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LEVELLERS , the name given to an important See also:political party in See also:England during the See also:period of the See also:Civil See also:War and the See also:Common-See also:wealth. The germ of the Levelling See also:movement must be sought for among the See also:Agitators (q.v.), men of strong republican views, and the name Leveller first appears in a See also:letter of the 1st of See also:November 1647, although it was undoubtedly in existence as a See also:nickname before this date (See also:Gardiner, See also:Great Civil War, iii. 38o). This letter refers to these extremists thus: " They have given themselves a new name, viz. Levellers, for they intend to sett all things straight, and rayse a parity and community in the See also:kingdom."
The Levellers first became prominent in 1647 during the protracted and unsatisfactory negotiations between the See also:- KING
- KING (O. Eng. cyning, abbreviated into cyng, cing; cf. O. H. G. chun- kuning, chun- kunig, M.H.G. kiinic, kiinec, kiinc, Mod. Ger. Konig, O. Norse konungr, kongr, Swed. konung, kung)
- KING [OF OCKHAM], PETER KING, 1ST BARON (1669-1734)
- KING, CHARLES WILLIAM (1818-1888)
- KING, CLARENCE (1842–1901)
- KING, EDWARD (1612–1637)
- KING, EDWARD (1829–1910)
- KING, HENRY (1591-1669)
- KING, RUFUS (1755–1827)
- KING, THOMAS (1730–1805)
- KING, WILLIAM (1650-1729)
- KING, WILLIAM (1663–1712)
king and the See also:parliament, and while the relations between the latter and the See also:army were very strained. Like the Agitators they were mainly found among the soldiers; they were opposed to the existence of kingship, and they feared that See also:Cromwell and the other See also:parliamentary leaders were too complaisant in their dealings with See also:Charles; in fact they doubted their sincerity in this See also:matter. Led by See also:John See also:Lilburne (q.v.) they presented a manifesto, The See also:Case of the Army truly stated, to the See also:commander-in-See also:chief, See also:Lord See also:Fairfax, in See also:October 1647. In this they demanded a See also:dissolution of parliament within a See also:year and substantial changes in the constitution of future parliaments, which were to be regulated by an unalterable " See also:law See also:paramount." In a second document, The Agreement of the See also:People, they See also:expanded these ideas, which were discussed by Cromwell, See also:Ireton and other See also:officers on the one See also:side, and by John See also:Wildman, See also:- THOMAS
- THOMAS (c. 1654-1720)
- THOMAS (d. 110o)
- THOMAS, ARTHUR GORING (1850-1892)
- THOMAS, CHARLES LOUIS AMBROISE (1811-1896)
- THOMAS, GEORGE (c. 1756-1802)
- THOMAS, GEORGE HENRY (1816-187o)
- THOMAS, ISAIAH (1749-1831)
- THOMAS, PIERRE (1634-1698)
- THOMAS, SIDNEY GILCHRIST (1850-1885)
- THOMAS, ST
- THOMAS, THEODORE (1835-1905)
- THOMAS, WILLIAM (d. 1554)
Thomas Rainsborough and See also:Edward See also:Sexby for the Levellers on the other. But no See also:settlement was made; some of the Levellers clamoured for the king's See also:death, and in November 1647, just after his See also:flight from See also:Hampton See also:Court to See also:Carisbrooke, they were responsible for a See also:mutiny which See also:broke out in two regiments at Corkbush See also:- FIELD (a word common to many West German languages, cf. Ger. Feld, Dutch veld, possibly cognate with O.E. f olde, the earth, and ultimately with root of the Gr. irAaror, broad)
- FIELD, CYRUS WEST (1819-1892)
- FIELD, DAVID DUDLEY (18o5-1894)
- FIELD, EUGENE (1850-1895)
- FIELD, FREDERICK (18o1—1885)
- FIELD, HENRY MARTYN (1822-1907)
- FIELD, JOHN (1782—1837)
- FIELD, MARSHALL (183 1906)
- FIELD, NATHAN (1587—1633)
- FIELD, STEPHEN JOHNSON (1816-1899)
- FIELD, WILLIAM VENTRIS FIELD, BARON (1813-1907)
Field, near See also:Ware. This, however, was promptly suppressed by Cromwell. During the twelve months which immediately preceded the See also:execution of the king the Levellers conducted a lively agitation in favour of the ideas expressed in the Agreement of the people, and in See also:January 1648 Lilburne was arrested for using seditious See also:language at a See also:- MEETING (from " to meet," to come together, assemble, 0. Eng. metals ; cf. Du. moeten, Swed. mota, Goth. gamotjan, &c., derivatives of the Teut. word for a meeting, seen in O. Eng. Wit, moot, an assembly of the people; cf. witanagemot)
meeting in See also:London. But no success attended these and similar efforts, and their only result was that the Levellers regarded Cromwell with still greater suspicion.
