Richard Overton
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Richard Overton (c. 1599-1664) was an English pamphleteer and Leveller during the Civil War. Little is known of the early life of Overton, but he is believed to have matriculated at Queens' College, Cambridge, before working as an actor and playwright in Southwark. Here he picked up Leveller sympathies, and started publishing pamphlets against the Church of England and her bishops. Overton was persecuted by the government for his opinions, and twice imprisoned. In 1655 he fled to Flanders.
Overton's religious conviction was a purely materalistic one; he argued that the soul was perishable and died along with the body, being resurrected at the final judgement. Politically, he argued for the equality of all men. He was a fierce believer in popular sovereignty, and promoted the abolition of monarchy.
[edit] Selected works
Overton is believed to have published some 50 tracts, most anonymously. The following is a selection of his works:
- Articles of High Treason Exhibited against Cheapside Cross (1642)
- New Lambeth Fayre (1642)
- Mans Mortalitie (1644)
- An Arrow Against All Tyrants (1646)
- A Remonstrance of Many Thousand Citizens (1646)
- The Just Man in Bonds (1646)
- An Appeale from the Degenerate Representative Body The Commons... (1647)
- The Hunting of the Foxes (21 March 1649)
