John Harris, the Oxford Army Press, and the radicalizing process.

This paper aims to reconstruct the life, networks, and experiences of the Caroline actor-turned-printer and journalist, John Harris, the pen behind Mercurius Militaris, the most radical newsbook of the civil war period. It provides the first extensive biography of Harris's life, shedding new light on the role of his 'Oxford Press' in New Model Army politics in the crucial summer of 1647. The analysis of Harris's experiences in this paper supports the growing body of scholarship which has sought to redefine the interpretation of 'radicals' and 'radicalism' during the British civil wars; it stresses the importance of fluidity, uncertainty, and compromise in terms of both ideas and allegiances. But it also argues that Harris did undergo a radicalizing process, one which was anchored to his broader experiences and his engagement with print in particular. The collaborative and creative processes of producing printed texts, the amalgamating, compromising, and finessing of different ideas, as well as refining positions in response to other printed texts, forced Harris to think creatively about his own intellectual and political outlook. Harris's experiences, at least, drove him to adopt more and more extreme solutions to the political crises which he perceived to be afflicting the body politic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]