Perspectives on English Revolutionary Republicanism ed. by Dirk Wiemann and Gaby Mahlberg (review)

The object of this collection of ten essays, according to the editors, Dirk Wiemann and Gaby Mahlberg, is to ‘take stock’ of the large body of literature devoted to republicanism in early modern England by reflecting on its historiography and methodology. A postscript, written by Glenn Burgess, summaries and analyses the value of each contribution. Each theme has a balanced treatment, and the reader will appreciate the neatly organised format.

The first of the collection’s three sections, ‘Republican Language’, consists of three essays on the subject of language and political thought. First, Martin Dzelzainis discusses the distinction premodern English commentators made, in their descriptions of republicanism, between ‘commonwealth’ and ‘equal commonwealth’ in notions of liberty and governance. Cesare Cuttica canvasses anti-republican ideas and attacks on the value of liberty in Robert Filmer’s commentaries. Günther Lottes then examines how Algernon Sidney used the political language of diverse traditions in his Discourses (1680) and suggests that the author’s fixation on instituting and abrogating political authority meant he missed out on the revolutionary elements of the republican movement.

Four essays are devoted to ‘Republican Culture’, in the next section. J. C. Davis’s contribution explores prose romance in Harrington’s Oceana (1656) and analyses the value of its reconciliatory approach as being apparently anticipatory of the Restoration of the English monarchy. Anette Pankratz examines the value of performance to reflect on the Restoration and the dangers and value of the republican movement. Next, Gerold Sedlmayr writes about Edward Burke’s Reflections (1790) and his fears about the spread of the violence inherent in the French Revolution, and how hyperbole perverted his attempt to ‘cure the French disease’. Edward Vallance concludes the section with an examination of Harrington’s view about the value of petitions to Parliament as a tool for public inclusion in governance.

The final section, ‘Republic Religion’, contains three essays starting with Dirk Vanderbeke’s analysis of John Milton’s view of religion as part of human reason and the commonwealth. Luc Borot puts forward an argument that Harrington’s view of a ‘religious constitution’ inherent within the republican commonwealth is present within Oceana. Finally, Justin Champion examines John Toland’s rehabilitation of Harrington’s works and his Hebrew example to furnish a republican theory in the Mosaica respublica (1714).