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".[1] He provided the "ideological ballast for resistance", according to Geoffrey Robertson.[2] He operated on behalf of the "coalition" of aristocrats and gentry who took over in the Long Parliament.[3] 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.[4]

  1. ^ Jeffrey Denys Goldsworthy, The Sovereignty of Parliament: History and Philosophy (1999), p. 97.
  2. ^ Geoffrey Robertson, The Tyrannicide Brief (2005), p. 89.
  3. ^ Glenn Burgess, The Politics of the Ancient Constitution: An Introduction to English Political Thought, 1603–1642 (1993), p. 187.
  4. ^ Lawrence Stone, The Causes of the English Revolution, 1529–1642 (1986 edition), p. 53.