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John Lilburne (1614 – 29 August 1657), also known as Freeborn John, was an English political agitator before, during and after English Civil Wars 1642-1650. He coined the term "freeborn rights", defining them as rights with which every human being is born, as opposed to rights bestowed by government or human law. In his early life he was a Puritan, though towards the end of his life he became a Quaker. His works have been cited in opinions by the United States Supreme Court.

Early life

John Lilburne was the son of Richard Lilburne a landowner of estates at Thickney Puncharden and elsewhere in County Durham. He was probably born in Sunderland but the exact date of his birth is unknown; there is some dispute as to whether he was born in 1613, 1614, or 1615. His father Richard Lilburne was the last man in England to insist that he should be allowed to settle a legal dispute with a trial by battle John's elder brother Robert Lilburne also later became active in the Parliamentary cause, but seems not to have shared John's Leveller beliefs. By his own account Lilburne received the first ten years' of his education in Newcastle, almost certainly at the Royal Free Grammar School.

In the 1630s he was apprenticed to John Hewson who introduced him to the Puritan physician John Bastwick, an active pamphleteer against Episcopacy who was persecuted by Archbishop William Laud.

Unlicensed publishing

In 1638 at age 22, John Lilburne imported into England religious publications from Holland which were not licenced by The Stationers' Company (known after 1937 as the Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers). At that time all printing presses were licensed as well as the publications that were produced on those presses.

"Freeborn John"

John Lilburne was arrested upon information by an informer acting for The Stationers' Company and brought before the Court of Star Chamber. Instead of being charged with an offence he was asked how he pleaded. John Lilburne demanded to be presented in English with the charges brought against him (much of the written legal work of the time was in Law French). The Court refused Lilburne's request. The court then threw him in prison and again brought him back to court and demanded a plea. Again, Lilburne demanded to know the charges brought against him.

The authorities then resorted to flogging him with a three-thonged whip on his bare back, as he was dragged by his hands tied to the rear of an ox cart from Fleet Prison to the pillory at Westminster. He was then forced to stoop in the pillory where he still managed to campaign against his censors, while distributing more unlicenced literature to the crowds. He was then gagged. Finally he was thrown in prison. He was taken back to the court and again imprisoned. On his release, he married Elizabeth Dewell (a London merchant's daughter) in September 1641. Lilburne’s agitation continued: the same year he led a group of armed citizens against a group of Royalist officers, forcing them to retreat.

That was the first in a long series of trials that lasted throughout his life for what John Lilburne called his "freeborn rights". As a result of these trials a growing number of supporters began to call him "Freeborn John" and they even struck a medal in his honour to that effect. It is this trial that has been cited by constitutional jurists and scholars in the United States of America as being one of the historical foundations of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. It is also cited within the 1966 majority opinion of Miranda v. Arizona by the U.S. Supreme Court.

English Civil War

In the First English Civil War he enlisted as a captain in Lord Brooke's regiment of foot in the Parliamentary army commanded by the Earl of Essex and fought at the Battle of Edgehill. He was a member of the Parliament's garrison at Brentford against Prince Rupert during the Battle of Brentford that took place on 12 November 1642 as the Royalists advanced on London and, after trying to escape by jumping in the Thames, was taken as a prisoner to Oxford. As the first prominent Roundhead captured in the war, the Royalists intended to try Lilburne for high treason. But when Parliament threatened to execute Royalist prisoners in reprisal (see the Declaration of Lex Talionis), Lilburne was exchanged for a Royalist officer.

He then joined the Eastern Association under the command of the Earl of Manchester and was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel. He became friends with Oliver Cromwell, who was second in command, supporting him in his disputes with Manchester. He fought with distinction at the Battle of Marston Moor in 1644. Shortly afterwards he asked permission to attack the Royalist stronghold at Tickhill Castle, because he had heard it was willing to surrender. Manchester refused, dismissing him as a madman. Taking that as a yes, he went and took the Castle without a shot being fired.

