteen Propositions, June, 1642 sent to King from Parliament, requiring that he surrender virtually all of his prerogative powers. August, Civil War.

Royalists victorious throug cavalry, and navy. But Parliament had recources. By 1646, Parliament was winning the battles. Kings dealings with Scots lead to Second Civil War with. Cromwell won easily. Army in control, it purged Parlament of unwanted members, anbd Rump Parlament executed the King.

Civil War, 1642 - 46 After two years ot Royalist victories, Parlament negotiated with Scots ans signed Solemn League and Covenant 1643 in which it was agreed to establish the Reformed (Presbyterian) church in England in return for the assistance of Scottish Army. At Marston Moor (near York) in 1644 Parliamentarians won first major victory, but could not follow up opportunikty for win. Next year, New Model Army created from Oliver Cromwell's disciplined troops. Defeated Royalists badly at Naseby, 1645. Charles surrendered to

Scots, Scots gave him to Parliament, then went home.

As factions rose, all trying to deal with King, Charles was duplicite, trying to play of Army, Scots, and Patliament on one another. Parliament tried to disband New Model Army, and in 1647, Cromwell, a mediator betwen parlaimanet and Army, threw in his lot with the Army. Cromwell drew up a proposal, The Heads of the Proposals, to steer a course between royal absolutism and democratic republican proposals as forwarded by John Lilburne and his Levellers, who were rampnat in the army ranks. Parliament and King ignored proposal, Charles escaped to Isle of Wight

11

12

where he negotiated with Scots to invade England.

Second Civil War, 1648 with Charles and the Scots. In 1648 Colonel Pride purged Parliament of its Prebyterian supporters, and the remaining Rump Parliament took orders from the army.

The purged House of Commons had less than one hundred members, who executed thhe King in January, 1649.

And England became a Republic, like it or not.

The Commohnjwealth and Protectorate, 1649 - 60

Council of State, with 41 members, set up to govern, but really, it was only Cromwell at the helm for four years.

Pamphleteers went after govt.

Lilburne's Levellers advocated democratic republic

Gerrard Winstaely and his fellow Diggers wanted agrarian communism that would abolish all manors and Landlords.

In Ireland, Royalists and Cathoolics joined forces under Marquis of Ormonde to bring back bonny prince Charley, Charles II, son of executed King. Cromwell, in 1649, invaded Ireland, set things aright, relieved Dublin. Massacred defenders of Drogheda for refusing to surrender. Two thirds of land south of Ulster confiscated and given to English Protestants who soon built up extensive estates. for the next two and ahalf centuries, hostilities between English Protestant Absent Landlords and irish Tenants remained unresolved.

12

13

In Scotland, Cromwell fought in 1650 against the Scotch Covenanters, lead by Charley. Cromwell hemmed in at Dunbar, Charles crowned at Scone, and following Cromwell into England, that army deccimated at Worcester,. Charles fled to continent. Afterwards, Ireland, Scotland, and Engalnd united under one Commonwealth.

War with Dutch, 1652 - 54

April, 1653, Cromewell dissolves a corrupt Rump Parliament and replaces it with a nominated Parliament of Saints. But when its views opn religion became to radical for army leaders, the Assembly was dissolved, and army drew up the Instrument of Government 1653 with Cromwell as Lord Protector, and appointing a Council of State to advise Protector and share control of the Army with him, a Parliament to be elected every three years. Yet, first Parlaiment in 1654 tried to get power, was purged of one hundred members, then was dissolved altogether by Cromwell in 1655.

Military rule...as temporary expedient, Wales and England divided into eleven military districts with a major General in eqach

Weary of Puritans, weary of Army control, the nation turned back to the Stuarts after Cromwells death, and his son Richards struggle to maintian precarious power without prestige. richard surrendered his power to a Rump Parliament. After fightings, the Long Parliament of 1640 was recalled that it might dissolve itself, so that free elctions could begin, and a New convention parliament could convene.

1660 convention Parliament recalled Charles II from France.

13

14

During Interegnum, Jews allowed to return to England after 350 years out, Religious Pluralism flourished while sectarians were kept modified, as were the Anglicans and the Presbyterians, civil marriages were legalized, public univeristies and schools were reformed.

