Milton and the English Revolution. Christopher Hill

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      Milton and the

      English Revolution

      Christopher Hill (1912–2003), born in York, was a historian and academic specializing in seventeenth-century English history. As a young man he witnessed the growth of the Nazi party firsthand during a prolonged holiday in Germany, an experience he later said contributed to the radicalization of his politics. He was master of Balliol College, University of Oxford, his alma mater, from 1965 to 1978. His celebrated and influential works include Intellectual Origins of the English Revolution; The World Turned Upside Down; and A Turbulent, Seditious and Fractious People: John Bunyan and His Church.

      Milton and the

      English Revolution

      =======

      CHRISTOPHER HILL

      This paperback edition first published by Verso 2020

      First published by Faber and Faber Ltd 1977

      © Christopher Hill 1977, 1979, 1997, 2020

      All rights reserved

      The moral rights of the author have been asserted

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      Verso UK: 6 Meard Street, London W1F 0EG US: 20 Jay Street, Suite 1010, Brooklyn, NY 11201 versobooks.com

      Verso is the imprint of New Left Books

      ISBN-13: 978-1-78873-683-1

      ISBN-13: 978-1-78873-685-5 (US EBK)

      ISBN-13: 978-1-78873-684-8 (UK EBK)

      British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress

      Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 YY

      This book is dedicated in gratitude to the memory of

      DON M. WOLFE,

      who devoted a lifetime to the study of Milton, but never forgot Richard Overton and Gerrard Winstanley.

       Contents

Preface

Abbreviations

Milton’s Principal Writings

1 Introduction

PART I—SHIPWRECK EVERYWHERE

2 Pre-revolutionary England

i Political background

ii Court versus country

3 Milton’s Apprenticeship

i Early influences

ii Cambridge

iii Hammersmith and Horton, 1632–8

4 Comus and Lycidas

i New values

ii Comus

iii Lycidas

5 Revolution Approaches

i The Italian journey

ii Milton’s personality

iii A cultural crisis

PART II—TEEMING FREEDOM

6 The Radical Underground

7 Ecrasez l’infâme!

8 Milton and the Radicals

i ‘Much arguing, much writing, many opinions’

ii The radical milieu

iii Overlapping circles

9 Marriage, Divorce and Polygamy

i Seventeenth-century attitudes

ii Milton’s first marriage

iii Divorce

iv The reaction

v Martha Simmonds

       vi Polygamy

       vii Milton and Jane Eyre

       viii Milton and his daughters

       10 1644

       i Of Education

       ii Areopagitica

       iii Milton and the people

       PART III—MILTON AND THE COMMONWEALTH

       11 Defending the Republic,