Название: English Rebels and Revolutionaries
Автор: Stephen Basdeo
Издательство: Pen and Sword History
Год: 2022
Страниц: 298
Язык: английский
Формат: pdf (true)
Размер: 12.6 MB

Throughout history brave Englishmen and women have never been afraid to rise up against their unjust rulers and demand their rights. Barely a century has gone by without England being witness to a major uprising against the government of the day, often resulting in a fundamental change to the constitution. This book is a collection of biographies, written by experts in their field, of the lives and deeds of famous English freedom fighters, rebels, and democrats who have had a major impact on history. Featured chapters include the history of Wat Tyler's Rebellion, when an army of 50,000 people marched to London in 1381 to demand an end to serfdom and the hated poll tax. Alongside Wat Tyler in this pantheon of English revolutionaries is Jack Cade who in 1450 led an angry mob to London to protest against government corruption. There are three chapters on various aspects of the English Civil War, during which the English executed their king. Other rebel heroes featured include Thomas Paine, the great intellectual of the American and French Revolutions; Mary Wollstonecraft, author of The Rights of Woman; Henry Hunt, who, as well as the Chartists after him, campaigned for universal suffrage; William Morris, the visionary designer and socialist thinker; and finally the Suffragettes and Suffragists who fought for women's voting rights.

What is Oliver Cromwell doing in this book? Was he a radical? If radicalism means opposition to tyranny and defending the rights of the people, did he do that? Don’t ask the Irish. But the Irish aside, there are other issues. For one thing, Cromwell took power and served as Lord Protector of England for nearly five years. Can you still be a radical once you’re in power? Perhaps it depends on what sort of things you do with your power. Cromwell certainly was interested in making a radical transformation of England, mostly in the religious sphere: does that count?

Contents:
Introduction
SECTION ONE: THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD
The Peasants’ Revolt of 1381
The Gentlemen of the Jack Cade Rebellion
SECTION TWO: THE ENGLISH REVOLUTION
Oliver Cromwell and John Lilburne
The Levellers
Sects and Dissenters of the English Revolution
SECTION THREE: THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
Thomas Paine
Radicalism in the Mid-to-Late Eighteenth Century
Mary Wollstonecraft
SECTION FOUR: THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
The Peterloo Massacre
The “Great” Reform Act of 1832
Chartism
Politics in “The Age of Equipoise”
William Morris: From Design Reform to Radical Politics
The British Campaign for ‘Votes for Women’, 1865-1928
Epilogue
Select Bibliography