Puritans, convinced as Saints, all, made it impossible for them to resolve the constitutional dilemma between the elected and the 'elect.' Thus, Puritan position created its own dialectic, for althoug it stressed individualism, it also claimed the guardianship of the saints over the sinners. Maybe becasue the sinners were more numerous thatn the saints, Puritanism went under fast after 1660.

Under Chalres and the hundreds of Royalist, Anglican house of Commons people he brought back over, a "Cavalier Parliament": proceeded to penalize Puritans and Roman Catholics, by a series of four acts known as the Clarendon Code, 1661 - 65.

1. Municipal Corporations Act excluded from municipal office those who refused to renounce the Solemn League and Covenant, or to swear not to resist the King.

2. Act of Uniformity: required all clergy to use the revised Book of Common Prayer in their services. when nearly one fifth of clergy refused, additional restrictions followed.

3. The Conventicle Act: imposed harsh penalties for attending religious service (conventicle) which did not conform to the Anglican liturgy.

4. The Five Mile Act: forbade non-conforming ministers to visit or live within five miles of any organized town where they had previously preached or taught.

Thus, mass exodus, mass imprisonment. John Bunyan wrote part of Pilgrim's Progress while in the Bedford Goal for dissenting views.

Thus, the reassent of Anglicanism.

14

15

Important Dates

1603 Death of Elizabeth, Accession of James I

1604 Hampton Court Conference

1605 Gunpoowder Plot. King Lear first acted. Don Quixote, Part I, pub (pt II 1615).

1606 First Successful English colony founded in virginia. Jamestown

1607 Milton Born in Cheapside, London, Dec 9

1609 Spenser's Fearie Queen in first Folio

1611 King James Version pub

1614 Raleigh's History of the World

1616 Death of Shakespeare

1618 Bacon appointed Lord Chancellor. Thirty Years War begins

1620 New England Colony founded by Pilgrim Fathers

1620? Milton at St Paul's School until 1624

1621 Bacon Impeached. Donne appointed Dean of St Paul's

1625 Death of James I, accession charles I. Outbreak of Plague. Milton admitted Christ's College, Cambridge

1627 War with France until 1629

1631 Death of Donne

1633 William Laud appointed Arch of Canterbury

1634 A Mask (Comus) performed (pub 1637)

15

16

1637 Descartes Discourse and Method pub

1638 Milton embarks to France and Italy Lycidas pub

1639 First Bishop's War. Milton returns to London late summer

1640 Short Parliament; Second Bishop's War; Long Parlaiment until 1660

1641 Strafford executed. Irish Rebellion Grand Remonstrance issued. Milton publishes three anti episcopal tracts:

Of Reformation

Of Prelatical Episcopacy

Animadversions

1642 Milton Publishes two more: The Reason of Church Governmnt

An Apology for Smectymnuus

Charles raises standard at Nottingham

1643 The Solemn League and Covenant. Milton publishes Doctrine of discipline and Divorce.

1644 Parliamentary Victory at Marston Moor

1645 Laud executed. New Model Army formed

1647 Parliamentary Army occupies London. Chalres I arrested, but escapes

1648 Second Civil War.

1649 Charles I tried and executed. Charles II proclaimed in Scotlaned, escapes to France. Monarychy and the house of Commons abolished. Irish Rebellion crushed by Cromewell. Miltong publishes The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates.

1651 Milton publishes "First Defense of English People" against Salmasius' defense of charles I (1649). Hobbes Leviathon pub.

16

17

1653 Protectorate established under Cromwell.

1660 Milton's The Readie and Easie Way to Establish a free commonwealth. charles II recalled house of Lords restored. Milton imprisoned. Theaters, closed since 1642, reopen.