In April 1645, Lilburne resigned from the Army, because he refused to sign the Presbyterian Solemn League and Covenant, on the grounds that the covenant deprived those who might swear it of freedom of religion, namely members of the parliamentary army. Lilburne argued that he had been fighting for this Liberty among others. This was practically a treaty between England and Scotland for the preservation of the reformed religion in Scotland, the reformation of religion in England and Ireland "according to the word of God and the example of the best reformed churches," and the extirpation of popery and prelacy. The Scots, he maintained, were free to believe as they saw fit but not to bind anyone to the same faith if they did not share it.

Agitation

John Lilburne then began in earnest his campaign of agitation for freeborn rights, the rights that all Englishmen are born with, which are different from privileges bestowed by a monarch or a government. He also advocated extended suffrage, equality before the law, and religious tolerance. His enemies branded him as a Leveller but Lilburne responded that he was a "Leveller so-called." To him it was a pejorative label which he did not like. He called his supporters "Agitators." It was feared that "Levellers" wanted to level property rights, but Lilburne wanted to level human basic rights which he called "freeborn rights"

At the same time that John Lilburne began his campaign, another group led by Gerrard Winstanley styling themselves True Levellers (and became known as Diggers), advocated equality in property as well as political rights.

Putney Debates

Lilburne was imprisoned from July to October 1645 for denouncing Members of Parliament who lived in comfort while the common soldiers fought and died for the Parliamentary cause. It was while he was incarcerated that he wrote his tract, England's Birthright Justified.

In July 1646, he was imprisoned in the Tower of London for denouncing his former commander the Earl of Manchester as a traitor and Royalist sympathiser. It was the campaign to free him from prison which spawned the political party called the Levellers. Lilburne called them "Levellers so-called" because he viewed himself as an agitator for freeborn rights.

The Levellers had a strong following in the New Model Army with whom his work was influential. When the Army held the Putney Debates between 28 October and 11 November 1647, the debate centred upon a pamphlet influenced by the writings of John Lilburne called An Agreement of the People for a firm and present peace upon grounds of common right. The events of 1647, where rank and file soldiers organised themselves, under the leadership of the Agitators have been compared to the organisation of Soldiers Soviets during the Russian Revolution of 1917.

Written constitution

Lilburne was instrumental in the writing of two more editions of this famous document. The second was An Agreement of the People of England, and the places therewith incorporated, for a secure and present peace, upon grounds of common right, freedom and safety, was presented to Parliament on 11 September 1648 after amassing signatories including about a third of all Londoners.

Following the defeat of the Royalists and the abolition of the monarchy and House of Lords, England became a commonwealth in 1649 with the regicide of Charles I. It was while he was in the Tower of London that John Lilburne, William Walwyn, Thomas Prince and Richard Overton wrote the third edition of An Agreement of the Free People of England. Tendered as a Peace-Offering to this distressed Nation. They hoped that this document would be signed like a referendum so that it would become a written constitution for the Commonwealth of England. The late United States Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black, who often cited the works of John Lilburne in his opinions, wrote in an article for Encyclopædia Britannica that he believed John Lilburne's constitutional work of 1649 was the basis for the basic rights contained in the US Constitution and Bill of Rights.

On trial for high treason

When Hugh Peters visited John Lilburne in the Tower on 25 May 1649, Lilburne told him that he would rather have had seven years under the late king's rule than one under the present regime, and that in his opinion if the current regime remained as tyrannical as it was, then people would be prepared to fight for "Prince Charles". Three months later in Outcry of the Apprentices to the Soldiers Lilburne stated that apprentices and soldiers fought to maintain the fundamental constitution of the Commonwealth and rights of the people in their Parliaments by regulating the Crown not against the person of the King.

