The social and political philosophy of Gerard Winstanley

Abstract

One of the major domestic issues of mid-seventeenth century England was the problem of how to work out and apply a pragmatic concept of the power of government. Consequently England during the period of the Interregnum became a significant battleground of ideas when diverse militant and articulate groups struggled for power and dominance. The military phase of the Great Rebellion began on August 22, 1642, when King Charles I raised the royal standard at Nottingham. This action represented the culmination of some forty years of intensified struggle for supremacy between the Stuart dynasty and Parliament. Intermingled with.the constitutional causes were religious, economic, and social factors. A remarkable feature of the English civil war is the point that although both sides suffered from internal dissension, the faction which suffered the 'most from such disputes won the war. After nearly four years of military strife the first phase of the conflict ended when Charles I surrendered himself to the Scots on May 5, 1646.