1661 Louis IX assumes full power in France

1661-65 Clarendon Code

1662 Acts of Uniformity

1666 Great London Fire3

1667 Paradise Lost pub

1670 Hist of Britain pub

1671 Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes pub jointly

1674 Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress (pt I). Death of Milton, Nov 8 17th Century Dates

from Barnes and Noble College Outline series

1580's: Puritan preachers started the classical movement to reform the church from within by building up a presbyterian organization on the parish level which would lead, hopefully, to a national synod. They wanted to purge the church of any practice smacking of popery. They favoured Calvinistic doctrine and wanted a presbyterian rather than an episcopal form of church government. Sympathetic House of Commons introduced legislation to remodel the church, but Elizabeth blocked it, stating that the Church policy was the business of the Monarch, not of Parliament. Thwarted, Puritans turned to pamphleteering and congregational meetings. Monarchy took strict, but not oppressive, hardline. Thomas Cartwright was dismissed from Cambridge for his puritan beliefs. Banned from preaching, but no severe punishment. Showed Elizabethan compromise. Such a tactic kept puritans from preaching too much, but allowed them enough voice so that they would not get radical.

1603 death of Elizabeth, ascension of James I.

1604 Hampton Court Conference. Eight hundred Puritan preachers

17

18

presented the Millenary Petition to James I., requesting simpler church ritual, greater emphasis on preaching, abolishment of certain ceremonies, and a translation of the Bible into the vernacular. James walked out when they asked for abolishement of bishops.

1607 Milton born

1611 King James Version published

1625 Death of James I, ascension of Charles I.

1627 Charles I married Henrietta Maria, sister of Louis XIII. Parliament and King at odds over his wars, his expenses, his taxes, his lack of cooperation, his Catholic marriage.

1633 William Laud appointed Archbishop of CanterburyWon royal support for religious uniformity in public worship according to High Church [Anglo-Catholic] tradition. Puritans accused him of reverting to Catholicism. He took stern measures against them. Laud's policies caused puritan migrations to the new world and brought on the civil war.

1637 Charles and Laud tried to force the Scots to accept a new prayer book and an Anglican episcopacy. After Knox [1505-72], Scotland hard-core Presbyterian Calvinists. National Covenant pledged allegiance to Charles, but vowed to resist to the death all religious changes contrary to their kirk. Charles invaded.1639 First Bishop's War ended in a truce. Charles ran out of men and money. Called Short Parliament, but failed to get more money from them to fight a Second Bishop's War. Meanwhile, Scots invaded England, camped on English soil, and refused to go without arrangements for a real truce. Demanded 850 pounds a day support while issue unresolved. Charles called the Long Parliament to raise money to pay Scots.

1640-60 Long Parliament had some conditions that had to be met before they would discuss money matters with Charles1. Abolishment of Star Chamber and High Commision.2. No dissolution of Parliament without its consent.3. Triennial Act demanding that Parliament meet every three years.4. No type of taxation without Parliamentary consent.5. Puritans introduce radical "Root and Branch" bill, aimed at abolishing bishops and remodeling church. Parliamentary moderates upset. Division begins

18

19

1641 Irish massacre English and Scottish settlers in Ulster. So that an untrustworthy King can act, Parliament makes him sign the Grand Remonstrance, which required Parliamentary approval of all army officers and advisors. Bill passed in Commons by only eleven votes. Charles given troops, but instead of going to Ireland, he stormed Parliament. But those he came to arrest knew, so were not there. He then rode north to muster his troops for War with Parliament.

1642 Parliament sent King an ultimatum [19 articles] demanding that he surrender virtually the rest of his powers.

1642-46First Civil War, royalist early on victorious until Parliament negotiated with Scotland to make an alliance based on an agreement to establish a reformed church [presbyterian] in England after war.

1644 First major Parliamentary/Scottish victory at Marston Moor. Unable to follow up to defeat Charles, the Army prompted to re-organized, made into the New Model Army with Oliver Cromwell's disciplined troops providing the backbone. Commanded by Lord Fairfax. The different separatists and presbyterian dissenters, put their faith in the New Model Army. Thought it was God's army.

1645 Laud executed

1646 Charles surrenders to the Scots, who turn him over to Parliament and go home. End of the first Civil War.

1648 Second Civil War, resulted from differing factions negotiating separately with a duplicite Charles. He escapes to the Isle of Wight and negotiates with Scots, promising his support for a presbyterian church in England after the victory. Oliver Cromwell, a pivotal arbiter in the earlier negotiations, throws his lot in with the New Model Army, which Parliament, failing to pay, had tried to disband. Cromwell's troops routed superior Scottish force near Preston [up north], taking Charles.Colonel Pride purged Parliament of its prebyterian supporters, making a Rump Parliamen [less than one hundred members] loyal to the army.

