When Heterodoxy Became News: The Representation of the Diggers and the Ranters in Contemporary Newspapers

Abstract

The years 1649-1650 witnessed the emergence of two prominent radical sects of the British Civil Wars – the Diggers and the Ranters. While the former were members of organised communities that pursued a communistic agenda, the latter were more of a loose group of individuals who produced prophetic tracts. Yet, the Diggers and the Ranters held similar heterodox views – although there were significant differences between them, and they both made a point of distancing themselves from each other; both arguably advocated and practised a form of mystical radicalism. This essay focuses on the way these two sects were represented in contemporary newsbooks, from the time of the regicide and the establishment of the Commonwealth to the passing of the “Act against severall Atheisticall, Blasphemous and Execrable Opinions” in August 1650, and the interrogation by a parliamentary committee of Ranter Abiezer Coppe for alleged blasphemy in October 1650. It draws upon a variety of weeklies, ranging from Parliamentary newspapers, and official Commonwealth periodicals after the passing of a stringent licensing law in September 1649, to underground and unlicensed royalist mercuries. It especially looks into the way the Diggers and the Ranters were labelled and what these labels tell us about those who supposedly voiced dissenting opinions as well as about perceptions of the heterodox landscape of the late 1640s and early 1650s. It also studies the basis on which newsbook writers generally condemned, rather than condoned, the alleged heretical views of the Diggers and the Ranters, and what this reveals about the religious positioning of these essential contributors to the print culture of the Civil War years.