The Agitators were a political movement as well as elected representatives of soldiers, including members of the

New Model Army The New Model Army was a standing army formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians during the First English Civil War, then disbanded after the Stuart Restoration in 1660. It differed from other armies employed in the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Th ...

under Lord General Fairfax, during the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I (" Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of r ...

. They were also known as ''adjutators''. Many of the ideas of the movement were later adopted by the Levellers.

History

''Agitators'', or ''adjutators'', was the name given to representatives elected in 1647 by the different regiments of the English Parliamentary army. The word really means an agent, but it was confused with "adjutant," often called "agitant," a title familiar to the soldiers, and thus the form "adjutator" came into use. Early in 1647 the

Long Parliament The Long Parliament was an English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened for only three weeks during the spring of 1640 after an 11-year parliamentary absence. In Septe ...

wished either to disband many of the regiments or to send them to

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

. The soldiers, whose pay was largely in arrears, refused to accept either alternative, and eight of the cavalry regiments elected agitators, called at first commissioners, who laid their grievances before the three generals, and whose letter was read in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

on the 30 April 1647. The other regiments followed the example of the cavalry (nicknamed Ironsides), and the agitators, who belonged to the lower ranks of the army, were supported by many of the officers, who showed their sympathy by signing the ''Declaration of the army''. Fairfax,

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 ...

and other generals succeeded to some extent in pacifying the troops by promising the payment of arrears for eight weeks at once; but before the return of the generals to London parliament had again decided to disband the army, and soon afterwards fixed the 1 June as the date on which this process was to begin. Again alarmed, the agitators decided to resist; a mutiny occurred in one regiment and the attempt at disbandment failed. Then followed the seizure of King

Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...

Cornet Joyce Cornet George Joyce (born 1618) was a low-ranking officer in the Parliamentary New Model Army during the English Civil War. Between 2 and 5 June 1647, while the New Model Army was assembling for rendezvous at the behest of the recently formed ...

. The Agitators, with two officers from each regiment and the Generals formed a new body called the Army Council which after a meeting near

Newmarket, Suffolk Newmarket is a market town and civil parish in the West Suffolk district of Suffolk, England. Located (14 miles) west of Bury St Edmunds and (14 miles) northeast of Cambridge. It is considered the birthplace and global centre of thoroughbred h ...

on Friday 4 June 1647 issued "''A Solemne Engagement of the Army, under the Command of his Excellency Sir Thomas Fairfax''" to Parliament on 8 June making their concerns known, and also the constitution of the Army Council so that Parliament would understand that the discontent was army-wide and had the support of both officers and other ranks. This Engagement was read out to the army at a general meeting on 5 June. A few weeks later, there was another meeting while the army was camped at Thriplow Heath near

Royston Royston may refer to: Places Australia *Royston, Queensland, a rural locality Canada * Royston, British Columbia, a small hamlet England *Royston, Hertfordshire, a town and civil parish, formerly partly in Cambridgeshire * Royston, South Yorks ...

, the soldiers refused the offers made by Parliament, and the agitators demanded a march towards London and the "purging" of the House of Commons, which did not happen. Subsequent events are part of the general history of England. Gradually the agitators ceased to exist, but many of their ideas were adopted by the Levellers, who may perhaps be regarded as their successors. Gardiner says of them, "Little as it was intended at the time, nothing was more calculated than the existence of this elected body of agitators to give to the army that distinctive political and religious character which it ultimately bore".

References

Notes Bibliography * Endnotes: **

S. R. Gardiner Samuel Rawson Gardiner (4 March 1829 – 24 February 1902) was an English historian, who specialized in 17th-century English history as a prominent foundational historian of the Puritan revolution and the English Civil War. Life The son of ...

, ''History of the Great Civil War'', vols. iii. and iv. (London, 1905). {{Authority control Political activism