Abiezer Coppe facts for kids

Abiezer Coppe (born 1619 – died 1672) was an English writer who shared his religious ideas through pamphlets. He was part of a group called the Ranters, who had very strong and sometimes unusual religious beliefs during a time of big changes in England.

Abiezer Coppe was born in Warwick on May 20, 1619. He went to The King's School, Warwick and later studied at All Souls College, Oxford and Merton College, Oxford.

One of Coppe's most famous writings was called Fiery Flying Roll, published in 1649. This book was a powerful message against inequality and people who didn't practice what they preached. It showed the intense and spiritual feelings that were common in England during the English Civil War and the time after it, known as the English Interregnum.

Coppe's ideas were not popular with everyone. Both the King's supporters (Royalists) and the Parliament's supporters disliked his views. Soon after Fiery Flying Roll was published, he was put in Newgate Prison, and his book was publicly burned.

After some time, Coppe was released from prison. He then published another work called Coppe's return to the ways of righteousness. In this book, he seemed to take back some of his earlier, more radical ideas, but he also added a few new ones! Like other thinkers of his time, such as Lodowick Muggleton and Gerrard Winstanley (who led the Diggers movement), Coppe believed in a society where everyone was equal. He also had strong religious visions about the end of the world and a new beginning.

Around 1657, Abiezer Coppe seemed to change his name to Dr. Higham. He was buried under that name at Barnes church on August 23, 1672.

See also

• Christian anarchism
• English Dissenters
• Religion in the United Kingdom