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John Selden was born the son of a minstrel at West Tarring, Sussex, on December 16, 1584. He was educated at the Free School of Chichester and Hart Hall, Oxford. He came to London in 1602 to study law, and was employed by Sir Robert Cotton to copy records. Cotton also trained him to become an antiquary. Selden's England's Epinomis and Jani Anglorum (1610) secured his place as the father of legal antiquarianism.
Selden was called to the bar in 1612, and soon became keeper of the records at Inner Temple. In 1613, he contributed annotations to the first 18 cantos of Drayton's Polyolbion. Also by this time, Selden had befriended Ben Jonson and Sir Thomas Browne. Selden had gained a reputation with his Titles of Honour (1614), and De Diis Syris (1617) by the time his History of Tithes (1618) appeared. This work infuriated the Church authorities, and was suppressed by the King's command. Selden next authored Mare Clausum (1618, but not published until 1635), which disputed Hugo Grotius' Mare Liberum and the principle of sovereignty on the high seas. Selden also helped prepare the protestation of Commons in 1621, further alienating himself from the King's good graces. The protestation asserted the Parliament's rights in affairs of state, and Selden was briefly imprisoned.
In 1623, Selden entered parliament, and continued to be a staunch supporter of parliamentary rights, and a steady opponent of the crown's prerogative. He took part in the trial of George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, and co-authored the Petition of Right (1628). He was imprisoned for his part in the Parliament of 1629. After his release, Selden retreated to the Earl of Kent's house at Wrest. After the Earl of Kent died in 1639, Selden continued to live at Wrest. According to Aubrey's Lives, Selden secretly married the Countess, who left the property to him at her death in 1651. Selden represented Oxford University in the Long Parliament from 1640 to 1649, and died at his house of Whitefriars on November 30, 1654.
Selden was an erudite, learned man, now best remembered for the posthumous Table Talk: Being the Discourses of John Selden, Esq... Relating Especially to Religion and State (1689), collected and by his secretary, Richard Milward. He was also a prodigious collector of manuscripts, and some 8000 of his collection now reside in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.
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Books for further study:
Christianson, Paul. Discourse on History, Law, and Governance in
the Public Career of John Selden, 1610-1635.
Toronto: Univ of Toronto Press, 1996.
Rowse, A. L. Four Caroline Portraits : Thomas Hobbes, Henry Marten, Hugh Peters, John Selden.
London: Gerald Duckworth, 1993.
Selden, John. Table-Talk of John Selden. S. W. Singer, Ed.
Salem, NH: Ayer Company Publishers, Inc., 1977.
John Selden on the Web:
Article Citation:
Jokinen, Anniina. “John Selden.” Luminarium.
19 Feb. 2002. [Date when you accessed the page].
<http://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/selden.htm>
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Created by Anniina Jokinen on February 19, 2002. Last updated January 27, 2007.
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