Henry Parker (writer)

Henry Parker (1604-1652) was an English barrister and political writer in the Parliamentarian cause.

He was a major figure as a propagandist and pamphleteer, "the most influential writer to defend the parliamentary cause in the 1640s". [Jeffrey Denys Goldsworthy, "The Sovereignty of Parliament: History and Philosophy" (1999), p. 97.] He provided the "ideological ballast for resistance", according to Geoffrey Robertson. [Geoffrey Robertson, "The Tyrannicide Brief" (2005), p. 89.] He operated on behalf of the "coalition" of aristocrats and gentry who took over in the Long Parliament. [Glenn Burgess, "The Politics of the Ancient Constitution: An Introduction to English Political Thought, 1603–1642" (1993), p. 187.] He formulated a theory of sovereignty for the side of Parliament in its conflict with Charles I of England, based on the consent of the people. [Lawrence Stone, "The Causes of the English Revolution, 1529-1642" (1986 edition), p. 53.]

Life

He was born in Ratton, Sussex, where his father Nicholas Parker was a justice of the peace and MP. Thomas Parker, who represented Seaford in the Long Parliament, was his brother. [Robert Zaller, "Henry Parker and the Regiment of True Government", Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 135, No. 2 (Jun., 1991), pp. 255-285.] His background was Winchester College, St. Edmund Hall, Oxford (M.A. 1628) and Lincoln's Inn (called to the bar in 1637). He was a nephew, by marriage, and associate of William Fiennes, 1st Viscount Saye and Sele, and his early works are close to the direct political concerns of this patron.Richard Tuck, "Philosophy and Government 1572-1651" (1993), p. 227.] [Jason Peacey, "Politicians and Pamphleteers: Propaganda During the English Civil Wars and Interregnum" (2004), pp. 113-5.]

He was secretary to the Parliamentary Army in 1642, and secretary to the House of Commons with John Sadler in 1645."Concise Dictionary of National Biography"] [Robert Brenner, "Merchants and Revolution: Commercial Change, Political Conflict, and London's Overseas Traders, 1550-1653" (2003), p. 572.] At the same time he was secretary to Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex, who emerged in 1642 in a prominent position as Parliamentary military leader. [.Mendle, p. 22.] Parker's "Observations upon some of his Majesty's late answers and expresses" (1642) has been called the "single most influential tract of the period". [Nigel Smith, "Literature and Revolution in England, 1640-1660" (1994), p. 179.]

Correspondence of King Charles and Queen Henrietta Maria was captured after the royalist defeat at the Battle of Naseby in 1645. It was published, 39 letters being made public, edited and annotated by Parker, Sadler and Thomas May, as "The Kings Cabinet Opened". [ Gary Schneider, "The Culture of Epistolarity: Vernacular Letters and Letter Writing in Early Modern England, 1500-1700" (2005), p. 250.] The tactic adopted in this work of mild annotation, allowing Charles's words mostly to speak for themselves, proved itself effective. [Thomas N. Corns, "The Royal
] [Mendle, p. 25.]

After the death of Essex, in 1646, he took a position in Germany, as agent in Hamburg for the Merchant Adventurers. From this period dates his economic pamphlet, "On a free trade", in support of mercantilism.Richard Tuck, "Philosophy and Government 1572-1651" (1993), p. 251.] He also became concerned with the political and military situation in Ireland. He wrote pamphlets on it, becoming on his return an apologist for Henry Ireton. [David Farr, "Henry Ireton and the English Revolution" (2006), p. 232.] From 1649 he was secretary to Oliver Cromwell's army, serving in Ireland, and is presumed to have died there.

In 1649, he with Henry Robinson argued for 'engagement', a kind of loyalty oath to be imposed by the victorious Parliamentary side to ensure recognition of its authority. [Quentin Skinner, "Conquest and Consent" p. 86, in G. E. Aylmer, editor, "The Interregnum" (1972).] He was an opponent of John Lilburne, the Leveller, and wrote in support of jury trial, a system attacked by Lilburne. [John Hostettler, "The Criminal Jury Old and New: Jury Power from Early Times to the Present Day" (2004), p. 61.]

Parker's positions and sources

His "Discourse concerning Puritans" drew on Virgilio Malvezzi and Paolo Sarpi, and attacked both episcopacy and Presbyterianism as autonomous systems.. In "True grounds" (1641) he continued the case against independent religious institutions.

In a series of over 20 political pamphlets from 1640 onwards,Andrew Pyle (editor), "Dictionary of Twentieth-Century British Philosophers" (2000).] , he developed "ad hoc" but influential positions: absolute power for Parliament; thorough Erastianism on the religious question (a "cool secularist" for Christopher Hill [Christopher Hill, "Intellectual Origins of the English Revolution" (1965), p. 286.] ); and an appeal to natural law, or the "law of nature" as the basis for political power. [Ivan Roots, "The Great Rebellion 1642-1660" (1995 edition), p. 58.] In "The Case of shipmony" (1640) he argued in terms of "salus populi", the law of necessity, and the failure of the King's arguments to establish it. This went further than arguments simply directed against royal prerogative, and shifted the discussion of legality. [Glenn Burgess, "The Politics of the Ancient Constitution: An Introduction to English Political Thought, 1603–1642" (1993), p. 229-230.]

For J. G. A. Pocock, Parker is "no kind of classical republican". [ J. G. A. Pocock, "The Machiavellian Moment: Florentine Political Thought and the Atlantic Republican Tradition" (2003), p. 369.] On the other hand the position of "Observations" on monarchy is that it is held "by way of trust". [Whitney Richard David Jones, "The Tree of Commonwealth, 1450-1793" (2000), p. 151.] With Philip Hunton, Parker argued that political society has the nature of a contract, and required the consent of the people. [Lee Ward, "The Politics of Liberty in England and Revolutionary America" (2004), p. 48.] He put the case that Parliament actually was representative of the people. [Quentin Skinner, "Hobbes on Persons, Authors and Representatives", p. 166, in Patricia Springborg, "The Cambridge Companion to Hobbes's Leviathan" (2007).]

