Gerrard Winstanley
Encyclopedia
Gerrard Winstanley was an English
Protestant
religious reformer and political activist during the Protectorate
of Oliver Cromwell
. Winstanley was one of the founders of the English group known as the True Levellers for their beliefs, based upon Christian communism
, and as the Diggers for their actions because they took over public lands and dug them over to plant crops. They self-identified as True Levellers, while the Digger name was coined by their contemporaries.
of Lancashire
, and that he was the son of an Edward Winstanley, mercer. His mother's identity remains unknown and he could have been born anywhere in the parish of Wigan. The parish of Wigan contained the townships of Abram
, Aspull, Billinge-and-Winstanley
, Dalton, Haigh
, Hindley
, Ince-in-Makerfield
, Orrell
, Pemberton
, and Upholland
, as well as Wigan
itself.
He moved in 1630 to London, where he became an apprentice and ultimately, in 1638, a freeman of the Merchant Tailors' Company
or guild
. He married Susan King, the daughter of London surgeon William King, in 1639. The English Civil War
, however, disrupted his business, and in 1643 he was made bankrupt. His father-in-law helped Winstanley move to Cobham, Surrey
, where he initially worked as a cowherd.
, who supported King Charles I
; the Parliamentary forces, called "Roundheads," who later emerged under the name of the New Model Army
led by Oliver Cromwell; the Fifth Monarchy Men, who believed in the establishment of a heavenly theocracy
on earth to be led by a returning Jesus
as king of kings and lord of lords; the Agitators for political egalitarian reform of government, who were branded "Levellers
" by their foes and who were led by John Lilburne
; and the Christian communists, who called themselves the True Levellers for their beliefs but who were branded "Diggers" because of their actions. The latter were led by Gerrard Winstanley. Whereas Lilburne sought to level the laws and maintain the right to the ownership of real property, Winstanley sought to level the ownership of real property itself, which is why Winstanley's followers called themselves "True Levellers".
called The New Law of Righteousness, which advocated a form of Christian communism
. The basis of this communistic belief came from the Book of Acts, chapter two, verses 44 and 45: "All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need." Winstanley argued that "in the beginning of time God made the earth. Not one word was spoken at the beginning that one branch of mankind should rule over another, but selfish imaginations did set up one man to teach and rule over another."
Winstanley took as his basic texts the Biblical
sacred history
, with its affirmation that all men were descended from a common stock, and with its scepticism about the rulership of kings, voiced in the Books of Samuel
; and the New Testament
's affirmations that God was no respecter of persons, that there were no masters or slaves, Jews or Gentiles, male or female, under the New Covenant
. From these and similar texts, he interpreted Christian teaching as calling for what would later be called communism
, and the abolition of property
and aristocracy
.
Winstanley wrote: "Seeing the common people of England by joynt consent of person and purse have caste out Charles our Norman oppressour, wee have by this victory recovered ourselves from under his Norman yoake
."
His theme was rooted in ancient English radical thought. It went back at least to the days of the Peasants' Revolt
(1381) led by Wat Tyler
, because that is when a verse of the Lollard priest John Ball
was circulated:
, Buckinghamshire
, Kent
, and Northamptonshire
and began cultivating the land and distributing the crops without charge to their followers. Local landowners took fright from the Diggers' activities and in 1650 sent hired thugs to beat the Diggers and destroy their colony. Winstanley protested to the government, but to no avail, and the colony was abandoned.
After the failure of the Digger experiment in Surrey in 1650 Winstanley temporarily fled to Pirton, Hertfordshire
, where he took up employment as an estate steward for the mystic aristocrat Lady Eleanor Davies. This employment lasted less than a year after Davies accused Winstanley of mismanaging her property and Winstanley returned to Cobham.
Winstanley continued to advocate the redistribution of land. In 1652 he published another pamphlet
called The Law of Freedom in a Platform
, in which he argued that the Christian
basis for society is where property and wages are abolished. In keeping with Winstanley's adherence to biblical models, the tract envisages a communistic society structured on patriarchal lines.
, an early leader of the Quakers, later called the Society of Friends. It is apparent that Winstanley remained a Quaker for the rest of his life as his death was noted in Quaker records. However, his Quakerism may not have been very strong as he was involved in the government of his local parish church from 1659 onwards - though it should be noted that it is not unknown for committed Quakers to retain strong ties to other religious traditions, even including priesthood. He may have been buried in a Quaker cemetery.
