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John Milton (9 December 1608 O.S. – 8 November 1674) was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell. He wrote at a time of religious flux and political upheaval, and is best known for his epic poem Paradise Lost.
Milton's poetry and prose reflect deep personal convictions, a passion for freedom and self-determination, and the urgent issues and political turbulence of his day. Writing in English, Latin, and Italian, he achieved international renown within his lifetime, and his celebrated Areopagitica, (written in condemnation of pre-publication censorship) is among history's most influential and impassioned defenses of free speech and freedom of the press.
John Milton in 1632[]
John Milton was imprisoned in the early days of Charles I of England's preemptive strike against those who had contributed in any way to his execution in the OTL. Milton became a victim of what was called "Charles' Purge" due to political writings he had made in the 1640s.
During his imprisonment, Milton shared a cell for a night with Gregory Norton, a baronet of Nova Scotia, who was convinced his arrest was an error. This was not the case; Norton was beheaded the next day while Milton was forced to watch.
Shortly after the execution, Milton was approached by Thomas Wentworth with an offer. Wentworth allowed Milton access to the entire body of his OTL work, and gave him the choice of refuting his political writings and becoming a propagandist for Charles or facing the chopping block. Realizing his encounter with Norton, including having been being forced to watch him die, had been part of Wentworth's manipulations, Milton initially refused.
Milton also realized that he agreed with his OTL writings. Wentworth accused Milton of being a coward; of being afraid that he could never match his OTL works, and that the new history would remember him as a mediocrity. After thinking on this for a while, Milton began to write refutations of himself.
Note[]
What, if anything, Milton did after Wentworth's imprisonment remains unwritten.