1. In fact, only one MP attended regularly–the radical Henry Marten, who, since absenting himself from the Commons some months earlier, had been roaming round the country with a small armed force, threatening to resist any attempts to restore the king to the throne: C.M. Williams, ‘The Anatomy of a Radical Gentleman: Henry Marten’, in Donald Pennington and Keith Thomas (eds.), Puritans and Revolutionaries (Oxford, 1978), p. 121. On the close connection between Marten and John Lilburne since late 1645
2. see J.T. Peacey, ‘John Lilburne and the Long Parliament’, HJ, 43 (2000), especially pp. 633, 639–42. As will be seen, Marten played a prominent part in framing the Agreement presented by the ‘sixteen’ to the council of officers.
3. John Lilburne, The Legall Fundamentall Liberties of the People of England (1649), pp. 32–3.
4. For example, see Barbara Taft, ‘The Council of Officers’ Agreement of the People, 1648/9’, HJ, 28 (1985), pp. 169–85;
5. Ian Gentles, The New Model Army in England,Ireland and Scotland, 1645–53 (Oxford, 1992), pp. 286 and 522 n. 121;