Robinson’s economic and religious thought bore the imprint of his stay in the Tuscan port city of Livorno.
[4] In politics he with Henry Parker lent support in 1649 to Parliament in the debate over 'engagement', an oath to be required affirming the legitimacy of the Parliamentary regime.
[5] In the same year he was appointed to government administrative positions, dealing with accounts and sale of crown lands, and in 1650 with farm rents and acting as secretary to the excise commissioners.
Robinson was an associate of Hartlib, and provided a limited implementation of a grand reformist scheme, which drew also on the French model of Théophraste Renaudot that had operated by then for 20 years.
[10] In England, Robinson published several texts between 1643 and 1646 that were grounded in a secular, sceptical and Independent line, at a moment when the Presbyterian church threatened to impose its rigid and intolerant dogma.