Milton: Political Writings

This volume, first published in 1991, contains two political pamphlets by John Milton in which he sought to vindicate the overthrow of Charles I.

John Milton (Author), Martin Dzelzainis (Edited by), Claire Gruzelier (Translated by)

9780521348669, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 21 February 1991

316 pages
21.3 x 14 x 2.5 cm, 0.4 kg

"Even minor writings from this period of radical social change repay contemporary study." Doris Grieser Marquit, Nature Society and Thought

John Milton was not only the greatest English Renaissance poet but also devoted twenty years to prose writing in the advancement of religious, civil and political liberties. The height of his public career was as chief propagandist to the Commonwealth regime which came into being following the execution of King Charles I in 1649. The first of the two complete texts in this volume, The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates, was easily the most radical justification of the regicide at the time. In the second, A Defence of the People of England, Milton undertook to vindicate the Commonwealth's cause to Europe as a whole.This book, first published in 1991, was the first time that fully annotated versions were published together in one volume, and incorporated a new translation of the Defence. The introduction outlines the complexity of the ideological landscape which Milton had to negotiate, and in particular the points at which he departed radically from his sixteenth-century predecessors.

Acknowledgements
Note on the texts
Introduction
Principal events in Milton's life
Bibliographical note
List of abbreviations
Part I. The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates
Part II. A Defence of the People of England
Biographical notes
Index of scriptural citations
Index of subjects
Index of proper names.

Subject Areas: History of ideas [JFCX]