Winstanley believed in Christian Universalism
, the doctrine that everyone, however sinful, would eventually be saved; he wrote that "in the end every man shall be saved, though some at the last hour." His book The Mysterie of God was probably the first theological work in the English language to argue for universalism.
in 1667-68. He was elected Chief Constable of Elmbridge in October 1671. Although these offices conflicted with Winstanley's apparent Quakerism, the Quakers had not yet become the quietist religion of later centuries.
When Susan died in around 1664 Winstanley was paid £50 for the land in Cobham by King. Winstanley returned to London trade, whilst retaining his connections in Surrey. In about 1665 he married his second wife Elizabeth Stanley and re-entered commerce as a corn chandler. Winstanley died in 1676 vexed by legal disputes concerning a small legacy owed to him in a will.
celebrated the Digger movement's 350th anniversary with a march and reoccupation of Saint George's Hill
, the site of the first Digger colony. Like the original colony, this settlement was quickly disbanded.
and Andrew Mollo
's film Winstanley
. As with the duo's previous film, It Happened Here
, it had taken several years to produce with a very low budget. Winstanley was based on a book by David Caute
entitled "Comrade Jacob" and was produced in a quasi-documentary style, with great attention to period detail—even to the point of only using breeds of animals which were known to exist at the time.
From A Watch-word to the City of London, and Arm:
From A New-year's Gift for the Parliament and Army:
From The Law of Freedom in a Platform:
The song, "The World Turned Upside Down," by English folksinger Leon Rosselson
, weaves many of Winstanley's own words into the lyrics.
An older song, the "Diggers' Song
", said to be written by Gerrard Winstanley was recorded by the English group Chumbawamba
on their "English Rebel Songs 1381-1914" in 1988. As the lyrics are Winstanley's, they paint a better picture of the time period in song.
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
Protestant
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
religious reformer and political activist during the Protectorate
Protectorate
In history, the term protectorate has two different meanings. In its earliest inception, which has been adopted by modern international law, it is an autonomous territory that is protected diplomatically or militarily against third parties by a stronger state or entity...
of Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
. Winstanley was one of the founders of the English group known as the True Levellers for their beliefs, based upon Christian communism
Christian communism
Christian communism is a form of religious communism based on Christianity. It is a theological and political theory based upon the view that the teachings of Jesus Christ compel Christians to support communism as the ideal social system...
, and as the Diggers for their actions because they took over public lands and dug them over to plant crops. They self-identified as True Levellers, while the Digger name was coined by their contemporaries.
Brief biography
Gerrard Winstanley's early life is broadly unknown, however it is known that he was baptised in 1609 in the parish of Wigan, then part of the West Derby hundredWest Derby (hundred)
The hundred of West Derby was an ancient division of the historic county of Lancashire, in northern England. It was sometimes known as West Derbyshire, the name alluding to its judicial centre being the township of West Derby .It covered the southwest of Lancashire, containing the ancient...
of Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
, and that he was the son of an Edward Winstanley, mercer. His mother's identity remains unknown and he could have been born anywhere in the parish of Wigan. The parish of Wigan contained the townships of Abram
Abram, Greater Manchester
Abram is a village and electoral ward within the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on flat land on the northeast bank of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, west of Leigh, southeast of Wigan, and west of Manchester...
, Aspull, Billinge-and-Winstanley
Billinge and Winstanley Urban District
Billinge was, from 1894 to 1974, a local government district in the administrative county of Lancashire, England....
, Dalton, Haigh
Haigh, Greater Manchester
Haigh is a village and civil parish of the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan in Greater Manchester, England. Historically a part of Lancashire, it is located next to the village of Aspull. The western boundary is the River Douglas which separates the township from Wigan. To the north a small brook...
, Hindley
Hindley, Greater Manchester
Hindley is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan in Greater Manchester, England. Lying three miles east of Wigan it covers an area of 1044 hectares. Historically a part of Lancashire, Hindley which includes Hindley Green borders the towns of Ince-in-Makerfield and Leigh within Wigan...
