Praise-God Barebone () was an English

leather Leather is a strong, flexible and durable material obtained from the tanning, or chemical treatment, of animal skins and hides to prevent decay. The most common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine animals, buffalo, pigs and hogs, ...

-seller,

preacher A preacher is a person who delivers sermons or homilies on religious topics to an assembly of people. Less common are preachers who preach on the street, or those whose message is not necessarily religious, but who preach components such as a ...

, and

Fifth Monarchist The Fifth Monarchists, or Fifth Monarchy Men, were a Protestant sect which advocated Millennialist views, active during the 1649 to 1660 Commonwealth. Named after a prophecy in the Book of Daniel that Four Monarchies would precede the Fifth or ...

. He is best known for giving his name to the

Barebone's Parliament Barebone's Parliament, also known as the Little Parliament, the Nominated Assembly and the Parliament of Saints, came into being on 4 July 1653, and was the last attempt of the English Commonwealth to find a stable political form before the inst ...

of the

English Commonwealth The Commonwealth was the political structure during the period from 1649 to 1660 when England and Wales, later along with Ireland and Scotland, were governed as a republic after the end of the Second English Civil War and the trial and execut ...

of 1653.

Early life

Little is known of Barebone's early life. Writing in 2001, Nicholas Tyacke speculated that he may have been the son of John Barebone, rector of

Charwelton Charwelton is a village and civil parish about south of Daventry in Northamptonshire, England. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population (including Fawsley) as 220. The villages name means 'River Cherwell farm/settlement'. The present ...

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

, by his marriage to Mary Roper of

Daventry Daventry ( , historically ) is a market town and civil parish in the West Northamptonshire unitary authority in Northamptonshire, England, close to the border with Warwickshire. At the 2021 Census Daventry had a population of 28,123, making ...

, and that he probably had an older brother called Fear-God (who is known to have been a minor poet) but this possibility lacks supporting evidence because the Charwelton

parish register A parish register in an ecclesiastical parish is a handwritten volume, normally kept in the parish church in which certain details of religious ceremonies marking major events such as baptisms (together with the dates and names of the parents), ma ...

for that period has been lost. The first that is known about him is that he became a freeman of the

Leathersellers' Company The Worshipful Company of Leathersellers is one of the Livery company, livery companies of the City of London. The organisation originates from the latter part of the fourteenth century and received its Royal Charter in 1444, and is therefore t ...

in January 1623, having served an eight- or nine-year apprenticeship. He was elected a warden of the yeomanry of the leather-sellers in 1630, and a liveryman in 1634. In 1630 he married his wife Sarah, with whom he later had at least one son,

Nicholas Barbon Nicholas Barbon ( 1640 – 1698) was an English economist, physician, and financial speculator. Historians of mercantilism consider him to be one of the first proponents of the free market. In the aftermath of the Great Fire of London, he b ...

, who would later become a noteworthy economist. There is some confusion over the use of the

hortatory In linguistics, hortative modalities (; abbreviated ) are verbal expressions used by the speaker to encourage or discourage an action. Different hortatives can be used to express greater or lesser intensity, or the speaker's attitude, for or a ...

name 'Unless-Jesus-Christ-Had-Died-For-Thee-Thou-Hadst-Been-Damned' in the Barebone family. One source claims this was Praise-God's baptismal name; others claim this was his brother's name; and more modern sources claim a variant on this name was given to his son Nicholas.

Religion

By 1632, Barebone had joined the semi-separatist congregation founded in 1616 by Henry Jacob, later to be led by John Lathrop and then, from 1637, by Henry Jessey. By December 1641 he had begun preaching to audiences at his premises at the Lock and Key, at the lower end of

Fleet Street Fleet Street is a major street mostly in the City of London. It runs west to east from Temple Bar at the boundary with the City of Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the London Wall and the River Fleet from which the street was na ...

near Fetter Lane. On 19 December of that year, his sermon against bishops and the ''

Book of Common Prayer The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the name given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The original book, published in 1549 in the reign ...

'' attracted hostile attention from apprentices, who smashed the premises' windows. Some of Barebone's congregation were taken to the

Bridewell prison Bridewell Palace in London was built as a residence of King Henry VIII and was one of his homes early in his reign for eight years. Given to the City of London Corporation by his son King Edward VI for use as an orphanage and place of correc ...

, others to the Counters, and still others made their escape over the roof-tops, while the crowd was left to destroy his shop-sign. The following month more than fifty people, including many members or former members of Jessey's church, were rebaptised by immersion, in London. Barebone strongly disagreed with these advocates of believers' baptism, and within a few weeks he issued ''A Discourse Tending to Prove the Baptism ... to be the Ordinance of Jesus Christ''. The claim that Barebone himself was an

Anabaptist Anabaptism (from New Latin language, Neo-Latin , from the Greek language, Greek : 're-' and 'baptism', german: Täufer, earlier also )Since the middle of the 20th century, the German-speaking world no longer uses the term (translation: "Re- ...

is likely to derive from post-

Restoration Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration * Restoration ecology ...

critics. A second work, ''A Reply to the Frivolous and Impertinent Answer of RB'', was published in the spring of 1643. In the next few years Barebone was involved in conflicts with those who controlled the vestry of St. Dunstan-in-the-West, and with Francis Kemp, the lawyer who acted for them. Barebone later joined the sect known as the

Fifth Monarchists The Fifth Monarchists, or Fifth Monarchy Men, were a Protestant sect which advocated Millennialist views, active during the 1649 to 1660 Commonwealth. Named after a prophecy in the Book of Daniel that Four Monarchies would precede the Fifth or e ...

