Europe Culture

¶ … turned Upside Down', is undoubtedly the best historical account of English Revolution of the 17th century because the author, Christopher Hill, knew so much about the period that he was considered the ultimate authority on the subject. With his book, The World, Hill broke new grounds in historical investigation and brought forth story of a revolution that was quietly taking place in England while Oliver Cromwell ordered beheading of Charles I.

The details of the revolution never reached us because after 1660, with restoration of monarchy, the movements that began with the revolution came to a screeching halt and with that every single account of it was pushed to the darkest corners of obscurity. With the World Turned Upside Down in 1972, Christopher Hill dared to reopen the doors of that hidden part of British history and introduced us, technically for the first time to a period we had hitherto been unfamiliar with.

Hill maintains that during the 17th century a very strong radical wave had taken over British society and politics and almost threatened to bring an end to the old establishment. Had it not been for the re-establishment of monarchy in 1660, England would have been a very different country from what it is today. The radicals who challenged the old view, beliefs and values are called Levellers, Diggers/True Levellers, Ranters, Fifth Monarchists and Muggletonians in the book. There were some other minor radical groups too.

Together these groups worked for the same objective i.e. disintegration of old system and establishment and introduction of a new and better social and political order. Not only these radical groups challenged old social and political beliefs, they even questioned the institutionalization of Christianity. Questions were raised about everything imaginable including existence of God, heaven, and life thereafter etc. these groups however tried to focus on their own main area of interest or conflict.

For example while some questioned religious dogmas, other focused on property rights while still others spoke against capitalism of printing presses. In short, this period was marked by intense political, social and religious change whose origins, according to Hill, can be traced back to early 15th century. The following passage from the book shows what the entire radical period was about and what were the basic principles and ideology of these visionaries: The Revolutionary decades produced a fantastic outburst of energy, both physical and intellectual..

[namely,] the continuous flow of pamphlets on every subject under the sun.. For a short time, ordinary people were freer from the authority of church and social superiors than ever before, or were for a long time to be again.. They speculated about the end of the world and the coming of the millennium; about the justice of God in condemning the mass of mankind to eternal torment for a sin which (if anyone) Adam committed; some of them became skeptical of the existence of hell.

They contemplated the possibility that God might intend to save everybody, that something of God might be within each of us. They founded new sects to express these new ideas... They attacked the monopolization of knowledge within the privileged professions, divinity, law, medicine. They criticized the existing educational structure, especially the universities, and proposed a vast expansion of educational opportunity. They discussed the relation of the sexes, and questioned parts of the Protestant ethic. The eloquence, the power of the simple artisans who took place in these discussions was staggering.

(292) The one major weakness of the book is the inability of the author to trace the true identity of these radicals. Who were they, which income group did they belong to, which area had they come from and were there more radicals in one area and less in another. Well these questions have largely remained unanswered as Hill focuses on their aims and accomplishments. We must also not forget that while these radical groups had one specific aim i.e.

social and political change, they did not stand united on every issue. There were some division of thought, which might have been the cause of their failure later in 17th century, but their unity for most part was the main highlight of this radical period.

Hill, to be fair, does refer to splits within the radicals and in fact relates these divisions to their defeat; but there is little doubt that the drift of his argument is towards unity rather than division, consistency rather than eclecticism...We should therefore think in terms of the Revolution radicals as predominantly of what were then called the 'middle sort of people', an amalgam of social groups stretching from the aspiring bourgeois to the lower-class elite, with interests which often clashed yet which could draw together in common 'hostility towards the nobility and gentry and richer classes'." Hill, as already mentioned above, identities the various radical groups as the Levellers, Quakers, Diggers and.

As the same suggests, Levellers were looking for equal rights for everyone in the class-conscious English society. Levellers made good use of the printing presses which had been briefly liberated after the execution of Charles I and wrote on all types of injustices that lower classes were facing and called for a more representative government. They were strictly against private ownership of land which they felt had led to sharp social divisions. Diggers emerged when Levellers failed and started their work where Levellers had left it.

Instead of simply writing against land ownership, they focused more on practical solutions. In April 1649, Diggers began implementing their solutions by occupying common land and using it for cultivation. This led to establishment of small settlements all over the country. They believed, in the words of Gerrard Winstanley, that: '.. not only this Common or Heath should be taken in and manured by the People,.