Ep. 87: Geoffrey Robertson on the Levellers, Democracy, and the English Civil War

<p><em>“The poorest he that is in England hath a right to live as the greatest he” - Col. Thomas Rainborowe, Leveller.</em> </p><p>In this episode, I speak with Geoffrey Robertson, an English barrister, historian, and the author of several works on the English Civil War and the Levellers, including <em>The Tyrannicide Brief: The Story of the Man who sent Charles I to the Scaffold</em>, and the introduction to Verso books’ <em>The Putney Debates</em>. We’ve published blog articles on the Levellers (<a href="https://democraticconstitutionblog.substack.com/p/the-leveling-spirit-a9b?utm_source=publication-search" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">here</a> and <a href="https://democraticconstitutionblog.substack.com/p/from-the-english-civil-war-to-the?utm_source=publication-search" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">here</a>), and they have come up in many other conversations, particularly with <a href="https://democraticconstitutionblog.substack.com/p/political-slavery-and-modern-democratic?utm_source=publication-search" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Gil Schaeffer</a> and around our reader, <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/19ejLXScq4hIEt0B8cNQKBDxHvxGu92iIquHWsf_8B4A/edit?tab=t.0" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"><em>Equal Human and Political Rights and Democratic Republicanism</em></a>, but this is the first time I’ve had a guest dedicated to the topic. </p><p>So much has been written about the Levellers and the English Civil War more generally. Besides Geoffrey’s work, I’d recommend John Rees’ <em>The Leveller Revolution</em>, Anna Keay’s <em>The Restless Republic: Britain Without a Crown</em>, and a much older collection of Leveller documents called <em>Leveller Manifestoes of the Puritan Revolution</em>—especially the introduction. The foreword to that book was written by Charles Beard, who folks might remember from our conversation with <a href="https://democraticconstitutionblog.substack.com/p/clyde-barrow-on-the-life-and-times?utm_source=publication-search" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Clyde Barrow</a>. It’s a fun demonstration of how these ideas and thinkers all connect. </p>