Erard Winstanley, The True levellers Standard Advanced or the State of Community Opened and presented to the Sons of Men (1649)

Gerard Winstanley, The True levellers Standard Advanced or the State of Community

Opened and presented to the Sons of Men (1649)

Introduction

Context : what was happening in 1649 ?

The text was published in the midst of the English Revolution (1642-60), a

period of great transformations, political and religious. The period was marked by the

end of the civil wars (1642-49) opposing King’s troops and Parliamentary Army led by

Oliver Cromwell (royal prerogative v parliamentary liberties).

[The King’s troops were defeated after decisive battles of Marston moor (1644) and

Naseby (1645): king held captive (1647-48); then tried and convicted for high treason by

‘Rump Parliament’ (Parlement Croupion)1.

The king’s arrest and execution led to the collapse of the Ancient

Constitution (ie the ancient institutions of the realm: the Church of England and the

episcopacy, the House of Lords (i.e. a hereditary house) and the Monarchy were

abolished) and gave rise to various religious and political claims. A new regime known

as the Commonwealth of England (1649-53) was established (Government now

consisted of one assembly and a council of state).

But, some argued that the reform (of church and state) was not complete:

1) The Levellers (Lilburne, Overton, Wildman, Walwyn…) claimed

voting rights for all freemen (i.e. small landowners) in their

manifesto The Agreement of the People (1647 and 1649)

2) The ‘True Levellers’ or Diggers (Winstanley et alii) claimed

economic and social rights: a protest movement whose members

started cultivating land on St George's Hill, Surrey and proclaimed a “free Commonwealth”! Their leader was called G.

Winstanley

NB The Levellers and the Diggers were puritans who believed church and state

should be reformed together. The Diggers’ claims were dictated by the precept

« Vision, Voyce, Revelation » (Millenarism cf. Book of Revelation announcing the

second coming of Christ and the Millenium).

1. The Curse (malediction) of private property (l. 34, 45)

A. The Diggers’ diagnosis:

- « civil propriety » (ie private property) is the curse

- the whole « Creation under bondage »

B. Causes of the malediction ?

- Property was acquired by the violation of the law of God (7th and 8th

commandment in table of the laws “Thou Shall not Steale”, “Thou shall not

Kill”)

- Who are the thieves and the murderers?

= rich men i.e. the (land)lords oppressing the poor people of England and imposing a

tyrannical rule on them

- Winstansley draws on historical examples (exempla) to make his point:

Ancient history (the Bible): Babylonians and their king Nabuchodonezzar

oppressing the poor people of Israel

Medieval history: the Normans imposing their rule over the Anglo-Saxons (1066

William the Conqueror/the Bastard wins over Harold)

Early modern history: « the poor enslaved English Israelites » (a historical

shortcut!)

=>Such a diagnosis partakes of the motif of “the Norman Yoke” (ll. 84-91) i.e. the

commonplace idea that English people had been oppressed by the Norman kings who

established their dominion over them. According to this thesis, the Normans had used

their laws (in French), their ruling class and their administration to subdue them. In

the 17th century, property structures were largely inherited from the feudal system of

property

...