Jacob Hyde

Thesis title:

'The Mad Crew': the Ranters and the Rhetoric of Madness (1648-1660)

This thesis examines the writings of the Ranters, a group of dissenting Protestants that emerged during the English Commonwealth (1649-1660), in terms of how they registered and interacted with contemporary perceptions of madness. In this period as in centuries to come, dissenters were abused and discredited through allegations of mental illness. Yet the Ranters accepted this accusation. Abiezer Coppe (1649) addresses himself not only to those with ‘a soft heart’ but also ‘a soft place in [their] head’. This embracing of irrationality becomes evident in their rhetoric. Within one page, Laurence Clarkson (1650) can both state that his argument is ‘by Reason is confirmed, and by Scripture declared’ and that ‘the censures of Scripture, Churches, Saints, and Devils, are no more to me than the cut[t]ing off of a Dogs neck’. With the tools of historicism and close-reading, this thesis shows how contemporary perceptions of madness were not only registered within Ranter writings, but also actively transformed and rhetorically utilised.

Research Area

English Language and Literature
Languages and Literature

Conferences

'The Magician's Dogsbody: Caliban and his Stage Predecessors', presented at the British Graduate Shakespeare Seminar 2023.
'"Barren Metal": Posthumanism and The Merchant of Venice in Tom King and Gabriel Walta's The Vision', presented at Comics Forum 2024.
'"try'd by visions": Distempers, Dreams, and Enthusiasm in Paradise Lost', presented at British Milton Seminar 70, 2025.
'"Certain Giddy Brained Men": The Language of Anti-Enthusiasm in the Early Modern Period', presented at the Renaissance Society of America Conference, Boston, 2025.

Public Engagement & Impact

I am a 'Brilliant Club' tutor and have taught my own 6-week course, 'Fiery Flying Rolls: the Radicals of the English Commonwealth', to students ages 13-15 at a number of local secondary schools:

Bristnall Hall Academy, Oldbury (2023)
Arthur Terry School, Birmingham (2024)
Thorns Collegiate Academy, Brierly Hill (2024)
Q3 Academy, Tipton (2025)

I have also worked with local primary schools, leading Shakespeare workshops on The Tempest and Macbeth at The King Alfred School, Dudley, and teaching a lesson on Macbeth at Our Lady and St. Kenelm Roman Catholic School, Halesowen.

Other Research Interests

The supernatural in the early modern period.

The work and thought of John Milton.

The reception of early modern literature in comic books and science fiction.