1649 Charles executed by Rump Parliament. An army decision.

1649 Parliament abolished Monarchy and the House of commons.

19

20

1649 The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates.

1651 First Defense of the English People published to counter Salmasius' defense of Charles, pub 1649.

Constitutional Experiments:1653 Cromwell dissolves Rump Parliament and replaces it with the "Parliament of Saints," handpicked by Cromwell's council from candidates supplied by the independent churches. Became too radical, so dissolved in a matter of months.

Military Rule. Wales and England divided into eleven military districts with a major general over each one.

Humble Petition and Advice. Leaders in Parliament, wanting traditional system of Government, proposed that Cromwell should become King. He declined.

1658 Cromwell dies. A nation weary of Puritans and army control was ready for return of the Stuarts.

1660 Charles II ascends.

1661-65 Clarendon Code

1667 Paradise Lost pub

1670 History of Britain pub

1671 Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes pub jointly

1674 death of Milton.

20

21

From The Experience of Defeat Christopher Hill. LevellersWildman invented political techniques:Lillburne began 1645-6 1. mass demosntrationsWalwyn silenced 1650's 2. collecting signaturesPrince 3. pamphleteering 4. leafleting 5. lobbyiing

Levellers wanted democratic republic in which:1. house of Commons superior to the house of Lords.2. Redistribution and extension of the franchise.3. Legal and economic reforms on behalf of small property owners [artisans, yeoman, small merchants]. But not Communism4. Democritization of Guilds5. Election of local governors6. Religious toleration. Their Large Petition of 1647. lamented plight of the poor, who can but perpetuate themselves, with no way to reclaim innate virtue.

Tried to take over the Army in summer, 1647

In 1650's, Levellers attacked as subversives who would overthrow Law and Property.

True Levellers - DiggersWinstanely established colony in April, 1649, to cultivate in common the Wasteland of St Georges Hill, Surrey.

1. Claimed Common and Wasteland areas belonged to the people, not the lords and manors.2. Believed cultivation of wasteland and fens would solve England's food problems, abolish poverty and begging.3. Thought the establishment of Private Property had begun the Fall, and that its abolition, together with that of Wage Labour, would allow a return to the innocence of the garden.4. Christ's Second Coming was the rise of reason within the sons and daughters of God. Reason meant the awareness of the need to cooperate.

21

22

Inner Light Theology: Winstanely used scripture to preach, but gave his own sense of Biblical stories. Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ascension may or may not have been historical events. They were more important as metaphors for psychological transformations within men and women. The Christ who lived at Jeruselem is less significant than the Christ within.

In Winstanely's Commonwealth: No State Church, preaching for hire, lawyer fees, prayer, baptism, communion, or sabbath.

Movement began to fade in 1652, Winstanely exhausted, dissillusioned. Turned sort of Quaker.

Winstanely's Law of Freedom in a Platform (1652) expressed notion that England, another chosen Nation [like Israel] had fallen on evil ways.

RantersAbiezer CoppeGeorge FosterRichard CoppinLaurence Clarkson 1. God's service was "perfect freedom and pure libertinism." [Coppin] 2. Sin and transgression were finished. 3. 1649 Preface [Coppe] to an anonymous pamphlet declared: a. No need for ordinances (preaching, baptism, communion, church fellowship,etc) b. Scripture not the Words of God c. Only the spirit of God "working in us is our scripture and rule of life." 4. God, who is love, cannot be angry with pursuits of men, as they are made by him.

Ranters, from Hill's The World Turned Upside Down At one Ranter meeting of which we have a (hostile) report, the mixed company met at a tavern, sang blashemous songs to the well - known tunes of metrical psalms and partook of a communal feast. One of them tore off a piece of beef, saying 'This is the flesh of christ, take and eat.' Another threw a cup of ale into the chimney corner, saying, ' there is the blood of Christ.' Clarkson called a tavern the house of God; sack was divinity.

22

23

(200) Abiezer Coppe: "My spirit dwells with God, sups with him, in him, feeds on him, with him, in him. My humanity shall dwell with, sup with, eat with humanity; and why not (for a need) with publicans and harlots? (201) Famous for "dionysiac orgies." Yet much of their gestures symbolic, meant as a show of defiance against restraints of all kinds.

