An Introduction

I stumbled across the Muggletonians and their founder, Lodowick Muggleton, while searching the Old Bailey Online for interesting cases to use as a basis for research topics for my historical methodology class. One of my fields of interest is religious history, so my search parameters involved "religious crimes against the king." Near the top of the list of search results was the trial of Lodowick Muggleton in 1677. For no better reason than the somewhat odd-sounding (to me) name - Muggleton - I selected this trial for my initial research.

 

Lodowick Muggleton (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

As it turns out, this trial was the first step down a wonderfully rich road of research into the religious (and political) world of Restoration London. There is a wealth of primary information on Muggleton from various perspectives, including many documents authored by Muggleton himself.

The titular phrase, "Monstrous Opinions," comes from Muggleton's recollection of the trial in his autobiography, the presiding magistrate using it to describe Muggleton's writings.

In this blog I will be discussing my research, questions, and resources moving forward. To give credit where it is due, I must first and foremost thank the website Muggletonian.org.uk. Mike Pettit has archived PDF scans of many Muggletonian documents, as well as those of their detractors and those who have studied this fascinating expression of religious nonconformism.

More to come soon,

Cheers!

- Rod