Putney Debates

Timeline

1. 1647Around the Putney camp · LondonParliament ordered the New Model Army disbanded and avoided addressing arrears and indemnity legislation; the army refused. Grandees proposed the Heads of the Proposals, seeking settlement while retaining the king and Lords' veto. Some cavalry regiments elected new agitators, issued the 'True Representation of the Army,' and drafted the constitutional 'Agreement of the People,' demanding broader suffrage, parliamentary re-election, and several inalienable 'born free' rights.
2. 1647Church of St Mary, Putney · LondonFairfax was absent due to illness; Cromwell presided over the General Council. Rainsborough argued that all under government jurisdiction should consent to it, opposing property as a prerequisite for suffrage; Ireton said those without a 'fixed interest' should not share in disposing of state affairs. Civilian advisors John Wildman, Maximilian Petty, and agitator Edward Sexby supported the Agreement of the People. The two sides failed to agree on suffrage or the king's future.
3. 1647Corkbush Field (Ware) · HertfordshireOn Nov 8 senior officers ordered agitators back to their regiments in the name of restoring discipline, effectively suspending the debates. On Nov 11 Charles I fled Hampton Court. On Nov 15 at Corkbush Field near Ware, two uninvited regiments arrived protesting with the Agreement of the People; Fairfax and Cromwell suppressed the mutiny. Thereafter the General Council turned to non-political petitions such as demands for pay, and the Levellers' institutional proposals never became the basis of a formal settlement.