1650: Parliament condemned Coppes two Fiery Flying Rolls tracts to be publicly burned. Coppe made to recant twice, the first not being good enough. Second recantation in 1651, entitled Coppes Return to the Ways of Truth.

Ranter circles gradually closed down after 1655. After Restoration, Coppe changed his name to Higham, became a physician.

Fifth MonarchistsFeakeAspinwallPowell began 1653Rogers severely repressed after Restoration, 1660Spittlehouse 1. Millenarians. 2. Believed God/Christ would rule through his saints. 3. Mostly rank and file men. Unlike other groups, few gentlemen. A Standard Set-Up pub 1653, W. Medley, Scribe, outlining position: 1. Representative body of Saints to be created, to excersize sovereignty for one year. 2. End religious intolerance 3. End arbitrary imprisonment 4. End conscription for Armed forces. 5. Reform Debt laws.

Restoration silenced them quickly. Leaders were executed, fled, jailed, or disappeared. Too, old leadership died early.

23

24

Seekers William Erbery, an Oxfordian.James Naylor began 1604 - fading 1654

1. Clergy and Common Lawyers the chief oppressors. 2. Prisoners and the poor the chief opprest. 3. Wanted an Army dominated Commonwealth. 4 Believed Christ still suffering, till he shall rise in us. 5. Thought God, appearing through the Saints, would punish kings of Earth upon the Earth. 6. Strongly immixed with Quakers. 7. Strongly critical of Universities that trained wicked clergy [Cambridge and Oxford] 8. Thought Believers could become sons of God on earth, and that Hell both internal and external.

Erbery's follower, James Naylor, rode into Bristol on an ass, one April, palm leaves being strewn by Erbery's daughter Dorcas (who claimed he had raised her from the dead) and others. He was imprisoned, tortured. This act stopped the symbolic presentations typical to Seekers, Quakers, Ranters. [Quakers walked naked through the streets, awaiting God's sign. Ranters would go looking for God in the daylight, searching by candlelight] (WTUD).

1654 Erbery Published Criticism of the universities, with proposals for reformBy 1658, Seekers either Jailed, silenced, or subsumed in Quakerism, like so many other groups.

Quakers

Edward BurroughGeorge Foxe founded congregations, beginning up north, growing south, then east. Northern England less developed, less

24

25

anglicanized.

1651-61 Only survivors (last Muggletonian died in 1979) Had to change their ways to do so.

Quaker traits shared by earlier radicals from 16th (Lollards, Familists, anabaptists): 1. sense of the meeting 2. refusal of hat honour 3. thou rather than you. 4. opposition to oaths, to tithes. 5. "Priests the fountains of all wickedness abounding in nations." (Burroughs) 6. Used leveller techniques of petitioning parliament, including women petitioners.

1655: anonymous Quaker Pamphlet: "Great men and rich men of the earth ...weep and howl, for your misery is coming, the day of the lord is appearing."

Fox urged Cromwell to start a military crusade in Europe. His paper to inferior officers, written in 1659: "if ever you true soldiers and true officers come again into the power of God, which hath been lost, never set up your standard till you come to Rome."

Defeat brought on by: 1. Condemnation and savage punishment of James Naylor. Made them rethink symbolic actions and the nature of the inner light. 2. Collapse of the Army 1659-60.

August, 1659, until beginning of 1660, Fox had a spiritual crisis. Withdrew from active life. Came back, having decided that political action had to be renounced, for it was all hypocrisy, falshood, and pretence.

January, 1661 Quaker Adoption of Peace Principle, that is, withdrawal from political action. Happened after they stopped believing in near imminence of God's kingdom. Of course, the

25

26

Restoration surely contributed. The Spirit of Christ will never move us to fight and war against man with carnal weapons. (fox)

As gentry and Parliament regained control of the political power base, the New Model Army was purged of radicals. Consolidation of power. Fighting in Ireland, Flanders, West Indies, and Scotland thinned ranks. Without the army, radical groups were doomed.

After the Restoration, Quakers survived because of re- organization, and adaptation to a "rapidly developing Capitalistic society."

