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Law of Freedom in a Platform, or True Magistracy Restored
This book represents an authentic reproduction of the text as printed by the original publisher. While we have attempted to accurately maintain the integrity of the original work, there are sometimes problems with the original work or the micro-film from which the books were digitized. This can result in errors in reproduction. Possible imperfections include missing and blurred pages, poor pictures, markings and other reproduction issues beyond our control. Because this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving and promoting the world's literature. ++++The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification: ++++"The law of freedom in a platform: or, True magistracy restored Humbly presented to Oliver Cromwel, General of the Common-wealths army in England. And to all English-men my brethren whether in church-fellowship"Winstanley, Gerrard, b. 1609.With a table of contents and advertisment page at end of text.A reissue of the other 1652 edition, with a new title page.89, 3] p.London: printed by J.M. for the author, and are to be sold by Giles Calvert at the black Spred-Eagle at the west end of Pauls, 1652.Wing (2nd ed.) / W3045AEnglishReproduction of the original in the Bodleian Library++++This book represents an authentic reproduction of the text as printed by the original publisher. While we have attempted to accurately maintain the integrity of the original work, there are sometimes problems with the original work or the micro-film from which the books were digitized. This can result in errors in reproduction. Possible imperfections include missing and blurred pages, poor pictures, markings and other reproduction issues beyond our control. Because this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving and promoting the world's literature.
- GenresHistory
152 pages, Paperback
First published May 30, 2005
About the author
Gerrard Winstanley
45 books11 followersGerrard Winstanley, the son of a mercer, was born in Wigan, Lancashire, in 1609. He moved to London in 1690 and became an apprentice in the cloth trade and became a freeman of the Merchant Taylors' Company in 1637.
In September 1640 Windstanley married Susan King and the couple moved to Walton-on-Thames. The Civil War destroyed his business and Winstanley later wrote: "the burdens of and for the soldiery in the beginning of the war, I was beaten out of both estate and trade, and forced to accept the good-will of friends, crediting of me, to live a country life."
Influenced by the ideas of the John Lilburne and the Levellers, Winstanley published four pamphlets in 1648. He argued that all land belonged to the community rather than to separate individuals. In January, 1649, he published the The New Law of Righteousness. Soon after publishing The New Law of Righteousness he established a group called the Diggers.
In April 1649 Winstanley, William Everard, a former soldier in the New Model Army, and about thirty followers took over some common land on St George's Hill in Surrey and "sowed the ground with parsnips, carrots and beans." Digger groups also took over land in Kent (Cox Hill), Surrey (Cobham), Buckinghamshire (Iver) and Northamptonshire (Wellingborough).
Local landowners were very disturbed by these developments, and in July 1649 the government gave instructions for Winstanley to be arrested and for General Thomas Fairfax to disperse the people by force.
Instructions were given for the Diggers to be beaten up and for their houses, crops and tools to be destroyed. These tactics were successful and within a year all the Digger communities in England had been wiped out.
Winstanley continued to argue for the redistribution of land and in 1652 published The Law of Freedom, a pamphlet in which he criticised the government of Oliver Cromwell, holding to the Anabaptist view that all institutions were by their nature corrupt. He also argued for a society without money or wages.
The Law of Freedom sold well and for a while Winstanley's ideas appeared popular with the English people. However, the Restoration brought an end to the discussion about the way society should be organized.
In 1660 Winstanley moved to Cobham and later became a Quaker and worked as a merchant in London. He died on 10th September, 1676.
In September 1640 Windstanley married Susan King and the couple moved to Walton-on-Thames. The Civil War destroyed his business and Winstanley later wrote: "the burdens of and for the soldiery in the beginning of the war, I was beaten out of both estate and trade, and forced to accept the good-will of friends, crediting of me, to live a country life."
Influenced by the ideas of the John Lilburne and the Levellers, Winstanley published four pamphlets in 1648. He argued that all land belonged to the community rather than to separate individuals. In January, 1649, he published the The New Law of Righteousness. Soon after publishing The New Law of Righteousness he established a group called the Diggers.
