The English Revolution, Tom Griffin

Tom Griffin — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:05:30 +0000

Tom Griffin (London, OK): In today's Guardian, Ronan Bennett looks forward to The Devil's Whore, Channel 4's forthcoming drama by Our Friends in the North creator Peter Flannery. The series promises a new portrayal of the upheavals of the English Civil War, with characters including the Leveller leaders, Thomas Rainsborough, John Lilburne and Edward Sexby.

As Bennett notes, the radical narrative which sees the Levellers as key figures in an English revolution has become unfashionable among professional historians in recent years.

so-called "revisionist" historians have argued that the civil wars were "an accident", a temporary falling-out among the country's natural rulers. They say a misleading emphasis has been placed on the kind of ideological conflict represented in The Devil's Whore, and they will likely find in Flannery's preoccupations too many echoes of the late historians Christopher Hill and Brian Manning, whom they have criticised for a skewed reading of the period.

Of course, it is more comforting for political centrists to interpret the tumults of the period as an aberration. That way, England's "genius for compromise" is given the authoritative endorsement of tradition, and the role of organised and militant radicalism - from the Levellers to the suffragettes and early trade unionists - can be quietly put to one side.

Over at the Cedar Lounge Revolution, Garibaldy takes Bennett to task for emphasising England's role at the expense of the wider 'War of the Three Kingdoms' which included Scotland and Ireland.

It is certainly true for example, that the Burford Mutiny against the deployment of the New Model Army to Ireland was a key event in the Levellers' break with Cromwell.

Nevertheless, Bennett's emphasis is arguably justified. The 1640s were a key moment in this history of a specifically English radical tradition, and that may be the key to their relevance for today.

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The English Revolution, Tom Griffin