There had been rumours after the Broadway meeting of January 1648, that Levellers were conspiring with Royalists to overthrow the new republic. During the Oxford mutiny this was confirmed when Parliament acquired a letter from a Royalist prisoner in the Tower of London to Lord Cottington, and advisor in exile with Charles II in France, which suggested that the Royalists should finance the Levellers, as a method by which Charles could be restored to the throne. Armed with this evidence parliament published a long declaration against the Levellers and passed a motion to try Lilburne for High Treason, using a court similar to that which had tried Charles I. Like the trial of the King sentence would be passed by appointed commissioners, (forty for Lilburn's trial), but unlike the King (who had no peers) a jury of 12 would decide on Lilburn's guilt or innocence. The trial took place in the London Guildhall. It started on 24 of October 1649, and lasted two days. When the jury found him not guilty, the public shouted their approval so loudly and for so long that it was another half an hour before the proceedings could be formally closed.

Lilburn was not released immediately and was held for a further two weeks before pressure from the populaces and some friends in Parliament finally secured his release. Although some members of parliament were irked at Lilburne's release, Parliament had succeed in suppressing open Levellers dissent. The Levellers gave up all attempts to rouse the country and army to open rebellion, and started to conspire ineffectually in secret.

1649–1651

So far as politics was concerned, Lilburne for the next two years remained quiet. He was elected on 21 December 1649 a common councilman for the city of London, but on the 26th his election was declared void by Parliament, although he had taken the required oath to be faithful to the commonwealth. No disposition, however, was shown to persecute him. On 22 December 1648 he had obtained an ordinance granting him £3,000, in compensation for his sufferings, from the Star Chamber, the money being made payable from the forfeited estates of various Royalists in the county of Durham. As this source had proved insufficient, Lilburne, by the aid of Marten and Cromwell, obtained another ordinance (30 July 1650), charging the remainder of the sum on confiscated chapter-lands, and thus became owner of some of the lands of the Durham chapter.

Now that his own grievance was redressed, he undertook to redress those of other people. Ever since 1644, when he found himself prevented by the monopoly of the merchant adventurers from embarking in the cloth trade, Lilburne had advocated the release of trade from the restrictions of chartered companies and monopolists. He now took up the case of the soap-makers, and wrote petitions for them demanding the abolition of the excise on soap, and apparently became a soap manufacturer himself. The tenants of the manor of Epworth hold themselves wronged by enclosures which had taken place under the schemes fur draining Hatfield Chase and the Isle of Axholme. Lilburne took up their cause, assisted by his friend, John Wildman, and headed a riot (19 October 1650), by means of which the commoners sought to obtain possession of the disputed lands. His zeal was not entirely disinterested, as he was to have two thousand acres for himself and Wildman if the claimants succeeded. John Morris, alias Poyntz, complained of being swindled out of some properties by potent enemies, with the assistance of John Browne, late clerk to the House of Lords. Lilburne, who had exerted himself on behalf of Morris as far back as 1648, now actively took up his cause again,

Much more serious in its consequences was Lilburne's adoption of the quarrel of his uncle, George Lilburne, with Sir Arthur Hesilrige. In 1649, Lilburne had published a violent attack on Hesilrige, whom be accused of obstructing the payment of the money granted him by the parliamentary ordinance of 28 December 1648. George Lilburne's quarrel with Hesilrige was caused by a dispute about the possession of certain collieries in Durham—also originally the property of Royalist delinquents— from which he had been ejected by Hesilrige in 1649. In 1651 the committee for compounding delinquents' estates had confirmed Hesilrige's decision. John Lilburne intervened with a violent attack on Hesilrige and the committee, terming them "unjust and unworthy men, fit to be spewed out of all human society, and deserving worse than to be hanged". He next joined with Josiah Primat—the person from whom George Lilburne asserted that he had bought the collieries—and presented to parliament, on 23 December 1651, a petition repeating; and specifying the charges against Hesilrige. Parliament thereupon appointed a committee of fifty members to examine witnesses and documents; who reported on 16 Jan. 1653, that the petition was "false, malicious, and scandalous". Lilburne was sentenced to pay a fine of £3,000, to the state, and damages of £2,000, to Hesilrige, and £500. apiece to four members of the Committee for Compounding with Delinquents.

In addition John Lilburne was sentenced to be banished for life, and an Act of Parliament for that purpose was passed on 30 January 1652.

