He was born in
Warwick on 20 May 1619, and was a pupil of Thomas Dugard at
The King's School, Warwick. From there he went to
All Souls College, Oxford and also
Merton College, Oxford. One of Coppe's major works is the
Fiery Flying Roll of 1649, a (highly
heretical) tirade against inequality and hypocrisy which vividly evokes the charged and visionary atmosphere that swept over England during the civil war and
interregnum. While Coppe's views were unpopular with Royalists, they were equally disliked by Parliamentarians, and shortly after the
Fiery Flying Roll was published he was imprisoned at
Newgate Prison in London, and the book burned. Coppe was later released and celebrated by publishing ''Coppe's return to the ways of righteousness'', in which he retracted his previous heresies, while adding a few more. Like
Lodowick Muggleton and the
Diggers' leader
Gerrard Winstanley, Coppe combined an egalitarian social vision with an apocalyptic religious one. In 1657 he apparently changed his name to Dr Higham, and was buried under that name at
Barnes church on 23 August 1672. ==Reception==