Martyrs’ Tales

Bibliographic Data

ID10065264
AuthorsMark A Kishlansky (corresponding author), Mark Kishlansky
Year2014
Volume53
Issue2
Pages334-355
Publication date2014-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of British Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0021-9371 • E-ISSN: 1545-6986
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/jbr.2014.51
OpenAlexW4236573286
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited10

This article recounts the legal proceedings against those Puritan activists who challenged the government of Charles I in the 1630s. It demonstrates that most of our knowledge of these events has come from the highly colored accounts written by the defendants themselves. Closer examination demonstrates that Leighton, Prynne, Bastwick, Burton, and Lilburne set out to challenge the government, first by writing incendiary tracts about religion and then by refusing to recognize the jurisdiction of the courts into which they were brought. While they saw their causes as cases of conscience, Caroline officials saw them as attacks upon the legal and political system. They were convicted in formal legal proceedings, and while the penalties they received appear barbaric to our sensibilities, they were typical in such cases

Conscience · Criminology · Government (linguistics · Jurisdiction · Political science · Politics · Sociology · American Constitutional Law and Politics · History · Law · Philosophy · Reformation and Early Modern Christianity · Scottish History and National Identity

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