The Experience of Defeat: Milton and Some Contemporaries

by Christopher Hill

What happened to the radicals when the English Revolution failed?

The Restoration, which re-established Charles II as king of England in 1660, marked the end of “God’s cause”—a struggle for liberty and republican freedom. While most accounts of this period concentrate on the court, Christopher Hill focuses on those who mourned the passing of the most radical era in English history. The radical protestant clergy, as well as republican intellectuals and writers generally, had to explain why providence had forsaken the agents of God’s work.

In The Experience of Defeat , Christopher Hill explores the writings and lives of the Levellers, the Ranters and the Diggers, as well as the work of George Fox and other important early Quakers. Some of them were pursued by the new regime, forced into hiding or exile; others compelled to recant. In particular Hill examines John Milton’s late work, arguing that it came directly out of a painful reassessment of man and society that impelled him to “justify the ways of God to Man.”

Genres: History, British Literature, Nonfiction, War, English Civil War

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

John Edward Christopher Hill was the pre-eminent historian of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century English history, and one of the most distinguished historians of recent times. Fellow historian E.P. Thompson once referred to him as the dean and paragon of English historians.

He was educated at Balliol College, Oxford. During World War II, he served in the Russian department of the British Foreign Office, returning to teach at Oxford after the war.

From 1958-1965 he was University Lecturer in 16th- and 17th-century history, and from 1965-1978 he was Master of Balliol College. He was a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and of the British Academy. He received numerous honorary degrees over the course of his career, including the Hon. Dr. Sorbonne Nouvelle in 1979.

Hill was an active Marxist and a member of the Communist Party from approximately 1934-1957, falling out with the Party after the Soviet suppression of the Hungarian uprisings of 1956.

In their obituary, The Guardian wrote of Hill:

"Christopher Hill…was the commanding interpreter of 17th-century England, and of much else besides.…it was as the defining Marxist historian of the century of revolution, the title of one of the most widely studied of his many books, that he became known to generations of students around the world. For all these, too, he will always be the master." [http://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/...]

Reviews

[David M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints, whose bones
Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold

While Jesus forbids you to hate your own enemies, it may still be necessary to hate - and seek vengeance on - God's enemies.

So, it seems, thought John Milton (page 315). He emerges in these pages as the great unrepentant militant of the English revolution. Even after the cause had been defeated, he refused to turn to quietism or the imaginary consolations of an after-life.

Obviously much has changed since the barely-modern 17th century. We don't speak in the same social and religious vocabulary. Yet what was at stake for Milton and his contemporaries was radical egalitarianism; that is, a society built on equality rather stratification and oppression. For a brief period of time, this seemed like not just an abstract ideal but a realistic possibility. In a million ways we're still living through the ramifications of this defeat.

This book is a bit dry. Christopher Hill assumes the reader already knows a lot about the subject matter. I for one frequently had to resort to googling basic terms (what was 'Pride's purge' again?). Even so, it completely blew my mind in a few different places. The chapter on the Quakers alone is more than worth the price of admission. The fact that they only became principled pacifists after the Restoration. Always historicize; the whole world starts to look different once you realize that everything has a history. This includes even an ideal seemingly pure and absolute as pacifism.

*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWSta...

on the other hand,

I have defeat tattooed in my DNA. My great-uncle was shot dead. My grandfather was given the death sentence and spent five years in jail. My grandmothers suffered the humiliation of those defeated in the Civil War. My father was put in jail. My mother was politically active in the underground. It bothers me enormously to lose, I can’t stand it. And I’ve spent many years, with some friends, devoting almost all of our political activity to thinking about how we can win. - Pablo Iglesias, Podemos leader

[Andrew Froud · Rating 4 out of 5]

Compelling and detailed analysis of the reactions of a sea of revolutionary characters to the Restoration and the defeat that for many preceded 1660. Warning - may contain less Milton than the title suggests, But Hill's basic argument, that Milton's major works need to be set in their historical context is basically sound

[Erik Wirfs-Brock · Rating 2 out of 5]

For specialists only, unlike The World Turned Upside Down.

[KM · Rating 4 out of 5]

Supplementary resource to Hill's previous book 'Milton and the English Revolution'. Helpful for the paper I had to write, and I appreciate that Hill's writing is pragmatic without being dense.

[sologdin · Rating 2 out of 5]

left historian considers the destruction of the 17th century 'leftwing' by restored monarchy and whatnot.

[stig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cheated. Skipped around. The info is present and more full than I hoped. Warning: doesn't actually talk about Milton as much as one might expect.