, known for their

millenarianism Millenarianism or millenarism (from Latin , "containing a thousand") is the belief by a religious, social, or political group or movement in a coming fundamental transformation of society, after which "all things will be changed". Millenariani ...

Appointment to the Nominated Assembly

In July 1653 Barebone was appointed to sit as a representative of the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...

in the Nominated Assembly, a body set up after the expulsion of the

Rump Parliament The Rump Parliament was the English Parliament after Colonel Thomas Pride commanded soldiers to purge the Long Parliament, on 6 December 1648, of those members hostile to the Grandees' intention to try King Charles I for high treason. "Rump" n ...

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three Ki ...

. The Assembly, whose members were chosen by Cromwell and the Army Council instead of being elected, soon became known as

to its many critics, Barebone proving a likely target due to his name and his apparently humble origins. Although he was never chosen to sit in the Assembly's Council of State, Barebone was an active member. He sat on a committee on

tithes A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash or cheques or more r ...

set up on 19 July 1653, and he was also one of the first members of the committee established on 19 August to consider law reform. In late July he was tasked with placating large numbers of women who were demonstrating at Westminster in support of

John Lilburne John Lilburne (c. 161429 August 1657), also known as Freeborn John, was an English people, English political Leveller before, during and after the English Civil Wars 1642–1650. He coined the term "''freeborn, freeborn rights''", defining them ...

Later career

Barebone was elected to the Common Council of the

for the year 1657 and re-elected until 1660. After the restoration of the

, he was nominated to the London militia committee under the Act of 7 July 1659. In 1660, Barebone endeavoured to prevent the

of the English monarchy. He published

Marchamont Needham Marchamont Nedham, also Marchmont and Needham (1620 – November 1678), was a journalist, publisher and pamphleteer during the English Civil War who wrote official news and propaganda for both sides of the conflict. A "highly productive propagand ...

's book ''News from Brussels in a Letter from a Near Attendant on His Majesty's Person...'', which related unfavourable anecdotes about the prospective king of England, Charles II. Along with other "well-affected citizens" in London, he also presented an address to the Rump Parliament in February 1660 urging that they "use all possible Endeavours to prevent the Commonwealth's Adversaries in this their most dangerous Stratagem" and subsequently received the thanks of the House. When the same Parliament had its secluded members of 1648 readmitted, paving the way for the Restoration, celebratory bonfires were lit in London by young Apprentices, and Barebone "had but little thanks of the boyes, for they broke all his glass windows that belonged to the front of his house".Thomas Rugg, ed. William L. Sachse, ''The Diurnal of Thomas Rugg 1659-1661'' (1961), p. 39 In July 1660, following the Restoration, a royalist tract called ''The Picture of the Good Old Cause Drawn to the Life'' reprinted a petition he had made in February calling for Members of Parliament to deny rule by Charles II or any other single person. As a result of these views, he was arrested on 25 November 1661 and charged with treason alongside James Harrington and

Samuel Moyer Samuel Moyer (c. 1609–1683) was an English merchant and politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1653. He was a strong republican and supporter of the Parliamentary cause in the English Civil War. Biography Moyer was a merchant in the C ...

. He was then imprisoned in the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is separa ...

. He was freed on 27 July 1662 after a petition from his wife pleading his illness. In 1666, his premises were one of the most westerly buildings to be engulfed in the

Great Fire of London The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through central London from Sunday 2 September to Thursday 6 September 1666, gutting the medieval City of London inside the old Roman city wall, while also extending past the ...

. Barebone died at the end of 1679 and was buried on 5 January 1680 in the parish of St. Andrew Holborn.

Works

*''A Discourse tending to prove ... Baptism ... to be the ordinance of Jesus Christ. As also that the Baptism of Infants is warentable''. 1642. The preface indicates Barebone's religious tolerance. *''A Reply to the Frivolous and Impertinent answer of R.B. and E.B. to the Discourse of P.B.''. 1643. *''Good Things to Come''. 1675. In this Barebone looked forward to the imminent arrival of

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

: "his kingdom and reign shall be outward, and visible on earth... when he shall come the second time, in power and great glory" (p. 10).

Family

His eldest son was the economist

Notes

References

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Barebone, Praise-God 1590s births 1679 deaths English MPs 1653 (Barebones) Fifth Monarchists Writers from London Prisoners in the Tower of London