by JohnMilton (Author), Martin Dzelzainis (Editor), Claire Gruzelier (Editor)
John Milton was not only the greatest English Renaissance poet but also devoted twenty years to prose writing in the advancement of religious, civil and political liberties. The height of his public career was as chief propagandist to the Commonwealth regime which came into being following the execution of King Charles I in 1649. The first of the two complete texts in this volume, The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates, was easily the most radical justification of the regicide at the time. In the second, A Defence of the People of England, Milton undertook to vindicate the Commonwealth's cause to Europe as a whole.This book, first published in 1991, was the first time that fully annotated versions were published together in one volume, and incorporated a new translation of the Defence. The introduction outlines the complexity of the ideological landscape which Milton had to negotiate, and in particular the points at which he departed radically from his sixteenth-century predecessors.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 304
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 21 Feb 1991
ISBN 10: 0521348668
ISBN 13: 9780521348669
Book Overview: This volume, first published in 1991, contains two political pamphlets by John Milton in which he sought to vindicate the overthrow of Charles I.