English civil war

Born on this day, Algernon Sidney was one of England's greatest revolutionaries “This hand, enemy to tyrants, by the sword seeks peace with liberty.” The second half of the seventeenth century was the great revolutionary period of British history.

Amidst the havoc of the English Civil War, the True Levellers movement called out boldly for social and economic equality – perhaps the most radical vision to come out of an already radical chapter of our island story.