, Ince-in-Makerfield
Ince-in-Makerfield
Ince-in-Makerfield, usually known just as Ince is a district of the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, in Greater Manchester, England.Ince is contiguous to Wigan and serves as a residential suburb of Wigan, Being divided locally by a train line into two separate areas - Higher Ince and Lower Ince,...
, Orrell
Orrell, Greater Manchester
Orrell is an area of the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The area is contiguous to the town of Wigan itself and the centre of the district is situated to the west of the town centre...
, Pemberton
Pemberton, Greater Manchester
Pemberton is an area of Wigan, and an electoral ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on the southwestern bank of the River Douglas, contiguous to Wigan's town centre, and east of the M6 motorway...
, and Upholland
Upholland
Upholland is a civil parish and village in West Lancashire, England. It is situated approximately 3 miles east of Skelmersdale, also in West Lancashire, and 4½ miles west of Wigan in Greater Manchester.-Geography:...
, as well as Wigan
Wigan
Wigan is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It stands on the River Douglas, south-west of Bolton, north of Warrington and west-northwest of Manchester. Wigan is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its administrative centre. The town of Wigan had a total...
itself.
He moved in 1630 to London, where he became an apprentice and ultimately, in 1638, a freeman of the Merchant Tailors' Company
Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors
The Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors is one of the 108 Livery Companies of the City of London.The Company, originally known as the Guild and Fraternity of St...
or guild
Guild
A guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade. The earliest types of guild were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel, and a secret society...
. He married Susan King, the daughter of London surgeon William King, in 1639. The English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
, however, disrupted his business, and in 1643 he was made bankrupt. His father-in-law helped Winstanley move to Cobham, Surrey
Cobham, Surrey
Cobham is a town in the Borough of Elmbridge in Surrey, England, about south-west of central London and north of Leatherhead. Elmbridge has been acclaimed by the Daily Mail as the best place to live in the UK, and Cobham is a prosperous part of the London commuter belt...
, where he initially worked as a cowherd.
English Civil Wars
There were many factions at work during the period of the three related English civil wars. They included the RoyalistsCavalier
Cavalier was the name used by Parliamentarians for a Royalist supporter of King Charles I and son Charles II during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration...
, who supported King Charles I
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
; the Parliamentary forces, called "Roundheads," who later emerged under the name of the New Model Army
New Model Army
The New Model Army of England was formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians in the English Civil War, and was disbanded in 1660 after the Restoration...
led by Oliver Cromwell; the Fifth Monarchy Men, who believed in the establishment of a heavenly theocracy
Theocracy
Theocracy is a form of organization in which the official policy is to be governed by immediate divine guidance or by officials who are regarded as divinely guided, or simply pursuant to the doctrine of a particular religious sect or religion....
on earth to be led by a returning Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
as king of kings and lord of lords; the Agitators for political egalitarian reform of government, who were branded "Levellers
Levellers
The Levellers were a political movement during the English Civil Wars which emphasised popular sovereignty, extended suffrage, equality before the law, and religious tolerance, all of which were expressed in the manifesto "Agreement of the People". They came to prominence at the end of the First...
" by their foes and who were led by John Lilburne
John Lilburne
John Lilburne , also known as Freeborn John, was an English political Leveller before, during and after English Civil Wars 1642-1650. He coined the term "freeborn rights", defining them as rights with which every human being is born, as opposed to rights bestowed by government or human law...
; and the Christian communists, who called themselves the True Levellers for their beliefs but who were branded "Diggers" because of their actions. The latter were led by Gerrard Winstanley. Whereas Lilburne sought to level the laws and maintain the right to the ownership of real property, Winstanley sought to level the ownership of real property itself, which is why Winstanley's followers called themselves "True Levellers".
The New Law of Righteousness
Gerrard Winstanley published a pamphletPamphlet
A pamphlet is an unbound booklet . It may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths , or it may consist of a few pages that are folded in half and saddle stapled at the crease to make a simple book...
called The New Law of Righteousness, which advocated a form of Christian communism
Christian communism
Christian communism is a form of religious communism based on Christianity. It is a theological and political theory based upon the view that the teachings of Jesus Christ compel Christians to support communism as the ideal social system...
