Milton and Republicanism

Drawing upon the expertise of both historians and literary critics, this volume examines the classical sources of Milton’s republicanism, the genesis of that republicanism in the 1640s, its disappointment in the 1650s and its presence in his work (particularly in Paradise Lost) after the Restoration.

• First comprehensive treatment of Milton’s republicanism • Pays equal attention to literary works and to works of political thought • Notable international and interdisciplinary collaboration between historians and literary critics

Preface; Part 1. Defining Milton’s Republicanism: 1. Milton’s classical republicanism Martin Dzelzainis; 2. Milton and the characteristics of a free commonwealth Thomas N. Corns; 3. Great senates and godly education: politics and cultural renewal in some pre- and post-revolutionary texts of Milton Cedric C. Brown; Part II. Milton and Republican Literary Strategy: 4. Biblical reference in the political pamphlets of the Levellers and Milton, 1638–1654 Elizabeth Tuttle; 5. The metaphorical contract in Milton’s Tenure of Kings and Magistrates Victoria Kahn; 6. Milton, Satan, Salmasius and Abdiel Roger Lejosne; 7. Paradise Lost as a republican ‘tractatus theologico-politicus’ Armand Himy; Part III. Milton and the Republican Experience: 8. Popular republicanism in the 1650s: John Streater’s ‘heroick mechanicks’ Nigel Smith; 9. Milton and Marchamont Nedham Blair Worden; 10. Milton and the protectorate in 1658 Martin Dzelzainis; 11. John Milton: poet against Empire David Armitage; Part IV. Milton and the Republican Tradition: 12. The Whig Milton, 1667–1700 Nicholas von Maltzahn; 13. Borrowed language: Milton, Jefferson, Mirabeau Tony Davies.

‘This is a summary of the inconsistent - some might say incoherent - positionings that define Milton’s intervention in the affairs and ideals of Interregnum politics. The thirteen essays in the present volume, Milton and Republicanism, make an important contribution to our understanding of the welter of conflict and commitment that is the world of Miltonic politics. This book also stands as the most visible evidence to date of the impact that recent British historians of mid-seventeenth-century England have made on the study, especially among literary scholars, of Milton’s poetry and prose.’ John Rogers, The Journal of English and Germanic Philology

‘Milton and Republicanism … deserves a warm welcome for at last bringing Milton studies fully in contact with … developments in the history of political thought.’ David Norbrook, The Times Literary Supplement