Sir Robert Filmer

Robert Clark (The Literary Encyclopedia)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.04: English Writing and Culture of the Seventeenth Century, 1625-1688.
Vol. editors: Jennifer Brady (Rhodes College), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Neil Forsyth (Université de Lausanne), Claire Preston (Queen Mary, University of London), J A Roe (University of York), Virginia Mason Vaughan (Clark University)

Dates

Born c. 1588
Died 1653
Activity 1610-1653

Places

Born in England
Active in England

Activities

Primary

Political Philosopher

Resources

[Preliminary entry]. Sir Robert Filmer was born around 1588 and educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and at Lincoln's Inn. He was well placed in the court of Charles I and thus came to be knighted. Whilst he was too old to fight for the king during the Civil Wars he was briefly imprisoned as a Royalist and his house in East Sutton was sacked. Filmer died in 1653 and his importance was chiefly posthumous.

Filmer's political tracts, which were published between 1648 and 1653, were re-published by Tories who believed in the divine right of kings during the Exclusion Crisis of 1679-80. These included The Freeholder's Grand Inquest (1679), which argued that Parliament only sat at the king's will, and The anarchy of a …

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317 words

Citation: Clark, Robert. "Sir Robert Filmer". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 25 August 2005; last revised 29 January 2009. [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1529, accessed 23 November 2024.]

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