Everyday people went back to work, to family. Immigration for others, or name changes. Some turned outlaw. Henry Morgan's pirates, Hill points out, sacked Panama in 1671, "in the faded red coats of the New model Army."

And Milton writes his three long poems, Hill says, "dealing with intensely topical problems, and set in motion by the defeat of God's cause." [The Experience of Defeat]

It is with this revolutionary atmosphere in mind, one electric, surcharg'd with the overthrow of the only socio/spiritual system known to man, in hopes of the glorious kingdom to come that

26

27

Christopher Hill, social historian.born in york, 1912retired Master of Balliol Collegeauthor: The English Revolution 1640 Society and Puritanism in Pre-Revolutionary England Intellectual Origins of the English Revolution The World Turned Upside Down Milton and the English Revolution

Report based on the two chapters out of last book, concerning Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes.

In the chapter dealing with Paradise Regained, Hill contends that Milton, a man committed to action, examines the need for patience, which the failure of the revolution had brought to bear upon the 17th cent saints, the elect. Hill also shows that Paradise Regained continued to develop the inner light vision that was typical of the times, as well as, i should think, appropriate for post restoration living. That is to say, Milton continues to throw off the trappings of external methods of contention, of conflict. Political strategems, and war with weapons both are cast off. Milton comes to understand the full extent to which the battle proper, the one against temptation, the one hoping to bring in the Kingdom of God on earth, must be waged internally and won internally so that the individual saint can be of good to humanity, can preach truth, like Christ. As mentioned earlier, by 1660 [actually before] most or all of the dissenters, the radicals, had been silenced, one way or another. Charles II was back on the throne, and specifically, the kingdom of God was somewhere beyond the horizon, not just at hand, as had been expected during the revolution. In fact, Hill traces the slipping notion of the millenium in Milton's prose: 1641 "shortly expected king" 1644 "kingdom which we pray incessantly may soon come" 1651 the one we must 'look for." 1660 Redie and Esie Way shows the notion of that heavenly kingdom faltering, as the work holds out a compromise, an expedient, probably, to stave off utter defeat, a method to buy more time. If Milton, as with any radical, wanted to continue fighting for a cause, their strategy neccessarily had to adjust,

27

28

or admit defeat. And when Charles II came, and not Christ, whose fault must it be? For many, the fault was God's. But for Milton, who had thrown his life into his belief in this revolution, and who, in Paradise Lost, had set about the task of justifying the ways of God to man, the fault was man's. And the perfect man, Christ, as Hill points out, "triumphs by staying human," whereas "Adam and Eve fell by aspiring to be gods." Christ, Hill points out, is the corporation of the Saints. While many sympathized with Milton [not all wanted Charles back, though apparently, most did], few were continuing in the application of their first principles, their duty to the good ole cause, as it was called. The Quakers had their peace principle, one safely relinquishing political action. Other groups, like the Harringtonians [Defeat], actually fitted their theological schemes in with Restoration politics. Hill posits that Paradise Regained, just as Paradise Lost , in its own way, "is about how men should live in the real world, not ignoring or flying from the unpleasantness of Restoration England." As the text associates then, with topical events and ideas, it becomes both an explanation for what went wrong, and a dialectical approach to the new problems and conditions at hand. To restate, before going into some examples, the call is to stay the spiritual course, one that unexpectedly required the defeated saints of England, the elect, to bear the test of patience, as did Christ, so that they too might come to a new understanding of the task at hand. That is to say, to bear it in the wilderness, not on the cross.

Speaking of this wilderness, generally, Hill reminds us that this is the same wilderness that Adam and Eve enter after being ushered out of the garden. As well, it is the one wherein the Israelites "learnt constitutional government" in Paradise Lost. (P.L. XII 224-7) "The Son of God," Hill states, " made use of the wilderness as a place for re-thinking, for casting the balance, from which he emerged ready for action." Milton's contemporaries, Vane and Erbery, in particular, had made the comparison between the Israelites forty years in the wilderness and England, during the Civil War. As well, Hill points out, citing Paradise Regained, "Eden, the paradise within, had been 'raised in the waste wilderness' (P.R. I.7). So we have the field of battle, not only internalized, as Paradise Regained allows, but associated with humanity through Milton's Adam and Eve and the Israelites. So already, politics, divine instruction, inner light, the English civil war, the spiritual battle lost by Adam and Eve, to be regained by Christ, the son of God, as well as the embodied 17 cent elect, are all factored into this wilderness setting.

