Edward Forsett
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Edward Forset (or Forsett) (1553–1630) was an English official, politician and writer, known for political works and as a playwright.[1]
Life
He was the fourth son of Richard Forsett, a barrister and Member of Parliament, and his wife Margaret Vaughan. Educated at Christ's College, Cambridge and Trinity College, Cambridge, he graduated B.A. in 1572, and was a Fellow of Trinity from 1574 to 1581.[1]
In the service of Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, and a justice of the peace, Forset was involved on the prosecution side of the 1605 Gunpowder Plot.[1][2] In 1606 he became Member of Parliament for Wells.[1]
Works
Forset wrote:
- Pedantius (1581) (online text), a Latin comedy. It made fun of Gabriel Harvey.[3]
- A Comparative Discourse of the Bodies Natural and Politique (1606), contributing to the traditional monarchist theory of the king's two bodies: the body politic and the body natural.[4] This is considered one important source for later divine right and royalist ideas, as well as spinning out the bodily metaphor (the King as the heart).
- A Defence of the Right of Kings. Wherein the power of the papacie over princes, is refuted; and the Oath of Allegeance justified (1624) , a belated reply to writings of Robert Parsons, belonged to the allegiance oath controversy.[5]
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ [1]: Report in state papers of James I mentioning him (March 1606).
- ↑ [2]: the play was set in Cambridge.
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