John Eliot (politician)

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John Eliot
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John Eliot ( April 11, 1592 , † November 27, 1632 ) was an English politician in the run-up to the English Civil War and a leader of the then Parliamentary Party.

Eliot was descended from a long-established Cornish family . He started his career early, as early as December 1607 he began a three-year course at Exeter College in Oxford and was elected to the House of Commons for the first time at the age of 22 : it was that parliament under the government of Jacob I , which in 1614 was called the Barren Parliament should go down in history.

In 1618, Eliot was the knighthood collected and under the influence of known him since childhood Duke of Buckingham George Villiers Vice-Admiral of Devon appointed.

In the parliamentary sessions of 1624 and 1625, Eliot's soon-to-be legendary rhetorical talent unfolded . In passionate speeches that were enthusiastically received by the population, he called for tough action against the Catholics in England and for England to intervene in the armed conflicts on mainland Europe, above all a war against Spain .

In the run-up to the parliamentary elections of 1626, King Charles I had appointed the major opposition leaders as sheriffs, rendering them ineligible. Eliot, who was not affected by this, was re-elected a member of the lower house and, in the absence of the other major opposition figures, quickly became a leader of the opposition MPs. Eliot had become increasingly estranged from his former mentor Buckingham. Now he openly called for an investigation into the background of England's military defeat at Cadiz : a clear provocation of the crown and above all the duke.

In the parliamentary debates of 1627 Eliot even called for a public indictment of the Duke of Buckingham. Together with Sir Dudley Digges , he was then imprisoned and taken to the Tower . However, under the leadership of Thomas Wentworth , who later became the Earl of Strafford, Parliament took up the cause of the two MPs, as this unjustified arrest believed that the freedom and rights of the entire Parliament were at risk.

Together with Wentworth Eliot then fought for the Petition of Right in 1628 , which again led to the imprisonment of the passionate speaker. After the approval of the Petition of Right did not lead to a relaxation of the relationship between Charles I and Parliament, it was the moderate Wentworth who reconciled himself with the crown and continued his political career as a royal official and member of the House of Lords, deepened the gap between Eliot and the royal government widened. Eliot was imprisoned again and died in the Tower at the age of 40. The king's disfavor continued to have an effect after Eliot's death: Charles I refused to hand over the body to Eliot's son and ordered Eliot's burial in the district of the community in which he died.

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