Exile in the Netherlands

Lilburne spent his exile in the Netherlands at Bruges and elsewhere, where he published a vindication of himself, and an attack on the government. In his hostility to the army leaders Lilburne had often contrasted the present governors unfavourably with Charles I. Now he frequented the society of cavaliers of note, such Lords Hopton, Colepeper, and Percy. If he were furnished with ten thousand pounds, he undertook to overthrow Cromwell, the Parliament, and the Council of State, within six months. "I know not," he was heard to say, "why I should not vye with Cromwell, since I had once as great a power as he had, and greater too, and am as good a gentleman". But with the exception of the Duke of Buckingham, non of the royalists placed any confidence in him.

Return, trial and imprisonment

The news of the expulsion of the Rump in April 1653 excited Lilbume's hopes of returning to England. Counting on Cromwell's placable disposition, he boldly applied to him for a pass to return to England, and, when it was not granted, came over without one on 14 June. The government at once arrested him, and lodged him in Newgate, whence he continued to importune Cromwell for his protection, and to promise to live quietly if he might stay in England. His trial began at the Old Bailey on 13 July, and concluded with his acquittal on 20 Aug. As usual Lilburne contested every step with the greatest pertinacity. "He performed the great feat which no one else ever achieved, of extorting from the court a copy of his indictment, in order that be might put it before counsel, and be instructed as to the objections he might take against it". Throughout the trial popular Sympathy was on his side. Petitions on his behalf were presented to parliament, so strongly worded that the petitioners were committed to prison. Crowds flocked to see him tried; threats of a rescue were freely uttered; and tickets were circulated with the legend:

And what, shall then honest John Lilburne die?

Three-score thousand will know the reason why.

The government filled London with troops, but in spite of their officers, the soldiers shouted and sounded their trumpets when they heard that Lilburne was acquitted. The government, however, declined to leave Lilburne at large. The jurymen were summoned before the Council of State, and the Council of State was ordered to secure Lilburne. On 28 August he was transferred from Newgate Prison to the Tower of London, and the Lieutenant of the Tower was instructed by parliament to refuse obedience to any writ of Habeas Corpus. On 16 March 1654, the Council ordered that he should be removed to Mount Orgueil Castle, Jersey. Colonel Robert Gibbon, the governor, complained that he gave more trouble than ten cavaliers.

The Protector offered Lilburne his liberty if be would engage not to act against the government, but he answered that he would own no way for his liberty but the way of the law. Lilburne's health suffered from his confinement, and in 1654 his death was reported and described. His wife and father petitioned for his release, and in October 1655 he was brought back to England and lodged in Dover Castle.

Quakerism and death

In 1656, he was allowed to leave the Dover Castle during the daytime to visit his wife and children, who had settled in Dover. It was here that Lilburne met Luke Howard, a Quaker whose serenity impressed him and began the process of his own conversion.Lilburne declared himself a convert to the tenets of the Quakers, and announced his conversion in a letter to his wife. General Fleetwood showed a copy of this letter to the Protector, who was at first inclined to regard it merely as a politic device to escape imprisonment. When Cromwell was convinced that Lilburne really intended to live peaceably, he released him on parole from prison, and seems to have continued till his death the pension of 40s. a week allowed him for his maintenance during his imprisonment. Later he was permitted to stay away from prison for several days at a time and took to visiting Quaker congregations in Kent.

In the summer of 1657, whilst visiting his wife, who was expecting their tenth child, Lilburne died at Eltham 29 August 1657, and was buried at Moorfields, "in the new churchyard adjoining to Bedlam".

On 21 January 1659 Elizabeth Lilburne petitioned Richard Cromwell for the discharge of the fine imposed on her husband by the act of 30 Jan. 1652, and her request was granted. Parliament on a similar petition recommended the repealing of the act, and the recommendation was carried by the restored Long parliament, 15 Aug. 1659.

Family

Lilburne married Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Dewell. During his imprisonment in 1649 he lost two sons, but a daughter and other children survived him.

