There is a famous quote included in nearly every history of the English Civil Wars. It’s from the excellently named and austere-countenanced parliamentarian Bulstrode Whitelocke, and appears to have been uttered in 1642, at the advent of military hostilities between King Charles I and his Parliament: “It is strange to note how insensibly we have slipped into this beginning of a civil war by one unexpected accident after another, as waves of the sea which have brought us this far and which we scarce know how.”
I was really excited to see the phrase "World turned Upside Down" in my inbox today. Last year I read a collection Winstanely's writings and some histories of the Commons and ever since have found myself likewise thinking of this tumultuous period and today.
Just got around to reading this--wonderful. I've always loved the song by the same name, sung first I think by the incomparable Dick Gaughan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWzzvnPOyTM. Gives me goosebumps every time I hear it.
I was convinced by Hill's The World Turned Upside Down just how fascinating the revolutionary period was, and was delighted to see Thompson's arguments in Witness Against the Beast about the alleged influence of the Muggletonians on Blake. But even more importantly, I was moved by the Mekons' citing of Blake and William Morris and the Muggletonians, the Ranters and the Diggers in Thee Olde Trip to Jerusalem (2002). Who says Ludowicke Muggleton cannot still speak to us?
I was really excited to see the phrase "World turned Upside Down" in my inbox today. Last year I read a collection Winstanely's writings and some histories of the Commons and ever since have found myself likewise thinking of this tumultuous period and today.
Just got around to reading this--wonderful. I've always loved the song by the same name, sung first I think by the incomparable Dick Gaughan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWzzvnPOyTM. Gives me goosebumps every time I hear it.
I was convinced by Hill's The World Turned Upside Down just how fascinating the revolutionary period was, and was delighted to see Thompson's arguments in Witness Against the Beast about the alleged influence of the Muggletonians on Blake. But even more importantly, I was moved by the Mekons' citing of Blake and William Morris and the Muggletonians, the Ranters and the Diggers in Thee Olde Trip to Jerusalem (2002). Who says Ludowicke Muggleton cannot still speak to us?
Beautiful!