. The basis of this communistic belief came from the Book of Acts, chapter two, verses 44 and 45: "All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need." Winstanley argued that "in the beginning of time God made the earth. Not one word was spoken at the beginning that one branch of mankind should rule over another, but selfish imaginations did set up one man to teach and rule over another."
Winstanley took as his basic texts the Biblical
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
sacred history
Sacred history
The term sacred history is sometimes used in theology for the parts of the Torah narrative on the boundary of historicity, especially the Moses and Exodus stories which can be argued to have a remote historical nucleus without any positive evidence to the effect.In a wider sense, the term is used...
, with its affirmation that all men were descended from a common stock, and with its scepticism about the rulership of kings, voiced in the Books of Samuel
Books of Samuel
The Books of Samuel in the Jewish bible are part of the Former Prophets, , a theological history of the Israelites affirming and explaining the Torah under the guidance of the prophets.Samuel begins by telling how the prophet Samuel is chosen by...
; and the New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
's affirmations that God was no respecter of persons, that there were no masters or slaves, Jews or Gentiles, male or female, under the New Covenant
New Covenant
The New Covenant is a concept originally derived from the Hebrew Bible. The term "New Covenant" is used in the Bible to refer to an epochal relationship of restoration and peace following a period of trial and judgment...
. From these and similar texts, he interpreted Christian teaching as calling for what would later be called communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
, and the abolition of property
Property
Property is any physical or intangible entity that is owned by a person or jointly by a group of people or a legal entity like a corporation...
and aristocracy
Aristocracy
Aristocracy , is a form of government in which a few elite citizens rule. The term derives from the Greek aristokratia, meaning "rule of the best". In origin in Ancient Greece, it was conceived of as rule by the best qualified citizens, and contrasted with monarchy...
.
Winstanley wrote: "Seeing the common people of England by joynt consent of person and purse have caste out Charles our Norman oppressour, wee have by this victory recovered ourselves from under his Norman yoake
Norman yoke
The Norman yoke is a term that emerged in English nationalist discourse in the mid-17th century. It was a shorthand phrase, useful for attributing the oppressive aspects of feudalism in England to the impositions of William I of England, his retainers and their descendants.- History :The medieval...
."
His theme was rooted in ancient English radical thought. It went back at least to the days of the Peasants' Revolt
Peasants' Revolt
The Peasants' Revolt, Wat Tyler's Rebellion, or the Great Rising of 1381 was one of a number of popular revolts in late medieval Europe and is a major event in the history of England. Tyler's Rebellion was not only the most extreme and widespread insurrection in English history but also the...
(1381) led by Wat Tyler
Wat Tyler
Walter "Wat" Tyler was a leader of the English Peasants' Revolt of 1381.-Early life:Knowledge of Tyler's early life is very limited, and derives mostly through the records of his enemies. Historians believe he was born in Essex, but are not sure why he crossed the Thames Estuary to Kent...
, because that is when a verse of the Lollard priest John Ball
John Ball (priest)
John Ball was an English Lollard priest who took a prominent part in the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. In that year, Ball gave a sermon in which he asked the rhetorical question, "When Adam delved and Eve span, who was then the gentleman?".-Biography:Little is known of Ball's early years. He lived in...
was circulated:
- When AdamAdam and EveAdam and Eve were, according to the Genesis creation narratives, the first human couple to inhabit Earth, created by YHWH, the God of the ancient Hebrews...
delved and Eve span, - Who was then the gentleman [a]
The Diggers
In 1649, Winstanley and his followers took over vacant or common lands in SurreySurrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
, Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, and Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...
and began cultivating the land and distributing the crops without charge to their followers. Local landowners took fright from the Diggers' activities and in 1650 sent hired thugs to beat the Diggers and destroy their colony. Winstanley protested to the government, but to no avail, and the colony was abandoned.
After the failure of the Digger experiment in Surrey in 1650 Winstanley temporarily fled to Pirton, Hertfordshire
Pirton, Hertfordshire
Pirton is a small village and civil parish three miles north-east of Hitchin in Hertfordshire, England. The church, rebuilt in 1877, but with the remains of its 12th-century tower, is built within the bailey of a former castle...
, where he took up employment as an estate steward for the mystic aristocrat Lady Eleanor Davies. This employment lasted less than a year after Davies accused Winstanley of mismanaging her property and Winstanley returned to Cobham.
