He was a bankrupt merchant who taught the peasants to live in a way similar to the primitive. The people survived, and their leader was strengthened in the belief that this order of things is pleasing to God.
The Renaissance gave humanity such a philosophical trend as utopianism. Many pundits have expressed their hypotheses about what should be the structure of society in order for everyone to have enough. Our hero went a little further - he organized people to build an ideal world of justice and equality.
early years
Gerard was born in October 1609. His father Edward lived with his family in Wigan and was a merchant. He sold expensive overseas fabrics. He had a decent income, because he raised his son in luxury. The merchant's heir easily mastered literacy and numeracy, which made his parents happy. In their opinion, the boy did not need more specialized education.
The younger Winstanley began working as a teenager, helping his father. Having matured, he opened his own business, offering customers a ready-made dress. In 1630, the young businessman wished to separate from the family business, for which he received the blessing of his parent. In addition to parting words, the old man supplied his child with letters of recommendation to his partners. The guy went to the capital to pursue a career and business.
Independent life
In London, our hero had to take the place of an apprentice in the Guild of Merchants and Tailors. Only in 1638 was his skill recognized and accepted as an equal in the merchant organization. This was very helpful - Gerard met Susan King and was going to marry her. The bride's father, William, was a doctor, he came from the poor and achieved everything in life himself, because he made high demands on the groom. In 1639 he took his daughter to the altar and turned over the care of her to Mr. Winstanley.
The conflict between King Charles I and Parliament led to the outbreak of civil war in 1642. Gerard Winstanley supported the idea of overthrowing the monarch and set out his views in pamphlets, which he printed with his own money. During the battles, the demand for the luxurious outfits he sold dropped. The year of adventures of the novice politician ended with the ruin of his shop. The couple would have been starving if William King had not intervened. He invited the couple to move with him to the village of Cobham in Surrey.
Fighter for equality
The father-in-law was not going to feed his son-in-law for nothing. The former rich man was forced to make his own contribution to the economy, working as a shepherd. He got acquainted with the hard everyday life of local peasants. In his free hours, the unfortunate man sought consolation in reading the Bible. There were no appeals to humility in the lines of Holy Scripture, but there were many interesting thoughts that related to the just order of life.
Before his fellow villagers, Gerard Winstanley made an appeal to change the usual way of life in order to get rid of the power of the monarch forever. He described the methods in detail, and the common people liked them. In April 1649, the rebels captured the hill of St. George near the village and plowed it up. This community called itself diggers, or diggers. According to the charter that our hero proposed, the land should have been expropriated from the aristocracy and cultivated by joint efforts. Food was to be distributed as needed, and everyone who joined the commune immediately received everything they needed.
Commune
In the conditions of the civil war, such an order in a small group of peasants turned out to be advantageous. The neighbors noticed the success of the diggers and began to learn from their experience. Naturally, there was no smell of communism here. Hard work and hardship were the constant companions of Winstanley's comrades. But the commoners of that era had modest demands. A piece of bread on the table allowed them to avoid the temptation to become robbers, or vagabonds, and die from a blade or hunger. This was reminiscent of the primitive way of life of the first farmers and saved lives.
The inhabitants of the commune were dissatisfied with the aristocracy. The landowners did not want to give them their plots for free. The fact that the leader of the rebels insisted that the self-seizure of abandoned arable land was pleasing to God caused particular excitement. In 1650, the nobles hired soldiers who destroyed the village. Winstanley fled to Heartworthshire and was hired as manager of Lady Eleanor Davis' estate.
Defeat
As soon as the passions around the diggers subsided, our hero returned to Surrey, however, he did not find his companions there. Some of them were killed, some were hiding from punishment. Gerard Winstanley was under the protection of his respected family, so he could not be afraid of retribution. He took up creative work and in 1652 published the book "The Law of Freedom". There, the famous rebel set forth his ideas, appealing to the Old and New Testaments.
Old man King liked his son-in-law's courage and in 1647 he presented his heirs with a small estate. Gerard, suddenly wealthy, turned from a man with a dubious biography to a respected member of the village community. In 1659 he was elected headman. The former bawler settled down, the only liberty he now allowed himself was the support of the Quakers, one of the Protestant currents.
After the death of the faithful Susan in 1664, Gerard left for London. There, in a year, he managed to establish his personal life, remarrying to Elizabeth Stanley, and return to the ranks of the merchant class. True, Winstanley was now a corn trader. In 1676 he was sued over a trifle, was very nervous and died.
