John Lilburne Biography

Dromo's Den

LILBURNE, John (1614-57). An English agitator and pamphleteer. He was born at Greenwich and was educated at Newcastle and Auckland. He was apprenticed to the wholesale cloth trade, but, imbibing opinions in opposition to the English church, at the age of 18 he went to Holland to procure the printing of a pamphlet against the bishops. This he sought to circulate secretly, but was exposed to the authorities, tried in the court of the Star Chamber, condemned in February, 1637, to receive 500 lashes, to be pilloried and confined in prison, fined £500, and required to give security for good behavior. His courage before the judge and during his punishment gained him the sobriquet of Freeborn John. Given his liberty in 1640, he placed himself at the head of the "levelers" (q.v.) and demanded that Lord Stratford should he arraigned. He was again arrested and taken before the House of Lords; but such was the pressure of public opinion in his favor that Parliament released him and subsequently declared his punishment to have been illegal, barbarous, and tyrannical, and recompensed him for his imprisonment and injuries by the payment of £3000. He joined the army of the Parliament against Charles I, became lieutenant-colonel; was taken prisoner at Brentford, and would have been hanged had not the Parliament's general, the Duke of Essex, threatened to hang Royalist prisoners in retaliation. He soon became dissatisfied with the Presbyterian leaders and published charges and denunciations even against Cromwell. The latter procured his trial before a commission, by whom he was acquitted. Emboldened by this, he began a violent agitation against Cromwell, read in public a pamphlet entitled England's New Chains, and in consequence was committed to the Tower. Thence he poured out political pamphlets which gave him great popularity with the people. He was again brought to trial, but the pressure of popular opinion in his favor determined his acquittal. But Cromwell soon after secured his condemnation and banishment for a vicious attack on Haselrig. During his exile he resided in Brussels and Amsterdam and intrigued with Royalist exiles for the restoration of the monarchy. After the dissolution of the Long Parliament he returned to England without permission and was immediately arrested and tried. Although acquitted of any crime meriting death, his freedom was denied him for "the peace of the nation" until 1656, when, having espoused the doctrines of the Friends, or Quakers, he was released. He died at Eltham. The title of his earliest biography is The Self-Afflicter Described (London, 1657). Consult S. R. Gardiner, History of the Great Civil War. (London, 1901), and, for a complete bibliography of his pamphlets, Notes and Queries (ib., 1888).

The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. XIV (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 145.