James Harrington (author)

James Harrington
James Harrington, portrait by Sir Peter Lely, ca.1658, National Portrait Gallery, London
James Harrington, portrait by Sir Peter Lely, ca.1658, National Portrait Gallery, London
Born(1611-01-03)3 January 1611
Upton, Northamptonshire, England
Died11 September 1677(1677-09-11) (aged 66)
Little Ambry, Dean's Yard, Westminster, England
Resting placeSt Margaret's, Westminster
LanguageEnglish
NationalityEnglish
Citizenship Kingdom of England (1611–1649; 1660–1677)
 Commonwealth of England (1649–1660)
EducationTrinity College, Oxford
PeriodEuropean wars of religion
GenreUtopian fiction
SubjectUtopia, Republicanism
Notable worksThe Commonwealth of Oceana

James Harrington (or Harington) (3 January 1611 – 11 September 1677) was an English political theorist of classical republicanism.[1] He is best known for his controversial publication The Commonwealth of Oceana (1656). This work was an exposition of an ideal constitution, a utopia, designed to facilitate the development of the English republic established after the regicide, the execution of Charles I in 1649.

  1. ^ "England's premier civic humanist and Machiavellian. He was not the first to think about English politics in these terms..., but he was the first to achieve a paradigmatic restatement of English political understanding in the language and world-view inherited through Machiavelli." Pocock, "Intro", p. 15.