The Divorce Tracts
During the civil war period Milton wrote over twenty pamphlets in defense of "three varieties of liberty," as he put it in 1654: "ecclesiastical liberty, domestic or personal liberty, and civil liberty." The five pamphlets on "domestic liberty" -- his so-called divorce tracts -- boldly argued for the liberty to choose a spouse and to choose again if that choice proved in error. His views were called "licentious, new and dangerous," and he was the subject of a Parliamentary inquiry. Contemporaries wanted the books suppressed, which may have contributed to his commitment to the freedom of the press.
Milton, The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce (1643)
It is often thought that difficulties in his first marriage to Mary Powell precipitated his writings on divorce, and biography may have played a role. But it is clear by his notes in the Commonplace Book that he was interested in the rules around marriage and divorce much earlier. Recent research has also shown that Milton's several divorce tracts are also in dialogue with current debates, and particularly the Westminster Assembly's efforts to reform the institution of marriage. These reveal Milton to be contributing to a national discussion much more than has been previously understood.
Milton, The Doctrine & Discipline of Divorce; Restor'd to the Good of Both Sexes...To the Parliament of England, with the Assembly. The author J. M. (1644)
The popular, though scandalous first edition of Milton's first divorce tract justified a significantly expanded second edition.
Milton, The Judgement of Martin Bucer, Concerning Divorce...To the Parlament of England...Publisht by Authoritie (Printed by Matthew Simmons, 1644)
In his effort to present divorce as a legitimate concern (and not the view of a heretic), Milton translated part of Martin Bucer's De Regno Christi -- On the Kingdom of Christ -- a work of theocratic politics that Bucer had written in England during the reign of Edward VI. Bucer was a major Reformation figure, imported to England in the early establishment of English Protestantism. Unlike other Miltonic tracts of the period, which were not licensed for publication, Milton could publish this tract "by Authority" -- no one would bar him from publishing a translation of a venerated figure. In this tract, Milton addresses the Parliament, as usual, but he gives up on the Presbyterian Westminster Assembly.
Colasterion: A Reply to a Nameles Answer against The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce (London, Printed in the year, 1645)
In August 1644, Stationers (the publishing guild) asked Parliament to enforce laws against unlicensed pamphlets, and demanded that the Committee on Printing hunt down "the Authors, Printers, and Publishers" of such pamphlets as those "Concerning Divorce." In November 1644, an anonymous (or "nameless") "Answer" to Milton's first divorce tract appeared. This response ("Colasterion" means "punishment") is a sharp rebuke.