John Cooke (lawyer, 1608)

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Fictional portrait titled John Cook by Robert Cooper
The High Court of Justice at the trial against King Charles I (illustration from the 17th century)

John Cooke (born 1608 in Leicestershire , died October 16, 1660 in Tyburn ) was an English lawyer . He was the first Solicitor General (chief prosecutor) of the Commonwealth to lead the prosecution leading to the execution of King Charles I of England . Chief Justice as President of the established High Court of Justice was John Bradshaw (1602-1659). After the reestablishment of the monarchy , Cooke was sentenced to death under King Charles II and hanged, gutted, and quartered .

biography

John Cooke was the son of a Leicestershire farmer. He was sent to study at Wadham College , Oxford . After completing his studies, he became a lawyer.

Author Geoffrey Robertson, in his biography of Cooke (2005), concludes that Cooke was not anti-monarchical but very loyal to his duty: he was forced to convict the king when Charles I refused the legality of the court to recognize or to respond to allegations of tyranny against him .

As for the government of Oliver Cromwell and Richard Cromwell King Charles II. From the House of Stuart to the throne returned , Cooke was not as some Regiziden (Engl. Regicides ) pardoned, but the death penalty.

Quote

“We are no traitors or murderers or fanatics but true Christians and good commonwealthsmen, fixed and constant in the principles of sanctity, truth, justice and mercy, which the Parliament and army declared and engaged for, and to that noble principle of preferring the universality before particularity. We fought for the public good and would have enfranchised the people and secured the welfare of the whole groaning creation, if the nation had not more delighted in servitude than freedom. "

“We are not traitors or murderers or fanatics, but true Christians and good Commonwealth men, firm and steadfast in the principles of holiness, truth, justice and mercy that Parliament and the Army have advocated and for this noble principle of giving preference to universality over particularity. We fought for the common good and would have set the people free and secured the welfare of the whole groaning creation had the nation not enjoyed servitude more than freedom. "

- John Cooke : Letter from prison, September 1660

See also

literature

  • Geoffrey Robertson: The Tyrannicide Brief. The Story of the Man who Sent Charles I to the Scaffold . Pantheon, New York 2005, ISBN 1400044510 ( partial online view ).
  • Jason Peacey (Ed.): The regicides and the execution of Charles I. Palgrave MacMillan, Basingstoke 2001, ISBN 0-333-80259-4 .
  • CV Wedgwood: Death to the King - The trial against Karl I. List Verlag, Munich 1968

Web links

References and footnotes

  1. ↑ The British historian Cicely Veronica Wedgwood comments on the activities of the two: The relative obscurity of these two men made it clear that the trial of the King was not, and could not be, countenanced by any respectable body of legal opinion. (CV Wedgwood: Oliver Cromwell. Barnes & Noble Books, New York 1994, ISBN 1566195497 , p. 62)
  2. ↑ cf. Geoffrey Robertson (2005), Epiloque, p. 355 ff.
  3. ↑ From: Speeches and Prayers of the Regicides , p. 49; quoted from: Geoffrey Robertson (2005: XII and 287); on these speeches and prayers , cf. ibid. p. 350.
personal data
SURNAME Cooke, John
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cook, John
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English lawyer
DATE OF BIRTH 1608
PLACE OF BIRTH Leicestershire
DATE OF DEATH October 16, 1660
Place of death Tyburn