LODOWICK MUGGLETON - NATIVE OF CHIPPENHAM? 103 
Muggleton’s own accounts, written after Reeve’s 
death. The possibility should not be discounted 
that Muggleton’s version of events was skewed, 
taking for himself the pivotal role that led to the 
sect’s foundation. William Braithwaite described 
Reeve as the Moses of the sect with Muggleton as 
his Aaron,*® and Christopher Hill also disagreed 
with Gordon’s view as, in his opinion, every 
significant doctrine of the Muggletonians was to be 
found in Reeve’s writings. In his lifetime the books 
Reeve published were attributed only to him, and 
Muggleton’s association with them only came 
later.” It was Reeve who formulated the six 
foundations of what was to become Muggletonian 
theory. According to Hill Muggleton’s own original 
contributions to theology were ‘puerile or non- 
existent’.** While agreeing with the need to respect 
Reeve’s prime role as a co-founder of the sect 
William Lamont has taken issue with Hill’s 
assessment of Muggleton’s abilities. He emphasised 
the continuity of the doctrine after Reeve’s death 
together with Muggleton’s practical extensions of 
Reeve’s ‘six principles’, as well as detailing 
Muggleton’s written contributions to the religious 
debate.” 
Whatever the true origins of the sect’s founding 
Reeve’s death deprived Muggleton of his influence 
and left him to carry on their work alone. 
Thereafter, Muggleton believed that God had given 
him a special commission ‘to curse or bless all to 
eternity, ’ and that once he had dispensed his curse 
or blessing there could be no remedy, no matter 
what. He continued to meet with his adherents and 
to publish his opinions for many years after Reeve’s 
death. After his trial and imprisonment in 1677 
Muggleton seems to have opted for a quieter life, 
perhaps in accordance with the terms of the sureties 
he gave on his release from Newgate. He died in 
London ‘on 14 March 1697/8, at the age of 88 years 
7 months and 14 days’. 
Having identified who Lodowick Muggleton 
was, and why he was considered to be the ‘Great 
Imposter, the last and most puzzling question 
remains. Why was he thought to hail from 
Chippenham? The baptismal evidence immediately 
debunks the myth that he was born in the town, yet 
local tradition continues to link him with it. The 
early members of WANHS certainly took a 
proprietorial interest in his activities, even though 
the Muggletonian sect did not take root in the 
county. Raphael Samuel has pointed out that 
historians ignore oral traditions at their peril, as 
they can help to expose the silences and deficiency 
of the written record.*! There seems to be no 
surviving documentary evidence to identify where 
young Lodowick passed his formative years apart 
from his own statement that he was sent to live with 
‘strangers in the country’. I have been at pains to 
question any actual family relationship with John 
Reeve, although I would not entirely dismiss the 
possibility. It is an admittedly tenuous link, but if 
Reeve did come from Wiltshire, and was the son of 
Walter, he might well have been related to the Reeve 
families found in the Chippenham and Calne area, 
and so perhaps he is the key to the local legend. 
Jackson’s and Daniell’s claims for a Chippenham 
connection for Muggleton, based on sources they 
failed to identify, would seem more plausible if a 
blood relationship existed with a Wiltshire born 
John Reeve. Despite the lack of corroborative 
evidence most twentieth-century historians seem to 
have accepted unquestioningly the ‘fact’ given in 
the D.N.B. that the co-founders of the 
Muggletonians were members of the same extended 
family.’? Alexander Gordon seems to have preferred 
to take the term ‘cousin’ at its face value rather than 
to ascertain its meaning in context in The Acts of the 
Fig. 2 Lodowick Muggleton” 
