The Ranters: The Ideal Of The Seventeenth-Century

starting point, though some historians view them as an outgrowth of earlier seventeenth-century sentiments. Other historians posit and argue that the Ranters are a religious invention. Religious dissenters, such as the Quakers, needed scapegoats to explain the moral and social declination occurring in English society, creating the term Ranter. Writings and pamphlets from the period, though, clearly indicate that contemporaries believed select individuals truly adhered to the beliefs of Ranterism. On one occasion, though, George Fox said, “[I] reproved them for their blasphemous ways… [perceiving] they were Ranters.” The prophet John Muggleton recalls debating two specific Ranters within London, indicating “one his Name was Proudlove, …show more content…
As the historian G. F. S. Ellens argued, the Ranters were “…not a [traditional] movement towards a [true] goal,” but instead emblemized “a [complete] repulsion from English society.” Ranterism remained a movement of counter-culturalism defined by religious pretexts and principles. Ranterism formed around a common set of beliefs, symbols, and understandings, fostering the formation of an imagined community. Although Ranterism was less organized than its fellow dissenter movements, a network of correspondence developed amongst those who adhered to Ranter principles. Joseph Salmon wrote to his fellow Ranter Thomas Webbe wishing him “damnable well, because I dearly love you,” indicating a level of communal love amongst Ranters. Despite his confinement in Newgate Prison, Abiezer Coppe wrote to his fellow dissenters “Mr. Salmon, Mr. Wike, and Mr. Butler” indicating his condition and saluting “all the Saints in the Goale,” acknowledging fellow Ranters. Alongside the publication of tracts, this correspondence network would form the foundation for the development of an imagined community, allowing for the wide dissemination of Ranter