“The Merry Life and Mad Exploits of Capt. James Hind,” or, How the Popular Press Created its First Outlaw-Hero in the Wake of the English Revolution

Abstract

Between 1651 and 1652, no less than sixteen pamphlets hit the streets of London that chronicled the fantastic feats of James Hind, “notorious highwayman,” making him one of the first outlaw-heroes whose legacy was shaped neither by folk legend nor by “high” literature, but by England’s burgeoning popular press. Read before the backdrop of Civil War, regicide, and Republican rule, then, the pamphleteer’s representations of Hind as a champion of the common people highlight the popular press’s mounting sway over the political debates of the 1650s. More specifically, in extolling Hind’s unlawful deeds so as to foreground persistent societal ills, while transforming Hind into a mouthpiece for a novel brand of populist royalism, the popular press managed to mount a strong challenge to the young republican government, which was already burdened by a general crisis of legitimization.