Joseph Salmon
Encyclopedia
Joseph Salmon was a significant English religious and political writer of the middle of the seventeenth century.
, leaving it in 1649. A Rout, A Rout contained criticism of the Parliamentary leadership. He was arrested in 1650, and imprisoned in Coventry
, with a six-month sentence; and cashiered from the Army.
After 1650 he was for a time a minister in Kent
. He left Kent and went abroad in the middle of 1655. He later emigrated to Barbados
.
, from 1648/9, who identified him as one of the Ranters. Who exactly the Ranters were is now a topic of scholarly debate, and it is suggested Fox may have supplied that name later; Christopher Hill considers Salmon to have belonged to the ‘mystical and quietist wing’ of the Ranters.
Salmon's last known work is Heights in Depths, from 1651, an apparent if partial recantation, written to fulfil a promise he had made to secure release from jail; he then fell silent as an author. He became a Quaker.
Life
He served in the New Model ArmyNew Model Army
The New Model Army of England was formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians in the English Civil War, and was disbanded in 1660 after the Restoration...
, leaving it in 1649. A Rout, A Rout contained criticism of the Parliamentary leadership. He was arrested in 1650, and imprisoned in Coventry
Coventry
Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although...
, with a six-month sentence; and cashiered from the Army.
After 1650 he was for a time a minister in Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
. He left Kent and went abroad in the middle of 1655. He later emigrated to Barbados
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...
.
A Ranter?
He was known to the Quaker George FoxGeorge Fox
George Fox was an English Dissenter and a founder of the Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as the Quakers or Friends.The son of a Leicestershire weaver, Fox lived in a time of great social upheaval and war...
, from 1648/9, who identified him as one of the Ranters. Who exactly the Ranters were is now a topic of scholarly debate, and it is suggested Fox may have supplied that name later; Christopher Hill considers Salmon to have belonged to the ‘mystical and quietist wing’ of the Ranters.
Salmon's last known work is Heights in Depths, from 1651, an apparent if partial recantation, written to fulfil a promise he had made to secure release from jail; he then fell silent as an author. He became a Quaker.
Views
His views were pantheistic, taking an allegorical-psychological view of the interpretation of the Bible.Works
- Anti-Christ in Man (1647)
- A Rout, A Rout (1649)
- Divinity Anatomized (1649)
- Heights in Depths (1651)
External links
- Adventurous History page
- Nigel Smith, http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/37930‘Salmon, Joseph (fl.FloruitFloruit , abbreviated fl. , is a Latin verb meaning "flourished", denoting the period of time during which something was active...
1647–1656)’], Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008, accessed 4 Aug 2008