Importance

Charles Harding Firth writing in the Dictionary of National Biography considered Lilburne's political importance easy to explain: In a revolution where others argued about the respective rights of thing and Parliament, he spoke always of the rights of the people. His dauntless courage and his powers of speech made him the idol of the mob. With Coke's "Institutes" in his hand he was willing to tackle any tribunal. He was ready to assail any abuse at any cost to himself, but his passionate egotism made him a dangerous champion, and he continually sacrificed public causes to personal resentments. It would be unjust to deny that he had a real sympathy with sufferers from oppression or misfortune; even when he was himself an exile he could interest himself in the distresses of English prisoners of war, and exert the remains of his influence to get them relieved. In his controversies he was credulous, careless about the truth of his charges, and insatiably vindictive. He attacked in turn all constituted authorities—lords, commons, council of stale, and council of officers—and quarrelled in succession with every ally. A life of Lilburne published in 1657 supplies this epitaph:

Is John departed, and is Lilburne gone!

Farewell to Lilburne, and farewell to John...

But lay John here, lay Lilburne here about,

For if they ever meet they will fall out.

Images

There are the following contemporary portraits of Lilburne:

1. an oval, by G. Glover, prefixed to 'The Christian Man's Trial.' 1641.
2. the same portrait republished in 1646, with prison bars across the face to represent Lilburne's imprisonment.
3. a full length representing Lilburne' pleading at the bar with Coke's 'Institutes' in his hand; prefixed to 'The Trial of Lieut.-col. John Lilburne, by Theodorus Varax,' 1649.

Bibliography

A bibliographical list of Lilburne's pamphlets compiled by Mr. Edward Peacock, is printed in Notes and Queries for 1898. Most of them contain autobiographical matter.

Fictional portrayal

Lilburne was portrayed by Tom Goodman-Hill in the 2008 television drama The Devil's Whore. In this fictional work, Lilburne is shown to have died in prison while being visited by his wife, Elizabeth.

John Lilburne Award

The Citizens In Charge Foundation, lead by Paul Jacob, honors a person or organization every month who stands up for initiative & referendum rights in the US. The first award was given in November 2008 to Eric Ehst of the Clean Elections Institute, for his role in defeating Arizona's Proposition 105, which could have imposed a super-majority.