Winstanley continued to advocate the redistribution of land. In 1652 he published another pamphlet
Pamphlet
A pamphlet is an unbound booklet . It may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths , or it may consist of a few pages that are folded in half and saddle stapled at the crease to make a simple book...
called The Law of Freedom in a Platform
The Law of Freedom in a Platform
The Law of Freedom in a Platform is a pamphlet published in 1652 by Gerrard Winstanley, one of the Diggers, in which he argued that the Christian basis for society is where property and wages are abolished. In keeping with Winstanley’s adherence to biblical models, the tract envisages a communistic...
, in which he argued that the Christian
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
basis for society is where property and wages are abolished. In keeping with Winstanley's adherence to biblical models, the tract envisages a communistic society structured on patriarchal lines.
Quaker
By 1654 Winstanley was possibly assisting Edward BurroughEdward Burrough
Edward Burrough was an early English Quaker leader and controversialist. He is regarded as one of the Valiant Sixty, early Quaker preachers and missionaries....
, an early leader of the Quakers, later called the Society of Friends. It is apparent that Winstanley remained a Quaker for the rest of his life as his death was noted in Quaker records. However, his Quakerism may not have been very strong as he was involved in the government of his local parish church from 1659 onwards - though it should be noted that it is not unknown for committed Quakers to retain strong ties to other religious traditions, even including priesthood. He may have been buried in a Quaker cemetery.
Winstanley believed in Christian Universalism
Christian Universalism
Christian Universalism is a school of Christian theology which includes the belief in the doctrine of universal reconciliation, the view that all human beings or all fallen creatures will ultimately be restored to right relationship with God....
, the doctrine that everyone, however sinful, would eventually be saved; he wrote that "in the end every man shall be saved, though some at the last hour." His book The Mysterie of God was probably the first theological work in the English language to argue for universalism.
Later life
In 1657 Winstanley and his wife Susan received a gift of property in Ham Manor, near Cobham from his father-in-law William King. This marked Winstanley's renovation in social status in his local community and he became waywarden of the parish of Cobham in 1659, overseer for the poor in 1660 and churchwardenChurchwarden
A churchwarden is a lay official in a parish church or congregation of the Anglican Communion, usually working as a part-time volunteer. Holders of these positions are ex officio members of the parish board, usually called a vestry, parish council, parochial church council, or in the case of a...
in 1667-68. He was elected Chief Constable of Elmbridge in October 1671. Although these offices conflicted with Winstanley's apparent Quakerism, the Quakers had not yet become the quietist religion of later centuries.
When Susan died in around 1664 Winstanley was paid £50 for the land in Cobham by King. Winstanley returned to London trade, whilst retaining his connections in Surrey. In about 1665 he married his second wife Elizabeth Stanley and re-entered commerce as a corn chandler. Winstanley died in 1676 vexed by legal disputes concerning a small legacy owed to him in a will.
Legacy
In 1999, the British activist group The Land is OursThe Land is Ours
The Land is Ours is a British land rights campaign advocating access to the land, its resources, and the planning processes.The group was set up in the 1990s by George Monbiot and others....
celebrated the Digger movement's 350th anniversary with a march and reoccupation of Saint George's Hill
Saint George's Hill
Saint George's Hill is a private estate in Weybridge, Surrey in the United Kingdom.The estate features both a Golf and Tennis club as well as approximately 420 houses. The estate is a popular residential location for celebrities and successful entrepreneurs...
, the site of the first Digger colony. Like the original colony, this settlement was quickly disbanded.
Related works
1975 saw the release of Kevin BrownlowKevin Brownlow
Kevin Brownlow is a filmmaker, film historian, television documentary-maker, author, and Academy Award recipient. Brownlow is best known for his work documenting the history of the silent era. Brownlow became interested in silent film at the age of eleven. This interest grew into a career spent...
and Andrew Mollo
Andrew Mollo
Andrew Mollo is a British expert on military uniforms that has led him into a career in motion pictures and as an author of various books on military uniforms...
's film Winstanley
Winstanley (film)
Winstanley is the title of a film made in 1975 in the UK by Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo, based on the 1961 David Caute novel Comrade Jacob....
