A DESCRIPTION OF THE FAMOUS KINGDOME OF MACARIA:
A NEW INTERPRETATION
O DESCRIERE A FAIMOSULUI REGAT AL MACARIEI:
O NOUĂ INTERPRETARE[1]
Oana MATEI
Faculty of Humanistic, Political and Administrative Sciences
Western University “Vasile Goldis” of Arad, Romania
oanamatei@yahoo.com
Abstract
This paper attempts to describe and interpret one of the frequently quoted but rarely read seventeenth-century manifestoes. ‘A Description of the Famous Kingdome of Macaria’ is an expression of the utopian movement and an important manifesto of the Puritan movement in England. ‘Macaria’ originated inside the Hartlib circle, was anonymously published and for a long time was considered a work by Samuel Hartlib. Even if brief in terms of dimensions and less valuable from a literary point of view than other seventeenth-century utopias, Macaria and its author made an interesting contribution to the utopian literature, developing important moral and political ideas, promoting the value of ’eternal peace’ and popularizing some of the Baconian ideals. In my paper I will interpret this text in the wider context of the historical moment of the year 1641, the Baconianism of mid-seventeenth-century England and the subsequent millenarism of the ‘Puritan revolution’.
Key words: Hartlib circle, Puritan revolution, millenarism, ecclesiastical peace, the advancement of learning, social distribution.
Cuvinte cheie: Cercul lui Hartlib, Revoluţia puritană, pace religioasă, progresul cunoaşterii, distribuţie socială.
[1] I wish to address my special thanks to Dana Jalobeanu for her critical suggestions and for her help in elaborating the final form of this paper.