The Family of Love has been subject to a variety of approaches over the years. Hostile witnesses of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries have left the impression of a sect at the same time dangerous and ludicrous, a congregation of cowards, traitors and lechers determined to undermine the visible churches and, if given the chance, to destory the state itself. A slightly more recent historiographical tendency, in existence since the second half of the nineteenth century, presents the Family of Love as a movement with far more virtues than implied by Protestant and Catholic pamphleteers.

Contents

Foreword

Introduction

1. The Spiritual Traditions

2. From Conception to Foundation

3. Followers and Enemies

4. The Antwerp Humanists

5. Hielism and the End of Familism

6. The Family of Love in England

Conclusion

References

Bibliography

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… conflict is part of existence and nothing is gained without struggle …

The Fifth Monarchy Men were a vociferous sect of religious fanatics who reached the peak of their influence in the mid-seventeenth century, at one point threatening the security of Cromwell's Government. They were convinced of the imminent arrival of the Kingdom of Christ on Earth (the Fifth Monarchy), and, with an obstinate tenacity, they proclaimed their millenarian doctrines in the pulpit and in a spate of polemical pamphlets. They also planned insurrections against the established order, and a desparate attempt by them in January 1661 to overthrow the Government of Charles II caused (to quote Pepys) 'a great stir' in the city of London, and a number of deaths in the fighting which ensued.

Though their political and economic doctrines had little effect on the broad course of English history, indirectly the activities of the sect contributed towards some important developments in England in the seventeenth century. For example, the fanaticism of their representatives in the Barebones Parliament brought that parliamentary experiment into disrepute; and their attitude towards the Jews played some part in the developments which led ultimately to the readmission of the Jews into England.

Contents

Preface

1 The Cult of the Millenium

2 Teetering and Tumbling Affairs

3 Saints Rejected

4 Saints Defiant

5 Trials and Tribulations

6 Desperate Zealots

7 Blood Will Have Blood

8 A Blow for King Jesus

9 Faith Without Works

10 A Stiff-Necked People

Sources

Index