The Putney Debates
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Putney Debates of 1647, when factions of the New Model Army considered a possible new constitution for England.
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Putney Debates. For several weeks in late 1647, after the defeat of King Charles I in the first hostilities of the Civil War, representatives of the New Model Army and the radical Levellers met in a church in Putney to debate the future of England. There was much to discuss: who should be allowed to vote, civil liberties and religious freedom. The debates were inconclusive, but the ideas aired in Putney had a considerable influence on centuries of political thought.
With:
Justin Champion
Professor of the History of Early Modern Ideas at Royal Holloway, University of London
Ann Hughes
Professor of Early Modern History at Keele University
Kate Peters
Fellow in History at Murray Edwards College, Cambridge.
Producer: Thomas Morris.
Last on
LINKS AND FURTHER READING
Professor Justin Champion at Royal Holloway, University of London
Professor Ann Hughes at Keele University
Dr Kate Peters at the University of Cambridge
Online Library of Liberty - The Clarke Papers
Putney debaters - Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
Thomas Rainborowe - Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
READING LIST:
Philip Baker (ed.), The Levellers: The Putney Debates (Verso, 2007)
Philip Baker and Elliot Vernon (eds.), The Agreements of the People, the Levellers, and the Constitutional Crisis of the English Revolution (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012)
Charles Firth (ed.), The Clarke Papers (Offices of the Royal Historical Society, 1992)
Michael Mendle (ed.), The Putney Debates of 1647: The Army, the Levellers and the English State (Cambridge University Press, 2001)
Andrew Sharp (ed.), The English Levellers (Cambridge University Press, 1998)
A. S. P. Woodhouse (ed.), Puritanism and Liberty: Being the Army Debates 1647-9 (Everyman Ltd, 1986)
Austin Woolrych, Soldiers and Statesmen: the General Council of the Army and its Debates 1647-8 (Clarendon Press, 1987)
Credits
| Role | Contributor |
|---|---|
| Presenter | Melvyn Bragg |
| Presenter | Melvyn Bragg |
| Producer | Thomas Morris |
| Producer | Thomas Morris |
Broadcasts
- Thu 18 Apr 2013 09:00BBC Radio 4
- Thu 18 Apr 2013 21:30BBC Radio 4
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