Notes

1. Gregg 2001, p.63.
2. Hugo Black. The Pedigree of America's Constitution: An Alternative Explanation. Gilder, Eric and Hagger, Mervyn. British and American Studies (University of the West, Timisoara) 14 (2008): 217-26. Retrieved 2010-06-24
3. Andrew Bisset History of the Commonwealth of England - From the Death of Charles I. to the Expulsion of the Long Parliament
4. Richards 2007, .
5. Gardiner 2000, p. 249.
6. Alan Myers. John Lilburne (c1614 - 1657), www.myersnorth.co.uk. Retrieved 2008-12-10
7. The Putney Debates
8. The Agreement of the People as presented to the Council of the Army October 1647
9. Agreement of the People of England, as presented to Parliament in January 1649
10. An Agreement of the Free People of England, extended version from the imprisonment of the Leveller leaders, May 1649
11. Guizot 1854, pp. 61,64 cites A Discourse betwixt Lieut.-Colonel John Lilburne, close prisoner in the Tower of London, and Mr. Hugh Peters, upon May 25, 1649, p. 8.
12. Guizot 1854, 64 An Outcry of the Young Men and Apprentices of London, August 22, 1649 p. 4.
13. Willis-Bund 2008, p. 199.
14. Guizot 1854, p. 65.
15. Guizot 1854, p. 66.
16. Guizot, 1854 & p.66 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFGuizot1854p.66 (help) cites State Trials, vol. iv. cols. 1270—1470
17. ^ Guizot 1854, p. 68.
18. Firth 1893, p. 248 cites Commons' Journal, vi. 338; The Engagement Vindicated and Explained.
19. Firth 1893, p. 247 cites Commoms' Journals, i. 441,447.
20. Firth 1893, p. 247 cites Innocency and Truth Justified, p. 43; England's Birthright Justified, p. 9.
21. Firth 1893, p. 247 cites The Soapmaker' Complaint for the Loss of their Trade, 1650.
22. Firth 1893, p. 247 cites The Case of the Tenants of the Manor of Epworth, by John Lilburne, 18 November 1650; Two Petitions from Lincolnshire against the Old Court Levellers; Lilburne Tried and Cast, pp. 83-90; Tomlinson, The Level of Hatfield Chace, pp. 91, 258-76; Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1652-3. p. 373.
23. Firth 1893, p. 247 cites A Whip for the Present House of Lords, 27 Feb. 1617-8; The Case of John Morris, alias Poyntz, 29 June 1661.
24. Firth 1893, p. 247 cites A Preparative to an Hue and Cry after Sir Arthur Haslerig, 18 August 1649.
25. Firth 1893, p. 247 cites A just Reproof to Haberdashers' Hall, 30 July l65l.
26. Firth 1893, p. 248.
27. Firth 1893, p. 248 citesCommons' Journals, vii. 55, 71, 78; Calendar of the Proceedings of the Committee for compounding, pp. 1917. 2127, An Anatomy of Lieutenant-colonel J. Lilburne's Spirit, by T. M. 1649; Lieutenant-colonel J. Lilburne Tried and Cast, l653; A True Narrative concerning Sir A. Hesilrige's possessing of Lieutenant-colonel J. Lilburne's estate, 1653.
28. Firth 1893, p. 249 cites Lieutenant-colonel John Lilburne's Apologetical Narrative, relating to his illegal and unjust sentence, Amsterdam, April 1652 printed in Dutch and English; As you were, May 1652.
29. Firth 1893, p. 249 cites Several informations taken concerning Lieutenant-colonel John Lilburne, concerning his apostacy to the party of Charles Stuart, 1653; Malice detected in printing certain Information, etc.; Lieutenant-colonel John Lilburne received; Cal. Clarendon Papers, ii. 141, 146, 213.
30. Firth 1893, p. 249 cites A Defensive Deceleration of Lieutenant-colonel John Lilburne, 22 June 1653; Mercurius Politicus, pp. 2515, 2525, 2529; Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1652-3, pp. 410, 415, 436.
31. Firth 1893, p. 249 cites Stephen, History of the Criminal Law, i. 367; State Trials, v. 407-460, reprints Lilburne's own account of the trial, and his legal pleas; see also Godwin, iii. 554.
32. Howell & Cobbett 1816, p. 408. Sharp 2004 cites Woolrych, Commonwealth, 255.
33. Firth 1893, p. 249 cites Commons' Journals, vii. 285, 294 ; Thurloe Papers, i. 367,429, 435, 441; Clarendon, Rebellion, xiv. 52; Cal. Clarendon Papers, ii. 237, 246.
34. Firth 1893, p. 249 cites Commons' Journals, vii. 306, 309, 358; Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1653-4, pp. 98-102; A Hue and Cry after the Fundamental Laws and Liberties of England). Consequently Lilburne's attempt to obtain such a writ failed (Clavis Aperiendum Carceris, by P. V., 1654.
35. Firth writing in 1893 like many Victorian historians, though that Lilburne was subsequently transferred to Elizabeth Castle. However this was based on "Thurloe State Papers, III, pp. 512, 629. The index of this volume mistakenly refers to Lilburne as being confined in Elizabeth Castle. The text of the letter from Colonel Gibbon, printed there, gives the place of imprisonment as Mount Neyville Castle (probably a misreading of Mount Orgeuil). The letter is dated 4th June, but since its contents refer to '29th June last', and since the letter which follows very quickly upon it is dated 7th July,it seems probable that 4th June should read 4th July." (Gibb 1947, p. 327. footnote 2)
36. Firth 1893, p. 249.
37. Firth 1893, p. 249 cites Cal. Sate Papers, Dom. 1654, pp. 33,46; Thurloe Papers, iii. 512, 629.
38. Firth 1893, p. 249 cites The Last Will and Testament of Lieutenant-colonel John Lilburne
39. Firth 1893, p. 249 cites Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1655, pp. 263, 556.
40. ^ Sharp 2004.
41. Firth 1893, p. 249 cites The Resurrection of John Lilburne, now a prisoner in Dover Castle, 1656 Cal. Stat Papers, Dom. 1656-7, p.21.
42. Plant, David. John Lilburne, c.1615-1657, British-Civil-Wars, retrieved 5 August 2010
43. Firth 1893, p. 249 cites Mercurius Politictus, 27 August - 3 September, 1657.
44. Firth 1893, p. 250 cites Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1658-9, p. 260; Commons' Journals, vii. 600, 608, 760.
45. Firth 1893, p. 250 cites Biographia Britannica, p. 2957; Thurloe, iii. 512.
46. Firth 1893, p. 250 cites Letter to Henry Marten, 8 Sept. 1652, MSS of Captain Loder-Symonds, but cf. The Upright Man's Vindication, 1 August 1653; Lieut.-col. John Lilburne Tried and Cast.
47. Firth 1893, p. 250 notes that a similar saying is attributed by Anthony Wood to "magnanimous Judge Jenkins".
48. ^ Firth 1893, p. 250.
49. "John Lilburne Award on Citizens in Charge Foundation Website". {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessed= ignored (help)

