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JOHN LILBURNE (c. 1614-1657)

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Originally appearing in Volume V16, Page 683 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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JOHN See also:LILBURNE (c. 1614-1657)  , See also:English See also:political agitator, was the younger son of a See also:gentleman of See also:good See also:family in the See also:county of See also:Durham . At the See also:age of twelve he was apprenticed to a See also:clothier in See also:London, but he appears to have See also:early addicted himself to the " contention, novelties„ .opposition of See also:government, and ' The Span. See also:lilac, Fr . 'lilac, moil. lilas.,are adapted from Arab.lilak, Pers. llak, variant of:nilak, of ablues't ouw,vil, See also:blue, the See also:indigo-plant.violent and See also:bitter expressions " for which he afterwards became so conspicuous as to provoke the saying of Harry See also:Marten (the See also:regicide) that, " if the See also:world was emptied of all but See also:John Lilburn, Lilburn would See also:quarrel with John, and John with Lilburn." He appears at one See also:time to have been See also:law-clerk to See also:William See also:Prynne .. In See also:February 1638, for the See also:part he had taken in importing and, circulating The See also:Litany and other publications of John See also:Bastwick and Prynne, offensive to the bishops, he was sentenced by the See also:Star Chamber to be publicly whipped from the See also:Fleet See also:prison to See also:Palace Yard, See also:Westminster, there to stand for two See also:hours in the See also:pillory, and afterwards to be kept in See also:gaol until a See also:fine of £500 had been paid . He devoted his enforced leisure to his favourite See also:form of See also:literary activity, and did not regain his See also:liberty until See also:November 1640, one of the earliest recorded speeches of See also:Oliver See also:Cromwell being made in support of his See also:petition to the See also:House of See also:Commons (Nov . 9, 1640) . In 1641 he received an See also:indemnity of £3000 . He now entered the See also:army, and in 1642 was taken prisoner at See also:Brentford and tried for his See also:life; See also:sentence would no doubt have been executed had not the See also:parliament by threatening See also:reprisals forced his See also:exchange . He soon See also:rose to the See also:rank of See also:lieutenant-See also:colonel, but in See also:April 1645, having become dissatisfied with the predominance of See also:Presbyterianism, and refusing to take the See also:covenant, he resigned his See also:commission, presenting at the same, time to the Commons a petition for considerable arrears of pay . His violent See also:language in Westminster See also:Hall about the See also:speaker and other public men led in the following See also:July to his See also:arrest and committal to Newgate, whence he was discharged, however, without trial, by See also:order of the House, in See also:October . In See also:January 1647 he was committed to the See also:Tower for accusations against Cromwell, but was again set at liberty in time to become a disappointed spectator of the failure of the, " See also:Levellers " or ultrademocratic party in the army at the See also:Ware See also:rendezvous in the following November . The See also:scene produced a deep impression on his mind, and in February 1649 he along with other petitioners presented to the House of Commons a See also:paper entitled The Serious Apprehensions of a part of the See also:People on behalf of the See also:Common-See also:wealth, which he followed up with a pamphlet, See also:England's New Chains Discovered, criticizing See also:Ireton, and another exposing the conduct of Cromwell, Ireton and other leaders of the army since See also:June 1647 (The See also:Hunting of the Foxes from See also:Newmarket and Triploe See also:Heath to See also:Whitehall by Five Small Beagles, the " beagles " being See also:Lilburne, See also:Richard Overton, William Walwyn, See also:Prince and another) .

Finally, the Second Part of England's New Chains Discovered, a violent outburst against " the dominion of a See also:

council of See also:state, and a constitution of a new and unexperienced nature," became the subject of discussion in the House, and led anew to the imprisonment of its author in the Tower on the 11th of April . His trial in the following October, on a See also:charge of seditious and scandalous practices against the state, resulted in his unanimous acquittal, followed by his See also:release in November . In 165o he was advocating the release of See also:trade from the restrictions of chartered companies and monopolists . In January 1652, for See also:printing and See also:publishing a petition against See also:Sir See also:Arthur See also:Hesilrige and the Haberdashers' Hall for what he conceived to have been an injury done to his See also:uncle See also:George Lilburne in 1649, he was sentenced to pay fines amounting to £7000, and to be banished the See also:Commonwealth, with See also:prohibition of return under the See also:pain of See also:death . In June 1653 he nevertheless came back from the See also:Low Countries, where he had busied himself in pamphleteering and such other agitation as was possible, and was immediately arrested; the trial, which was protracted from the 13th of July to the loth of See also:August, issued in his acquittal, to the See also:great joy of London, but it was nevertheless thought proper to keep him in captivity for " the See also:peace of the nation." He was detained successively in the Tower, in See also:Jersey, in See also:Guernsey and in See also:Dover See also:Castle . At Dover he came under Quaker See also:influence, and signified his readiness at last to be done with " carnal See also:sword fightings and fleshly bustlings and contests "; and in 1655, on giving See also:security for his good behaviour, he was set See also:free . He now settled at Eltham in See also:Kent, frequently See also:preaching at Quaker meetings in the neighbourhood during the brief See also:remainder of his troubled life . He died on the 29th of August 1657 . His See also:brother, Colonel See also:Robert Lilburne, was among those who signed the death-See also:warrant of See also:Charles I . In 1656 he was M.P. for the See also:East See also:Riding of See also:Yorkshire, and at the restoration was sentenced to lifelong imprisonment . See D . See also:Masson, Life of See also:Milton (iv .

120) ; See also:

Clement See also:Walker (See also:History of Independency, ii . 247) ; W . See also:Godwin (Commonwealth, iii . 163-177), and Robert Bisset (Omitted Chapters of the History of England, 191-251) .

End of Article: JOHN LILBURNE (c. 1614-1657)
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