This lecture, “William Penn after 300 Years: Paradoxes and Legacies of a Boundary-Spanner” was given by Andrew Murphy at Woodbrooke on June 21 2018.
2018 marks the 300th anniversary of the death of William Penn, and thus offers an ideal opportunity to revisit a figure at once both familiar and elusive, with a name recognized on both sides of the Atlantic but a checkered reputation due to a complex political career and perennial financial problems.
The talk draws on Andrew Murphy’s recent book Liberty, Conscience, and Toleration: The Political Thought of William Penn as well his forthcoming biography, William Penn: A Life.