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The World of the Muggletonians
Why bother about the Muggletonians? The question not only provides the title to one of the chapters in this it is, in a sense, what the whole book is about. The reader will find that there are a number of very good reasons for bothering.
Muggletonianism was one of the many sects that sprang up in mid-seventeenth century England. Because its members did not go out to make converts they were never more than a few hundred strong; yet, astonishingly, the sect survived centuries after most of its rivals had vanished. The man thought to have been the last Muggletonian died in 1979.
To study the Muggletonians is to obtain a special insight into the relgious life adn also the social history of the seventeenth century. Their central belief was that two tailors named John Reeve and Lodowick Muggleton were the Two Last Witnesses foretold in teh book of Revelation who were to usher in the last days of the world. Strange as such tenets may seem to us, Christopher Hill has shown that they were the group with whom Milton seemed to share more doctrines than with any other. Intellectually, they were not a negligible part of the seventeenth century scene.
This book follows the history of the sect and uses it also to throw light on the world of the artisans and tradespeople and provided the bulk of the membership. It is an important contribution to our knowledge of the age, which amply justifies its unexpected choice of subject.
Muggletonianism was one of the many sects that sprang up in mid-seventeenth century England. Because its members did not go out to make converts they were never more than a few hundred strong; yet, astonishingly, the sect survived centuries after most of its rivals had vanished. The man thought to have been the last Muggletonian died in 1979.
To study the Muggletonians is to obtain a special insight into the relgious life adn also the social history of the seventeenth century. Their central belief was that two tailors named John Reeve and Lodowick Muggleton were the Two Last Witnesses foretold in teh book of Revelation who were to usher in the last days of the world. Strange as such tenets may seem to us, Christopher Hill has shown that they were the group with whom Milton seemed to share more doctrines than with any other. Intellectually, they were not a negligible part of the seventeenth century scene.
This book follows the history of the sect and uses it also to throw light on the world of the artisans and tradespeople and provided the bulk of the membership. It is an important contribution to our knowledge of the age, which amply justifies its unexpected choice of subject.
- GenresReligion
195 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1983
About the author
Christopher Hill
170 books96 followersJohn 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/...]
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/...]
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