Milton was now in an awkward position. Mary’s family, who were Royalists, might have been keeping her away from the liberal Milton until they saw how the civil war would play out. He waited for Mary to return, then started sending messengers, the last of which was dismissed with some sort of contempt (Forsyth 82). Feeling trapped and frustrated, stuck in a marriage with no
wife, Milton begin publishing treatises on Divorce, which was illegal in England in spite of Henry VII’s precedent.
In the Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce, Milton argued for divorce on grounds of incompatibility.
That indisposition, unfitnes, or contrariety of mind, arising from a cause in nature unchangeable, hindring, and ever likely to hinder the main benefits of
conjugall society, which are solace and peace, is a greater reason of divorce the nnaturall frigidity, especially if there be no children, and that there be mutuall consent.
(qtd. in Lewalski 164)
For these views he was soon reviled as a libertine. One woman, a sectarian preacher named Mrs. Attaway, immediately left her husband for another enthusiast, claiming they were both free from sin. A Ranter, John Robins, authorized his disciples to change spouses, and set the example by changing his own wife (Forsyth 87).
Milton also complained that chastity is a punishment, as lacking in experience will make men prone to errors in judgement that will have a lifetime of consequences, as opposed to men who have lived loosely, but gained enough experience to choose a compatiable mate.
The sobrest and best govern'd men are least practiz'd in these affairs; and who knowest not that the bashfull mutenes of a virgin may oft-times hide all the unlivelines and naturall sloth which is really unfit for conversation; nor is there that freedom of accesse granted or presum'd, as may suffice to a perfect discerning till too late: and where any indisposition is suspected, what
more usuall then the perswasion of friends, that acquaintance, as it increases, will amend all. And lastly, it is not strange though many who have spent their
youth chastly, are in some things not so quick-sighted, while they hast too eagerly to
light the nuptiall torch; nor is it therefore that for a modest error a man should forfeit so great a happines, and no charitable means to release him.
Milton argues that marriage is meant to increase happiness, and should not cause misery and suffering; “for not to be belov’d & yet retain’d, is the greatest injury to a gentle spirit.” During this period, Milton also tried to marry someone else, claiming he was free to do so since his marriage should have been ended. Milton’s book was called thoroughly wicked and deserving to be burnt for its “atheistical opinions.” In 1644, Milton’s friend Roger Williams wrote a tract in favor of religious toleration (The Bloody Tenent of Persecution), arguing against persecution for causes of conscience alone. His opponents lumped him together with Milton for having
“heretical” opinions. Ephraim Pagitt wrote that extremists “preach, print, and practice their hereticall opinions openly; for books, vide the bloody Tenent, witness a tractate of divorce in which the bonds are let loose to inordinate lust” (qtd. in Bryson 12). For months, Milton was linked to calls for a suppression of heresy, and to enforce the licensing of books (like his). In response, he developed a defense of free speech and freedom of the press.
2.7 Areopagitica (1644)
In Areopagitica, Milton argues for the freedom to expression opinions, as well as the unregulated printing of ideas. “Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties.” He claims there is no danger in printing everything, because if Truth and
Falsehood Grapple, Truth will always win. He also makes the claim that a man can be a heretic even when holding the right opinions, if he believes them simply because his pastor told him to (instead of discovering them for himself). Milton argues that licensing is “a dishonour and derogation to the author, to the book, to the priviledge and dignity of Learning.” It is worth reflecting on the following
necessary to give into or expose yourself to temptation, because knowledge is something that must be fought for and won.
I cannot praise a fugitive and cloistered virtue, unexercised and unbreathed, that never sallies out and sees her adversary, but slinks out of the race where that immortal garland is to be run for, not without dust and heat
Milton published two more divorce tracts in 1645. The war was going well for Parliament under its lieutenant-general, Cromwell, with his new model army. William Laud, archbishop of
Canterbury, was executed for treason in January 1645, and the office of bishop was abolished a year later.
In June 1645, Charles suffered a crippling defeat at the Battle of Nasebay. Milton took a larger house near London, but Mary’s family the Powells, seeing that Charles was doing poorly, arranged for Mary to return to Milton, begging forgiveness. They moved into the new house in October, and seem to have settled their differences. In 1646 their first daughter was born.
Meanwhile, the Parliamentarians sieged the Royalist forces at Oxford, but King Charles snuck out of the city in disguise and turned himself over to Scottish forces. In 1647, the Scots handed over Charles to the Parliamentarians in return for £100,000 and withdrew from England.
Charles was held prisoner at Holmby House in Northamptonshire, where he continued to plot for the restoration of his power. He briefly escaped, but was re-imprisoned on the Isle of Wight, where he continued to try and make deals, including an agreement with the Scots to invade England and restore him to the throne. The Royalist forces rose up in 1648, starting the Second Civil War, but Cromwell’s New Model Army defeated them and consolidated England.
The Parliament agreed to re-open negotiations with the king, but Cromwell and the army, frustrated with the political maneuvering, wanted to arrest the king and try him for treason. In
December, they arrested members of Parliament who opposed them, and the remaining
members (the Rump Parliament) indicted King Charles on January 1st, 1649. The Chief Justices of the three common law courts refused to try the king, so the Rump Common declared itself capable of legislating alone and established a High Court of Justice. Of the 135 commissioners, only 68 attended the trial of Charles for high treason and “other high crimes.” Charles refused to enter a plea, claiming that no court had jurisdiction over a monarch. On January 27th, King Charles I was found “guilty of all the treasons, murders, rapines, burnings, spoils, desolations, damages and mischiefs to this nation, acted and committed in the said wars, or occasioned
thereby.” On January 30th, King Charles I was beheaded at Whitehall on a scaffold set up in front of the Banqueting House. England had held the first modern revolution and became a republic.
Milton had been watching the political situation with interest, and began writing the Tenure of Kings and Magistrates to defend the acts of the army and justify the existing government. It was published just a few weeks after the King’s death.