See also:Early in 1649, just after the death of the king, the Levellers renewed their activity. They were both numerous and dangerous, and they stood up, says Gardiner, " for an exaggeration of the See also:doctrine of parliamentary supremacy." In a pamphlet, England's New Chains, Lilburne asked for the dissolution of the See also:council of See also:state and for a new and reformed parliament. He followed this up with the Second See also:Part of England's New Chains; his writings were declared treasonable by parliament, and in See also:March 1649 he and three other leading Levellers, See also:Richard Over-ton, See also:- WILLIAM
- WILLIAM (1143-1214)
- WILLIAM (1227-1256)
- WILLIAM (1J33-1584)
- WILLIAM (A.S. Wilhelm, O. Norse Vilhidlmr; O. H. Ger. Willahelm, Willahalm, M. H. Ger. Willehelm, Willehalm, Mod.Ger. Wilhelm; Du. Willem; O. Fr. Villalme, Mod. Fr. Guillaume; from " will," Goth. vilja, and " helm," Goth. hilms, Old Norse hidlmr, meaning
- WILLIAM (c. 1130-C. 1190)
- WILLIAM, 13TH
William Walwyn and See also:Prince were arrested. The discontent which was spreading in the army was fanned when certain regiments were ordered to proceed to See also:Ireland, and in See also:April 1649 there was a meeting in London; but this was quickly put down by Fairfax and Cromwell, and its See also:leader, See also:Robert See also:Lockyer, was shot. Risings at See also:Burford and at See also:Banbury were also suppressed without any serious difficulty, and the trouble with the Levellers was practically over. Gradually they became less prominent, but under the See also:Commonwealth they made frequent advances to the exiled king Charles II., and there was some danger from them early in 1655 when Wildman was arrested and Sexby escapedfrom England. The distinguishing See also:mark of the Leveller was a See also:sea-See also:green ribbon.
Another but more harmless See also:form of the same movement was the assembling of about fifty men on St See also:George's See also:- HILL
- HILL (0. Eng. hyll; cf. Low Ger. hull, Mid. Dutch hul, allied to Lat. celsus, high, collis, hill, &c.)
- HILL, A
- HILL, AARON (1685-175o)
- HILL, AMBROSE POWELL
- HILL, DANIEL HARVEY (1821-1889)
- HILL, DAVID BENNETT (1843–1910)
- HILL, GEORGE BIRKBECK NORMAN (1835-1903)
- HILL, JAMES J
- HILL, JOHN (c. 1716-1775)
- HILL, MATTHEW DAVENPORT (1792-1872)
- HILL, OCTAVIA (1838– )
- HILL, ROWLAND (1744–1833)
- HILL, SIR ROWLAND (1795-1879)
Hill near Oatlands in See also:Surrey. In April 1649 these " True Levellers" or " Diggers," as they were called, took See also:possession of some unoccupied ground which they began to cultivate. They were, however, soon dispersed, and their leaders were arrested and brought before Fairfax, when they took the opportunity of denouncing landowners. It is interesting to See also:note that Lilburne and his colleagues objected to being designated Levellers, as they had no See also:desire to take away " the proper right and See also:title that every See also:man has to what is his own."
Cromwell attacked the Levellers in his speech to parliament in See also:September 1654 (See also:Carlyle, Cromwell's Letters and Speeches, Speech II.). He said: " A nobleman, a See also:gentleman, a See also:yeoman; the distinction of these; that is a See also:good See also:interest of the nation, and a great one. The `natural' magistracy of the nation, was it not almost trampled under See also:foot, under despite and contempt, by men of Levelling principles ? I beseech you, for the orders of men and ranks of men, did not that Levelling principle tend to the reducing of all to an equality? Did it `consciously' think to do so; or did it `only unconsciously' practise towards that for See also:property and interest ? `At all events,' what was the purport of it but to make the See also:tenant as liberal a See also:fortune as the landlord ? Which, I think, if obtained, would not have lasted See also:long."
In 1724 there was a rising against enclosures in See also:Galloway, and a number of men who took part therein were called Levellers or Dyke-breakers (A. See also:Lang, See also:History of See also:Scotland, vol. iv.). The word was also used in Ireland during the 18th See also:century to describe a See also:secret revolutionary society similar to the Whiteboys. (A. W. H.
End of Article: LEVELLERS
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