. As with the duo's previous film, It Happened Here
It Happened Here
It Happened Here is a 1966 British film, directed by Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo. It is set in an alternate history in which Nazi Germany successfully invades and occupies the United Kingdom during World War II.-Setting:...
, it had taken several years to produce with a very low budget. Winstanley was based on a book by David Caute
David Caute
John David Caute is a British author, novelist, playwright, historian and journalist.Caute was educated at Edinburgh Academy, Wellington, Wadham College, Oxford and St Antony's College, Oxford. A Henry Fellow at Harvard, he was elected a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford in 1959, but resigned in...
entitled "Comrade Jacob" and was produced in a quasi-documentary style, with great attention to period detail—even to the point of only using breeds of animals which were known to exist at the time.
Quotation
From A Declaration from the Poor Oppressed People of England:- "The power of enclosing land and owning property was brought into the creation by your ancestors by the sword; which first did murder their fellow creatures, men, and after plunder or steal away their land, and left this land successively to you, their children. And therefore, though you did not kill or thieve, yet you hold that cursed thing in your hand by the power of the sword; and so you justify the wicked deeds of your fathers, and that sin of your fathers shall be visited upon the head of you and your children to the third and fourth generation, and longer too, till your bloody and thieving power be rooted out of the land."
From A Watch-word to the City of London, and Arm:
- "Alas! you poor blind earth-moles, you strive to take away my livelihood and the liberty of this poor weak frame my body of flesh, which is my house I dwell in for a time; but I strive to cast down your kingdom of darkness, and to open hell gates, and to break the devil's bonds asunder wherewith you are tied, and that you my enemies may live in peace; and that is all the harm I would have you to have."
From A New-year's Gift for the Parliament and Army:
- "The life of this dark kingly power, which you have made an act of Parliament and oath to cast out, if you search it to the bottom, you shall see it lies within the iron chest of cursed covetousness, who gives the earth to some part of mankind and denies it to another part of mankind: and that part that hath the earth, hath no right from the law of creation to take it to himself and shut out others; but he took it away violently by theft and murder in conquest."
From The Law of Freedom in a Platform:
- "if they prove desperate, wanton or idle, and will not quietly submit to the law, the task-master is to feed them with short diet, and to whip them, for a rod is prepared for the fool’s back, till such time as their proud hearts do bend to the law...If any have so highly broke the laws as they come within the compass of whipping, imprisoning and death, the executioner shall cut off the head, hang or shoot to death, or whip the offender according to the sentence of law. Thus you may see what the work of every officer in a town or city is."
The song, "The World Turned Upside Down," by English folksinger Leon Rosselson
Leon Rosselson
Leon Rosselson is an English songwriter and writer of children's books. After his early involvement in the folk music revival in Britain, he came to prominence, singing his own satirical songs, in the BBC's topical TV programme of the early 1960s, That Was The Week That Was...
, weaves many of Winstanley's own words into the lyrics.
An older song, the "Diggers' Song
Diggers' Song
The "Diggers' Song" is a 17th century ballad, in terms of content a protest song concerned with land rights, inspired by the Diggers movement, composed by Gerrard Winstanley. The lyrics were published in 1894 by the Camden Society...
", said to be written by Gerrard Winstanley was recorded by the English group Chumbawamba
Chumbawamba
Chumbawamba is a British musical group who have, over a career spanning nearly three decades, played punk rock, pop-influenced music, world music, and folk music...
on their "English Rebel Songs 1381-1914" in 1988. As the lyrics are Winstanley's, they paint a better picture of the time period in song.
Etexts
- A Declaration from the Poor Oppressed People of England Winstanley & 44 others (1649) backup
- The True Levellers' Standard Advanced by Winstanley & 14 others (April 1649) backup
- The Law of Freedom in a Platform by Gerrard Winstanley
Commentary
- Gerrard Winstanley index page at the University of Montpellier
- An index page at Diggers.org.
- An index page at strecorsoc.org
- Gerard Winstanley: 17th Century Communist at Kingston A lecture by Christopher Hill, at Kingston University 24 January 1996.
- The Religion of Gerrard Winstanley and Digger Communism by Donald R. Sutherland
- English Dissenters: Diggers
- Winstanley & The Diggers: The Spiritual and Political Story of a Seventeenth Century Communist Movement An account of Winstanley's Digger Colony and the philosophy behind it.