Now that's an insult

I wrote last time about Praise-God Barebones, a Puritan, sort of, who lent his name to an ancient session of Parliament. That might sound like an honor, but as we'll see, there's more to the story.

Barebones, who is also referred to as Barbon, sort of appears in England. He was probably born a couple of years shy of 1600, and most of his early life is a matter of speculation because of the lack of written documentation. 

He served an apprenticeship as a leather seller, and we have a document showing that he became a freeman and a member of the Leathersellers Company in 1623. He became a member of a non-Anglican congregation sometime close to 1632.

This congregation is sometimes referred to as a Baptist congregation, and Barebones was once accused of being an Anabaptist, the older precursors of Baptists who favored adult baptism and required those baptized as infants to be rebaptized as adults.

Barebones was certainly not an Anabaptist as he would later pen a work defending infant baptism. He also authored a piece condemning bishops and the Book of Common Prayer, which did not enamor him to supporters of the Anglican church. 

While he was a member of this possibly Baptist congregation, a dispute arose over adult baptism, and the congregation decided to split after Barebone preached a sermon on the issue that riled some of the congregation. Barebones led about half the congregation to another meeting place -- either warehouse or his house, depending on who's telign the story --and began holding services. 

He was apparently a well-liked pastor and something of a firebrand preacher. He attracted a significant following. Eventually he would join a movement known as the Fifth Monarchists, whom we'll explore in more depth next time. 

England in the first half of the 17th century underwent much political upheaval, which produced a couple of wars. Charles I reigned after the death of his father James I -- the King James Bible guy -- but was not popular and was suspected of Catholic sympathiess. That happens when you marry a Catholic. 

Charles would be opposed by Parliament and would come to find himself accused of treason. He was rapidly conviceted and beheaded, leaving a void in leadership that would be filled by men who opposed the monarchy, many of whom held to Puritan theology. Under the leadership of Oliver Cromwell, these forces successfully blocked Charles' son from becoming the new king. 

Cromwell put together a council to rule the nation and sought nominations to the an assembly that would function as a lawmaking body. The candidates came from several groups, including Puritan and other dissenting congregations, resulting in a distinct religious focus to their meetings.  From these nominations Cromwell appointed 140 men, including Barebones, to the council. In an early meeting, the group voted to call themselves a Parliament, even though no one had been elected to the assembly.

Cromwell told the assembly at its opening session that the members had a divine calling to take on the governing of the nation. And although they did manage to pass some useful legislation, the body's deliberations broke down over religious issues, including a proposal to require all citizens to tithe, the money to be used to support Anglican clergy. 

Proceedings became so contentious that little was being acccomplished and critics of the whole enterprise began public sniping. This is where Praise-God-Barebones comes in. Did he become a dominating figure proposing compromises to advance legistlation? Did he make impassioned speeches to convince opposition of the rightness of causes he espoused? Did he do anything noteworthy at all?

The answer seems to be "Nope." The assembly's critics simply latched onto his unusual name and tradesman background, using him as an example of what the critics considered to be the epitome of these rude, crude delegates they considered most of the assembly to be. 

Not a very glorious reason to go down in history.

Next time we'll look a bit more closely at the religious aspects of what some Brits prefer to call The Nominated Assembly.