Muggletonians

Muggletonians
Name	Muggletonians
Founder	Lodowicke Muggleton; John Reeve
Founded	1651
Founded place	London
Classification	Christian nonconformist sect
Orientation	Radical Protestantism
Polity	Congregational
Scriptures	The Holy Scriptures (Bible), revelations of John Reeve, writings of Lodowicke Muggleton

Muggletonians were a small 17th-century English Protestant sect founded in London by John Reeve and Lodowicke Muggleton. The movement combined apocalyptic prophecy, distinctive christology, and an anti-clerical stance that drew attention from contemporaries such as Samuel Pepys and critics including John Milton. The group maintained a closed prophetic succession, produced a body of tracts and polemical literature, and survived in modest congregations into the 19th century.

Origins and Founders

The sect arose during the upheavals of the English Civil War and the Interregnum (England), when figures like Oliver Cromwell, Thomas Hobbes, and John Lilburne shaped wider debates about authority and dissent. John Reeve claimed angelic revelation in 1651 and appointed Lodowicke Muggleton as his successor; both claimed a unique prophetic commission that set them apart from groups such as the Quakers, Baptists (England), Seekers, Ranters, and Familists. Their emergence intersected with pamphlet culture involving printers like John Wright (printer), booksellers such as Andrew Crooke, and polemicists including Richard Baxter and Isaac Ambrose.

Beliefs and Theology

The group's theology rejected mainstream formulations associated with Council of Nicaea, Arianism, and the creeds debated in the Savoy Conference. They espoused a literalist reading of passages from the King James Version and propounded a peculiar christology aligning with elements of Gnosticism and anti-Trinitarian currents seen in the writings of Michael Servetus and Fausto Sozzini. Doctrines emphasized predestination reminiscent of debates involving John Calvin and Jacobus Arminius, while simultaneously criticizing the teachings of Richard Baxter and John Owen. They held negative views of the established Church of England clergy, likening them to opponents named in polemics by Thomas Edwards and Henry Burton.

Practices and Worship

Muggletonian practice contrasted with liturgical traditions of Westminster Abbey and parish life in dioceses overseen historically by bishops such as William Laud. Their gatherings were small, private meetings often in urban centers like London, Bristol, York, Newcastle upon Tyne, and towns touched by itinerant printers in Oxford and Cambridge. Worship eschewed sacraments administered by priests associated with Canterbury Cathedral and favored plain speech and reading of prophetic texts, paralleling private assemblies described in accounts concerning George Fox and Elizabeth Hooton. Their discipline drew criticism from magistrates in locales visited by Thomas Hobbes and commentators like Anthony Wood.

Texts and Scriptures

Central texts included the Bible and revelations recorded by Reeve and Muggleton; these circulated as pamphlets alongside works by contemporaries such as John Milton, Andrew Marvell, John Bunyan, and Richard Baxter. Their corpus entered the book trades that also distributed writings of Henry Vane the Younger, Giles Calvert, and printers linked to Fleet Street. Manuscripts and printed tracts later attracted antiquarian interest from figures such as Joseph Priestley, William Hazlitt, and Charles Lamb, and were catalogued in collections associated with libraries like British Library and university repositories at Oxford University and Cambridge University.

History and Development

After initial controversy in the 1650s and 1660s, including polemics from John Dolben and legal attention during the Restoration of the monarchy under Charles II, the group persisted through the 18th century in urban pockets and provincial towns like Leicester, Nottingham, Hull, Leeds, and Manchester. Influential correspondents included scribes and collectors such as Thomas Hearne and John Nichols, while opponents ranged from Philip Henry to pamphleteers in the tradition of Daniel Defoe and Jonathan Swift. The movement adapted modestly under social changes brought by the Glorious Revolution, the Industrial Revolution, and shifting attitudes toward dissent codified in legislation like the Toleration Act 1689.

Influence and Reception

Though never large, the sect influenced literary and religious discourse, drawing commentary from historians and writers including Samuel Pepys, Evelyn (John Evelyn), Thomas Fuller, Edward Gibbon, and William Hazlitt. Antiquarians such as John Aubrey and William Stukeley recorded anecdotes; later scholars like Thomas Carlyle and John Henry Newman noted them in surveys. Their polemics entered debates traced by historians of dissent such as G. M. Trevelyan, E. P. Thompson, J. C. D. Clark, and Christopher Hill. Collectors including Edward Harley and bibliographers like George Ballard preserved their tracts, and modern archivists at institutions such as the Bodleian Library and National Archives (UK) have curated items relevant to study by researchers like Norman Cohn and A. L. Morton.

Decline and Legacy

By the 19th century membership dwindled amid urbanization and the rise of denominations like Methodism, Evangelicalism, Unitarians, and Anglicanism (19th century). Notable final guardians of the tradition included household names in provincial scholarship and collectors—figures such as Richard Garnett and Edward Peacock—who facilitated academic study in institutions like the British Museum and Victoria and Albert Museum. The sect’s legacy persists in studies by historians of religion and culture including Peter Linebaugh, David Wootton, Sheila Rowbotham, and in catalogues produced by the Society of Antiquaries of London. Category:Religious movements in England