28

29

Then, according to Hill, a rather Cambridgian dispute takes place, one representative of Milton's own internalized debate pitting "the internal intuitive world of faith against the extrinsic rationale that both brought the revolution to pass and justified regicide." And of course, it applies to the revolution. We see this generally, and dramatically, in those places where milton is obviously appropriating, revising, or interpolating bibilical scenes.

1. Jesus is an intellectul, a potential leader facing political decisions. He has thought about military triumph too. (I. 215- 20) Such, we can imagine, must have been the thoughts of a church outed Milton rushing back from Italy for the war. or, for that matter, any number of Levellers, Diggers, Ranters, or Seekers.

2. Jesus' disciples in BkII: "Now, now for sure, deliverance is at hand." This hope mirrors the English, non-conformist hopes of the revolutionary 40's and 50's.

3. Satans temptations also very much like the ones playing in the minds of activists of the 40's and 50's. Puritans were very much caught up in the discussion and appropriateness of just these means, that is, Satan's suggestions that Christ ally with Parthia against Rome, for instance, is likened to Cromwell's alliance with France to defeat their mutual enemy Spain. As well, Satan's ethos is that of a wordly dictator, or tyrant.

Milton, who had a political position during the interegnum [protectorate], was savvy to political maneuverings. [latin secretary], and had lost faith in political alliance. The word "outlandish" in the following passage, Hill suggests, "is more appropriately spoken by the Commonwealth's Latin Secretary than by the Son of God" Particularly since it was widely felt that the international situation [continental] during the revolution was a factor in its failure. on embassies [Christ] But tedious waste of time to sit and hear So many hollow compliments and lies, Outlandish flatteries. IV 123-5

It was thought that Cromwell had fallen to the temptations of preoccupation with foreign alliances.

29

30

As well, Christ's ferocious attack on the people, Hill notes, calling them a "herd confused" and relating that "they pray and they admire they know not what," also should be seen as more properly the words of a personally dissillusioned Milton.

4. As mentioned earlier, Milton's screwing around with biblical text strongly indicates that his own text is topically motivated. a. Stressing the temptation over the crucifixion, as we have mentioned in class last week, was highly unorthodox. Yet it successfully allows for the main value of Christ, his redemptive quality, to flourish in heroic action, not passive deployment. As Christ's time in the wilderness was contemplative, patient, invincible, and finally, revealingly active on the pinnacle, so he provides the model for the post restoration saints, who must learn that events run on God's time, not their own. As Hill points out, the course of the revolution might easily show itself to be the result of impatience, and a lack of contemplation. Thought before action modelled after Christ, waiting on god's timing. That was the key. The Saints accepted all of the short cuts that contemplative Christ rejected.

b. The manufactured storm scene, Hill says, is analogous to Royalist propoganda attacks on the Saints after the Restoration

c. The banqueting scene was not part of Scripture. Hill suggests that Milton used it to discredit Clarkson's Ranter Doctrine, one stating that 'to the pure, all things are pure." Because christ acknowledges his right to eat anything, but does not eat Satan's food, specifically becasue it is profferred by Satan implies that there are factors at play external to the elect. Actions then, that should not be taken, given the source. By 1671, it would have been old news that the Ranters had ruined Winstanely's Digger community, by making unworkable the tenets of peace and harmony. Such words only have societal value if all members agree on what they mean, on what they allow.

d. Christ's rejection of Athens and learning likens to the separatist and dissenting preacher tradition that stood against the ecclesiatical monopoly on scholarship and rhetorical arts. As mentioned before, Cambridge and Oxford were the universities that turned out the Anglican scholar/bishops. Prior to the King James bible, England was dependent on these scholars as the intermediary's between them and the text. Such a rejection, then,

30

31

of learning, hill points out, was typical of radical thought from the times of Jacob Boehme, and the Familists of the late sixteenth century. It is also key to note that Paradies Regained is aware that the intellectual presbyters launched and lost the war, utilizing reason [look milton's prose works]. So we find a post restoration Christ following strong, mysterious motions of faith, as does Samson.

e. Mary's dialogue, manufactured, when she refers to Herod, expresses sentiments of the English post 1660 saints, struck by all that had happened, and how the trumps had turned up, afterall: I to wait with patience inurred, recalling what had remarkebly passed.

