Defiant Defoe

The 18th-century author earned a reputation campaigning against the king

By the time he had written and published Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe was already in his late 50s. It was an instant hit, prompting Defoe to write a sequel as well as several other novels, most notably Moll Flanders and Roxana. However, in his own lifetime, Defoe was best known as a firebrand political writer.

Raised as a nonconformist Protestant, Defoe devoted much of his energy to protesting the rule of the staunchly Catholic King James II. The writer even participated in the Monmouth Rebellion against the king in 1685, though he managed to escape punishment after the Battle of Sedgemoor. It did not go unnoticed how popular his writings were and when James was deposed in 1688, Defoe found himself as a part-time advisor to the new Protestant king, William

III (better remembered as William of Orange).

Defoe’s fortunes changed after William’s death in 1702. In May 1703, he was arrested for producing seditious libel thanks to his pamphlet The Shortestway With The Dissenters. Defoe had already been threatened with imprisonment for bankruptcy, and his financial situation did not improve after his release. He had no choice but to write propaganda for William’s successor, Queen Anne.

Unable to stay out of trouble, Defoe soon returned to his old ways and produced a number of political pamphlets that led to his imprisonment once again. He continued to write for the rest of his life. But despite his literary success, when Defoe died in 1731 aged 70, he was still drowning in debt.