References

• Gardiner, Samuel Rawson (2000). History of England from the Accession of James I to the Outbreak of the Civil War: 1603-1642. Adegi Graphics LLC. ISBN 1402184107. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Gibb, Mildred Ann (1947). John Lilburne, the Leveller, a Christian democrat (reprint ed.). L. Drummond. p. 327. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Gregg, Pauline (2001). Free Born John - Biography of John Lilburne. Phoenix Press. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Text "isbn 1842122002" ignored (help)
• Guizot, François, M. (1854). Translator Sir Andrew Richard Scoble (ed.). History of Oliver Cromwell and the English commonwealth: from the execution of Charles the First to the death of Cromwell. Vol. 1 (2 ed.). R. Bentley. {{cite book}}: |editor-last= has generic name (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Howell, Thomas Bayly; Cobbett, William (1816). ""The Trial of Mr. John Lilburn, at the Sessions of the Peace held for the City of London, at Justice-Hall in the Old Bailey, for returning into England, being banished by Act of Parliament* : б Charles II. A.d. 1653- "". A Complete Collection of State Trials and Proceedings for High Treason and Other Crimes and Misdemeanors from the Earliest Period to the Year 1783, with Notes and Other Illustrations. Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown & Green, .
• Richards, Peter (2007). John Lilburne (1615-1657): English Libertarian (Libertarian Heritage No. 25). ISBN 9781856377485. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Sharp, Andrew (October 2004). "Lilburne, John (1615?–1657)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/16654. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Willis-Bund, John William (2008) . The Civil War In Worcestershire, 1642-1646: And the Scotch Invasion Of 1651. Birmingham: READ BOOKS. ISBN 9781443774383. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Firth, Charles Harding (1893). "Lilburne, John". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 33. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 243–250. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help) This source list the following general sources:

• • The earliest life of Liburne is The Self-Afflicter lively Described, 8vo, 1657;
  • The best is that contained in Biographia Britannica, 1760, v. 2337-61.
  • Other lives are contained in Wood's Athenæ Oxon. and Guizot's Portraits Politiques des Hommes des differents Partis, 1651.
  • Godwin, in his History of the Commonwealth, 1824, traces Lilburne's career with great care.
  • Other authorities are cited in the text.

Further reading

• Foxley, Rachel (2004), "John Lilburne and the citizenship of 'free-born Englishmen'", The Historical Journal, 47, Cambridge University Press: 849–874 {{citation}}: External link in |journal= (help)
• Hill, Christopher (1991). The World Turned Upside Down - Radical Ideas During the English Revolution. Penguin.
• Hill, Christopher (1993). The English Bible and the Seventeenth Century Revolution. Penguin.
• Manning, Brian (1996). Aristocats, Plebians and Revolutiuon in England 1640-1660. Pluto Press.
• Hammer, Rev. "Rev Hammer's concept album about the life of Freeborn John". Retrieved 5 August 2010.

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