Yet, Hill wants to make it clear that there is no giving up. "Milton's battles" he says, "were in the last resort for christian liberty, and he has now [in Regained, lost, sa] come to realize that his objectives are in the first resort internal, until Christ himself comes. But this is not a quietist doctrine. the kingdom of christ is a kingdom of preaching, and its ultimate object is to "conquer and crush his enemies.' "Who best can suffer, as Christ said in Regained, "best can do."

Which brings us naturally to Samson.

Whereas Hill sees Paradise Regained as an internal debate ranging through topical 17th cent events, searching out mistakes, formulating new approaches for the undefeated to take, since christ's kingdom is not in sight, Samson Agonistes provides more of 'an analysis of defeat and failure, one that, in league with the other poems, culminates in a sense of spiritual hope, wherein, as hill notes, "human freedom has been exhonerated, providence again asserted." Again, the topical relationship is asserted:

Thematic touchstones: 1. Samson, at the beginning of the Dram, is both externally and internally blind, much like the condition of God's servants in England after 1660.

2. Samson sees himself to blame for the predicament and the betrayal of himself. Milton, Hill says, had similar feelings.

3. Samson aspires to Godhead, as did Satan, Adam, Eve, and

31

32

the Ranters.

4. Samson, like the revolutionaries, was reduced to servitude because he did not live up to God's calling.

5. Samson, like Adam, like Milton, but unlike christ, who stood firm, came to recognize his personal responsibility in redemption after being "now blind, disheartened, shamed, dishonored, quelled." [SA]

6. Harapha seen as a cavalier [follower of charles] who now has the insolence to taunt the defeated Saints, much as he does Samson, calling him: "murderer, a revolter, a robber."

7. Further, Samsons challenge to Harapha, Hill says, 'reverberates with the social overtones associated with the Norman yoke theory, for he mocks what can be considered Haraphas 'frenchified' ways of arming for battle. Of course, it is also a wealthy way of arming, and, a wordly one: Put on all thy gorgeious arms, thy helmit And brigandine brass, thy broad habergeon Vantbrace and greaves.

8. Dalila's claim that the priest were always in her ear recalls Milton's hostility to both the Presbyterian and Anglican clergy. One was the enemy, the other a traitor, a backslider at best.

So there are plenty of ways in which the text applied to the times. Incidentally, Hill sees this as evidence that the text must have been written, or at least substantially revised at a late rather than an early date. Dramtic Events match up with history too well. Samson Agoniste's specific service to the design of milton's three poems though, comes through its applicability to the practical condition of the post restoration saint. for, in Hill's words, " while Christ was a perfect man, unique, Samson was a man in kind, one regenerate, acting, redeemed to god after giving up the self...he is what any fallen sinner can become when he recovers and cooperates with Providence." And of course, to cooperate with providence, we can surmise, you gotta have intuitive faith, and abide by the inner light. Making Samson the last poem in the trilogy, we can surmise, is also in keeping with milton's times. There were undoubtedly more saints in need of

32

33

regeneration after 1660 than there were ones who had stood fast.

Hill reminds us too, that if we think Samson's fate as less than hopefull, we must consider that Milton's definition of hope was a rather negative one, in keeping for the most part with Calvinsitic doctrine so basic to dissent. That is to say, we must be prepared to realize, as Hill states, " that if there had been no blindness, no captivity, there could have been no victory." As well, we must "understand that...succumbing to her [Dalila's] wiles may be part of god's plan also." Such is the nature of Calvinistic/ Miltonic spiritual tasking.

Phoenix Legend.Lactanius and Origen.

Mermetic literature used it to represent alchemical ressurections.

used in early 1661 in an unliscenced pamphlet called Phoenix of the Solemn League and Covenant. Pamphlet attacked both presbyter preachers and Charless Ii, for he had taken covenant, and had not died, as one Edmund Calamy claimed would happen to oath breakers.

33