Ranters

Ranters were a loosely defined group of radical religious dissenters active in mid-17th-century England, emerging during the English Civil War and the early Interregnum. The label was used by opponents to describe various preachers and lay adherents who claimed direct inspiration from the Holy Spirit and rejected established church authority and conventional social norms.

Beliefs and practices associated with the Ranters are diverse. They were linked to antinomianism, the belief that the saved are not bound by moral law, and they often asserted that inner revelation superseded external rites. Some Ranters preached personal liberty before God and challenged sacraments and church discipline. Contemporary accounts frequently allege immoral or libertine behavior, but evidence is fragmentary, and polemical descriptions may exaggerate or generalize.

Historical context and geography indicate that Ranters appeared in urban centers such as London during the 1640s and 1650s, amid political and religious upheaval. Rather than forming a single cohesive movement, they comprised a range of preachers and lay followers with similar but not identical ideas, making precise boundaries difficult to define.

Reception and historiography show that Ranters were strongly condemned by Parliament, the established churches, and many Puritan commentators. Because surviving sources largely come from opponents and pamphleteers, modern historians stress caution in interpreting their beliefs and emphasize the lack of a stable doctrine or organization.

Legacy is limited but notable in the context of English religious radicalism. The Ranters contributed to broader debates about religious liberty, morality, and dissent in early modern England and influenced later radical and dissenting currents, even as the term fell out of use.