Parker's theory of sovereignty implicitly depended on Jean Bodin. [John Greville Agard Pocock, Gordon J. Schochet, "The Varieties of British Political Thought, 1500-1800" (1993), p. 151.] As well as Bodin and Sarpi, Mendle sees Parker drawing on Richard Hooker, and Grotius. [Mendle, p. 131.]

Royalist replies

Initially, the "Observations" of 1642 provoked replies that did not name it or engage directly with its arguments, but attacked its slogans. Two important examples were works from Dudley Digges and John Spelman, in "A view of a printed book intituled Observations upon His Majesties late answers and expresses" (1642). [Mendle, p. 114.] Robert Filmer in "Patriarcha" held up Parker's contractarian views as an artificial construct. [Victoria Ann Kahn, "Wayward Contracts: The Crisis of Political Obligation in England, 1640-1674" (2004), p. 3.]

John Bramhall attacked both Parker and Thomas Hobbes, at different times, but using similar language. [Nicholas D. Jackson, "Hobbes, Bramhall and the Politics of Liberty and Necessity: A Quarrel of the Civil Wars and Interregnum" (2007), pp. 243-4.] John Maxwell took Parker as a typical specimen, in "Sacro-sancta regum majestas" of 1644, published anonymously. He argued strongly agains the concept that the king had his power through popular consent, and placed Parker in a tradition going back to William of Ockham and Marsilius of Padua. [Mendle, pp. 123-4.] [Philip C. Almond, "Adam and Eve in Seventeenth-century Thought" (1999), p. 105.]

Influence

Christopher Hill states that Philip Hunton's "Treatise of Monarchie" (1643) is an attempted compromise between Parker and John Goodwin. [Christopher Hill, "The English Bible and the Seventeeth-Century Revolution" 91993), p. 185.]

In general terms, the works of Parker, John Lilburne, Richard Overton, Isaac Penington and Henry Vane are considered the substrate for the later political theories of John Locke, James Harington and Algernon Sidney. [Donald S. Lutz, "Principles of Constitutional Design" (2006), p. 75.]

Works

*"Divine and Publike Observations" (1638)
*"The case of shipmony briefly discoursed" (1640) [http://oll.libertyfund.org/?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=810&chapter=164706&layout=html&Itemid=27 online text]
*"The question concerning the divine right of episcopacie truly stated" (1641)
*"A discourse concerning Puritans. A vindication of those, who uniustly suffer by the mistake, abuse, and misapplication of that name" (1641) as Philus Adelphus
*"The altar dispute" (1641)
*"The true grounds of ecclesiasticall regiment" (1641)
*"An answer to Lord Digbies speech" (1641)
*"The Vintner's Answer to some scandalous Phamphlets" (1642)
*"The danger to England observed, upon its deserting the high court of Parliament" (1642)
*"Some few observations upon His Majesties late answer" (1642)
*"Observations upon some of His Majesties late answers and expresses" (1642) [http://history.wisc.edu/sommerville/367/parkerobserv.htm online extracts]
*"A petition or declaration, humbly desired to be presented to the view of His most Excellent Majestie" (1642)
*"The manifold miseries of civill warre and discord in a kingdome" (1642)
*"Accommodation cordially desired and really intended" (1642)
*"An appendix to the late answer printed by His Majesties command" (1642)
*"The generall junto or The councell of union, chosen equally out of England, Scotland, and Ireland" (1642)
*"The Observator defended" (1642)
*"A question answered: how laws are to be understood, and obedience yeelded? " (1642)
*"Animadversions animadverted" (1642)
*"An appendix to the late answer printed by His Majesties command" (1642)
*"The Contra-Replicant, his complaint to his majestie" (1643)
*"A political catechism" (1643)
*"The Oath of Pacification" (1643)
*"To the High Court of Parliament: the humble remonstrance of the Company of Stationers" London (1643)
*"Jus populi" (1644)
*"Mr. William Wheelers case from his own relation" (1644/5)
*"The Kings cabinet opened" (1645) with others
*"The speech of Their Excellencies the Lords Ambassadours Extraordinary" (1645)
*"Jus Regum" (1645)
*"The Irish massacre" (1646)
*"The Trojan horse of the Presbyteriall government unbowelled" (1646)
*"An elegie upon ye death of my most noble & most honourable master Robert Earle of Essex" (1646)
*"Henry Parkers answer to the retreate of the armie. Sept. 24. 1647" (1647)
*"An answer to the poysonous sedicious paper of David Jenkins" (1647)
*"Severall poysonous and sedicious papers of Mr. David Jenkins answered" (1647)
*"The cordiall of Mr. D. Jenkins ... answered" (1647)
*"Memoriall. That in regard Mr. John Abbot register of the Prerogative Office had deserted his trust" (1648)
*"Of a free trade" (1648)
*"A letter of due censure, and redargution [sic] to Lieut: Coll: John Lilburne" (1650)
*"The true portraiture of the kings of England" (1650)
*"Reformation in courts, and cases testamentary" (1650)
*"Scotlands holy war" (1651)
*"The cheif affairs of Ireland truly communicated" (1651)

References

* W. K. Jordan (1942), "Men of Substance: A Study of the Thought of Two English Revolutionaries, Henry Parker and Henry Robinson"
*Michael Mendle (2003), "Henry Parker and the English Civil War"

Notes