In April 1649 Winstanley, William Everard, a former soldier in the New Model Army, and about thirty followers took over some common land on St George's Hill in Surrey and "sowed the ground with parsnips, carrots and beans." Digger groups also took over land in Kent (Cox Hill), Surrey (Cobham), Buckinghamshire (Iver) and Northamptonshire (Wellingborough).
Local landowners were very disturbed by these developments, and in July 1649 the government gave instructions for Winstanley to be arrested and for General Thomas Fairfax to disperse the people by force.
Instructions were given for the Diggers to be beaten up and for their houses, crops and tools to be destroyed. These tactics were successful and within a year all the Digger communities in England had been wiped out.
Winstanley continued to argue for the redistribution of land and in 1652 published The Law of Freedom, a pamphlet in which he criticised the government of Oliver Cromwell, holding to the Anabaptist view that all institutions were by their nature corrupt. He also argued for a society without money or wages.
The Law of Freedom sold well and for a while Winstanley's ideas appeared popular with the English people. However, the Restoration brought an end to the discussion about the way society should be organized.
In 1660 Winstanley moved to Cobham and later became a Quaker and worked as a merchant in London. He died on 10th September, 1676.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 26, 2019
2.5
Tedious to read tbh. Also, it is pretty similar to More's Utopia.
Tedious to read tbh. Also, it is pretty similar to More's Utopia.
March 23, 2021
I read this for my Church History course and was surprised by how relevant it felt centuries later. Winstanley writes after the previously-unimaginable assassination of King Charles I in England, and hopes to leverage the moment to catalyze the creation of a new kind of society. Having grown up under the deeply stratified, corrupted system of inequality that privileged the powerful and exploited the peasants, he has a clear sense of the change that is needed.
Essentially, he believes that in order to bring about true and sustainable social justice, there is need for a commonwealth government to be established. He contrasts this against the kingly government, which he critiques for its oppressive and exploitative stratifying practices, beginning with the unequal distribution of land. The commonwealth would delegate proportional land to each family in its citizenry as a means of equalizing and rectifying unjust discrepancies. From there, it would function as a communitarian society where all work towards the common good and are governed by annually elected leaders according to criteria involving integrity and peaceability.
Sounds pretty dope! I definitely appreciated Winstanley's vision for a different and most just way of organizing a society. The issue was that the writing, at least as its organized in this book, doesn't make for the most captivating read. It's pretty circular to the point of redundancy, and the descriptions of all the various officers is a slough to get through (I definitely skimmed past most of it). Still, I extend my admiration for his work and the precedent it offers towards later radical expressions of the Christian imagination around a more just world.
Essentially, he believes that in order to bring about true and sustainable social justice, there is need for a commonwealth government to be established. He contrasts this against the kingly government, which he critiques for its oppressive and exploitative stratifying practices, beginning with the unequal distribution of land. The commonwealth would delegate proportional land to each family in its citizenry as a means of equalizing and rectifying unjust discrepancies. From there, it would function as a communitarian society where all work towards the common good and are governed by annually elected leaders according to criteria involving integrity and peaceability.
Sounds pretty dope! I definitely appreciated Winstanley's vision for a different and most just way of organizing a society. The issue was that the writing, at least as its organized in this book, doesn't make for the most captivating read. It's pretty circular to the point of redundancy, and the descriptions of all the various officers is a slough to get through (I definitely skimmed past most of it). Still, I extend my admiration for his work and the precedent it offers towards later radical expressions of the Christian imagination around a more just world.
May 3, 2026
An early expression of Christian socialism based on the idea that the earth, as a means of production, is the common possession of every person, and therefore cannot be alienated as private property.
There is not much in the way of theological explanation in this text, which is what I was looking for; it is mainly an explanation of the elaborate bureaucracy of officers and wardens, made up of men over 40 and therefore ‘graduated’ from manual labour, who are tasked with managing the economy and punishing defiance (such as ‘buying and selling’, which is for Winstanley a sort of economic ‘original sin’).
There is not much in the way of theological explanation in this text, which is what I was looking for; it is mainly an explanation of the elaborate bureaucracy of officers and wardens, made up of men over 40 and therefore ‘graduated’ from manual labour, who are tasked with managing the economy and punishing defiance (such as ‘buying and selling’, which is for Winstanley a sort of economic ‘original sin’).
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews